Just got our home insurance canceled for the second time in 3 years on the lower Riviera. My first thought looking at the houses in the hills is wondering how in the world they get insurance?
Hey Mark, it seems like you have no clue about the facts for this issue. Here’s a couple quotes from the California Court of Appeal’s decision. Hope these help.
“Because the encroachments occupy much of the public right of way, people park in a way that partially obstructs the travel lane. This effectively converts swaths of the two lane road into a one lane road. The encroachments also create a safety hazard for pedestrians, bicycles and equestrians, especially at night.”
“The public may park roads in Montecito, unless they are otherwise posted. By definition, this includes a county road like East Mountain Drive”
I think I have the basics down Walt. A car parked with half of the frame in the road impeding traffic is not respecting the right of way for on coming traffic. Cars parked at the corner of East Mountain and Hot Springs is completely illegal and a significant hazard as they block the vision of cars turning left. The desire of people to bask in the communal hot springs is admirable but not at the expense of public safety. Until the landowners on East Mountain...you know those darned rich folks...comply with the orders to remove barriers, parking halfway in the road isn't an acceptable option. Oh and btw removing those lovely rocks, trees and other beatifications that make East Mountain a treasure? Never going to happen.
Hey Mark - Do you understand what a public right of way is?
Ahh yes of course the class envy card gets played. These people are parked on the road and they’re no ticketed because the government doesn’t enforce the laws. Eat the rich and from the river to the sea…
+1 to everything Mary is saying. Just because you're wealthy doesn't mean you get to block off public parking on a public street.
Related - does anyone know what the deal is with all the parking being off limits on Mockingbird Lane when you're going to More Mesa? This has a very similar vibe, but city sanctioned in this case.
Wrong Mark. The illegalities are being performed by the homeowners who don't want hikers or anyone else "legally" (yes, legally) parking in their precious neighborhood, thus "illegally" (yes, illegally) preventing them from doing so by putting huge rocks, plants and even construction barriers on the street. They aren't putting these obstacles in "illegal" parking areas. I'm sorry but your notion that parking is "hazardous" to anyone's health is laughable and dubious at best. If illegal parking was the problem, then homeowners would have filed complaints long ago and citations issues. If illegal parking was the problem, then the city wouldn't be cracking down on the illegal obstacles in the street. I've been parking at and cycling to that area for decades and can assure a few grumpy residents are the problem, thought I haven't seen them actually vocal about it for some time. They used to come out and "claim" I was parking illegally. Everytime I told them to call an officer to cite my car and you know what? I never once received a citation. You're 100% incorrect.
fwiw it looks like the fountain is being kept - it's in the lower left corner of the top view of the development renderings.
Cracking down on homeowners? How about cracking down on people parked illegally on East Mountain making driving and walking hazardous to your health. This inconsistent application of the law has become all too commonplace. Parking tickets could fund a large portion of the city budget so get to work and enforce the law!
What's the significance of the fountain on that corner? Is it going to be removed as part of the new development?
I find it so disappointing that such an ugly utilitarian 5 story block of concrete is being proposed for this city witb low profile gorgeous architecture. Our mountain views and pretty architecture draw people worldwide here. Let’s not loose sight of this by proposing blocky storage buildings in prominent places.
Looooove those breeze block screens!
the entire plastic wrapped/packaged revolution came on the heels of taking away the plastic bag from the consumer #whatajoke
Great intel! Will be a lot of changes there between the new roundabout, this development, and the new Post/former Las Aves property!
We can't wait to show off more views of Pali!
The last Pali Wine elevation reminds me of a popular local elementary school design.
Why must so many restaurants default to those black metal chairs and barstools? They are cold, uncomfortable and aesthetically unappealing. And...if you are wide of booty (!)...they hurt.
Planet Protectors is a great local organization who is diverting Type 2 and Type 4 plastics from landfills - check them out!
Here's some good trivia and I swear it's not an April Fools joke. That tree you see leaning to the right is a Cook Pine, native to New Caledonia. It's unique that it leans to the south in the northern hemisphere, the farther away from the equator the more it leans. And south of the equator it leans north.
I love your humor! Keep it up!
Ha! We should call them the "Worsties." I went down a bit of a downtown historic rabbit hole this weekend, and found this amazing document with lovely photos and information about State Street as it existed in 1971:
https://issuu.com/santabarbaramuseum/docs/noticias_17_4_winter_1971
The main point that I was making before - that the HLC puts theme above all else - even at the expense of actual historic structures that are not Spanish Revival. Nowhere is this more evident than on page 41, where you can see what 834 State Street used to look like. It was a wonderful piece of architecture, that has since been given a "facelift" that utterly wrecked the original lines, seemingly in the name of theme. That was a BEAUTIFUL building to my eye, and now it's just part of the Spanish Revival Borg. (Trekkies will get that one.) The same happened catty corner to the building that was Forever 21. If you look on page 37, you'll see it had simple, modern lines. Maybe not the most exciting thing, but it's since been redone and themed to the hilt. The same for the Crocker Building that was on the corner of Carillo and State (page 25)- an absolutely LOVELY piece of mid century modern architecture, since given the same treatment. I hope that the same fate doesn't await the Marshall's building - It needs a little sprucing up, but I love the dramatic eaves and columns. All of this asks the question - what is historic preservation? Is it preserving historic structures, as wonderful time capsules of the time in which they were made, or is it forcing all building over time to conform to one single architectural style?
the pink outline is not part of the design, it depicts the neighbor property and the easement which give access to the self storage (dashed green area) the 40 unit 5 story is the south part of 102 WDLG and the storage is in the north side
The Keebler Kottage
The Frontier building is gorgeous. It’s such a shame it can’t become housing but I suspected as much. (I have similar concerns/questions about the News Press building.) The proposed building could be worse. At least it has some color with the green windows (please don’t let them end up black) and it’s white stucco, not craptastic cladding. Cearnal seems to have a near monopoly on proposals for downtown. What gives?
The ugly “Golds Gym” building is on Upper State across from Seven Points. Sorry, I don’t know its real name. We should have a contest! What’s the ugliest building in Santa Barbara? It would be interesting to see the range of buildings and opinions.
