Valley Voice: Viewpoint

Viewpoint Archives:

Unto the seventh generation
10/17/03
In the early days of America, several of the native tribes banded together into the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. The great insight of these pe

Letters to the Editor
10/17/03
Best cure for snakebite: avoidance

That is a tragic story about Maggie (“Rattlesnake and dog: a fatal encounter,” Sept. 12), but more than likely Maggie had never been through a snake avoidance session.

Upon reading your story, a vaccine

Bring our troops home
10/17/03
By Elizabeth Colón, Special to the Voice

The situation for our troops in Iraq is not good. Privatization of support systems has resulted in a chronic lack of such basics as water, food, clothes and protective gear. Private companies contracted to

Editorial: Born lucky
10/24/2003
Residents of the South Coast have a tradition of readily volunteering their time and resources in support of worthy causes. We in Goleta have always

Letters to the Editor
10/24/2003
UCSB’s Research Mentorship Program is a remarkable educational opportunity

Recently I had the opportunity to attend the culminating symposium of the ninth annual, six-week UCSB Research Mentorship Program. Forty highly motivated high school student

Talk to your kids about sex
10/24/2003
By Scott McCann

Despite the fact that the vast majority of parents support sex education in schools, 85 percent of public schools in California are not meeting state mandates regarding sex education. A recent study commissioned by the ACLU of Nort

Editorial: A battler’s graceful exit
10/31/2003
We accept with regret the decision of Gail Marshall not to run for another term as 3rd District County Supervisor. Whatever her reasons for bringing her tenure as supervisor to an end, we can be sure that fear of the opposition had nothing to do with

Letters to the editor
10/31/2003
This letter is to say "Thank You!" to all the members of the Goleta Old Town Project Area committee for your many years of dedication to being an advisory committee for the growth of Old Town Goleta.

Most of you live and/or work in Old Town, and ar

Efforts continue to save Ellwood Mesa
10/31/2003
By Suzanne Moss and DeAnn Sarver, Special to the Voice

At the end of June, a large group of proud citizens stood on the Ellwood Mesa property and proclaimed victory — at having met a very critical deadline — raising a minimum of $6 million to purch

Give it back
11/7/03
Three words for Santa Barbara’s new City Council: Give It Back

Our warmest congratulations to new Santa Barbara City Council members Helene Schneider, Das Williams and Brian Barnwell. Santa Barbara once again has gone to the polls and decided in fa

Letter to the Editor
11/7/03
Would a third lane solve 101 traffic woes?

I find it amazing that, with all the rhetorical torrents gushed about 101 over the years, virtually no analysis of traffic capacity has been presented. The basic ideas are simple. Conclusions are no

Opinion: Debunking the myth of excessive job growth
11/7/03
By Kristen Amyx

The business community keeps getting blamed for the housing crisis. When the business community does well, it is accused of compounding the housing problem by creating too many jobs.

Job growth is not to blame because there is n

Forever in their debt
11/14/03
Taps, a bugle marking the end of the day or the end of a soldier’s life, is one of the saddest and most evocative sounds in American life. Now, once again, our nation is a war and the lonely sound of taps is heard with increasing frequency. Young Ame

Letter to the Editor
11/14/03
Time to clean house at MTD

MTD’s Gary Gleason, on the verge of being given the sack, instead resigns!

What should be stated is, Why has it taken so long? The sad commentary that is the legacy of Gleason is that the board of directors for

OPINION: Iraq exit strategy now on table
11/14/03
By Daniel Schorr

With the election just about a year off and public support for American involvement in Iraq waning, the Bush administration has begun searching for an exit strategy that will not further destabilize that beleaguered country.

The

A glitch in time
11/21/03
"Writing leaves tracks."— Chinese proverb

During our recent recall election, many voters in Alameda County had an unnerving experience using the county’s new Diebold touch-screen voting machines. Every time they tried touching the "No" square, the

Letter to the Editor
11/21/03
Baffled by abortion

When sperm and egg unite, new life begins its long process of development. Today people can stop the process any time they choose.

Many people are against the so-called partial-birth abortion because of the type of act it is.

OPINION: American’s penchant for instant gratification
11/21/03
By Jules Lobel

Perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best 150 years ago when he excoriated "this shallow Americanism, with its passion for sudden success." And Americans’ appetite for immediate gratification has only accelerated since then, to the po

Editorial
11/28/2003
Strike Two — the hunt for common ground

We at the Voice have an ambivalence about the grocery strike that many on the South Coast seem to share. We generally support the striking grocery workers and those who have been locked out of Albertso

Letter to the editor
11/28/2003
Another Thanksgiving Day

Today we seem to be bombarded with seemingly insurmountable problems. From budget deficits and increasing debts, to dire predictions of future financial crises, to cataclysmic natural disasters to rampant incurable d

What has been gained?
12/5/03
The Goleta City Council offered an odd slight to one of its members the other night, when they voted 3-2 to name Jonny Wallis Mayor Pro Tempore (Mayor for the Time Being) — the council member who fills in for the mayor when the mayor is out of town o

Letter to the Editor
12/5/03
Focus on positives when looking at GVJH

At this time, with all the budget cuts and other money-related problems, many people look on the negativities and downsides of schools. However, why see the glass as half-empty and be pessimistic about these

OPINION : On spheres of influence and annexation
12/5/03
By Susan Rose

There has been much attention paid recently to the issue of spheres of influence and annexations and whether the area between the cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta will be annexed to either city in the near future.

In addition, a f

Pro-Council
12/12/03
In last week’s editorial, we chided members of the Goleta City Council for passing over Jean Blois for Mayor Pro-Tem, which she "earned," as we see it, by her fourth place finish among the votes cast in the successful cityhood election.

Passing ov

Letters to the Editor
12/12/03
GVJHS provides good environment for students

I am an eighth-grader at Goleta Valley Junior High School. I’m writing to you about what positive things I have seen happen on the GVJH campus both academically and socially.

This year, our scho

OPINION: Anti-miracle on 34th Street?
12/12/03
By Ellen Chances

NEW YORK - On Thanksgiving morning, I turned on the TV to watch the Macy’s Parade on NBC. What I expected to see was a tribute to children’s delight as they catch sight of the giant balloons bobbing high above the city streets. Wha

PEACE ON EARTH AND GOODWILL...
12/19/03
...TOWARD ALL OF GOD’S

CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL.

Christmas is never more poignant than when it falls in the midst of a war. Traditionally, there is a truce of some sort. Now, when Americans are fighting and dying in the cradle of all civi

Letters to the Editor
12/19/03
In a recent editorial, the Valley Voice stated of the Goleta City Council members "All five of them are new to public office." This is not so. I don’t know the full resumes of the five council members, but I do know that both Jean Blois and Margaret

OPINION: Vision for children, 2004
12/19/03
By Bill Cirone, Special to the Voice

Many of you know this has been a difficult few months for me and my wife Barbara following our serious accident in New York City. It has helped lift our spirits immeasurably to know the caring and concern of our

Ending insurgency in Iraq
12/19/03
It will take weeks, not days, to learn whether Saddam Hussein’s capture will end the resistance in Iraq’s "Sunni triangle." Indeed, the next few days could see an uptick in attacks on coalition and Iraqi targets as frustrated insurgents lash out.

Editorial
12-26-2003
Santa Goleta

Jackie Stewart, the three time world champion in Formula One racing, was a Scot. He once observed that English media referred to him as a Scot when he lost a race, but a Brit when he won. In a similar vein, we at the Voice have

Letter to the editor
12-26-2003
Raptors adapt in amazing ways

The Dec. 12 Valley Voice News Briefs reported that "Californians for Renewable Energy and the Center for Biological Diversity" has complained about raptor deaths caused by wind turbines in the Altamont Pass

Editorial: A patch of blue in an angry sky
1/9/2004
The invasion of Iraq has created a dangerous new dynamic in that part of the world. Whatever it was that the administration intended to happen in the country after Saddam was gone, what has actually happened looks a lot like chaos and anarchy. And th

Letters to the editor
1/9/2004
Generosity and caring are contagious

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, "I’m only one person, I can’t make a difference," think again. A few days before Christmas a phone call was made to a friend sharing the magnitude of needs for the less

Editorial
1-16-2004
The "T" Word

A curious incident happened during the recall campaign of Gray Davis. In his campaign challenge, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that Warren Buffet would joining his campaign as an economic advisor. Warren Buffet, one of th

The PANA Perspective
1-16-2004
Rezoning? Study the impacts first
By Tim Schmidt

The debate about housing, and particularly affordable housing, continues to take place throughout Santa Barbara County. At various times it is lively, contentious, and emotional. All too of

Editorial: Young, restless and bored
1/23/04
There are many reasons why the Southcoast in general, and Goleta in particular, is a wonderful place to raise a family—great schools, beautiful surroundings a healthy environment, and a relatively low crime rate. Toddlers and grade schoolers have a

Letter to the Editor
1/23/04
Clarification on More Mesa news item

We appreciate your reporting the activities of the More Mesa Preservation Coalition in your January 16th edition. Unhappily, the item concerning activities with County Parks needs some clarification. The

OPINION : Taxation out of control
1/23/04
By H. A. Gardner

The recent editorial on "The ‘T’ Word" was interesting from the standpoint that it seemed to be long on emotion and short on factual information.

To rail against Prop. 13 and property taxes is either to ignore or to forget why it

A line in the sand
1/30/04
Goleta has every right to oppose the building of a Target store on the land opposite the airport, above Hollister. Anyone with a sense of fair play who knows how deviously Santa Barbara acquired this land will admit that any project of such a scale b

Letter to the Editor
1/30/04
I am responding to the article "Jobs-housing balance raises questions" on page 9 of the Jan. 23 Valley Voice. More specifically, I want to congratulate and thank the General Plan Manager for the City of Goleta, Pat Dugan for his report. Thank goodnes

Opinion: For Goleta, March vote will impact November election
1/30/04
By Kristen Amyx

"No matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in."
—Anonymous

It’s an election year. All around us, the swirl of information begins to take shape, begging us to use our best intellect and our best judgment to

Let’s get help in Iraq
2/6/04
We are now approaching the first anniversary — March 20, 2003 — of the invasion of Iraq by units of the American and British armed forces. Forty-two days later, George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln — then tethered off San

Letters to the Editor
2/6/04
Firestone endorsements nothing to be proud of

I was very disappointed to learn that Brooks Firestone has proudly accepted the endorsements from the very supervisors who saddled the Goleta Valley with runaway growth and a jobs/housing imbalan

Editorial: Things change
2-13-2004
Santa Barbara’s daily newspaper seems determined to keep things stirred up and hostile between their city and ours. For some time now their opinion page has regularly sought to instruct our city council on the finer points of city-building. In editor

Letters to the Editor
2-13-2004
Certain critics should leave Goleta alone

I wonder if other readers are as tired as I am of the constant sniping by the Santa Barbara News-Press in their editorial pages, regarding Goleta?

The constant barrage of destructive and malicious

The PANA Perspective
2-13-2004
County’s proposed design standards need overhaul

By Tim Schmidt

As a volunteer, grass-roots organization devoted to the needs and concerns of our neighborhoods, the Patterson Avenue Neighborhoods Association endeavors to bring attention to

Spreading democracy around: Vote Yes on Measure S
2-20-2004
Among the many important issues to be decided in the March 2 election will be that of the electoral organization of the city of Goleta — that is, the geographic boundaries which define an electorate, a constituency for the five members of our city co

Letter to the editor
2-20-2004
Vote Buttny, reject Firestone campaign tactics

Last week I received a phone call from someone saying he was calling on behalf of the County Firefighters. He said he was calling to get my support for Brooks Firestone who opposes the County sp

The Sierra Club: Pesticides and the environment
2-20-2004
By Denise Noel

On January 28, the Santa Barbara City Council prohibited pesticide use at 13 city parks, thus increasing to 15 the number of parks where we can enjoy pesticide-free leisure. The next day, January 29, the Bush administration took an o

Voice Endorsements
2-27-2004
John Buttny for 3rd District Supervisor

The election for 3rd District Supervisor is the most import contest for Goleta, the South Coast, and all of Santa Barbara County. The Voice supports John Buttny to succeed Gail Marshall in this pivotal

Letters to the Editor
2-27-2004
Don’t trust Firestone with our money

Back in 1996, Brooks Firestone was in the State Assembly and the California energy deregulation bill was passed by the legislature with very little publicity. When I found out about it, I called Fir

Editorial: The Changing of the Guard
3-5-2004
Our sincere congratulations to Brooks Firestone on his clearcut victory in the 3rd District supervisor’s race. Though some of the tactics of his John Davies-run campaign were questionable, Firestone convincingly beat John Buttny to take control of th

Letters to the Editor
3-5-2004
Time for an airport management change

City Councilman Barnwell was correct when he said "The idea of what to do with Target is a very complex issue." The simple reason it is so complex is because the city of Santa Barbara has no ethical foun

Editorial
3-12-2004
God and Pearl Chase

Several weeks ago the Goleta and Santa Barbara Chambers of Commerce, aided and abetted by prominent developers, charged the Goleta City Council with driving businesses out of the area, in effect through high housing price

Council critics ignore facts of General Dynamics closure
3-12-2004
A recent News-Press article reported on a press conference held by some who purport to be South Coast business leaders — chamber of commerce representatives employed to promote growth and developers who reap profits from growth. They suggest that th

The PANA Perspective: Good intentions
3-12-2004
Though the motivation to build affordable housing is good, undesirable, unintended consequences might arise.
By Tim Schmidt

Recently CNN reported that sales of million-dollar homes are skyrocketing. Citing statistics from a 2003 survey o

Editorial
3-19-2004
Down … by no means out

The city of Goleta has lost the latest round in its bout with the Oly Chadmar development partnership over the Residences at Sandpiper project. Judge William McLafferty ruled in favor of the out-of-town developer becau

Letter to the editor
3-19-2004
To Gaviota Coast landowners

The local conservancy people are well-organized, with identifiable leadership along with specific objectives to which they cling with rapacious tenacity. They have the unqualified support of the political and economic fa

How to house people and address neighbors’ concerns
3-19-2004
By Dan Gira

In July 1993, in the most sweeping land use decision of the Goleta Community Plan (GCP), a "pro-growth" Board of Supervisors decided to protect almost 1,000 acres of Goleta’s historic urban agricultural land from development. The Board

Editorial
3-26-2004
A joyous noise in the Thunderdome

Sometimes, it works. You hold your breath and wish with all your might — and the baseball sails over the fence, the puck slides into the net, the swimmer touches the wall a heartbeat before the oppositi

Letters to the editor
3-26-2004
More Target complications

Mayor Brock’s March 19 article on why we can’t have a Target in the area — especially on Santa Barbara property — does not fully explain the real problem for Goleta, namely the sales tax dollars the city shares with county

Sierra Club: 35 years after the oil spill, we still need rational transportation
3-26-2004
By Robert Sollen

About 150 Santa Barbarans met recently to observe the 35th anniversary of the oil well blowout in the Santa Barbara Channel that many identify as the catalyst for the environmental movement. In 1969 we protested hundreds of tons of

Editorial
4-2-2004
The housing battle yet to come

The Board of Supervisors took the easy road this week on the difficult issue of housing. They threw their unanimous weight behind Housing Element Lite, a compendium of feel-good policies designed to make them —

Letters to the Editor
4-2-2004
Sandpiper appeal based on unfair demands

I wanted to provide some clarifications on the April 19 Valley Voice editorial that supports the city’s actions against The Residences at Sandpiper.

It is true that prior to Goleta’s incorporation a

Still off Target
4-9-2004
The Target stores and a local developer have launched an aggressive public relations offensive, attempting to create the illusion of a widespread demand for one of their mega-stores to be built on Santa Barbara’s ill-gotten real estate across from th

Letter to the editor
4-9-2004
2nd District residents: Stay involved in housing decisions

On Monday, March 29th the Board of Supervisors approved the first phase of the Updated Housing Element. I want to thank all the people who attended the hearings and the 70 people who

The PANA Perspective
4-9-2004
County’s ‘smart growth’ will increase congestion, trample ag land
By Tim Schmidt

"Smart growth" is a popular term describing efforts to curb sprawl by promising better designed new communities, in-filling empty pockets of existing communi

Editorial - Hanging tough
4-16-2004
The Goleta City Council faced another big test this week and passed with high marks. Anybody paying even casual attention knows that the City Council has lately been under attack from several fronts for allegedly stonewalling all development in the n

Letters to the Editor
4-16-2004
Iraq, anti-war sentiment and the media

The Valley Voice appears to be biased in its political views, as does the News Press. You both continue to report news (especially on the American liberation of Iraq) that slants in the direction of obv

Editorial: Sanitary District needs to go with the flow
4-23-2004
Here on the South Coast we take justifiable pride in our environmental activism. Earth Day and the modern environmental movement grew largely in reaction to the horrific oil spill in the channel three decades ago. Maintaining the health of our relati

Letters to the Editor
4-23-2004
Let’s examine the administration’s credibility

Since credibility is the talking point of the day for the tag team of unrepentant liars and frauds presently infesting the White House, it would be less than patriotic not to examine their own r

The Sierra Club: Earth Day is every day
4-23-2004
By Ariana Katovich, Special to the Voice

Earth Day is April 22, and this is a critical time for the environment. Every newspaper has reported in some way or another about global climate change, disappearing species, pollution, erosion, and populati

Editorial
4-30-2004
Closer to home

For most Americans, the war in Iraq is something we watch on television or read about in the newspaper, not something to which we are personally connected.

Several weeks ago, we at the Voice had the war brought closer to our

Letters to the editor
4-30-2004
Goleta Beach needs kids’ wading pool

With all the thousands of dollars spent on Goleta Beach, with numerous studies and research done on how to save the beach, placing boulders on the waterfront in winter, removing them in summer, dredging s

Iraq war casualties, as of April 29, 2004
4-30-2004
U.S. troop deaths: 733
U.S. troops wounded: 3,862

Coalition troop deaths: 105

Iraqi civilian deaths: 8,944–10,796 (estimated)
Iraqi military deaths: 4,895–6,370 (estimated)

Statistics are from the following sources: www.lunaville.com; www

Editorial: To the moms
5-7-2004
"I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always.
"As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be."

Most parents who have been raising children over the past two decades will be familiar with these words from a bestselling children’s book. In simple w

Letter to the editor
5-7-2004
Last Monday night’s Goleta Sanitary District meeting was a very pleasant surprise. A predictably nasty editorial in the local daily paper had needled the GSD board to give up its resistance and "do the right thing" by going to full secondary treatmen

The PANA Perspective
5-7-2004
State-mandated housing quotas will hurt Goleta

By Tim Schmidt

Healthy, vibrant neighborhoods are created when attentive local officials and an engaged citizenry work together in the planning process. Despite this well-understood and widely

Editorial: Paving paradise
5-14-2004
People who have spent a decade or two on the South Coast have seen the pace of life quicken each year and, in many ways, the quality of life drop. More people continue to move into the area despite the very high cost of living.

So the South Coast c

Letter to the editor
5-14-2004
Crosswalk violators

I read with interest the article in the April 23-29 issue of the Valley Voice regarding a crackdown on crosswalk violators. I was particularly interested because of a crosswalk incident on April 22 involving my son.

My

Editorial: If this be heresy…
5-21-2004
Local governments and the state of California should endorse drilling for new oil reserves in the Santa Barbara Channel. There, we said it. But before you jump to your computer to fire off an angry response, hear us out.

Everyone who has paid atten

Letters to the editor
5-21-2004
Wading pool at Goleta Beach is a great idea!

Regarding the letter to the editor titled "Goleta Beach needs kids’ wading pool," in the April 30 Valley Voice: Here’s a variation on the theme. In my hometown in Ontario, Canada, the old, familia

Improving reading skills
5-21-2004

By Bill Cirone

To help boost a child’s reading skills and make reading more fun, try some of these easy ideas.

Get a library card. Children love seeing their names on cards and they enjoy choosing what they want to read or have read t

Editorial: Glory
5-28-2004
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row (McCrae)
Everybody knows the first two lines of that poem, probably the best-known poem to come from World War I, a war rich in great poetry. Curiously, it is the most p

Letters to the editor
5-28-2004
Forever grateful
We remember on this Memorial Day and always those who made the supreme sacrifice, and we are forever grateful. It has been a tradition in every country to honor its heroes, and most Americans observe Memorial Day in one way

Iraq war casualties, as of May 25
5-28-2004
U.S. troop deaths: 802
U.S. troops wounded: 4,524
Coalition troop deaths: 110
Iraqi civilian deaths: 9,153–11,010 (estimated)
Iraqi military deaths: 4,895–6,370 (estimated as of April 28 — more recent figur

Editorial: The unavoidable give and take
6-4-2004
As parcel after parcel of land on the south coast falls under the bulldozer’s blade, most of those who already live here feel a certain unease. There is, after all, only so much open space, only so much land between the Santa Ynez mountains and the s

Letter to the editor
6-4-2004
Housing site selection — in secret or in public?
Supervisor Susan Rose has chosen to follow state-mandated housing guidelines, which will have far-reaching implications for her district. I feel that the resulting huge increase in home-buildi

Wise planning — support your City Council now
6-4-2004
By Roger Jahnke, Special to the Voice
The fate of the beautiful Ellwood Coast — the southernmost portion of the Gaviota Coast — is at its most spectacular moment of pressure right now.
Thousands of us have been involved in advocating for wise pl

The PANA Perspective: Kellogg is distinguished
6-4-2004
But Assembly bill may jeopardize future students’ experiences
By Tim Schmidt
Strong schools are at the heart of healthy communities. We in the Goleta Valley are extremely fortunate to be blessed with an abundance of primary and secondary s

Editoirial
6-11-2004
50 ways to leave Iraq
If we can rise far enough above the media din to take a sober look at the American involvement in Iraq, it is reasonable to conclude from the administration’s lack of an exit strategy that they don’t intend to leave. Wh

Letter to the editor
6-11-2004
Rose responds to housing letter
This letter is in response to Ann Crosby’s letter appearing in last week’s Valley Voice.
Santa Barbara needs housing. In addition, the State of California has mandated that we prepare for future populations

Editorial: In praise of fathers
6-18-2004
It’s an imperfect world we live in, and the men who play the role of fathers play it imperfectly. Fathers are not often as strong and loving as the man Jimmy Stewart played in It’s a Wonderful Life, but neither are they the louts so often portrayed i

Letters to the editor
6-18-2004
Rose confuses constituents about housing
I just finished reading Supervisor Susan Rose’s letter in your last edition. I would like to comment on some of her remarks. If there is confusion in her district as to the number of subsidized housin

Sierra Club: Watching our waste
6-18-2004
By Denise M. Noel
Recycling’s economic potential is preferable to the pollution and climate-changing greenhouse gases produced by unaltered waste. Recycled paper is a good example of profit from waste. According to the National Recycling Coalition,

From the Mayor's Office
6-18-2004
Ellwood: the big picture
By Cynthia Brock
In the next few weeks, the City of Goleta will complete key decision-making processes for the Ellwood Mesa acquisition, land swap, and development review. It's time to reflect on where we have bee

Editorial: From the garage to the stars
6-25-2004
Our warmest congratulations to engineer/visionary Burt Rutan and his pilot Mike Melvill for their spectacular feat in putting a human into space — and, more important, bringing him back — without the assistance or interference of any federal agency.

Iraq war casualties, as of June 23
6-25-2004
U.S. troop deaths: 848
U.S. troops wounded: 4,912
Coalition troop deaths: 117
Iraqi civilian deaths: 9,436 – 11,317 (estimated)
Iraqi military deaths: 4,895 – 6,370 (estimated as of April 28, 2004 —more recent figures not available)
Sta

Letters to the editor
6-25-2004
Maintaining Girsh Park
Those of us who have labored to create Girsh Park and then worked to obtain funds to buy the baseball fields are now facing a different problem. The cost of running an active park and keeping all the fields in proper s

Editorial: Celebrating the Fourth of July
07-02-2004
Americans are a patriotic people. It comes naturally to us. Europeans travelling in the United States frequently comment on how unforced and spontaneous are American demonstrations of patriotism. Cynics will say it is the flag-waving and indoctrinat

Letters to the editor
07-02-2004
Thank you, Bacara
It’s time for the Goleta City Council to publicly express the appreciation of our community for the outstanding job the Bacara Resort has done in providing public access to the old Haskell’s Beach. Further dispute can proce

The PANA perspective: More than one way to build an affordable house
07-02-2004
By Tim Schmidt
It was only 12 months ago that Santa Barbara County unveiled its proposal to satisfy the state’s housing mandate, a proposal that included the likelihood of converting large parcels of agricultural land and open space to housing. As

Editorial: No choice but to accept it?
07-09-2004
Several weeks ago the city of Goleta lost its legal challenge to the Coastal Commission’s approval of the relocation of the Santa Barbara airport runway. Aligned east to west, the runway will now be moved nine hundred feet towards Ellwood.
In the p

Letters to the editor
07-09-2004

Boys camp loss ‘devastating’ to community
The news of the potential loss of funding and closure of the Los Prietos Boys Camp and Academy is devastating to those of us who work with the boys, as well as for our community. For the last t

Editorial: A threat to our liberty
07-16-2004

A recently announced initiative from the newly created Federal Election Assistance Commission should set off alarm bells among American conservatives and liberals alike. DeForest Soaries, chairman of the commission, is asking for guidelines to ca

Letters to the editor
07-16-2004

Goleta to ban second-story home additions?
The city of Goleta is considering taking away the right of many Goleta homeowners to add a second story to their homes.
Tucked away in the "Environmental Vitality" option of the proposed Golet

Editorial: It takes a city
07-23-2004

The Monday approval by the Goleta City Council of a 62-unit subdivision at the Hollister Avenue end of Santa Barbara Shores city park puts, if not a period, certainly a very definite semicolon on a 17-year battle to preserve the Ellwood Bluffs fr

Letters to the editor
07-23-2004

Disc golf, not Frisbee golf
Erynn Im recently wrote about the sport of disc golf. Im made reference to "Frisbee golf" and "frolf." The sport is not called "Frisbee" golf, and its name is not shortened to "frolf" for the discs themselves.

Iraq war casualties, as of July 21, 2004
07-23-2004

U.S. troop deaths 903
U.S. troops wounded 5,804

Coalition troop deaths 121

Iraqi civilian deaths 11,252 – 13,213 (estimated)

Iraqi military and insurgent deaths 4,895 – 6,370 (estimated as of April 28 – more recent fi

Editorial: Taking care of business
07-30-2004

In getting our city up and running, the Goleta City Council has, we think, made the right moves. It has proceeded, with deliberate speed, to give a rational shape to the city government. It has been sparing in the imposition of ordinances — over

Letters to the editor
07-30-2004

Workers’ comp solution
The workers’ comp system has completely failed, chasing jobs out of state, and out of our country, forcing companies to downsize, move, or pay under the table. Politicians do nothing, because trial lawyers, doctors

Editorial: The Effective Leadership of Jonny Wallis
08-06-2004

Goleta already has one good candidate for the city’s first council election since incorporation: incumbent Jonny Wallis. Ms. Wallis filed the necessary papers this week and waits to see who will challenge her in November.
Santa Barbara’s daily

Letters to the editor
08-06-2004

On Target
My family and friends support Target in Santa Barbara and feel it would greatly benefit the community. I love Target and would like to have one that is close rather than having to drive to Ventura. A Target is needed, as no ot

Editorial: The Transportation Grid
08-13-2004

Last week the state Housing and Community Development department did something unusual — they put conditions on the extension of the General Plan process requested by the City of Goleta. Existing jurisdictions usually need such extensions; new ci

Letters to the editor
08-13-2004

An open letter to County Supervisor Susan Rose:
We are writing to you regarding the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley. Our current General Plan is more than 10 years old, has been amended and changed many times without public inpu

Editorial: Gone Fishing
08-20-2004

We live in a stressful world, and stress can kill just as surely as a bullet, if not as quickly. We aren’t set up to deal with a state of continuous crisis. Our physiology evolved in an environment when we faced a new experience or sensation at mo

Letters to the editor
08-20-2004

According to planning
This letter is in response to the misperceptions in the letter from the Coalition for Sensible Planning printed in last week’s Valley Voice.
Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department produced five c

Iraq war casualties, as of August 19, 2004
08-20-2004

U.S. troop deaths: 953
U.S. troops wounded: 5,890
Coalition troop deaths: 170
Iraqi civilian deaths:

Editorial: On Target This Time
08-27-2004

The specter of a Target store in Goleta/Santa Barbara has just gone out with both a whimper and a bang. The Target store, you may recall, was to be built on land "owned" by Santa Barbara in the heart of Goleta, opposite the airport. Putting a hi

Letters to the editor
08-27-2004

Responsible revelry
Picnics, barbecues, and parties are a Labor Day Holiday tradition. Both hosts and guests should take responsibility for staying safe this holiday weekend.
When hosts practice responsible serving techniques, such as s

Editorial: No exceptions
09-03-2004

As we write this, a man who fled Canada to avoid prosecution on charges of child molestation lives in our midst, in well-provided comfort under the protection of a religious order, and there are no immediate prospects of returning him to face just

Letters to the editor
09-03-2004

Protecting ag land is vital
Your recent series of stories on Goleta’s farmland is a valuable reminder of the importance of these lands to Goleta’s citizens. This realization must be tempered with the understanding that some of these parc

The PANA Perspective: Planning by decree
09-03-2004
By Tim Schmidt
An increasingly pessimistic mood is spreading among a majority of Californians when it comes to planning for future growth. The depth of this dissatisfaction has been documented by the Public Policy Institute of California’s August 2

Editorial: One thousand dead, and counting
9-10-2004
John Kerry calls it a "tragic milestone." George W. Bush has said that he "mourned the loss of every life." Donald Rumsfeld said, dismissively, that he always figured there would be a thousand US service personnel killed in Iraq, and that that wasn’t

Letters to the editor
9-10-2004
Priestly punishment for pedophiles
[Editor’s note: Gerald Chumik has moved from the Santa Barbara mission, where he had been living, to Missouri. See p. 15.]
I read your article "God, man and law collide in the Mission" with a comb

Letters to the editor
09-17-2004

Music, not missiles, on Sept. 11
Thank you, Valley Voice, for your Sept. 10 article on Leon Redbone’s night at the Lobero Theatre on Sept. 11. I had never heard of this vaudeville-style singer and joker, but your article and Groucho Marx

Letters to the editor
09-24-2004

Recent political records or 30 year-old military records?
Last February from the Oval Office, George Bush uttered four words: "I did my duty." That was all he made of it. Kerry has given about the same amount of airtime to his twenty-yea

Editorial: Battle lines are being drawn
09-24-2004

The most contentious issues facing residents of the Goleta Valley revolve around the creation of new housing and the questions of affordability, numbers to be built and where the new units will go. Many business people, concerned about growing th

Democracy seems to be working
10-1-2004
A journey of a thousand miles, as the proverb says, begins with the first step. Last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors took that step in their journey towards reconsidering proposed county housing policies and, by implication, the general development

Letters to the Editor
10-1-2004
Whose death should we accept?
Peter Tredick wrote (Letters to the Editor, Sept. 17) that the war in Iraq was a situation where we must "accept some deaths to prevent even more deaths." Reading this, one might assume that Tredick has already

Public Agenda
10-1-2004
Monday, Oct. 4
Goleta City Council — Regular meeting, 1:30 p.m., Goleta Valley Community Center, 5679 Hollister Ave., and 6 p.m., Goleta Union School District board room, 401 N. Fairview Ave.
Goleta Sanitary District — Regular meeting, 7

Editorial: City Hall fights back — and wins
10-08-2004

On Thursday, Sept. 30, the city of Goleta won a signal victory in the appellate court. The judges voted 3-0 to uphold the city’s denial of final tract map approval to the Sandpiper project. The court, moreover, awarded costs to the city.
When d

Letters to the editor
10-08-2004

At what price metropolis?
Supervisor Susan Rose says she wants to put only affordable housing (read: high-density, subsidized housing) in the unincorporated area of the 2nd District. Last week, she stated that since most of the open land

Public Agenda
October 8 - 14, 2004

Friday, Oct. 8
Beach Erosion Authority for Clean Oceans and Nourishment (B.E.A.C.O.N) — Regular meeting, 9 a.m. Carpinteria City Hall, 5775 Carpinteria Ave.

Tuesday, Oct. 12
Goleta Water District — Regular meeting, 7 p.

Editorial: Jonny and Jean, a winning combination
10-15-2004
The Voice urges the re-election of both Jonny Wallis and Jean Blois to the Goleta City Council. Between them, Wallis and Blois embody the kind of balance our city needs in its governing body; Jonny supports a more controlled and cautious approach whi

Letters to the Editor
10-15-2004
Iraq war ‘a bloody, bloody shame’
John Caulfield of the Santa Barbara Young Republicans recently wrote that there should be crosses on the east side of Stearns Wharf representing the victims of terrorism, specifically the victims of 9/11. Th

The PANA Perspective: Haphazard planning leads to upheaval
10-15-2004
By Tim Schmidt
Steadily, the list of events marking the upheaval in our county’s political structures grows longer. A failed recall effort is followed by threats of future recalls. The county’s north-south differences become so pronounced that some

Editorial: Lois Capps, of course
10-22-2004
This is one of the easiest endorsements we have to make, urging you to re-elect Lois Capps as our representative in the United States Congress.
Defying conventional wisdom and the instructions of her own party leadership, Lois voted against the res

From the Mayor's Office: Goleta General Plan - an open process
10-22-2004
By Cynthia Brock
In this political season, when special-interest groups are particularly active, and when people who have significant financial interests in the planning direction of our city seek to influence the City Council’s decisions and even

The housing situation in the 2nd District
10-22-2004
By Susan Rose
Housing issues are among the most critical issues facing this community. How do we provide for a broad and economically diverse population while still maintaining the quality of life that we all hold so dear? The challenge facing us i

Letters to the Editor
10-22-2004
Lemon Fest organizers should encourage alternative transport
During the Lemon Festival this past weekend, the bus stops and bicycle lanes were closed in the area around Girsh Park. Can someone explain why this was done? Shouldn’t we be encou

Iraq war casualties, as of Oct. 13, 2004
10-22-2004
U.S. troop deaths: 1,102
U.S. troops wounded: 8,016
Non-U.S. coalition troop deaths: 138
Iraqi civilian deaths: 13,278-15,337 (estimated)
Iraqi military and insurgent deaths: 4,895 – 6,370 (estimated as of April 28 – more recent figures not

Public agenda
10-22-2004
Tuesday, Oct.26
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors — Regular meeting, 9 a.m., 105 E. Anapamu St.
Wednesday, Oct 27
Santa Barbara Airport Noise Abatement Committee — Regular meeting, 10 a.m., Airport Administration confer

Sierra Club: Vote to protect the future of our planet
10-22-2004
By Ada Babine
Your most precious right as a citizen is the right to vote. We are coming up to what is probably the most important election in the history of our country. As Jim Lehrer has said, "The United States is the most powerful nation in the

Editorial: JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT
10-29-2004
Our nation needs a change in leadership. Stand back from political parties for a moment and look at the record of this administration. We are mired in a disastrous war in Iraq, with a thousand Americans dead and many more thousands wounded. We have m

Endorsements
10-29-2004
The Voice offers these endorsements for the Nov. 2 election. We have not attempted to speak to each issue on the ballot; rather, we have focused our energies on a select few races.
For the 23rd Congressional District
Lois Capps

Valley Voices: Whom do you support for President, and why?
10-29-2004
"I’m supporting Kerry. I can’t forgive President Bush for getting us into this war and killing one thousand of our finest young people ... and for getting us into debt."
Helen Gordon, retired English professor

"I don’t want Bush, but

Letters to the Editor
10-29-2004
Wallis is a great leader
A lot has been said about the Goleta City Council lately, largely by people who don’t even live in Goleta. As an 18-year Goleta resident, I feel that the Council is doing exactly what we elected them to do-protect o

Eternal vigilance
11-5-2004
We warmly congratulate Lois Capps on her resounding victory. The people of our district may rest a little more easily, knowing that she will remain our U. S. Representative. Likewise, we are pleased to note that Barbara Boxer will continue to represe

Letter to the Editor
11-5-2004
Voice misses the mark with Kerry endorsement
At the time of this writing, the polls are 15 hours from opening. I obviously do not know the outcome, and, though the point might be moot by the time of publication, I feel compelled to answer yo

Editorial: Develop Earl Warren Showgrounds? A lose-lose proposition
11-12-2004
A rather alarming item in the local daily newspaper invited readers to express themselves on the question of whether Earl Warren Showgrounds should be sold — presumably as "surplus property," under the provisions of Proposition 60A, which passed in t

Letters to the Editor
11-12-2004
Derision derails reasonable discourse
The editorial printed in the Nov. 11 edition of the Valley Voice was a rational, generous statement on the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election, but who selected the vitriolic letter to the editor w

Celebrating the American Dream
11-12-2004
By Bill Cirone
"Celebrating the American Dream" is the theme of American Education Week this year, and it’s exactly on target for these troubling times. It reminds people that the seeds of democracy are planted and nourished in our nation’s public

Editorial: Fair play for all
11-19-2004
On February 1, 2002, the first day of Goleta’s cityhood, Daniel Guggenheim of Newport Beach filed a lawsuit against the city’s rent control ordinance. Although the city of Goleta was required by law to adopt all of the county’s ordinances unchanged a

Letter to the editor
11-19-2004
Arafat not a statesman but a murderer
Cal Thomas got it right when he recently wrote: "The legacy of Yasser Arafat, for those not brainwashed by his propaganda and that of his supporters, is one of murder, deceit and corruption. As part of i

Iraq war casualties, as of Nov. 17
11-19-2004
U.S. troop deaths: 1,210
U.S. troops wounded: 8,150
Coalition troop deaths: 146
Iraqi civilian deaths: 14,429-16,579 (estimated)
Iraqi milit

Editorial: Still among the most blessed of peoples
11-26-2004
We are told that there is an old Chinese curse which says: "May you live interesting times." The assumption is that interesting times are uncertain times, perilous times. We seem to be living in such times now — that is, in very interesting times ind

Letters to the Editor
11-26-2004
'Kinsey' review in bad taste
The Valley Voice is delivered each week to our home. I read it, but am growing increasingly disgusted with much of what you report. I would assume you would provide a more family friendly newspaper for a communit

Editorial: Jonny Wallis victorious
12-3-2004
Now, at last, we can offer our warmest congratulations to Jonny Wallis on her re-election to the Goleta City Council. In the almost one month since the election, her lead stayed about the same over challenger Roy Zbinden, who, perhaps wisely, refrain

Letters to the Editor
12-3-2004
Inclusionary housing revisions passed
Well, the dust has momentarily settled as the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors voted to pass the very controversial inclusionary housing revisions on Nov. 22.
Developers and lobbyists such as S.B. CA

The Sierra Club: Gaviota Coast faces new threat
12-3-2004
By Ed Easton
The Naples controversy has been occupying the attention of most of the community that is trying to save the Gaviota Coast. A more si

Editorial: Good job, Fred, and thanks
12-10-2004
It is with sorrow that we note the resignation of Fred Stouder as City Manager for Goleta. When he took over the position — replacing interim manager Ed Wollenberg — Fred became the city’s first permanent employee. Fred then faced the daunting task o

Letter to the editor
12-10-2004
Bush’s agenda
George Bush’s recent trip to Ottawa and Halifax shows that his administration cares about Canada / U.S. relations.
As expected, the tour enabled Paul Martin to lobby for Americans to buy more Canadian beef and lumber, and it

The PANA Perspective: Local self-determination is in jeopardy
12-10-2004
By Tim Schmidt
For many months the city of Goleta has been steadily working to complete a community plan. Traditionally, a community’s general plan serves as a framework providing specific guidance on land use decisions ; here, it is arguably the k

Editorial: The pride of the Gauchos
12-17-2004
Vince Lombardi got it wrong. There are lots of things in life besides winning, many of them as rewarding, and a few even more so. The late, great coach of the Green Bay Packers was, in any case, speaking of the unforgiving world of professional athle

Letters to the editor
12-17-2004
Keep the current county transportation staff

Santa Barbara County’s Public Works Department is considering cutting the alternative transportation staff from two people to one person. Here’s why it’s a bad idea and what you can do about

Iraq war casualties, as of Dec. 17, 2004

U.S. troop deaths: 1,299
U.S. troops wounded: 9,844
Coalition troop deaths: 149
Iraqi civilian deaths: 14,770-16,765 (estimated)
Iraqi military and insurgent deaths: 4,895-6,370 (estimated as of April 28 — current total
not available)

Editorial: An affirming flame
12-24-2004
We at the Voice wish all of our readers the happiest of holiday seasons. We hope that you get to spend as much time as you want with your family and friends. We hope that, whatever storms might howl and bluster outside your windows, inside you are wa

Letters to the Editor
12-24-2004
Heal this country; investigate election fraud

As the Bush administration kills and maims thousands of young Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis purportedly to bring democracy to Iraq, evidence of possible widespread election f

Sierra Club: Growing Solutions restores native habitat
12-24-2004
By Holly Holbrook, Special to the Voice
Many of my cherished childhood memories are of time spent playing near — or in — a creek. I spent hours catching polliwogs and frogs and crawdads just to let them go so I could catch them again on my next vis

Editorial: After the deluge
1-7-2005
All Mother Nature has to do is shrug her shoulders and she has got our complete attention. A 9.0 earthquake and the powerful tsunami which followed have combined to produce a devastation around the shores of the Indian Ocean so incomprehensibly great

To help with the tsunami relief effort:
1-7-2005
Direct Relief International
27 S. La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, Ca 93117
(805) 964-4767
www.directrelief.org
Save the Children
54 Wilton Road
Westport, CT 06880
(800) 728-3843
American Red Cross
International Response Fund

Letters to the editor
1-7-2005
New Goletan should help plan for livable streets
A few weeks a ago, a letter appeared in the Santa Barbara News-Press from a young woman named Stephanie Mancini. She recently moved here from Portland, Ore., and is studying urban design. Cho

Editorial: No man is an island
1-14-2005
"If a Clod be washed away by the Sea," wrote the poet John Donne, in his Devotions, "Europe is the less, as well as if a Promontory were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved

Letters to the editor
1-14-2005
Santa Barbara paper misses Ellwood boat
Leave it to the Santa Barbara daily paper to turn something as wonderful as the preservation of Ellwood Mesa into an opportunity to yet again bash the City of Goleta. Sunday’s editorial referring to th

Vision for Children, 2005
1-14-2005
By Bill Cirone
I always like to start a new year by taking stock and sharing visions for the year that is taking shape. Especially at a time when the world appears to be in turmoil and the country remains divided, it is important to articulate a vi

Editorial: Tom Rogers, personally
1-21-2005

Last Tuesday, Tom Rogers lost his 13-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Rogers had long since withdrawn from public life, and had ceased

Letters to the editor
1-21-2005

Cathedral Oaks accident highlights need for driver alertness
The sideswipe accident the other day involving two bicyclists on Cathedral Oaks Road was very unfortunate. I wish them a speedy and complete recovery.
That stretch along Cath

Iraq war casualties, as of Janury 19, 2005
1-21-2005
- U.S. troop deaths 1,370
(estimated as of Jan. 4, most recent total issued by Pentagon)