I.V. Responds to the Gap Fire

The day I.V. stops partying is the day the terrorists have won.

While a few bottle rockets were probably not going to light the town on fire, I'm glad to see students didn't react to the blackout by burning couches en-mass as what happened during an outage 2 years ago when I lived there.

The Gap Fire isn't the largest in the state. It was (and may still be) the highest priority blaze, but from a quick look on inciweb.org, there are many wildfires in the state that are significantly bigger.

Just for the record, I'd love to clarify that I don't think that it was "rude" that Isla Vistans chose to light off M-80's and bottle rockets on the nights leading up to the 4th of July... I thought that it showed a lack of sensitivity to those who were dealing head-on with this fire. Including the two people who were evacuated and staying at my home on sueno. I was misquoted in this article, and I again want to clarify, as an 8-year resident of Isla Vista, that we all know this town has the capacity to party-on into the end of time, regardless of what's happening in the world outside of the bubble. This was never the issue. The issue is that some things deserve hightened conscientiousness, and I implore all Isla Vistan's to think beyond their comfort in times like these.. whether or not the fire is or was heading in our direction. And, again, these comments are in no way reflective of the feelings of the IV Food Co-op toward Isla Vista. We are a community-inspired resource that takes no sides. We just want you all to know that when the power goes out, we have to close our doors for the sake of the safety of our customers. Thank you all for patience while we've dealt with these outages.

About what I'd expect from the college culture here. This article should be titled "IV Doesn't Respond to Gap Fire." It's a pretty sad indictment of UCSB's student culture that the only apparent thing to do when there's no electricity is to drink and get stoned. But this is what folks do every night in IV, so it's business as usual I suppose. Stealing beverages from a grocery store that had to close down was a nice touch. It just comes across as more irresponsible than usual given the circumstances.

This story also has a factual error. The Gap Fire is NOT the largest fire in the state. It is the top priority fire based on its location, not its size. This is the sort of poor journalism I expect from The Daily Nexus, UCSB's newspaper. Given the generally outstanding fire coverage in The Independent, I'm surprised this piece of fluff is being published next to some outstanding articles with up-to-date, correct info.

IV folks partying while the fire is burning is akin to the ostrich putting its head in the sand, turning a blind eye to what is "real." This consciousness (or lack there of) is by no means community based. I'm glad to hear folks were making the best of it, but yes, I was one of the evacuees who ended up staying in IV and was pretty offended by the fire crackers. Poor thing, your Jeopardy game was interrupted. My life and thousands of others was thrown into a whirlwind. I'm glad you found a cause for celebration.

And no, no one would have been ready to leave had there been any sort of order...with that much drinking.

But, what do we expect? Expectations are powerful things.

I guess since this is my two cents, I can only speak to what I'd like to see. I'd really love to see some sort of evolution, however slight, especially during these kinds of times. Not only in young people's actions, but in the older generations thoughts of them as well. I'm a young person too, and I actually DO care about what is going on in the other parts of town, and in other parts of the world, and what is going to happen tomorrow. It's with those things in mind that I make my choices. It's pathetic that you'd convey a message so futile and irresponsible and apply that to virtually all IV residents. Our thoughts and actions do radiate out into our larger circles, some practice that, some don't. The folks privileged enough to get wasted, not have to work, and just sit around and party might need to have a wake up call. Things are changing in this world, you might as well start getting used to it.

I was also quite offended by your choice of quotes in this article. Several seemed inaccurate or out of place. As someone who has lived and worked in the developing world, I know that there is nothing fun about a "third-worldy" experience. I'm really amazed you chose to use that quote. Oh God, Americans are now wanting to live a new thrill? Are you not aware that 1/6 people on this planet live in shantytowns? Maybe IV students would benefit from spending a few weeks in a refugee camp. But honestly, I must ask...what kind of image do you really want to plaster onto all young IV residents?

So, in essence, even if I'm disappointed in the actions of Isla Vistans during fire times, I'm even more disappointed in my favorite local news source running an article as pitiful, insensitive, and inaccurate as this one.

When has anyone outside IV every given a rat's posterior about IV's issues? I mean four folks were killed on Sabado Tarde in 2001, and the rest of the South Coast continues to siphon off all of IV's road money.

And so there are still no sidewalks where the quadruple murder occurred in 2001.

Or remember Patty Laney.... the SB Counties Deputies thought her murderer had to be some IV freak, but he turned out to be a nice boy from Solvang, and so they let him slip through their investigation a few times. Only the LA police figured it out. Oh, he murdered 3 other IV women.

Not to mention exclusion from the City of Goleta, in contradiction to all the lofty principles of LAFCO.

This outside-IV indignation is just swill.

Good article, Nikki.

my indignation is straight from the inside. i was a second year when david attias ran down those 4 souls, and boy, that totally affected that whole year in isla vista. everybody slowed down. i came back to this town to live and work, mostly because i realized that people within this town needed more advocates from within. i feel like this article had a lot of promise, but it was overrun with misquoted, factual innacuracies, and laughable "anecdotes" that make isla vistans look a lot more idiotic than they really are. i know firsthand how many people weren't partying, but were packing their cars instead. Where were the thoughts of these people rather than the dudes getting gas and weed in the same trip (nothing against saving gas, but did we need another viewpoint from this perspective yet again?) my overall irritation is the publication of yet another article that dumbs down and lumps all of isla vista into the same category of people, mostly when those who really do want to effect positive change in the community are written into the story, antagonists to the "party". that's all.

Pardallchewinggumspit,

The Laney murderer, Thor Nis Christiansen, was actually a Goleta resident during the murders. He was born in Denmark, moved to LA and then Solvang when he was 5. Don’t know if that actually qualifies him as being a “nice boy from Solvang”. He murdered 3 women total from IV, not “3 other IV women” as you state, Laney was one of them. He killed another woman in LA and attempted to kill another in Hollywood. The person he tried to kill then saw him in a bar and called the LA cops who arrested him. That was how they “figured it out”. Kind of easy to do when you have a woman who got shot in the head see the person in public.

Since your posting is full of inaccuracies it is hard to put any weight behind your opinion. IV is what the residents want of it. It is a growing and learning area, but otherwise disgusts the normal population. People there are filled with talk and rhetoric but are easily distracted with beer and pot. For most it is the first time away from mommy and daddy, and they prove their immaturity. Don’t think of IV as something that it is not, it does serve its purpose in the big scheme of things as an area, separate from normal people, where kids can do some growing up. I lived there for three years ago many years ago, I know.

To those of you who are complaining, I think it's pretty telling what your real problem is, seeing as you flagrantly ignored Nicki's more sympathetic remarks and ranted on things that had nothing to do with her column. Someone who doesn't care about the people or the fires would not say:

"I agree with Cohen — the fireworks on Friday night were a little tasteless against the backdrop of the Santa Ynez Mountains on fire."

or

"The hard work doesn’t go unnoticed in this town. One of the most heartwarming things from this holiday weekend was the applause I.V. residents gave fire trucks and crews that drove down Del Playa Drive on Friday."

I get it. You don't like I.V. and you think it's a pool of moral bankruptcy and a waste of tax dollars...

Well, how often do you go to I.V. and are you really the caring SB County citizen that you claim? You find indignation in a column about what college kids did during a fire and whine about how insensitive everyone is, but:

1) A lot of these "college kids" are probably more active in the community than many of you. They've hosted several charities and community events and hey, didn't their cancer run raise $70,000+ this year?

2) You can whine about whether or not it's insensitive to remark about I.V. being the same as a third world country, but hey, not much repairs are done around there. Last year, the county realized it wasn't filling the "low-income housing" quota, so where did they dump them? All in I.V. ... or how about this: SB touts its treatment of homeless people, but where do so many of them end up? That's right, in I.V. so that way the rest of the county doesn't have to deal with them. Oh, and what's a common sight every weekend in I.V.? Dozens of poor families raiding I.V. garbages to collect enough cans to MAYBE pay those late bills. Who's helping them?

So, complain all you want about those "college kids" and their "drinking" (lord knows you didn't engage in such petty things when you went to college, that is if you did go to college), but tell me, great ones, what are YOU doing about it?

Actually, wow, you guys are right, it DOES feel good to stand on a soapbox!

The article was interesting but was written by a student who was trying to portray that IV cared but didn't care at the same time. It almost sounded like the writer was amused by those that stole from outside the store. I'm a bit surprised that she was allowed to post her friends names (if they are real) and how they were buying pot. If I was that age and read that a friend posted that about me I would be pretty mortified. Sure wouldn't want my parents to see that! There are a lot of great things about the Isla Vista community (Freebirds comes to mind) but keep in mind that a lot of these students aren't locals, they are guests here while they attend school. Many choose to stay because they fall in love with the city but others are just on their way through while they participate in the typical college experience of party and study.

I would have LOVED if the story told how some of the students went to volunteer at the shelter or offered to help feed animals at Earl Warren, or something else equally heartwarming. I'm sure that some did, and honestly, there is nothing special about them clapping for the firemen because applauding these heros should come naturally. The whole town is cheering for them!

All in all, the article was a joke and a sad one at that.

IV is an armpit that houses too many students, the rents are too high and the community is unmaintained. The tax dollars the students generate through the tuition we parents pay and the money students spend is clearly not reinvested into their community. I spent a great deal of time assisting my student from afar during this weekends crisis. Though she is technically no longer a resident of IV but resides in SB all of the student community is in a very different place than many of the more established residents of the community. Many of the students likely did not have the usual household supplies that more established homes have so they were far less prepared. When the power went out so does internet for most and they were isolated. UCSB did nothing for its student community! This piece may not be hard core jounalism but it does tell a story and therefore has its place. It would have been nice for some of these able young people to see if the shelter might have needed assistance to set up, or an elderly person that could not go outside because of the air quality needed help with a pet. But to stand in judgment of these young people and their perception of the experience is to miss the opportunity they had to learn and do something different next time they are in a crisis. Gaining experience is a student's job.

Poor babies...
People in fear of losing their homes, possibly lives and lifetime possessions while the students whine about not being able to go to the store to stock up on party goods and what to do with themselves without lights.. I hope this article is tongue in cheek. But what should we expect from the University of Coddled and Spoiled Brats

i come from "the third world" and never experienced anything described as "the third-worldish" here. but that, of course, is not the point. the point is that this cute, frank & innocent writing is also quite saddening...for obvious reasons which (obviously) must've not been so obvious to the author and her mates. hence, sad.

RForsyth, get over yourself. Seriously. I've lived in cities, suburbs, and IV and the people who live there are a lot better than you, you judgmental ah.

Good article. I don't know why every time the word IV is mentioned in an article we get a bunch of raving loons complaining at the bottom about one of the best towns on earth. I love the homeless people in IV and everything about that town.

NDSB:

You miss the point of the criticism being logged here. It's not about whether IV or some subset of the Santa Barbara region is doing anything to aid the fire effort. It's about whether the ambivalence documented is newsworthy.

Everyone in the area has adjusted their lives to varying degrees because of closures, evacuations, smoke, and power outages. But folks who are not directly threatened by the flames continue with their day to day lives. That Isla Vista has to make the same adjustments is not particularly relevant or insightful. It comes across as trite that the largest concern of students is how to acquire alcohol and weed with the power out.

The article is of low journalistic standards, and the quality of the writing is poor. There's a factual error and the article reads as a series of anecdotes. That's a problem when something is published as front-page news.

The fire is indeed a learning experience for students. But it's not at all enlightening to read that the young, immature overprivileged subset of the community is going about life as usual.

Well, GP, then that makes you incredibly ignorant because you have mistaken a BLOG for a news article. Blogs are meant to tell stories and opinions. This is not a news piece. Hey, though, don't feel bad. Half of America doesn't know the difference between the news section and the opinion page either. My advice: Don't talk about journalism if you don't know what it is.

What's great about the IV column is the authors haven't yet learned to spin the facts to only present the good side.

I mean, when have you ever read a column that delved into the vast drug use in Montecito and Hope Ranch, or the healthy prostitution industry servicing Santa Barbara tourists? When a young woman dies of a cocaine overdose in the Montecito Inn, or a Hope Ranch resident takes a High School student athlete hostage and homosexually abuses him, everyone pretends it is an aberration, because all the precursing circumstances are omitted from public dialogue. Not to mention the periodic exposure of prostitution rings in downtown SB.

Even the Indy avoids the hot topics that go against the conventional wisdom, at least locally. They don't want to lose the ad revenue from all the conventional folks who profit from the status quo.

Behavior in IV is actually milder than the rest of the South Coast, but the behavior is on the surface and documented. All the aberrant behavior on the rest of the South Coast is buried, well, except for the gangs.

InTheKnow, the LA police realized that Christiansen had committed three IV murders in addition to his behavior in LA. His CDL had a Solvang address. When he had been stopped on the South Coast prior to the LA behavior, he had a gun with the same caliber as that used on the 3 IV women, but he was let go... didn't fit the profile of a Manson-type IV resident.

And why has Sabado Tarde never been made safe for pedestrians? Easy... the road money is siphoned off, and the rest of the County (via LAFCO) knew loads of Measure D money would flow to a City of Goleta if IV was incorporated as part of the City. LAFCO wants to keep IV in penury to suck funds out of UCSB.

NDSB:

Nice work lowering the level of discourse to personal insults. Folks like you who turn any comment he/she doesn't like into a pissing contest are the reason why I generally don't comment on news articles on the web.

This article was in the Most Recent Stories section when I first read it yesterday, right next to Ray Ford's latest update. Now, maybe if it had been in the IV Blotter section where it belongs from the very start, it wouldn't have been so offensive.

A basic tenet of journalism is getting your facts right. You may enjoy news or Op-Ed pieces with factual errors or tangential information, but that doesn't mean it's good journalism. You can call it a blog, I'll call it a column or article. Either way, there's no excuse for making factual errors or trivializing a natural disaster. The onus is on the author and The Independent to make sure that what they're publishing is correct and relevant, especially if it's on the front page adjacent to real news coverage.

Says the guy who refers to I.V. residents as a "young, immature overprivileged subset."

I never referred to you as young, immature or overpriviledged. But it says a lot about your perspective if you view that as a direct admonishment.

To be clear, not every resident of IV is a UCSB student, and not every UCSB student parties every night of the week. There are students who must work their way through school and focus on their studies. There are families that live in IV, mostly on the end opposite to campus. But this article focuses on the most prominent group of USCB students who are, by definition, young (17-25 years old), immature (mature adults balance responsibility and external awareness with relaxation and selfishness much better) and overpriviledged (very few people in this world are born into the "right to party" and can avoid any real responsibility for 4+ years). This is definitely a young, immature overpriviledged subset of the community.

The outrage over this column is truly mind-boggling. First and foremost, a column (or blog) is not meant to be hard-hitting news journalism. Their relative merit lies in anecdotes and storytelling, and the reason the Independent maintains an Isla Vista column is to provide members of the community a glimpse into the lives of I.V.'s 20,000 residents. Just because you don't like what you see (or sometimes choose to see) doesn't make it the fault of the messenger.

As someone who lives in Isla Vista and went through last week's incidents here, I have to say that Ms. Arnold was spot-on in her portrayal of the typical I.V. experience. For better or for worse. Very few people I know in Isla Vista were even remotely prepared for a power outage, and thus most hung out at whoever's house had the most scented candles. Obviously when there's no electricity, no light outside, and it's the early evening, students are going to want something to do. For some that was drinking or smoking, for some that was playing a board game, and I'm sure for a fair amount it was both. It was just to kill time while the power was out, and was in no way trivializing the anguish of those forced to leave their homes just minutes north of here.

I think a lot of people misinterpreted the goal of Ms. Arnold's column (possibly due in part to a poorly chosen headline by her editor), in that it is focusing on the narrow window of the power being out on certain nights. It by no means indicates a callous unconcern for affected Goleta and the surrounding areas on the part of Isla Vistans that some of you seem to have assumed. I know more than a few students who have volunteered this past week, some for the first time. Just because they weren't doing it at the exact times this piece discusses doesn't mean they were unconcerned. It's just that most people don't have the urge to immediately go volunteer when their power goes out at 7PM.

I think there's a lot of inherent bias against Isla Vista (quite possibly merited) in a lot of you as you read this article which tinted your view of its message. Ms. Arnold never said the people stealing soda from outside Albertsons were Isla Vistans, but at least one of you (and I'd guess quite a bit more) just assumed. The main question I have for those of you that are so quick to disparage UCSB students and other Isla Vistans for their behavior Wednesday and Thursday night last week is this: what would you have done? Studying or reading by scented candlelight is pretty difficult, and even those prepared enough to have flashlights didn't have a lot of options. I see no problem whatsoever with students getting together and enjoying themselves in the circumstances. Doing their duty as good concerned Samaritans could wait for daylight. Whether or not Isla Vistans ended up doing their share is another issue entirely, one that the article really doesn't delve into.

Good article Ms. Arnold.

I don't live in I.V., but I am a former resident and former student. I'm calling you out here because you are, in my honest opinion, being a hypocrite and maybe hypersensitive. You have gone on and on about the small error in which this girl called the fire the biggest fire in the state when she should have said "highest priority" and you said the writer was "trivializing a natural disaster. Well, kettle, here comes the pot.

You can't call it a "natural disaster" because the fire is still under investigation: http://165.221.39.44/incident/1384/

Also, if you will recall, the Indy had previously mentioned a rumor that the fire was possibly caused by a group of fellas who went target practicing. So, this could be man made.

Is it trivial to point out such a small error? Maybe so, maybe no. Is it trivial to make a big damned deal about it? Probably.

The column is called "Eye in I.V." It is supposed to be about what happens in I.V. The Gap Fire is a big deal. Nicki should absolutely write about that instead of summer school or whatever. It was an honest piece, but somehow the detractors have made it about something else. I understand emotions are running high for those who were actually threatened by the fire, but when this is all over, I think many of you will look back at what you wrote here and find that maybe your anger was misdirected and perhaps silly.

at this point in these commentaries, i just want to say, as one of the Isla Vista residents that partied here as an unaware student and now live in the community as a tenant, tenant representative, cooperative business owner, community gardener, and general lover of most things isla vista... the general demographic of my town is most certainly young, immature, and overprivilidged. and that shouldn't come as either insult or surprise for anyone even somewhat connected with isla vista. it's not a bad thing or a good thing... as someone pointed out in comments further back, college is a learning time, and most people are here, using isla vista as a beautiful backdrop of learning in so many ways, academic and life. that's why some of us chose to return to iv... to be teachers. this article has done its job more than i ever thought it would: whether it is or isn't good journalism, it sparked a whole lot of thought and commentary. isla vista has long been a victim of negative press, inaccurate press, and mostly just unfair press. this article was a little bit of all of that, whether meant to be or not... but i know that i'm going to keep fighting my fight to make isla vista more than just a drunken college town remembered. and from my conversation with nicki, the author of this column, it sounds like she wants isla vista to be seen in more lights than the one that she chose to shine on the community in this article. i guess that she's learning, too... at least it made everyone think about isla vista a little bit more critically. this town has so much to offer, and there's so much happening here beyond the party scene. i just hope that those of you out there who won't look beyond the bottle as an identifying logo of this town will someday find the time to come to isla vista and find one of us real life people, making a permenant life in this transient town full of perpetual 18-22 year olds. we really do exist, and we really are happy to be here.

And the South Coast at large is *not* old, immature, and overpriviledged?

On the one hand I felt bad about the folks who evacuated, on the other hand, their stories of wealth and priviledge didn't exactly endear them to me.

Ohmygod, my $3 million dream house built right next to a fantastically dangerous fire area is in danger! Thank goodness the State of California is spending $10 million to save my entirely unsustainable house! Good thing I could load my 8 dogs and cats into the SUV and stay with friends in La Jolla!

IV blows away the rest of the South Coast for devotion of actual man-hours to charitable endeavor. Now the bigger checks do come from the wealthy folks in the enclaves, and good on them. But day in day out, at the IV Youth Project or the IV school or St. Mark's or in CAB, the IV community contributes an enormous amount to this place. Not to mention all the volunteering at EDC or Save the Ocean and Channelkeepers and on and on.

The only group that was soliciting on the street that I encountered to donate to the Chinese earthquake victims was at UCSB.