••• “On Monday, the Parks and Recreation Department presented the preliminary design [for Ortega Park] which includes a dual soccer and baseball field with a synthetic surface, a new lap swimming pool, waterslides, wading pool, skate park, basketball court and public art. […] The Planning Commission must approve the preliminary design. Renovations should be complete in the next four years and cost $14 million.” —KEYT
••• “Clinical laboratories and some of their medical partners are providing antibody testing for the novel coronavirus, which could provide an improved understanding of how widespread Covid-19 is in Santa Barbara County.” However, “these tests are not diagnostic and can result in false negatives depending on how far out someone is from their initial illness, [Santa Barbara County Public Health Department spokeswoman Jackie] Ruiz explained. At this point, it’s unclear if someone will be protected from being infected again if they have antibodies to the virus.” —Noozhawk
••• Developer Ed St. George has some good ideas about making Santa Barbara more appealing to businesses. —Newsmakers
••• “The city of Goleta is considering a 1 percent sales tax increase for the November ballot [….] Goleta’s sales tax is 7.75 percent. Santa Barbara’s is 8.75 percent and Carpinteria’s is 9 percent. [But] under a Revenue Neutrality Agreement between Goleta and Santa Barbara County, the county receives 30 percent of the sales tax revenue, a holdover from when Goleta incorporated.” —Noozhawk
••• “Perhaps no cultural center in town has experienced so prolonged and so operatic a death rattle as La Casa de la Raza [left], located at 601 East Montecito Street on the city’s Eastside, which was reportedly finally sold at auction sometime in April to its leading creditor Tomas Castelo [….] What Castelo plans to do with the old 26,000-square-foot building—a reconstructed onetime lumber supply center—remains uncertain.” —Independent
••• “Amy Cooper said goodbye to her dream of owning a retail store in Santa Barbara. Cooper, the longtime owner of Plum Goods on State Street, has removed all of the eco-chic, sustainable clothing and merchandise and permanently closed the store that she has owned since 2010.” —Noozhawk
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