Ryan P. Cruz

Hundreds packed into El Presidio de Santa Barbara Historic Park to celebrate culture and honor the dead.

Rep. Salud Carbajal, pictured Election Night at the S.B. Biergarten, is poised to regain his seat in the 24th Congressional District. He said that despite the national results of the election, he's excited to continue the work he's been doing in Washington, D.C., and here on the Central Coast. | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom At the packed patio bar outside the S.B. Biergarten on Election Night, 24th Congressional District Representative Salud Carbajal tried to remain “cautiously optimistic” about the nationwide election as the results started to trickle in on the TVs around the room. During his speech to the crowd at the Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County watch party, made up of more than 100 people who were both happy about local wins and anxious about the national races, Rep. Carbajal said that he was grateful to be from the state of California, specifically the Central Coast, which he said “reflects our democratic values.” Although Donald Trump's lead continued to grow over the night and the Senate soon tipped in the Republicans' favor, Carbajal said that he was still encouraged to see a path to take the majority in the House of Representatives. (As of early Wednesday morning, the Democrats had 181 seats and the Republicans had won 199 in the race to reach the 218 needed for a majority.) “We need to remember that we need to continue to go forward, no matter what the outcome will be [for other races in the House],” he told the crowd. “We hope it's gonna be the way we want it to be. But we have a lot of work to do to continue to represent our constituents, promote our values, to protect our democracy and our civil rights, and fight for all those issues that are important for working, middle-class families.” In an interview with the Independent , Rep Carbajal said he was “anxious” about the nationwide results. “It's gonna be tight,” he said. “We're not gonna know the results for a few days and so we need to be patient, but I'm cautiously optimistic and hopeful when it comes to my race.” As of midnight, Carbajal was in a comfortable position to regain his seat in the 24th Congressional District with more than 65 percent of the county's vote against challenger Thomas Cole. When asked what felt different about the 2024 election, Carbajal said that things have gotten “very competitive throughout the country,” from the presidential race down to the Senate and House of Representatives. “It's become a lot tighter,” he said. Even if the election went further to the right than he expected, Rep. Carbajal said that he's excited to continue the work he's been doing in Washington, D.C., and here on the Central Coast, where he hopes to provide more relief for constituents suffering with high costs for groceries, housing, and child care. “All of those things that go to their pocketbooks that they are dealing with on a daily basis,” he said. “Making sure that we're providing an increase in healthcare, providing higher education opportunities and financial aid for residents, working on all those things that lift up the quality of life of the Central Coast families.” And regarding the big-ticket presidential race, Carbajal said that even a Trump win doesn't mean that the work stops for Democrats. “If it is Trump, it just reminds us of the work we have ahead of us to continue to protect democracy,” he said Tuesday night, before the race was eventually called for Trump early Wednesday morning. “To continue to protect the civil rights of all individuals in our country and here on the Central Coast, and to be the checks and balances in the House of Representatives should we be successful in taking over the majority.”

Del Cielo Mobile Estates in Orcutt | Credit: Google Maps The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on a temporary emergency ordinance placing a moratorium on senior mobile home parks, effectively preventing the conversion of senior-only homes into all-ages. A month ago, the board directed staff to come up with an interim ordinance that would protect the county's senior-only homes, sparked in part by the recent acquisition of Del Cielo Mobile Estates in Orcutt by Harmony Communities — a company with a history of buying and converting senior mobile homes to all ages. Mobile parks represent one of the few unsubsidized affordable housing options left for people over the age of 55. The emergency ordinance would give county staff time to establish the more permanent measures. One of the owners of Del Cielo, and Paul Beard, an attorney representing the new ownership, argued that preventing all-ages housing was non-inclusive, and that there would be no other choice but to litigate should this go through. Supervisor Bob Nelson said that the new owner was well aware that conversion was infeasible. “He bought a property understanding that it could not be converted, yet he's now trying to find a legal pathway to do that — he admitted that to me in an email,” Nelson said. Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said that the comments were an “eye-opening” insight into the new ownership's point of view. “If you're going to come to the Board of Supervisors and basically threaten us and call us racist,” Lavagnino said, “I can only imagine what you're going to be doing when you're dealing with … people that are on fixed incomes, or elderly that might not have all the resources that we do.” The board is scheduled to come back on December 10 to approve an extension for the moratorium to continue through October 25, 2025.

Senior captain Sawyer Kelly finishes with 154 total yards in his final game

While I may have been too young to ever watch him play, as a born-and-raised Los Angeles Dodgers fan and first-generation Mexican American, I can’t help but to have a

City staff recommended that nine sites, seen in yellow, be rezoned in Phase 1; those sites are the most likely to provide low-income units by 2031.

Robitaille's Fine Candies, a family owned candy shop in Carpinteria, announced it would be closing later this year. | Credit: Courtesy Robitaille's Fine Candies — a family-owned-and-operated business most well known for its chocolate “Presidential Inauguration Mints,” and a Carpinteria staple for more than 36 years — announced that it would be closing the Linden Avenue shop later this year, according to a statement from owners John and Tami Robitaille on Thursday, November 7. Before the shop opened up in an old hardware store in Carpinteria on New Year's Day of 1989, the Robitaille family had already been making batches of candy in Santa Barbara County. In 1985, when President Ronald Reagan was about to be inaugurated for his second term, the Robitaille family legend was cemented when their famous chocolate mint wafers were chosen as the “Official Mint of the 50th Presidential Inauguration.” The chocolates had been a staple at every presidential inauguration since. For the past 36 years, the shop has been a mainstay on Carpinteria's main drag, with locals and tourists stopping in for their chocolate turtles, peanut caramel clusters, coconut stacks, and countless options of homemade fudge. Three generations of Robitaille's have run the shop, with Carmen Robitaille passing it off to her son, John, who most recently ran the store with his wife, Tami, and their daughter, Victoria. “When we first opened, we never imagined the overwhelming support, love and friendship that would come from this journey,” the family wrote in a message announcing the closure. “It has been a true privilege to watch generations grow up with us — to see kids who once ran in with sandy feet now bringing in their own little ones. Each smile, each laugh, each story has made our candy store feel like so much more than a business.” The shop owners said they were “eternally grateful to have been part of so many of your family experiences and life memories over the years,” and thanked their loyal customers for involving the candy shop to be a part of their “engagements, weddings, baptisms, graduations, family reunions, vacations and so many other special occasions.” Now, the owners said, they are hoping to take the opportunity to “start spending more time making memories with our growing family.” Within five hours of announcing the closure on social media, more than 50 people had shared their memories and support of the shop in the comments.“We will miss you so much. Our children and grandchildren have grown up with Robitaille's,” one commenter wrote; “This was hard to hear, never in my life did I ever think these doors would close,” wrote another. The closure — like some of their chocolates over the years — is bittersweet for the Robitaille family. “It has been an absolute privilege being in business in downtown Carpinteria for 36 years, and making so many new friends who feel like family. We are especially thankful for all the locals who have worked for us, some experiencing their very first job and others keeping busy in their retirement years,” the family's final message read. ‘To the Carpinteria community, we truly appreciate all of your support over the years and we look forward to seeing you around town,” the message continued. “Though it's time for us to close our doors, we will carry these memories with us forever. Thank you for supporting us, for filling our shop with laughter and for being a part of our story.” The shop will officially close its doors on December 1, 2024.

District 1 candidate Wendy Santamaria is poised to be the city’s newest councilmember.

Rendering of the new police station from the front entrance on Santa Barbara Street. Santa Barbara's new state-of-the-art police station is ready to break ground — with an estimated total construction cost of a little more than $121 million — following City Council's unanimous approval of the construction contract on Tuesday. The new station, which is financed through voter-approved Measure C funds, will replace the current 65-year-old building and bring all police operations under one roof. Police Chief Kelly Gordon took over the department two years ago when the project was already in the planning stages, but she said as soon as she arrived, she recognized how important the new police station would be for the department and the community. The current station was built in 1959 and had never been upgraded to today's accessibility and seismic safety standards. It had been designed “for a much smaller community and a much smaller police department,” Chief Gordon said, forcing Santa Barbara Police to spread its operations to four different locations across the city. The new 65,000-square-foot station, she said, will have everything a modern department needs to police a mid-sized community like Santa Barbara: 9-1-1 dispatch center, a community room, training room, evidence room, forensic laboratory, shooting range, and fitness area. “Really, it's a very exciting moment for us to actually break ground and actually see this moving forward,” Gordon said. Principal Project Planner Brad Hess guided the project through the long road of planning, design, and review. He explained how the police station had been at the top of the city's wish list since 2017, when it was a major selling point for the passing of Measure C. As soon as the measure passed, the city began the planning process, starting with a deep look into the police department, what type of facility it needed, and how much space it would require. The city looked into 20 different sites, evaluated six, and finally narrowed it down to two. After studying both, the decision was made to opt for a city-owned commuter lot on Cota Street. The next challenge was finding a new location for the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market, which used the same parking lot every Saturday. This was a contentious process, with standing-room-only meetings and hours of public discourse over the new location. By the time the development plan was approved in 2022 , the project was estimated to cost around $92 million. Since then, the city changed the way it chose contractors for large projects, allowing for the “best value” as opposed to the “lowest responsible bidder.” This change, Hess said, allowed the city to go for contractors that fit the city and project's specific needs. Starting with a list of 10 contractors, the city narrowed it down to two options in October 2024. Both contractors were interviewed and evaluated on a 1,000-point scale based on relevant experience, contract schedule, competency, labor compliance, and safety record. ProWest Constructors of Goleta was chosen to have the “best value.”. ProWest Constructors has already successfully completed projects in Santa Barbara both for Cottage Hospital and UC Santa Barbara and has a proven record for dealing with the state's strict regulations. The county recently chose it to construct the new downtown probation building just six blocks away. The city will host a ceremonial groundbreaking later this month, but construction is scheduled to begin in January 2025, with a completion date of April 2027. Officially, the base construction contract is $95,998,811. After factoring in additional costs, city-sponsored insurance, supplies, and contingencies, the total comes in at more than $121 million. The city will pay for construction using lease revenue bonds to be paid off with $8 million a year over a 30-year span, and the payments will account for about a quarter of the city's Measure C funds each year. Finance Director Keith DeMartini said the city has an “excellent credit rating,” and was in the “best position possible to issue debt with a favorable rate.”

A traffic stop in Montecito late Tuesday night led to the discovery of a kidnapping in progress when Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies found a man forcing a woman to drive an RV against her will, allegedly after the man had threatened the woman and her child with two knives and a handgun, according to a statement from Sheriff's Office spokesperson Raquel Zick. The incident began shortly before 11 p.m. when law enforcement pulled over the RV, which was headed southbound on Highway 101 near Olive Mill Road, after deputies saw that the vehicle was “unsafe” and being driven with its pop-out sections extended. When the deputy on scene approached the RV, he saw what appeared to be “an ongoing domestic dispute,” Zick said. On further investigation, deputies said that they discovered a “kidnapping in progress,” in which the passenger, 34-year-old Matthew Parsadayan of Newport Beach, had reportedly forced the woman to drive from Highway 154 through Santa Barbara to Orange County. The woman's child was also inside the vehicle. According to the Sheriff's Office, Parsadayan had allegedly “threatened the victim with two knives, put his arms around her neck, and fired a handgun out of the window” before the vehicle had been pulled over. “The victim, in fear for her life and for her infant who was also in the vehicle, was attempting to comply with Parsadayan's commands when the RV was stopped by the deputy,” Zick said. Deputies searched the vehicle and found a Glock pistol and one spent nine-millimeter casing. Parsadayan was placed under arrest and charged with several felonies, including kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, child cruelty, and kidnapping a child. According to jail records, he is still in custody at Santa Barbara County's Main Jail on a bail of $1 million.