The Push for Public Access to Hollister Ranch Beaches

••• “State Revives Plans for Hollister Ranch Beach Access, Seeks Public Opinion [….] Public workshops in Buellton, Goleta and online this November will help shape shoreline access plans.” —Noozhawk

••• “Services for the homeless on Santa Barbara’s Eastside are set to come to an end December 31. PATH, which has run the shelter since 2015, will cease operations at 815 Cacique St. […] The City of Santa Barbara has put out a request for qualifications to find an organization to run the site so that service is not interrupted. The city is also in the process of acquiring the property.” —Noozhawk

••• The New York Times took a long look at California’s insurance problem. The gist: “Even before the devastating wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles this year, companies that insure the ever-growing number of homes perched in California’s fire-prone foothills were threatening to abandon the state, declaring that the risks were becoming unsupportable. […] Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration went into crisis negotiations with the insurance industry, and emerged in September 2023, with what was billed as an ‘historic’ compromise, one that would reward insurers with higher rates in exchange for protecting homeowners in neighborhoods that climate change was turning into tinder boxes. The central promise was that insurers would have to write policies in fire-prone areas at a rate equal to at least 85 percent of their market share across the state. But […] a series of loopholes quietly negotiated by the insurance industry all but eliminated that guarantee.”

••• “Nine months after the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors split on the decision to transfer a series of permits to Sable Offshore Corp., the board on Tuesday overwhelmingly decided against the company, denying the transfer in a 4-1 vote. […] The vote comes nine months after the board reached a stalemate of 2-2 on whether to transfer the permits. A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge instructed the board to hold another vote on the matter after Sable sued the county to force the transfer.” —Noozhawk

••• “The Carpinteria Architectural Review Board recently approved plans for the $2-million Franklin Creek trail that aims to provide a safer path to Aliso Elementary School. With the goal to improve accessibility, the project will resurface the path and add fencing on the east side of Franklin Creek between Carpinteria Avenue and Seventh Street. Construction is expected to start early next year and be completed by June 2026.” —Noozhawk

••• The tree of the month is the carob tree, “planted in Santa Barbara primarily for its stately appearance in the landscape. However, worldwide, it is best known and cultivated simply for its seed pods. […] It can take up to a year for the seed pods to mature. When young, they are straight, smooth, and green; when mature, they become curved, wrinkled, and dark brown.  When ripe, they do not split open to drop their seeds; instead, they fall to the ground intact—where they are eagerly eaten by animals—and subsequently disbursed with a dollop of fertilizer. The pulp within the seed pods has a heavy, sweet smell; in fact, the pods contain more sugar than sugar beets or sugarcane. The dark brown oval seeds inside the pods are 1/3-inch long; these are so uniform in size and weight that it has been reported that they were the original jeweler’s ‘carat’ weight.” —Edhat (photos by David Gress, courtesy Santa Barbara Beautiful)

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