With most of the drama drained from next week's election, the city Planning Commission rushed in this week to fulfill Santa Barbara's bottomless need for performative politics.
After a marathon hearing that featured the most political palaver since Donald Trump last opened his pie hole, commissioners awarded a split-decision go-ahead to a 250-room Funk Zone hotel project, for which the city first authorized the right to develop in (checks notes)...1983.
Josh Molina and Ryan P. Cruz return to Newsmakers TV to amplify their reporting on the PC's head-shaking deliberations, marked by a brutish tone fueled in large part by commissioner Devon Wardlow, whose avid political ambition is transparent, and by its four-hour length, well-aided by the historic fulminations of erstwhile City Council member Brian Barnwell, who's clearly delighted to be back in the game..
Lily Dallow joins the panel to pull back the curtain on Election Night preparations over at KEYT, as the gang concurs that the few remaining questions in Tuesday's local balloting are whether:
Incumbent Joan Hartmann wins 50-percent-plus-one of the vote for the Third District seat on the Board of Supervisors, to avoid a November runoff;
Lompoc Mayor Jennelle Osborne, an independent No Party Preference candidate, ekes out Frank Troise, the fractured Republican Party's entry, for second place.
Das Williams meets, or fails to match, expectations in a probable victory over Roy Lee which are set at 60-to-40 percent or better of the First District vote, considering the incumbent Supervisor outspent the Carpinteria City Council member by a 2 ½-to-1 ratio.
And what would a local news week be without City Council members piling into the City Hall clown car to meddle yet again with the details and dimensions of the State Street Alleged Promenade, even as downtown commerce keeps circling the drain.
Plus: Locals mark the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine; another outbreak of anti-Semitism at UCSB; and how many cruise ships is too many for Santa Barbara?
All this and more, right here, right now on Newsmakers TV.
JR
Check out the new show on YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Check back for the podcast version. TVSB, Channel 17, broadcasts the show every weeknight at 8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. KCSB, 91.9 FM, airs the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.