Peace at El Encanto

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ENCHANTING NEWS: Orient-Express (O-E) folks have made peace with neighbors of the O-E-owned El Encanto resort, and they’ll all smoke the peace pipe at a September 10 City Planning Commission meeting. When residents on the northwest corner of the hilltop Riviera hotel complained at an April City Council hearing that an open-air parking lot there would be too loud, the council asked both sides to reach a consensus. Since then, Orient-Express has agreed to move it underground. Residents also feared that a centralized heating and air conditioning power facility in the same area would be too noisy. Orient-Express has decided to shift it away, according to Paul Casey, head of the city’s Community Development Department. Meanwhile, there’s apparently no truth to rumors that Four Seasons Biltmore owner Ty Warner is talking to the Orient-Express people about becoming a financial partner at El Encanto. Even though O-E has the resources to rebuild the resort, from what I hear around town, it might entertain offers from a money partner. Rebuilding of the aging seven-acre classic resort was well underway when work stopped pending settlement of the planning dispute. There’s still much to be done.

On the Beat

DA JOYCE? With District Attorney Christie Stanley fighting lung cancer and critics around town claiming that she’s a part-time DA running the office by remote control, veteran prosecutor Joyce Dudley will kick off her campaign for DA on Tuesday, September 1. Stanley says she’s running the office full-time and seeking reelection. But if she drops out due to illness — she says the cancer is in remission — other possible candidates are said to be waiting in the wings. One who is not is former assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson, who told me this week, “A lot of people have been urging me to run, but I’m not going to be a candidate.” She said she was “flattered,” but has other interests. Besides, she felt that being married to Superior Court Judge George Eskin would be a conflict.

WATCHIT: Even riskier for pedestrians than the State-Carrillo intersection is State-Las Positas on the Northside. With so many turning movements, multilanes, and drivers running red lights, it was already as much as your life is worth to try to cross. On our recent visit to Las Vegas (no gambling) we noticed truck-like mobile billboards clogging up traffic and fouling the air. Now, horrors, they’re here, too!

RANCH FOLKS: Former San Ysidro Ranch GM Janis Clapoff and executive chef Jamie West are now teamed at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. West laid out a sample tasting dinner there Saturday night, August 21, to be repeated in New York. He has been invited to cook a formal five-course dinner at the James Beard House for the James Beard Foundation, honoring the late cookbook author and teacher.

ELECTION SIZZLE: Not only was Santa Barbara City Councilmember Iya Falcone knocked out of the mayoral race, coming up five names short on her nominating petition, but S.B. City Council candidate Harwood “Bendy” White also had a close call. On the deadline day to turn in names — 100 valid ones are required — Bendy found that a sheet of collected signatures was missing. That left him with only 116 names of registered voters, too few to risk taking it to the city clerk. Luckily, there was still time that day to get more. “So we scrambled to get 25 more,” Bendy said. He qualified.

I’ve heard that at least three other Council candidates had last-minute panic attacks and rushed out to pad the cushion. But they allowed themselves enough time to do it. Iya didn’t. Why are so many signatures invalidated in these elections? “People I’ve known for years looked me straight in the eye” and said they were city voters, when in fact “they lived in Goleta,” Bendy told me. Many neighborhoods west of the Santa Barbara boundary have Santa Barbara postal addresses, leading some to believe that they’re actually in the city. In years gone by, Santa Barbara City Council elections were more sedate than a Montecito tea party. Seldom was heard a discouraging word. Haranguing about (please!) issues in the past was outré. In fact, voters disliked candidates who were noisily raising uncomfortable causes. What was wrong with the status quo, anyway? Santa Barbara must preserve its quality of life, even as it seemed to be slipping away. One was expected to pay dues by serving on the Planning Commission and then move up when it was one’s time. This year it’s different. With no incumbent mayor running, a determined batch of candidates has taken the field. Iya’s departure (I doubt if we’ve heard the last of her) leaves the mayoral race to S.B. City Council progressive Helene Schneider, Chamber of Commerce chief Steve Cushman, and Councilmember Dale Francisco, the only candidate to come out for Measure B, which cuts the downtown El Pueblo Viejo height limit from 60 feet down to 40. There’s strong vocal opposition to Measure B, but 11,500 residents signed petitions to put it on the ballot. So, according to the smart money, it figures to win — if the signers haven’t changed their minds — and if they vote.

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