Well, here we are.
It has actually been almost a month considering that Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order and even longer since the nation turned off the economy. Both actions were taken in a genuine effort to ensure that healthcare facilities and our health-care system would not be overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world.
Through social distancing and an extremely broad voluntary compliance, California has actually mostly been successful in slowing the spread.
To be clear, we are not in the clear.
The lockdowns, however, were never ever planned to eliminate the illness. More than likely that can’t happen without a vaccine, which could be months or perhaps years away.
However this crisis is not exclusively a public health disaster; it is likewise a self-imposed economic catastrophe. Both must be resolved simultaneously and with the same seriousness.
As if this were some perverse if/then proposition, some government authorities– and Noozhawk’s betters in the news media– insist we must wait to declare success over the former before we can take on the latter.
We don’t have that kind of time.
The world is dealing with a financial collapse on a scale that we have never seen. Unemployment is skyrocketing. Services are teetering. A lot of our everyday life and our future are now uncertain.
Previously this week, Newsom released a blueprint for “reopening” California. There’s far less there in his six-point strategy than advertised, and it might yet be weeks before we’re allowed to return to our “brand-new regular.”
But the specifications he set forth appear to provide a generational opportunity for Santa Barbara County– if we’re vibrant adequate to take it. Now is not the time for “company as typical” and hidebound decision-making that have actually been a trademark around these parts for far too long.
Now is the time for true local management and notified, thoughtful and innovative thinking to start reopening companies and our economy while still balancing the continuous requirements and health protections that our most vulnerable next-door neighbors need and should have.
Not that long ago, Santa Barbara County’s joblessness rate was around 3 percent. Getting back to that point ought to be our ruthless focus for the foreseeable future, and the collective “we” must begin pressing our regional political leaders and policy makers to do everything they can to assist, not prevent this cause.
As citizens, we should get in touch with government to assist people return on their feet and then get out of their way. As Americans, that need to be enough.
I’ll be checking out that further when Santa Barbara County Second District Supervior Gregg Hart joins me on April 24 for our second Noozhawk Talks, a special Zoom livestream on our homepage, on our Facebook page and to our YouTube channel.
Information will be revealed early next week, but you can click here to submit a concern you ‘d like me to ask Hart through our Noozhawk Asks platform.
According to our Google Analytics, there were 164,760 of you checking out Noozhawk this previous week.
( Noozhawk video via Facebook)
1. Brian Goebel: Now That California’s COVID-19 Hospitalization Curve Is Entirely Bent, What’s Next?
My friend, Brian Goebel, has continued to remain ahead of the coronavirus curve with his columns inspecting the pandemic modeling and its results on … whatever. For the second week in a row, he’s outdistanced the field to claim Noozhawk’s leading spot in our most-read posts of the previous week.
Brian’s April 11 report struck another nerve, mainly because it was among the first to conclude– from state Department of Public Health data– that California not just had flattened the curve with hospitalization admissions, it had bent it totally. Now, he reasoned, it was time to start thinking about where we go from here, as a state and a community.
Naturally, this column’s 22,000 readers are a far cry from the now-173,000 who read his Noozhawk-record April 5 column, “California Significantly Flattened the COVID-19 Curve in March,” however he’ll take it. And so will I.
In case you missed it– and thanks to me, everybody almost did– Brian and I talked modeling, approach and outcomes in an April 13 Zoom webcast that was streamed to our Facebook page. It was our first-ever Noozhawk Talks webcast, and with my upcoming Gregg Hart interview on April 24, it won’t be the last.
2. 1 Dead, 3 Injured in Crash on Highway 154 Above Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara County firefighters battle to extricate a passenger trapped in a the wreckage of an April 9 head-on collision on Highway 154 above Santa Barbara. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department photo)
It’s been a while, but a head-on crash on Highway 154 above Santa Barbara killed one man and left 3 other individuals injured. As is too often the case, a driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI.
According to the California Highway Patrol, 22- year-old Brian Watana Dul of Goleta was driving a Mazda 3 east on the highway about 6 p.m. on April 9 when he crossed the center lane straight into the course of an approaching Toyota 4-Runner about a mile listed below Painted Cave Road.
Traveler Cole DeBortoli, 21, of Santa Barbara, passed away of his injuries. (Debortoli family photo)
The cars and truck drifted left and the SUV knocked into the sedan’s passenger side, collapsing it inward.
Santa Barbara County fire Capt. Daniel Bertucelli told our Tom Bolton that the front-seat passenger required substantial extrication from the mangled wreckage.
CHP Capt. Cindy Pontes stated the passenger– identified as 21- year-old Cole DeBortoli of Santa Barbara– was hurried by an American Medical Reaction ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Health center with significant injuries, however he passed away at the hospital.
Authorities state Dul had moderate injuries while the residents of the Toyota– motorist Mitchell Summertime, 59, of Long Beach, and traveler Kelly Summertime, 52, likewise of Long Beach– suffered small injuries. They were all carried by AMR ambulances to Santa Barbara Home Healthcare Facility, although Mitchell Summer did not require hospitalization.
Pontes told Tom that Dul was subsequently jailed on suspicion of felony DUI and automobile murder.
The crash stays under CHP investigation.
DeBortoli went to Santa Barbara City College after graduating from Dos Pueblos High School. Funeral services are pending.
Buddies established a GoFundMe account to help his household with funeral service expenses, and their efforts have actually raised nearly $9,000 as of April17 Click on this link to make an online donation.
3. Shelter-in-Place Order Released for Neighborhood Near Stow Grove in Goleta
A suspect automobile with bullet holes triggered Santa Barbara police to make a high-risk traffic stop on the Upper Eastside the afternoon of Easter Sunday. (Peter Hartmann/ Noozhawk image)
The Santa Barbara Police Department was practically chatty following an effective April 14 SWAT operation in surrounding Goleta. The show of force quickly resulted in the arrest of a suspect in an Easter Sunday drive-by shooting on Santa Barbara’s Lower Eastside.
Noozhawk readers have actually become familiar with SBPD’s nonanswers after the recent escalation in mysterious stabbings, shootings and other violence in the city. Remarkably, that was not the case this time.
Daniel Djamali-Kahi, 24, of Goleta, was apprehended as a suspect in the April 12 shooting spree on Santa Barbara’s Lower Eastside. (Santa Barbara Authorities Department image)
Police spokesperson Anthony Wagner informed our Tom Bolton that cops SWAT officers and crisis mediators had actually gone to Covington Way, surrounding Stow Grove Park, to serve high-risk arrest and search warrants at a house.
A shelter-in-place order was provided for the area just before 7: 30 p.m., however Wagner said the suspect– whom he recognized as 24- year-old Daniel Djamali-Kahi of Goleta– was taken into custody without event. The shelter-in-place order was raised about a half-hour later.
Because the operation was carried out outside SBPD’s jurisdiction, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies helped with the case.
Djamali-Kahi was booked into County Jail on suspicion of attack with a firearm and shooting into an occupied automobile. Since April 16, he was still imprisoned in lieu of $250,000 bail.
No one was injured in the midafternoon April 12 shooting at Punta Gorda and Salinas streets in Santa Barbara, however 9-1-1 callers reported many shots fired. Responding officers found several invested shell casings at the scene, Wagner stated.
Not long after, he stated, a high-risk traffic stop was carried out in the 1500 block of Santa Barbara Street after authorities found a BMW SUV that had actually been struck by shooting. The three residents were questioned but not arrested, he added.
Djamali-Kahi allegedly was in a 2nd vehicle that escaped after the shooting, but authorities have actually used no intention for the event.
Wagner said the search of Djamali-Kahi’s home showed up a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, an AR-15 rifle and numerous rounds of ammunition.
4. Lady to Be Arraigned on Murder Charges in Westside Santa Barbara Killing of Her Mom
Santa Barbara authorities detectives and officers confer after a 76- year-old female was discovered stabbed to death inside a Kowalski Opportunity house behind Harding University Partnership School. (Peter Hartmann/ Noozhawk image)
A 41- year-old Santa Barbara woman was arrested as a suspect in the brutal stabbing death of her mother. The body of the 76- year-old victim was discovered in a home near Harding University Partnership School on the Westside.
You didn’t hear any of that from the Santa Barbara Authorities Department, though.
Leinani Nalani McClintic, 41, was detained as a suspect in the stabbing death of her motheron Santa Barbara’s Westside. (Santa Barbara Authorities Department image)
Just after 9 a.m. April 8, authorities were contacted us to a home in the 1500 block of Kowalski Opportunity, behind Harding School near the crossway of West Micheltorena Street.
Beyond the confirmation of the dispatch time and location, details were typically nonexistent. Authorities representative Anthony Wagner told our Tom Bolton that officers had found “a deceased individual” in an obvious homicide and that a suspect was in custody.
SBPD was still sticking to its no-story story two days later on so Tom called Santa Barbara County District Lawyer Joyce Dudley, who was far more valuable.
She determined the victim as Hiilani Mikaitis and stated her daughter, Leinani Nalani McClintic, had been detained and was to be arraigned April 13 on a first-degree murder charge.
Mikaitis supposedly passed away of numerous stab injuries.
The criminal problem submitted against McClintic also accuses her of utilizing a deadly weapon, a knife, in commission of the criminal offense. She faces a special allegation that the offense is a severe felony, which makes her ineligible to serve a state jail sentence in county jail.
As of April 17, McClintic remains in County Prison with bail set at $2 million.
5. BizHawk: Los Agaves Among Restaurants Laying Off Worker Amid Coronavirus
Los Agaves owner Carlos Luna, inside his De la Vina Street dining establishment in Santa Barbara, has needed to shutter two of his five Los Agaves areas since the coronavirus shutdown started. (Joshua Molina/ Noozhawk image)
Since the coronavirus crisis began surging through the economy, dining establishments have been the proverbial canary in the coal mine. When 2 of Santa Barbara’s most popular eateries are starting to feel the pinch, it doesn’t bode well for their sector– or for the rest of us, to be sincere.
Los Agaves has been an exceptional successs story because my pal, Carlos Luna, opened his very first Mexican restaurant on North Milpas Street in2008 Since then, he’s had a deft touch and vision as he released four sibling shops, on De la Vina Street in Santa Barbara, Camino Real Marketplace in Goleta, Oxnard and Westlake Town.
He likewise started three other Mexican-themed restaurants under various brand names and principles.
Currently, just De la Vina, Goleta and Westlake Town are continuing to operate with takeout and shipment services. Worse, he needed to lay off a shocking 300 staff members.
” We never ever thought of that something like this could occur,” Luna informed our Josh Molina, including that lots of restaurant workers usually “live income to paycheck.”
On April 16, Luna and I had a long talk as I was leaving the De la Vina restaurant with a couple of orders of Chile Poblano Campestre, a continuous #bestofbillrecommendation.
He’s one of the most optimistic people I know, but you could see the disappointment on his face and feel the pain in his heart when he was explaining how dedicated his laid-off staff members are, providing to drive to any place to do anything.
They’re household and they desire to work, not be unemployed, but there’s little anybody can do to assist them.
One alternative, however, is a GoFundMe account that Luna developed so Los Agaves fans can pitch in on their behalf.
Los Arroyos, my other preferred Mexican dining establishment, is dealing with the exact same difficulty.
Owner Tony Arroyo and I have actually been good friends for years. He offered my child, Will, his very first job, and several of his staff members– I’m talking about you, Stephanie Borrayo– resemble my own family.
Arroyo, too, started a GoFundMe represent his personnel as long as his now-three places– downtown Santa Barbara, Goleta and Montecito– are operating with less employees and lowered hours. More than $7,000 has been raised to date, and you can click here to make an online contribution.
But all restaurants are having a hard time, and they all need our aid– to the level that we can.
Click On This Link for Noozhawk’s Open for Business Directory of Santa Barbara County dining establishments and their hours and information of their takeout, curbside pickup and shipment services.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our
most-read story this time last year? Couple Robbed at Gunpoint in Backwoods Near Goleta.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Birds of a feather, self-quarantine together: How To Get Actually Into Birdwatching While You’re Stuck At Home.
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Best of Costs’s Instagram
My Instagram feed put the capture on some Charmin last week.
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View It
This is a piece of cake, in case you’re lacking things to do under the stay-at-home order.
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( Joseph’s Machines video)
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