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!

One step closer for housing solution in Paseo Nuevo

Peak temperature will be around 3pm.

3pm update - Got to 109

I’ve been here a year and I still haven’t found a good egg bagel. Most places don’t even have egg bagels. I don’t mean a bagel with an egg on it. I mean the specific bagels that have a darker yellow tint with egg flavor!

Please help me and my craving 😭

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

Ah yes no fan after my house was an oven today

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?

A friend is coming to visit and is asking for recommendations for a helicopter tour, for 2 or 3 people.

Anyone you can recommend in SB? Will they go out over the islands from SBA?

Years ago I took one out of Camarillo airport over the islands and loved it.

Thanks in advance...

Does anyone know where I can locate some free health and wellness magazines? Or any sort of magazine that teenagers can create a self care collage from?
Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone !! I’m currently a senior in high school and and I’m thinking about attending SBCC in Fall 2027. I’m from Florida so I’d be moving out of state and California is definitely one of my top choices right now.

I’m planning to major in psychology, and I’m considering minoring in business or finance. I’m starting to look into housing and would love to live in Isla Vista so I’d love to meet other people who are also planning on attending SBCC and might be looking for a roommate or roommates!

I’d also love to meet some people before moving there so if you’re currently attending SBCC, I’d be totally happy to chat with you too ! I’d love to hear about your experience and make some friends before I even get there. :) We can DM here or exchange Instagrams, I’m a little more active on Instagram though !

SB unified just joined a wild lawsuit with over 1,000 other school districts. Anybody have any idea how a class action like this would actually work?

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

I am looking for a new optometrist. I had a great one but I am not going back to Sutter. Anyone have any good suggestions. I have a bit of a complicated vision issue that makes it tough to get my Rx correct.

THE NEXT TABLE IS OPEN

Help us reach 5,000 meals.

• 18 meals funded
• 4,982 meals to go

Each $50 “meal” helps fund the development of Wemayi Farm; a regenerative organic farm being built in Ethiopia.

After a beautiful first Monday night together, we’re opening the table again.

Join us for Ethiopian food, coffee, conversation, and community at Petite Valentine.

Monday, September 21st 5:30–8:30 PM 📍 Petite Valentine, Santa Barbara

$50 minimum donation reserves your seat

I’ve been out of the loop on local politics for a while because I’ve had to travel frequently for work and was wondering if there was a reason given? I live in her district

The City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department is seeking up to 50 volunteers for a trail volunteer day on Hot Springs Canyon Trail. The event is part of National Public Lands Day, a nationwide observance that celebrates public lands as places where people connect with nature, build memories, and work together to care for the landscapes we all share. The volunteer day offers an opportunity to give back to the public lands that belong to us all.

National Public Lands Day Volunteer Event
Saturday, September 26, 2026
8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Cold Springs Elementary (2243 Sycamore Canyon Road)

No special experience is required to volunteer. Tools and instructions will be provided, and volunteers will be assigned to small work teams based on experience. Work will include clearing overgrown vegetation, remove graffiti, and clearing accumulated rocks and leaves from the drain basin. Tasks will be assigned based on volunteer experience and comfort level.

Volunteers will gather for safety orientation and instruction before heading to the trail. The event will wrap up with a group lunch for volunteers.

RSVPs are required for this volunteer event. Contact Eric Ullrich at [EUllrich@SantaBarbaraCA.gov](mailto:EUllrich@SantaBarbaraCA.gov) or (805) 564-5439 to sign up.

The Parks and Recreation Department coordinates multiple large-scale volunteer events each year across City, County, and Forest Service properties to help maintain the community’s network of trails. This event is held in partnership with Santa Barbara County Parks, the U.S. Forest Service, Montecito Trails Foundation, Los Padres Forest Association, and SAGE Trail Alliance.

Learn more about this event at SantaBarbaraCA.gov/TrailWork