The ongoing conflict over parking near the Hot Springs Trailhead, featuring county government's bid to muscle Montecito neighbors rich enough to pay A-list lawyers, has emerged as Santa Barbara's most captivating civic soap opera.
In the latest, action-packed episode: 1) a Superior Court judge delivered a first-rate ass-chewing to county bureaucrats for flouting a legal injunction by threatening East Mountain Drive homeowners involved in the dispute with fines and jail time over certain purportedly illegal encumbrances in the public right of way; 2) Rep. Salud Carbajal, who used to represent as a county supervisor the district where the conflict is transpiring, big-footed Das Williams, the current Board of Supervisors seat-warmer for the area, by convening a stakeholders meet to iron things out; 3) Barry Cappello's high-powered law firm teamed up with land use attorney Joe Cole to talk smack about Das and the county for "strong-arm" conduct, not to mention plain incompetence.
There were no injuries.
Fortunately, Josh Molina is on hand for this week's episode of Newsmakers TV to sort through and untangle the complex political and legal cross-currents underlying all the drama.
As Montecito neighbors, along with every resident of Santa Barbara, fear increased risk of a wildfire being accidentally ignited in the midst o the party-hearty hordes trekking to the Hot Springs, Jun Starkey provides an update on problems with the county's emergency messaging system.
And noted History major Nick Welsh dissects the dubious historical narrative employed by conservative Supreme Court justices in overturning Roe v. Wade (spoiler alert: one of their key sources burned witches at the stake).
Plus: the latest brouhaha over the future of State Street; the failed effort to impose a moratorium on new hotels in the city; an actual decrease in local housing prices as interest rates rise; the scary details of that stalker at the home of pop star Ariana Grande - and Henry channels Hitchcock with yet another cameo appearance.
It's all here, right now on Newsmakers TV.
JR
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Image: Logo for the long-running TV soap opera Santa Barbara (wikipedia).