Longtime Goleta Valley Beautiful Leader Leaving

Ken Knight, the longtime executive director of Goleta Valley Beautiful, will be leaving the nonprofit in June due to budgetary challenges; he recommended the change (a part-time office manager will also be leaving) and will work as an arborist in his private practice. Knight has worked for the 40-year-old organization — which plants grant-funded trees in the city — for 20 years. It will become an all-volunteer operation, Knight said, but what form that will take remains unclear.