Off the Bus: Bob Ponce, longtime chief photographer for the Santa Barbara News-Press, is retired with many painful health issues. One leg amputated below the knee, and fighting to save the other, Bob gets around with a wheelchair and relies heavily on Easy Lift and MTD buses.

But recently as he boarded a State Street MTD bus, a woman sitting in the handicapped priority section for wheelchair passengers refused to move.

The driver tried his best to convince her but she refused to budge, Bob told me. Bob had to get back off and wait 20 minutes for the next bus. MTD GM Sherrie Fischer told me that this is only the second incident she’s aware of in which a passenger would not yield a seat. Passengers are asked to move, but if one refuses, MTD’s policy is not to call police. Maybe that should be revisited.

Oil, Anyone?: The budget deal Gov. Arnold and legislative honchos agreed to this week may be odious to many, but local enviros are delighted that it includes a go-ahead for that on-again, off-again, on-again offshore Santa Barbara County oil drilling package. (Yes, amazing that anti-drilling forces--remember 1969?--made a 180 and went to the mat for an oil project.) At this writing the full legislature still has to OK the budget deal.

Cuba, Anyone?: Those of us who’ve visited the forbidden island of Cuba have had to hopscotch around, perhaps flying to Cancun, then hopping over to Havana. But nonstop Tuesday flights have now begun from LAX. (As you know, there are strict — and foolish — restrictions on U.S. citizens going to Cuba. Commie China sí , Commie Cuba, no.) Info on the travel ban at the State Department’s website, travel.state.gov. Info on the flights arranged by a Long Beach company: cubatravelservices.com or 800-963-2822. Fares for the five-plus-hour flight start at $690, plus tax. (You gotta be legal, natch. Look for sensible changes in the U.S. Cuba policy to come during the Obama presidency.)

Obama Slept Here: Now that summer heat has hit Scottsdale, you can hang out on the cheap where President Obama stayed earlier this year, at the luxurious InterContinental Montelucia. He bedded down in the presidential suite (current rate: $10,000 a night) but you can book a double for $160 and spend all your time in the pool. The resort wants you badly because, well, it’s in foreclosure on a $180 million mortgage. According to published reports, at least a half-dozen other major “valley of the sun” resorts are also in foreclosure due to the recession.

Laff Riot: In the first half of Laughter on the 23rd Floor, the late Neil Simon tickles your funny bone. In the second, he plays with your heart strings. The Santa Barbara City College Theatre Group has put together a top-notch band of actors wise-cracking their way through Simon’s recollection of his days with a bunch of gag writers during television’s 1950s golden era of comedy-variety shows. Just as Sid Caesar was the madcap star of Your Show of Shows, Joseph Beck is the loony boss of the writers’ roundtable, playing mad Max Prince. Beck’s funny every minute he’s on stage. (Through Saturday at SBCC’s Interim Theatre. 965-5935.)

Music Feast: It seemed as though every Music Academy of the West student was on the Granada stage Saturday night. So did Mahler’s 7th Symphony sound like a cacophony of assorted sounds? Nope. Never heard a better orchestra.

Ken Palmer: Back in the early 1970s, one of the rising stars of Santa Barbara’s reinvigorated Democratic Party was Ken Palmer. Bright and articulate, former reporter Palmer ran for the California State Assembly in a period of heated anti-war fervor. But he had the bad luck to compete with another of the best and the brightest, hometown football hero Gary Hart. Ken lost the 1970 Assembly race to Mayor Don MacGillivray, then tried again in 1972, according to locals who recall the race. That set the stage for a sometimes bitter primary battle with fellow Demo Hart, who beat Ken, then lost to Republican MacGillivray. Hart was elected to the Assembly two years later and went on to serve in the state Senate.

Palmer, who died here recently at 81, “was very charming, intelligent and willing to stand up” for his principles, his daughter Linda told me. “He liked advocating for the down-and-out and the elderly. He was a true Democrat.” His many accomplishments included starting the first hot tub company here, she said, and forming a local advertising agency. Palmer was previously an outstanding investigative reporter, working for the San Jose Mercury and Santa Barbara News-Press. A memorial was scheduled in Eugene, OR, this week.

No Hugs: Look what’s going on among the tree-huggers and posy-pickers in Santa Barbara-Ventura Los Padres chapter of the Sierra Club. After two elections for officers were invalidated due to “significant ballot disqualifications and abuse of the one member-one vote rule,” the national committee is considering suspending the chapter for four years to let things cool off. The “hostility” level is so high no one can govern effectively, the national officers say. A decision is due next month on the suspension.

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