••• “Santa Barbara, Ventura counties move up to state’s less-restrictive Red Tier, allowing more businesses to reopen,” reported KEYT. “The new rules will take effect on Wednesday [today].” The big change is that “restaurants can serve guests indoors with maximum capacity of 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer.” And the Montecito Association sent out the handy graphic above, which I assume is from the county or state, along with the reminder that “we could be moving into the Orange Tier in 2 weeks, if we do not create another surge.”
••• Newsmakers interviews Mitchell Kriegman, whose Los Angeles Magazine article has roiled city politics, and runs through objections from people mentioned in the piece. Moreover, interim SBPD chief released this statement (which prompted another Newsmakers post):
Los Angeles Magazine published an article that raised a number of issues concerning an employee of the police department, Mr. Anthony Wagner. Most of these allegations have been previously investigated, either within the police department or by the city attorney’s office. In addition, the City prevailed in a federal lawsuit by one of the unsuccessful cannabis permit applicants, which was dismissed in December 2019.
Nevertheless, the Los Angeles Magazine article makes new allegations concerning the nature of Mr. Wagner’s role in the process of the awarding cannabis licenses that support further investigation. To that end, the Department will be retaining an outside firm to conduct that investigation for the Police Department.
I have placed Mr. Wagner on Administrative Leave pending the outcome of this inquiry. I should note that Mr. Wagner has been fully cooperative with this inquiry and welcomes the involvement of an outside reviewer.
••• “Santa Barbara city officials launched a sweep of three downtown homeless camps this Friday morning [….] The targets of the city’s action were the homeless encampments at Pershing Park and Dwight Murphy Field. In addition, officials cleared out at least one camp located on the steep hillsides above Loma Alta near City College. […] Up till now, local authorities have taken a strict hands-off approach about encampments, citing a directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging they be left alone for public health reasons.” —Independent
••• “After outreach and warning notices, crews moved in to clean out nearly everything in two visually overloaded homeless camps Monday along Highway 101 in Santa Barbara. The sites were on both sides of the Castillo-Haley Street onramp.” —KEYT
••• “Haskell’s Beach [in Goleta] May Be Free of Oil Piers in a Year’s Time […] Decommissioning of Structures Headed for Environmental Review.” —Independent
••• The recent buyer of a Mimosa Lane compound was financier Philippe Laffont. I would advise against reading the inane Dirt post, though. A cursory look at Google Maps and you’d know that the Hedgerow is hardly “known for its stunning estate homes sited on oversized lots.”
••• Is Cabrillo Boulevard in for trouble? In Santa Cruz, “a community dialogue is beginning this week as part of a reevaluation of the legacy of Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, for whom Cabrillo College is named. […] A conquistador in the armies of Hernan Cortes, historical records show Cabrillo took part in the massacre of an indigenous village as a teenager. Cabrillo’s service to the Spanish crown was rewarded with a land grant in Guatemala, where he grew wealthy through mines and farmland worked by slave labor. Even his famed expedition’s three ships were crewed, in part, by indigenous slaves.” —Lookout Santa Cruz
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