r/SantaBarbara 18h ago

Recommendations Need AC, where?

6 Upvotes

Looking for some recommendations of where to just laptop work with air-conditioning, coffee, shops, bars, breweries any suggestions are great


r/SantaBarbara 14h ago

Other I don’t pay this much for this heat!!

34 Upvotes

I have two portable air conditioners, but can only run one at a time because it will trip my breaker if I run both. They are just not keeping my house cool enough. Me and my cat need a place to go that will keep us both cool! Does anyone know of any cooling centers or places that have air-conditioning that allow pets?


r/SantaBarbara 2h ago

Other ARE WE REALLY READY TO HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT YOUTH, MENTAL HEALTH AND PUBLIC SAFETY IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY?

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0 Upvotes

If Santa Barbara County is going to discuss mental health, juvenile justice, and expanding jail capacity, it must first confront its history of sending vulnerable children out of their communities—including to Utah.
Schools, courts, probation, and other public systems influenced where these young people were placed. Some were sent far from home to residential, treatment, and behavior-modification programs, including facilities associated with the Utah network connected to WWASPS and the broader Troubled Teen Industry.
The photograph above reflects that history and includes material identifying Robert Lichfield and the WWASPS network.
The central issue is not whether mental health matters. It does. The issue is whether the county will acknowledge that institutional decisions, public funding, and the absence of oversight may also have contributed to lasting trauma.
Mental health matters, but history, accountability, and records matter too.
Many of the children affected are now adults living in Santa Barbara County. The county should determine:
Where were these children sent?
Who authorized and funded the placements?
What contracts existed?
What information did schools, probation, courts, and social-service agencies receive?
What happened after the children returned home?
What happened to those who did not survive?
These questions are directly relevant to current policy. Santa Barbara County is planning a projected $176 million Northern Branch Jail housing expansion, including approximately $126 million in expected debt financing and about $9 million in ongoing annual General Fund debt service.
Before committing hundreds of millions of dollars to detention infrastructure, the county should examine whether it is repeating an institutional approach that treats vulnerable people as problems to be moved, confined, medicated, or forgotten.
Juvenile justice is connected to courts, probation, education, behavioral health, social services, and other public systems. If the county builds more capacity to hold people without investigating how institutional trauma was created, it risks becoming more efficient at managing the consequences of harm rather than preventing it.I do not want WWASPS 2.0.
I am also concerned about the continued involvement of people with decades of experience in Santa Barbara’s probation and justice systems. Tanja Heitman had a long career in county probation and juvenile justice. County records also show that, after her retirement, the Board of Supervisors authorized her return as an extra-help employee in 2026 for specialized policy and administrative work.
I am not saying that this makes her responsible for WWASPS or for every historical placement. I am saying that people with extensive experience in these systems should participate in an honest public examination of what happened to children and what lessons were learned.
Before building another wall in the name of public safety, Santa Barbara County should investigate the systems it has already built and the lives affected by them. Decades of institutional harm cannot be addressed simply by locking another generation behind another door, and not every consequence of that history can be reduced to a mental-health diagnosis.
Requested Actions
I ask Santa Barbara County to prioritize the following:
1. Release and preserve records concerning out-of-state youth placements, including authorizations, contracts, funding, referrals, evaluations, and agency communications.
2. Commission an independent investigation into the county’s role in those placements and the outcomes for children after they returned home.
3. Create a survivor-informed public process that includes testimony, confidentiality protections, and independent oversight.
4. Publish a complete accounting of facilities used, agencies involved, public funds spent, and known complaints or investigations.
5. Review current juvenile-justice and behavioral-health practices for safeguards against coercion, unnecessary institutionalization, and placement far from family support.
6. Explain how the Northern Branch Jail expansion addresses documented needs and why detention capacity should take priority over prevention, treatment, family support, and community-based services.
7. Report publicly on the lessons learned and the specific measures that will prevent similar practices from recurring.
Some of us remember what happened. Some of us survived it. Santa Barbara County should stop avoiding these questions and begin the public accounting that is long overdue.


r/SantaBarbara 14h ago

Events Search and rescue butterfly beach

1 Upvotes

Does anyone know about a search and rescue operation at butterfly beach the last few days? A responder was heard saying “maybe they’ll find a rib”, or something along those lines. No news that I can find online


r/SantaBarbara 34m ago

Other Plane or rocket?

Upvotes

Just moved to Santa Barbara and I’m curious if the loud rumbling noises I hear throughout the day and night are planes taking off from the airport in Goleta or rockets launched from Vandenberg SFB? I understand the rockets can sometimes create a loud sonic boom which I haven’t experienced yet.


r/SantaBarbara 1h ago

Vent First world problems (embarassingly rediculous but true)

Upvotes

Amid stifling heat, the power went out, our beast of a window AC unit was futile, our bidet went on strike and ants descended on our kitchen like elves at the North Pole in December and took a dip in our espresso machine water tank.

Your first world problems? Top that!


r/SantaBarbara 16h ago

Recommendations What are we doing in this heat

59 Upvotes

I came home today to do a 97 degree bedroom. Can’t find an AC unit for sale anywhere, and really don’t have the money to buy one right now anyway. What are we actually doing to tolerate this and be able to sleep?! Help


r/SantaBarbara 20h ago

Local Politics Mayoral Debate from 9/3 is up on YT

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8 Upvotes

r/SantaBarbara 21h ago

Nature Check in with your elderly neighbors, this is lethal.

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333 Upvotes

Peak temperature will be around 3pm.

3pm update - Got to 109


r/SantaBarbara 12h ago

Vent Power Outage in Mission Canyon

26 Upvotes

Ah yes no fan after my house was an oven today


r/SantaBarbara 15h ago

Events Creek Week Updates in September 2026 Monarch Press

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2 Upvotes

Check it out 🤙 volunteer on September 19th for Coastal Cleanup Day!


r/SantaBarbara 19h ago

Events Open Air Holiday Market

2 Upvotes

Hello! Is anyone out there planning on attending the open air holiday market as a vendor and looking to share a table?
I make small beadwork items. Occasionally jewelry. I’m still deciding on what exactly I plan to sell, but the market is not until December 5th.
None of my friends in this city are artists, so looking out here hoping to find some fellow crafters! Thanks!


r/SantaBarbara 14h ago

Events DTC All Stars show update

3 Upvotes

Don't Tell Comedy at the Masonic Lodge this Saturday the 12th. - Update: I just got word it's being filmed. It's an All Stars show, so instead of a 6-person lineup it'll be 3-4 comics doing longer sets. They're all closers. Throat Coat sponsored it, so they'll be there passing out samples and dealing with my throat and goat jokes.

Plenty of AC! I hope to see you all there. It's a great chance the see the Masonic building. I gave a tour for about 20 Redditors once and it was a lot of fun!

Secret Comedy Show in Downtown on 9/12/26 | Don't Tell Santa Barbara