Lost Opportunity: Some Thoughts on the Passing of the News-Press

By Lou Cannon

When the Brooklyn Eagle, a circulation leader among afternoon papers, closed its doors in 1955 after 114 years of publication, few tears were shed outside of Brooklyn.

The Eagle was not much of a newspaper, observed press critic A.J. Liebling of

My publisher, a conservative Republican, liked my stories, but they didn’t seem to be producing results. So the publisher conferred with my editor, and the two of them concocted a plan. They had a reporter interview a former county counsel about the mechanics of filing a taxpayers’ suit against the supervisors and put the story on page one.

This was in the nineteen-fifties, a less litigious time, and such relatively mild pressure was sufficient. The supervisors rescinded pending cost-plus contracts, one for construction of a hospital. The subsequent new bids saved Merced County thousands of dollars.

My stories didn’t always have such happy endings. At the San Jose Mercury a decade later, the publisher suppressed a series written by me and the political editor about a Republican state senator who had, among other things, accepted bribes for advancing legislation.

This publisher, also a conservative Republican, did not explain the reason for his action, but a friend of his told us he didn’t want to help the Democrats in a swing district.

Years later, I interviewed Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post, for a book I was doing on reporting. When I complimented her for publishing the Pentagon Papers and sticking with the Watergate investigation until it bore fruit, she responded: “What else could I have done?”

As Gwyn Lurie has shown in these pages, quoting the experienced journalist and activist Annie Bardach, McCaw’s withdrawal from serious news coverage has come at great cost to the community.

I said that every publisher wasn’t like her and as an example told her the story of how our series had been suppressed.

“That was scurrilous,” she said. “It’s a wonder you stayed with journalism.”

She touched a nerve. I had considered quitting after our series was spiked, but had a young and growing family, and journalism was all I knew. So I soldiered on and had the good fortune to be hired by Graham’s paper when nearly 40 years old.

I spent the rest of my daily journalism career covering politics, three presidencies, and the West for The Washington Post. Journalistically, they were the best years of my life.

My wife Mary and I have been additionally fortunate to live in Summerland for the past 33 years. We fell in love with the Central Coast during the eight years of the Ronald Reagan presidency when I was the Post’s senior White House correspondent. Reagan escaped the confines of the White House whenever he could to fly west and ride at his nearby ranch.

At the time I wrote a column that had begun in the Post as “Reagan & Company” and was syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group. The News-Press ran the column.

The News-Press was then owned by The New York Times, which meant it was generally high-minded. But I was aware that some Santa Barbarans thought the paper had become remote from its readers and was not alarmed when it was sold in 2000 to Wendy McCaw. I cheered when she hired as editor Jerry Roberts, whom I knew as one of the most trusted and reliable political reporters in California.

How little any of us know about the future.

The cheering stopped as McCaw, instead of tackling the challenging issues that face Santa Barbara, battled her newsroom on the appropriate role of a newspaper. The conflict came to a head in July 2006 when Roberts and four other newsroom employees resigned in protest to two McCaw decisions they believed violated journalistic integrity.

Since then, and particularly recently, the News-Press has operated with a skeleton staff too small to cover the news even if McCaw wanted to do so.

As Gwyn Lurie has shown in these pages, quoting the experienced journalist and activist Annie Bardach, McCaw’s withdrawal from serious news coverage has come at great cost to the community.

Since California legalized marijuana, cannabis growers have rooted themselves in Santa Barbara County, supplanting a well-established (and harmless) flower-growing industry in Carpinteria and environs.

The cannabis growers were aided by excessively friendly legislation passed by the county board of supervisors that allowed growers to determine their own taxes.

According to Bardach and a Los Angeles Times story, the supervisor who wrote the legislation received significant campaign contributions from the cannabis industry.

I’m retired now, but this is a story I would love to have covered when a California journalist. Who knows? Done right, under the direction of Jerry Roberts or another capable editor, it’s the sort of story, replete with heroes and villains, that might have earned a fully staffed Santa Barbara News-Press a second Pulitzer Prize.

NOTICE OF APPLICATION AND PENDING ACTION BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT TO:

WAIVE THE PUBLIC HEARING ON A CDP HEARING APPLICATION AND APPROVE, CONDITIONALLY APPROVE, OR DENY THE CDP HEARING APPLICATION

This may affect your property. Please read.

Notice is hereby given that an application for the project described below has been submitted to the Santa Barbara County Pla nning and Development Department. This project requires the approval and issuance of a CDP Hearing application by the Planning and Development Department.

The development requested by this application is under the jurisdiction of the Director and therefore a public hearing on the application is normally required prior to any action to approve, conditionally approve, or deny the application. However, in compliance with the , the Director intends to waive the public hearing requirement unless a written request for such hearing is submitted by an int erested party to the Planning and Development Department within the 15 working days following the Date of Notice listed below. All requests for a hearing must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Request for Hearing Expiration Date listed below, to Soren Kri ngel at Planning and Development, 123 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara 93101 2058, by email at kringels@countyofsb.org, or by fax at (805) 568 2030. If a public hearing is requested, notice of such a hearing will be provided.

WARNING: Failure by a person to request a public hearing may result in the loss of the person’s ability to appeal any action taken by Santa Barbara County on this CDP Hearing Application to the Montecito Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors.

If a request for public hearing is not received by 5:00 p.m. on the Request for Hearing Expiration Date listed below, then the Planning and Development Department will act to approve, approve with conditions, or deny the request for a CDP Hearing application. At this time it is not known when this action may occur; however, this may be the only notice you receive for this project. To receive additional information regarding this project, including the date the CDP Hearing application is approved, and/or to view the application and plans, or to provide comments on the project, please contact Soren Kringel at Planning and Development, 123 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara 93101 2058, or by email at kringels@countyofsb.org, or by phone at (805) 568 2046.

PROPOSAL: D & P OF CALIFORNIA LLC ALTERATIONS

PROJECT ADDRESS: 1506 MIRAMAR BEACH DR, SANTA BARBARA, CA 93108 1st SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT

DATE OF NOTICE: 8/1/2023

REQUEST FOR HEARING EXPIRATION DATE: 8/22/2023

PERMIT NUMBER: 23CDH 00008

ASSESSOR’S PARCEL NO.: 009 345 006

ZONING: 7 R 1

PROJECT AREA: 4.00

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Applicant: Tai Yeh

Proposed Project:

APPLICATION FILED: 3/21/2023

The project is for a Coastal Development Permit with Hearing to allow for the construction of reinforcement of 2 wood pilings due to 30 percent failure and threat of full damage with a high tide. Proposing 6' tall 4" thick concrete jackets to wrap two existing wood piles. Reinforcement to include new stainless steel brackets and anchor bolts. Concrete to be served by tube at street side o f property. No equipment at any time of day to be used on beach front. No grading is proposed. No trees are proposed for removal. The parcel will continue to be served by the Montecito Water District, the Montecito Sanitary District, and the Montecito Fire Protection District. Access will continue to be provided off of Miramar Road. The property is a 0.04 acre parcel zoned 7 R 1 and shown as Assessor's Parcel Number 009 345 006, located at 1506 Miramar Beach Drive in the Montecito Community Plan Area, First Supervisorial District.

APPEALS:

The decision of the Director of the Planning and Development Department to approve, conditionally approve, or deny this CDP Hearing application 23CDH 00008 may be appealed to the Montecito Planning Commission by the applicant or an aggrieved person. The written appeal must be filed within the 10 calendar days following the date that the Director takes action on this CDP Hearing application. To qualify as an "aggrieved person" the appellant must have, in person or through a representative, informed the Planning and Development Department by appropriate means prior to the decision on the Coastal Development Permit of the nature of their concerns, or, for good cause, was unable to do so.

Written appeals must be filed with the Planning and Development Department at either 123 East Anapamu Street, San ta Barbara, 93101, or 624 West Foster Road, Suite C, Santa Maria, 93455, by 5:00 p.m. within the timeframe identified above. In the event that the last day for filing an appeal falls on a non-business day of the County, the appeal may be timely filed on the next business day.

For additional information regarding the appeal process, contact Soren Kringel. The application required to file an appeal ma y be viewed at or downloaded from: https://ca santabarbaracounty.civicplus.pro/1085/Planning and Building Permit Application

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Information about this project review process may also be viewed at: https://ca santabarbaracounty.civicplus.pro/1499/Planning-Permit-Process-Flow-Chart Board of Architectural Review agendas may be viewed online at: https://www.countyofsb.org/160/Planning Development

Published August 9, 2023

Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Pacific Passion Co., 7375 Freeman Pl #B, Goleta, CA 93117. Melanie R Bray, 7375 Freeman Pl #B, Goleta, CA 93117. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 12, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0001730.

Published August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Mind-Body Thrive, LLC, 228 Cooper Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. Mind-Body Thrive, 228 Cooper Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 24, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0001825.

Published August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: The Inquisitive Canine; Joan Hunter Coaching, 1187 Coast Village Road 1-290, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Summit Road Enterprises, LLC, 1187 Coast Village Road 1-290, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 28, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0001861.

Published August 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: California Heating and Rain Gutters, INC, 4193-3 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, CA 93013. California Heating and Rain Gutters, INC, 4193-3 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 3, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0001663.

Published July 26, August 2, 9, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Memory Garden Memorial Park & Mortuary; Utter McKinley San Fernando Mission Mortuary; Lafayette Development Company, 1525 State Street, Suite 203, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. The Lafayette Corporation, 1525 State Street, Suite 203, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 13, 2023. This statement expires five years from