The annual Point-in-Time count of the unhoused rolled out before dawn on Wednesday, as more than 400 volunteers fanned out to tally the number of homeless people in Santa Barbara County.
To put a face on the numbers, KEYT's Lily Dallow spent countless hours in advance of the census effort in recent weeks, introducing herself to homeless people, seeking, listening to, and writing their life stories, and she reprises her reporting on this week's edition of Newsmakers TV.
Also this week, SB's City Council approved a $6 million loan to the Housing Authority to aid the $9.45 million purchase of the Quality Inn on upper De La Vina Street; Josh Molina returns to explain that local residents had little warning, and no input, on the plan to remodel the hotel's 34 units into 32 studios for low-income and formerly homeless tenants (that's 295,312.50 per unit for those keeping score at home, with little heard to date about taxpayer-financed maintenance, repair or other annual costs. But we digress)
Our latest episode also features Montecito Journal Editor-in-Chief Gwyn Lurie, who checks in from MoJo's global headquarters to discuss her company's latest big initiative: The Giving List Women's Summit, to be held here in April, is planned to draw 150 philanthropic practitioners and thought leaders for a conference focused on boosting and expanding non-profits from around the world that work specifically on behalf of girls and women, and will coincide with publication of a special, book-length edition of MoJo's popular Giving List, featuring 50 non-profits that operate in that space.
Plus: Gwyn reports a spate of break-ins in Montecito and Carp; Lily unveils her big plans for election night; Josh forecasts an early close for the March 5 primary (and the genial host blunders into repeating a fake rumor that Frank Troise has raised $350K for his challenge to Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann - make that $350 (sic) without the other three zeroes. Apologies for the confusion).
All this and more, right here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.
JR
Check out the latest edition on YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 8 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Dual citizenship diary. Just 284 days before the Nov. 5 presidential election, today's Real Clear Politics polling average shows Donald Trump leading Joe Biden nationally:
Trump 47.3%
Biden 43.0%
RCP’s current survey of online betting markets tells a similar story, with each candidate’s percentage of winning now calculated as:
Trump 44.7%
Biden 33.2%
For those with thoughts of fleeing a potential Trump 2.0 administration, we recommend Business Insider’s “Five Best Countries to Move to if Trump Gets Elected,” and casting a close eye on the lack of red tape involved in emigrating to (checks notes) Svalbard.
Svalbard, as every schoolchild knows, is a tiny archipelago that is technically part of Norway which for reasons BI does not explain, is not subject to that nation’s immigration laws – all you have to do is buy whatever transit tickets get you there.
The good news: not much congestion with only 2,642 other folks in residence. The bad news, it’s north of the Arctic Circle, with winter temps averaging between -12 and -16 degrees Fahrenheit, and no sunlight between October and mid-February.
Still: consider the alternative.
CARTOON OF THE WEEK
Cartoon by Christopher Weyant for The New Yorker.