••• “Petition to Open State Street Reaches Goal to Qualify for Referendum […] Petition Earns 6,000 Signatures; Referendum Would Force Santa Barbara City Council to Repeal or Place Issue on Ballot.” —Independent
••• The Santa Barbara News-Press has renderings of the four-story Friendship Manor building proposed for the northwest corner of Milpas and Ortega. “The project staff requested to waive the construction of story poles to mark the new height of the building, citing their expense. Some board members saw this as a red flag—a way to hide the height of the project.” Ya think?
••• The Independent released part two of its endorsements for the upcoming election. Eric Friedman got the nod for mayor.
••• “Washington Elementary Principal Returns from Administrative Leave After Admitting to Her Role in Rigging Student Election [….] Arielle Curry Acknowledges that She Ignored Vote Totals from Election to Choose Her Child as Student President, Apologizes ‘for Allowing This Practice to Persist.'” Yes, persist. This story is nuts. —Independent
••• The Earl Warren Showgrounds is apparently considering an arrangement with Global Stack USA, “a months-old data center company that has proposed to build shipping-container-sized ‘edge computing centers’ inside parking structures topped with helipads on fairground property. The pitch is for fairgrounds to provide two to five acres of land to Global Stack—for free—through a 100-year service and land-use agreement in exchange for a share of the profits generated from the infrastructure.” —Independent
••• “Another takeover bid at Montecito Sanitary [….] This time, a water board member is leading a three-man slate for control of the board.” —Santa Barbara News-Press
••• The quixotic mayoral candidacy of Matt Kilrain, a.k.a. Boat Rat Matt, isn’t as cute as it might appear from a distance. —Santa Barbara News-Press
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This is the craziest news roundup you’ve had in a while. The earl warren deal taking the cake. People have lost their minds…
Boat Rat Matt, the cray anti-vax conspiracy theorist novelty candidate – please move your bikes with political signs which are littering up and down State Street. They are taking up too many parking spots for those of us who actually ride our bicycles around town and use them for their intended purpose.
You’re quite literally breaching one of your own “four cornerstones” by neglecting those bikes, just as you (not the City or Harbor Patrol you blame) neglected your boat that washed ashore during a swell and storm.
Thanks for drawing attention to the madness at Earl Warren. Public comment is very important. It’s how the good people of Ventura chased away this dubious guy who is angling for a highly suspicious scheme at fairgrounds all over the state. (read the independent article). I’ll add that Earl Warren is under state jurisdiction, not local, and can bypass a lot of guardrails. We can start now with emails to the CEO Ben Sprague at [email protected] and the executive board committee members Salvatore Millazo, Luis Esparza, and Cecilia Tavera at [email protected]. The next meeting is tentatively schedule for Oct 22, no time has been posted yet so watch the site. This is not just a data center issue. The proposal itself is from a guy who bankrupted his previous clothing company, you might of heard of it-LaLaRue-and has been subject of investigative reporting about a multi-level marketing scam. He’s brand new to data centers as of March and has not yet built one to prove he even can execute his technical design which sounds sketch. His claims to have a tech that doesn’t use local water and won’t noise pollute Samarkand and San Roque have never been proven. Let’s not be his proof of concept or white elephant
Why was the Principal even allowed back into this role?