Big West showdown
Climate Art
YESTERDAY.......................... 0.01” SEASON TOTAL...................21.10” CACHUMA LAKE LEVEL......747.72 92.5%
Westmont exhibit features works that deal with climate change - B1
UCSB men’s basketball brings home victory over UC Irvine - A3
Our 167th Year
RAIN TOTALS
Santa Barbara County Building
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W E D N E S DAY, J A N UA RY 18 , 2 0 2 3
Inspection finds parklet compliance on the rise By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Lake Cachuma Reservoir is at 92.5 percent capacity after recent rains.
Weathering the weather A look at the aftermath of the recent storms in Santa Barbara County
The number of outdoor dining parklets that remain noncompliant with the city’s new stormwater runoff requirements continues to dwindle. City staff conducted their latest inspection of the delinquent parklets last Wednesday, and found the number that remained noncompliant had been more than cut in half. Of the 15 delinquent parklets that remained, “nine either made the required changes or removed their facilities,” Sarah Clark, the city’s downtown plaza parking manager, told the News-Press Tuesday. “Six remain noncompliant.” Ms. Clark said the six remaining delinquent parklets will receive administrative citations, which carry a $100 fine. The next round of inspections “will be scheduled once we’ve sent the citations,” she said. Any of the six that receive two citations and still don’t make the required changes will be ordered to remove their parklets, she said. And if they refuse? “The city will remove the facilities at the business owner’s expense,” Ms. Clark
said. The city set a Dec. 1, 2022, deadline for the city’s 50 parklets on lower State Street to be modified to allow for stormwater runoff to be able to flow freely around or beneath them. City officials were concerned that the parklets might block rainwater from flowing down State Street, resulting in flooded sidewalks and storefronts. To date, that has not happened, despite a series of winter storms that have dumped several inches of rain on city streets. The first round of inspections revealed only 17 of the 50 parklets between the 400 and 1300 blocks of State Street had made the adjustments. A second round showed 12 parklets were noncompliant, with four more left to be inspected. Three of those four remained delinquent, bringing the total to 15. In most cases, restaurants have cut drainage channels, using a steel diamond plate to bridge the gap. Others have pulled their parklets away from the curb and made them more narrow. A few have removed platforms and switched to portable, at-grade designs. email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com
Report: Children under 14 dying from fentanyl poisoning at faster rate than any other age group By BETHANY BLANKLEY THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR
At left, bulldozers and dump trucks unload and scoop around loads of mud, silt and rocks at Goleta Beach on Sunday. At right, debris piles up in front of Bradbury Dam at Lake Cachuma after recent rain storms.
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The storm that hit Santa Barbara County this weekend was significantly less damaging than the storm which hit on Jan. 9, but the county is still reeling from the aftereffects of the deluges. According to Santa Barbara County PIO Kelsey Buttitta, there is no access to Jalama Road due to slip outs and other road damage, the Old Coast Highway is closed at Highway 101 and San Miguelito Canyon is completely closed due to debris on the road. East Mountain Drive at Cold Spring is also completely closed and other portions of East Mountain Drive have limited access. On Friday, Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor told the the NewsPress that East Mountain Drive would likely require several months worth of repairs. Roads with limited one
lane access include: Gibraltar, Tepusquet Road from State Route 166 to Santa Maria Mesa Road and Refugio Road. “There is no estimate for the opening of Highway 154 from the 154/246 Roundabout to Santa Barbara. This is according to our field staff this afternoon. Work remains focused on removing rocks and debris from the roadway and performing slope work, which was impacted by the storm,” Jim Shivers, PIO for Caltrans District 5, told the News-Press on Tuesday. “Highway 154 at the Alamo Pintado Creek Bridge is closed at this moment. We are hopeful for an opening by this evening. We had to perform earthwork near the abutments below the bridge due to the failure of a drainage facility.” According to Ms. Buttitta, all but one debris basin on Randall Road are completely full. “Crews are working round the clock cleaning out debris basins
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and culverts,” she said. “The National Guard is working on Randall Road Debris Basin and is expected to remain for another week or two. We have state parks closed including the Los Padres National Forest, and all local parks and trails are closed and this may be extended for several months.” Ms. Buttitta said that Planning and Development had received 62 requests for inspection of residences, and 48 had been completed as of Tuesday night. Four resulted in red tags indicating that the building cannot be entered, 32 resulted in the building being declared uninhabitable and 12 were deemed safe to live in. Santa Barbara County has closed public access to Goleta Beach Park at Sandspit Road due to emergency beach nourishment operations that began on Jan. 11 and will continue as needed until facilities have been cleared. Work will occur 24
hours a day, seven days a week for approximately the first ten days in an effort to complete the process sooner, protect the communities below the impacted basins and minimize beach closures. Large rocks and debris from basins below the Cave Fire and Thomas Fire burn areas will be sorted from the basin material before it is transferred to the beach, according to a press release sent out by Lael Wageneck, PIO for the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department. According to Ms. Buttitta, the county is moving more into recovery mode. More information and resources can be found at https://www.readysbc.org/ including a virtual local assistance center. The reservoir levels are as follows as of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday: Alisal is at 600.10 ft, 2,389.00 acrePlease see WEATHER on A2
(The Center Square) – Children under age 14 are dying from fentanyl poisoning at a faster rate than any other age group in the U.S., according to a new analysis from Families Against Fentanyl. In the past two years, synthetic opioid (fentanyl) deaths among children surged. Fentanyl-related deaths among infants (children under age one) quadrupled from 2019 to 2021; more than tripled among children between the ages of 1 and 4 and nearly quadrupled among children between the ages of 5 and 14. Since 2015, fentanyl-related deaths among infants increased nearly 10-fold; among children ages 1 to 14, deaths increased 15-fold, an increase of over 1,400%, FAF said. Nationally, fentanyl deaths also doubled over the same time period. The majority of deaths were poisonings, meaning they resulted from fentanyl being
ingested without the person’s knowledge. In 2021, less than 1% of fentanyl-related fatalities were suicides. FAF reported its findings in a newly published brief, “The Changing Faces of Fentanyl Deaths,” which evaluated Center for Disease Control data of fentanyl poisoning fatalities. “These disturbing new findings should serve as a wakeup call to our nation’s leaders,’” Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, said. He again called on President Joe Biden to classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction “and immediately establish a White House task force dedicated to the fentanyl crisis.” “Americans deserve to know what is being done to save lives, and what is being done to uncover and stop the international manufacturers and traffickers of illicit fentanyl,” Mr. Rauh added. “This is the number one killer of our nation’s young adults. It is killing more and more children each year. It’s time to treat Please see FENTANYL on A2
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 4-10-13-24-40 Meganumber: 2
Tuesday’s DAILY 4: 7-6-1-8
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: N/A Meganumber: N/A
Tuesday’s FANTASY 5: 11-12-14-21-26
Tuesday’s DAILY DERBY: 10-03-11 Time: 1:40.28
Monday’s POWERBALL: 4-14-33-39-61 Meganumber: 3
Sudoku................... B3 Sports . .................... A3 Weather................. A4
Tuesday’s DAILY 3: 4-1-4 / Wednesday’s Midday 5-6-9