It’s budget season, and in the City of Santa Barbara, the forecast for 2025 is gloomy. Despite a $12.5 million increase in revenues from 2024, the city is projecting a $16.7 bump in expenditures in 2025, leaving the city with an operating deficit of $7.1 million — worse than the operating deficits of the past two years combined and a far cry from the $12.7 million surplus the city reported in 2022. And that’s a hopeful estimate, assuming the city takes $4.1 million in budget cuts. As Councilmember Eric Friedman warned during a council review on Tuesday, April 23, if the city decides not to mak ..read more

The sound of a thousand plastic sporks clattering onto the linoleum floor of Kellogg Elementary’s cafeteria on Thursday morning signaled the beginning of a new era of sustainability for the school. Beginning on Monday, April 22 — Earth Day — Kellogg became the first school in the Goleta Union School District (GUSD) and one of the first in the state to replace single-use plastic utensils with reusable metal sporks for its students. To commemorate the launch of the sustainable utensil initiative, Kellogg’s Ocean Guardians, the Community Environmental Council, and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper host ..read more

Here’s the good news: In the past year, no fewer than 1,400 homeless people managed to secure permanent housing in Santa Barbara County. Here’s the bad news: In the past year, 4,333 homeless county residents sought out services from one of 45 government agencies or nonprofits that focus on the challenges confronted by this population. That number is up by roughly 1,000 from two years prior. Of these 4,333 individuals seeking services, half found themselves reaching out for help for the very first time. Here’s more good news: Three years ago, the county supervisors embraced a plan to build 563 ..read more

The original version of this newsletter was sent out on Tuesday, April 23 Sign up for All Booked, our bi-monthly newsletter exclusively for book lovers.  Hello, book lovelies! I have some bittersweet news to share: This will be my last All Booked newsletter. I am leaving the Independent to explore a new opportunity in town. This decision was so tough to make, but I know it’s the right one. I have absolutely loved my time at the paper and I will always look back at this time in my life with nothing but love and gratitude. The Indy staff has become my family and my work ..read more

I recently attended the Montecito Association meeting discussing the Miramar plan, and I regret not having had the opportunity to voice my support for the plan. Having worked at a homeless shelter in Santa Barbara for eight years, I witnessed the life-changing impact of affordable housing for families. Thus, I fully support the Miramar’s planned addition of affordable employee housing. I fell in love with Montecito when I first laid eyes on it in the late ’70s), and I cherish Montecito’s idyllic charm. Yet I recognize the inevitability of change. The current status quo of exorbitant housing co ..read more

An additional eight beds are being prepped for residents suffering a mental-health crisis, with the approval Tuesday morning by Santa Barbara County supervisors of $22.1 million for Crestwood Behavioral Health, Inc., to staff and manage a Crisis Stabilization Unit on the county’s Calle Real campus. The eight new beds “bring us closer to a number the state has identified as appropriate for our population,” said Toni Navarro, director of county Behavioral Wellness. The funding approved by the Board of Supervisors runs through June 2027, of which $17.3 million is estimated to come from Medi-Cal r ..read more

Randy Rowse needs to explain how opening State Street to vehicles will benefit downtown businesses. People don’t cruise the streets looking for a business; they search on their phones. People driving up and down State Street don’t patronize businesses, pedestrians do. And pedestrians need a reason to visit the downtown, a pleasant atmosphere as well as mutually supportive retail and dining. There may be nostalgia for the business environment before internet shopping, but the best — and perhaps only — hope for creating a lively and appealing downtown is a street with increased outdoor dining op ..read more

At the end of an energetic two-hour concert at the Arlington Theatre last Wednesday, living jazz legend Herbie Hancock — who had just turned 84 five days earlier — didn’t calmly shuffle off stage during a standing ovation. He literally ran from one end of the stage to the other to greet and press flesh with his fans. That’s the way he rolls, and keeps rolling, and keeps rolling. Post show, some members of the sold-out crowd seemed to be in varying states of afterglow, making such age-related comments as “I’ll have some of what he’s having” and “I want to be like him when I grow up.” But, in a ..read more

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