Green districts garner attention
A few weeks ago our news pages touched on a special kind of special district — one that promotes and funds green energy projects. Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo both are considering such districts, though with slightly different approaches to funding. And the idea caught the attention of The Economist, which wrote about Read More →
Editorial: Behind McCaw’s victory, a chance to reset her role
Wendy McCaw has notched an admirable victory for the First Amendment, but her job as the owner and co-publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press may need some reinvention. McCaw’s struggle with her newsroom over who controls the content of the news pages came to a head in 2006, when the paper’s top editors and reporters Read More →
Santa Paula: Showing true grit
As Mayor Jim Tovias explained in his state of the city address on Groundhog Day, Santa Paula hasn’t spent the past year hiding from a weak economy. Without a single layoff or salary reduction, the city has shaved $1 million from a $10 millon budget and reached zero deficit without tapping into reserves. Fearing another Read More →
Schwarzenegger has exit lesson for Obama
We are inclined to think about our leaders in historic terms. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and the Roosevelts are viewed as figures who tamed their legislatures and achieved great things. But as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger heads into the sunset, we are confronted with a new paradigm — a larger-than-life figure who is unable to overcome Read More →
Time for some new players
In baseball and in business, there are starting pitchers and there are relievers. We’ve all seen the superstar performer who is great in a crisis and then sticks around for a year or so. But his or her heart really isn’t in it for the grinding away that it takes to succeed for the long Read More →
Westmont neglected as donor defaults on $75M
By any account, $75 million is a lot of money. If you are a small, Christian college laboring with recovery from a major fire and an ambitious expansion plan, it’s an enormous amount of money. Which is why the report in this issue of the Business Times that Westmont College’s mystery donor won’t be able Read More →
Region shows compassion for Haiti
When tragedy strikes, our region steps up. That’s one of the truly remarkable things about living and working in the tri-county region. The Business Times takes some space on these pages to pay tribute to all the innovative ways our businesses and nonprofits have found to raise money for earthquake relief for Haiti. Rather than Read More →
