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Homeless: Streets of Santa Barbara
Friday February 23, 2007
Today was quite different from yesterday. The sunshine was sparkling like diamonds as it reflected off the Pacific Ocean. The sky was blue and a few white puffy clouds with flat bottom surfaces appeared to be sliding by in slow motion on a huge sheet of glass between heaven and earth. I drove to the top level of the Granada garage to check out the theater while it was going through it's careful refurbishing and rebuilding. As I looked to the southwest, the inside of the old theater stood completely revealed. I can't get over the feeling of accidentally catching a glimpse of someone caught in a state of indecent dress when I look at it.  Looking to the east, I could see the front of the library with a group of people sitting in the sun, backpacks and sleeping bags suggesting that there was no other place for them to go. Sometimes we see one of the area's homeless pushing a grocery cart full of plastic bags which is filling in for dresser drawers containing all their worldly possessions. I am grateful, at that point, for our dresser drawers full of clean clothes at home.  There are some wonderfully unselfish medical workers that make regular visits to homeless shelters to check up on visitors who drop in. A veterinarian stops by at times to make sure the pets are doing well, too. The extremes of wealth and poverty in this town always grab my attention when displayed in some unexpected vision of irony. Locals journey to Afghanistan to provide dental services from a large metal container turned into an office with chair or to open a hair salon for the veiled and draped women who so often reveal exotic beauty worthy of magazine covers and silver screens. Meanwhile, back in SB, the new, extremely wealthy owner of the local newspaper sues in numbers that bring private smiles to the attorneys she hires, tries to rid the public beach below her cliff top home of anyone out for a walk or a tan, and fires longtime columnists who are in favor of a union for the paper's empoyees. I give her credit for donating millions to restore architectural treasures and to animal charities. But she is trampling and mutilating any worker's rights, a trend that has ballooned under the corporatocracy administration and that man currently occupying the White House. No matter how I try to give myself rational answers or reasons, I can't quiet the dismay in my heart over these stark differences. lulublue  | | Posted by Lulublue at 11:14 PM - | |
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This morning, as dark clouds gathered overhead, quite a few people were waiting around in front of the SB Library. I have a feeling they were homeless waiting for the 10 a.m. opening time so they could get in out of the cold and expected rain. The library received some damage in the earthquake of 1925. Here is an interesting photo from that era. The library was rebuilt and is a stunning bit of architecture in downtown Santa Barbara. My friends and I used to hang out by the library back in the late '60s; many hippies and college students did.
This brings me to the controversial events surrounding the St. Francis Hospital (or Medical Center) in SB. The building in the center of the photo below is the hospital surrounded by homes on the "Riviera of Santa Barbara". The hospital has been there since the late 1800s and was run by the Catholic church. After the earthquake in 1925 which damaged the building, the nuns rebuilt the structure to be somewhat earthquake safe. A friend had her baby there but they would not tie her tubes afterwards - birth control! She was a bit upset about that - and a second surgery was done at Cottage Hospital in SB a year later. I had my tonsils and wisdom teeth taken out (at the same time!) at St. Francis. Many residents, old and young, were born there.
Above, view of St. Francis from downtown; below, in the prayer garden.
The landscaping around St. Francis is magnificent. There is a very under-used prayer/meditation garden behind the building. Actually, I go there often because it's so close to home, has a good view of downtown and the Pacific Ocean, if there is no fog as in the photo, and because of it's seclusion, it is very peaceful and quiet. It feels very good to me to be there.
There were statues of St. Francis and St. Barbara in the garden, and you can see a very old stone worship structure in the picture below. There are many old stone walls and retaining enforcements around SB built by Italian artisans who moved here in the 1800s.
Above, view of SB from prayer garden; below, stone alcove in garden which used to house a statue (Jesus, St. Francis, or Mary).
A few years ago, most residents of this area ("Bungalow Haven") were shocked to learn Cottage Hospital bought this old, historic building and would be demolishing it to build condos! Considering SB's anti-growth leanings, their propaganda to win approval was that the condos would be below market rate and specifically for hospital employees such as nurses and technicians who were having to live in Ventura or Santa Maria and commute due to the lack of available rental properties at a reasonable rates. As you can imagine, a huge amount of Santa Barbara's workers commute and the freeways have steadily become insanely clogged with drivers in a rage. It can take 30 min. to drive what should be a 10 minute drive. If there is an accident, it can be over an hour, and on getaway Fridays it is like a huge parking lot stretching 5 or 6 miles to the south of town. People looking to get out of Dodge (L.A.) for the weekend all seem to hit the 101 at once. It is horrible! The swing of the pendulum of the past several decades is evident with some past city councils in favor of turning the 4 lane part of 101 to 3 lanes in each direction but the planning commission or residents of Montecito, fearing increased traffic and noise, would stall or block the effort.
Despite heroic efforts by many homeowners close to St. Francis, the project has been approved by most members of the current city council (with the exception of Das Williams - thank you, Das!) and the planners. (Those responsible for that $25,000,000 Granada garage.) There was quite a bit of trickery and dishonesty on the part of Cottage in it's effort to get through the hoops. They had someone write a report on the historic or landmark value of the old building, which said there was no value. That report should have been by an impartial historian. It was written by the wife of one of the doctors who would most likely benefit from the sales of those condos! At this point, only some of those condos are to be at a reasonable rate, others to be exactly what this town does not need, more very expensive property. During the demolition, asbestos, lead, and diesel (among other toxics) will be released into the environment to circulate in the air around 2 schools, neighborhood homes, and 2 parks. (SB's parks are pesticide free and should remain chemical free.) The foundations of homes closeby would probably suffer damage from the jack-hammering and demolition. (When my second child was born in Cottage, upon going to my room I heard jack-hammer noise from outside! Although muffled, it inspired me to ask my doctor to sign for my release within a few minutes!)
It seems that this historic building could be used to shelter homeless or as a treatment facility for veterans. I would think the quiet garden would be ideal for those dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the war in the Middle East. The building stands empty, ready to be put back into service as SB's oldest medical facility, holding a very special place in the memories of most local residents. I swear that place holds an atmosphere rich with the healing of past prayers!
There is even some doubt that many hospital employees would want to be living there, under the constant watch of their employer, and beholden because of the financing. This would negatively influence any bargaining power the employee should have while asking for a raise or promotion. Cottage recently bought an existing apartment complex and hospital in Goleta, 10 minutes to the north of the main hospital. There are other areas more appropriate for development that they already own! It looks like Cottage is trying to turn SB into a "company town". I think they should have a new symbol - the serpents of healing on the caduceus ...
entwined around a jack hammer!
Every time I hear chain saws or wood chippers, I go to my window to see if the trees in the prayer garden are being hacked. Nothing has been done yet. A sign designating the site as a development area stands along the street in front of St. Francis Medical Center. I wouldn't be surprised if homeowners initiate legal action to prevent their $1 million investments, their homes, from foundation and structural damage as a result of demolition. I still would like to see a veteran or homeless facility (many homeless are veterans!).
Blessings, lulublue
| | Posted by Lulublue at 12:09 AM - | |
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Sunday February 18, 2007
Thank you to Sean Bonniwell for the Music Machine images!  My mom and I made the dress and I was told to look like I was dancing - it looks silly, I know. But I was very young. I didn't even begin to do the sex and drugs for, oh, another year! Those few months as go-go dancers (in clothes!) were fun for my friend, Nina, and me. Music Machine, Mojo Men, and Symphony of Sound were some of the bands appearing on the stage at Longshoreman's Hall around that time. Canned Heat, John Mayall, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane were popular and if you were paying attention you heard the first steps of "garage band punk" like Too Much to Dream Last Night, Little Red Book, Can't Seem to Make You Mine, and Talk Talk, which took us in a new, harder direction. These dynamic songs were not like anything else we'd heard. I went on to become a 50+ year old heavy metal fan! The funniest thing that happened was when my parents and my older sister showed up to either satisfy their curiosity or shock the hell out of me. I was taking a break with my new "boyfriend" I'd met at Longshoreman's Hall; we were making out in the seats one level up from ground level. As I opened my eyes and took a breath, I saw my parents sitting about 8 rows back glaring at me. My sister was there, too, trying not to giggle!  These guys were in their 20's, Sean (center) was around 26. What a voice! These people, the Music Machine, were, and are, awesome musicians! My memories of SF, music festivals, etc., are some of my most cherished and the song Talk Talk, is a huge part of that memory as well as some sandalwood incense briquets in a red box I bought in Bay Area. Other incense comes close but not quite. The weekend of the Monterey Pop Festival we moved back to SB.  I've always felt very lucky to have lived through all that excitement and collective power. There was power in numbers to change things and we did. I was in Isla Vista, CA, for the Bank of America burning and anti-war protests. The Nat'l. Guard came marching in one night. It was really a trip. My dad was a conservative banker and I was the youngest, the rebel. So we played out that drama of polarity throughout our lives. Watergate caused him to doubt and later give up on the GOP. His mom was a member of the Colonial Dames and Daughters of the American Revolution, too, so it shook a lot of his early "training".  What were you up to? Blessings, lulublue  | | Posted by Lulublue at 12:26 AM - | |
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Saturday February 17, 2007
I hate to sound obsessive here, but XM satellite radio, channel 6, is having a guest, Sean Bonniwell, of the Wayfarers and Music Machine. I'm listening to that until 8:00 pm PST. They're playing all kinds of old '60s music - so good! I've been reading Sean's book, Beyond the Garage. Back in spring of '67 I was a go-go dancer at Longshoreman's Hall in SF and Music Machine was one of the bands that played there. After not hearing or thinking of that for years, while I was working on my 100 things in my profile, I heard him on Little Steven's Underground Garage, found his website, got the book and CD's. Very interesting life, very funny guy, and pretty brave to write about it all. Talk Talk has always been one of my favorite songs from the '60s. Way ahead of it's time. I was pleasantly surprised to hear about another survivor of the Summer of Love considering how dang many died of drugs, booze, or faded into a private confrontation with personal devils never to be heard from again.  Have a safe President's Day weekend!  lulublue | | Posted by Lulublue at 10:30 PM - | |
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Tuesday February 13, 2007
I'm going to do my little rambles on love. Happy Valentine's Day to all!  I spent my early years watching Tammy, Gidget, Beach Blanket movies and hearing songs of how perfect life will be when "he" comes into my life. Or maybe it's just my 7th house sun and moon and 2 planets in Libra. But I have come to think the ideal doesn't exist - at least for some of us. I've had 5 serious loves, 2 commitments of over 2 years - and partner/marriage of 21 years (and I was faithful!!!). They had the greatest of highs but the deepest lows, too. (Not all at once! Only 1 at a time...) Love is always bittersweet - either I was unable to love enough or they were unable to. Last weekend on Little Steven's Underground Garage I heard one of the girl groups do a song called, "He Hit Me and It Felt Like a Kiss". Bizarre... My ex-husband parked in the driveway of my cottage with his girlfriend in the front seat of his Explorer. He turned the car around before he came to pick up our sons, probably at her urging, so I wouldn't see her sitting there. I went out my back door to avoid X and went to meet her and thank her for being so great to the boys; teaching them to swim and surf, generous, etc. After first intro, I told her I should buy her a sympathy card! She said he has a big heart. Yeah, he has a big heart and a big temper to match. Fantasies are fun but I don't understand fetishes...nun fetish? Weird...I keep thinking of some fine guy coming to my door, coming inside, and I close the door behind him quickly. Then "pin" him against the door because I'm so hot to kiss him. Then just passionately melt to the ground and you know the rest of the fun stuff...It goes without saying that my kids aren't home. Actually, a few of the older one's friends look damn good to me...  I'm done with that kind of love - not passion - just that ideal love relationship. I can't take any more of the ecstasy followed by hope then disappointment then devastation. I read a good article about love on the internet. It simply stated that good partnerships don't start with the all-consuming passion (which I love), but with a friendship. I wish I'd read that years and years ago. But the edge is taken off - that edge which can be awesome. That feeling of sparks when hands first touch, the incredible attraction - all consuming is such a good description, and the consummation is perfect bliss personified. Leave comments as far as great love music or songs - I like Scorpions "Still Lovin' You". "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is flawless as far as faithful, steady love. Or do a word association with a love theme!  THE DOVE SONG I hear thy voice, O turtle dove - The dawn is all aglow - Weary am I with love, with love, Oh, whither shall I go? Not so, O beauteous bird above, Is joy to me denied... For I have found my dear, my love, And I am by his side. We wander forth, and hand in hand Through flow'ry ways we go - I am the fairest in the land, For he hath called me so. An Egyptian love song 3,000 years old, sometimes placed in tombs so that it might be sung by the departed souls in paradise. (At least that's what the Egipcios Kier Tarot Deck says...) I think it's really pretty. Gets me right there in the heart.... Happy Valentines Day! lulublue  | | Posted by Lulublue at 11:27 PM - | |
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