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Our 167th Year
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T U E SDAY, O C TOBE R 18 , 2 02 2
Gym going strong after 10 years AC4 Fitness emphasizes go-at-your-own pace workouts at SB, Goleta locations
Interest shown in new police/fire board By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
One person has responded already to the city of Santa Barbara’s open invitation for people to apply for a seat on the newly reconstituted Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. And several others could be right behind. Shelly Cone, the city’s public information officer, told the NewsPress Monday that the site to accept applications went live on Thursday afternoon, and “so far we have had 21 views and received one application.” “We will be doing extensive community outreach until the deadline of Nov. 10, including informational presentations to community groups, email outreach to community leaders and their networks, as well as encouraging word-of-mouth to recruit individuals that represent unique and diverse life experiences,” Ms. Cone said. “This is in addition to our regular outreach methods of posting on social media, to our subscriber list, in our weekly newsletter and on our website.” The Santa Barbara City Council took a historic first step last week to create a civilian oversight system with a unanimous vote to adopt an ordinance assigning additional oversight duties and authorities to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. “We are creating, with the passage of this ordinance, a framework,” Councilwoman Meagan Harmon said at the time. “It is the single most significant step toward meaningful civilian oversight in our city’s history. That is a big, big deal.” Councilwoman Alejandra
Gutierrez acknowledged at the meeting that there is still work to do on building trust and strengthening the community, which is why she helped bring forward the initial proposal that ultimately led to the night’s vote. She said that since she has been on the council, she has advocated for better access to law enforcement in underserved areas. She also noted she supported the opportunity for commissioners to join police in a ride-along in order to have a better understanding of law enforcement. “I think for any profession that’s going to be having an oversight committee looking after them or judging them, I think it’s out of respect you put yourself in these law enforcement shoes,” she said. During its deliberations, council members took pains to ensure that former firefighters and law enforcement officers could apply for a position on the board. The council opted to take advantage of their up-close and personal experience fighting fires and responding to dangerous situations in their efforts to save others. Some people had questioned whether there might be at least a perception of bias on the part of former law enforcement officers because of their ties to colleagues they consider as close as family members. They proposed that former officers who worked in Santa Barbara County be banned from applying, as well as former officers who worked outside the county unless they were off the force for at least five years. The council, however, rejected that idea, echoing the sentiments of several speakers at last week’s Please see BOARD on A4
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
“We see (AC4) very much as being a community-oriented club — a club for the people and by the people,” said AC4 owner Tony Calhoun, standing in the gym’s location in Goleta.
FYI AC4 Fitness is located at 3883 La Cumbre Plaza Ln. in Santa Barbara, and 52 N. Fairview Ave. in Goleta. For more information, visit ac4fitness.com.
By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
By JARED DANIELS NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
AC4 Fitness — a local gym founded on the philosophy of “exercising to live, rather than living to exercise” — is celebrating 10 years of providing Santa Barbara area residents with a low-stress, go-at-your-ownpace workout environment to improve their health. The gym, which was opened by Tony Calhoun and his family in 2012 and today boasts more than 2,000 members between two locations in Goleta and Santa Barbara, was largely influenced by his son, Anthony Calhoun IV, who died in a car accident in 2009 and for whom the fitness club is named. “Traditional ‘big box’ clubs can be very intimidating for many people that really need exercise in their lives, so we wanted to create a different culture that provided a unique fitness alternative for our friends and neighbors,” AC4 owner Tony Calhoun told the News-Press. “We see (AC4) very much as being a community-oriented club — a club for the people and by the people.”
The Goleta location of AC4, pictured above, is at 52 N. Fairview Ave. The Santa Barbara location is at 3883 La Cumbre Plaza.
Prior to opening AC4, Mr. Calhoun was a franchisee of Gold’s Gym on the Central Coast for 30 years. As time went on in that role, however, he found that committing to the communitycentric model he worked to build in his gyms was becoming too difficult to maintain in a franchise environment. Four years after selling his franchises, Mr. Calhoun and his son Anthony began working on Please see GYM on A4
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Hydromassage beds provide comfort for sore muscles at AC4.
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The Santa Barbara City Council today will receive an update on the recent activities and achievements of the Access Advisory Committee, including making sure the downtown dining parklets are accessible to people with disabilities. The council will meet at 2 p.m. in its chambers at 735 Anacapa St. In 1988, the city of Santa Barbara recognized the importance of accessibility in design and construction and started an ad hoc advisory committee to assist the Architectural Board of Review and the Historic Landmarks Commission with accessibilityrelated items, staff said in its report. In 2001, this ad hoc committee became a standing committee known as the Staff Advisory Access Committee, which was renamed the Access Advisory Committee seven years later. The city’s Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator was directed to report annually to the council regarding the activities and achievements of the AAC. Over the past year, the AAC has actively engaged in a variety of areas related to accessibility, staff said.
“The majority of AAC members have a physical disability and personally navigate accessibility challenges throughout the city on a daily basis,” staff said. “One key area of ongoing interest and concern is the ADA compliance of temporary outdoor business facilities (i.e. outdoor dining parklets on lower State Street) operating within the city’s right of way, as authorized under the City Council’s Economic Recovery Extension and Transition Ordinance through Dec. 31, 2023.” The city said that in the past year, AAC has: • Provided guidance and feedback to city staff on accessibility for the city’s Outdoor Dining Program. • Had the city staff, with support from a certified access specialist consultant, perform ADA-compliance inspections of temporary outdoor business facilities within the State Street Promenade. The first round of inspections found that 12 of 44 outdoor business facilities were ADAcompliant. The city held multiple outreach and education sessions, in group settings and one-onone meetings, with business owners and operators regarding Please see COUNCIL on A4
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Santa Barbara City Council to review accessibility for people with disabilities
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