Since many of us are chiming in with our "local credentials" here go mine:
My grandfather's first job in Santa Barbara was as a maintenance man at the Miramar, and I grew up on that beach and as a member of the tennis club. Haley Fiske taught me to play Backgammon on the deck there, and I taught Jacques--the Vichy "security guard"--how to swim the butterfly. We've owned property creekside on North Jameson since 1960 (sorry, property taxes are still low). And, yeah, I'm a surfer too.
I was at Butterfly Beach yesterday, and as I walked down the street looking at all the crazy, huge, ugly construction going on, I asked myself "How does all this s*** get approved?"
Don't get me wrong: the Miramar site is a dump. Hell, we all kind of thought that as we watched it decay before the Gawzners sold. Something needs to happen. But whatever happens there, it needs to follow the correct procedures...procedures that *everyone* is subjected to equally. Slick, rich LA developer or decidedly middle class homeowner.
After the rains of 1998 our a**es were held over the fire by County Planning, Coastal Commission et al. just for trying to get the creekside portion of our property stable so the house wouldn't fall down into it! Sounds like things would've been a touch easier if Caruso was our friend during that process.
Previous Month
Posted on July 15 at 9:35 a.m.
Since many of us are chiming in with our "local credentials" here go mine:
My grandfather's first job in Santa Barbara was as a maintenance man at the Miramar, and I grew up on that beach and as a member of the tennis club. Haley Fiske taught me to play Backgammon on the deck there, and I taught Jacques--the Vichy "security guard"--how to swim the butterfly. We've owned property creekside on North Jameson since 1960 (sorry, property taxes are still low). And, yeah, I'm a surfer too.
I was at Butterfly Beach yesterday, and as I walked down the street looking at all the crazy, huge, ugly construction going on, I asked myself "How does all this s*** get approved?"
Don't get me wrong: the Miramar site is a dump. Hell, we all kind of thought that as we watched it decay before the Gawzners sold. Something needs to happen. But whatever happens there, it needs to follow the correct procedures...procedures that *everyone* is subjected to equally. Slick, rich LA developer or decidedly middle class homeowner.
After the rains of 1998 our a**es were held over the fire by County Planning, Coastal Commission et al. just for trying to get the creekside portion of our property stable so the house wouldn't fall down into it! Sounds like things would've been a touch easier if Caruso was our friend during that process.
How sad.
On Miramar Hotel Emails Raise Questions