Military HQ Leaves Town; Gaviota Land Preserved

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ARMY SELLING RESERVE HQ: The City of Santa Barbara is negotiating with the government to buy the Army Reserve center on upper State Street. Mayor Marty Blum confirmed to The Independent that the Army plans to vacate the center at State Street and Las Positas Road and is offering the city the first chance to buy it.

If the city makes a deal, the property would become part of adjacent MacKenzie Park, the mayor said. The buildings could become a community asset, such as a center for youth and seniors, although no decision has been made, she said.

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Both the Army and the city have made appraisals and are negotiating a price — the city lower than the Army figure, Blum said. She declined to say what the city is offering, but agreed that the deal would be in the multimillion-dollar category. Where will the money come from? “That’s the big question,” Blum said.

It turns out that the Army Reserve is partly on park land and the Reserve parking lot is partly on city land, she said. The Army 425th Civil Affairs Battalion that trains there is being deployed to Iraq and will not be returning to the center, Blum said. The Army intends to use the money generated from the deal to build new facilities, but not in Santa Barbara, she said.

In addition, a citizens group has been negotiating with the National Guard to purchase the large Armory on Canon Perdido Street, but reportedly little progress has been made, possibly due to the Iraq War. In recent years, the Armory has been a winter refuge for the homeless. Groups have urged that it could become a valuable educational and recreation facility for the low-income Eastside. They contend that the Armory is apparently little used by the Guard and is a white elephant.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: So it’s come to this? The latest player in the game of musical publishers at the L.A. Times is Eddy Hartenstein, the former CEO of the satellite company DirecTV.

CHECKING OUT: After three decades of providing curbside check-ins at Santa Barbara Airport, skycap Mike Adriansen will no longer be a familiar helping hand come August 31.

Penny-pinching airlines that paid him figure they can do without Mike’s services — even if many passengers can’t. “I think [the airlines] are fighting for their economic survival,” Mike told me. At one time, airlines using the terminal chipped in to cover Mike’s liability costs, workman’s comp, and minimum wage, but have dropped off, one by one. Skywest was the only one left, and, as of the end of August, it’s signed off.

Mike hefted his first bag out there on March 31, 1978, and since then has been a familiar face. “I’ll sure miss the people out here,” he said. “It was like a family.” People like the UCSB first-year girl he assisted years ago, and whose daughter Mike helped when she arrived at the college.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to be of service all these years. Community reaction so far has been one of disbelief, with civic and business leaders calling to express their sense of disappointment at the decision the airlines have made in discontinuing this service,” Mike said.

But Mike isn’t gone yet. He’ll be working an abbreviated schedule for the next few weeks, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 5-11 a.m. After his skycap days are over, Mike’s not sure what he’ll be doing, but he’s got some irons in the fire. “I’m optimistic,” he said. I watched Mike help some frail seniors with their luggage. From now on, folks like these will be on their own.

GONE TO THE DOGS: I love dogs as much as or more than anyone. Same for most dog owners — except for the few unidentified folks who take their pooches for a stroll down my street, making no effort to clean up after their pets. The other day our street was virtually paved with caca. (Sue picked it up. “That’s not your obligation,” one dog-less stroller advised. Yeah, but it’s our street.) It’s odd, because we’re good friends with the regulars who pass by daily, and who always carry a plastic bag for cleanup.

GAVIOTA LAND PRESERVED: Ex-News-Press-er Chuck Schultz, now of the Santa Maria Times, scooped everyone with a Gaviota land deal story. The site of a former store, restaurant, and gas station along Highway 101 near Gaviota Beach State Park worried a lot of people. The buildings are gone but the commercial zoning — the only such on the Gaviota Coast — remains. As I recall, years ago the place was operated by the Brotherhood of the Sun cult. But thanks to the Trust for Public Land, the 43-acre site will be transferred to the state’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Cost: $2.85 million.

FESS’S CHEF: Ron Stewart is the new chef at Restaurant Marcella, at Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn & Spa in Los Olivos. Friday night menus are themed to classic films being screened there. Sullivan’s Travels will be shown Friday, August 22, and It Happened One Night on August 29.

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