A looming fight over rent control in the city, a new political broom at the Board of Supervisors, and a mushrooming controversy over Elon Musk's domination of the skies over Santa Barbara, will top the local news agenda in 2025.
That's the consensus arising from this week's New Year's Rockin' Eve show, our Fourth Annual end of the year gabfest and holiday season podcast dinner party, serving up a spirited conversation among and between two classes of newsmakers - those who toil in the arena, and those who offer blinding insights gleaned from spectating in the cheap seats.
Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse and his arch-foil, City Council member Meagan Harmon (aided by Andrew, her impossibly cute young squire) join our All-Star Panel of Top Local Journalists for a full and frank exchange of deep thoughts, cheap shots and bon mots about the most important, least consequential or otherwise entertaining events, trends, and surprises in Santa Barbara, as told in the final hours of 2024.
Gwyn Lurie, Nick Welsh and Josh Molina join the genial host and his esteemed guests for a free-flowing discussion about critical, high-impact stories of this year, which will continue to reverberate next year, even as local politics and policy unfolds under the shadow of Trump's authoritarian project.
Roy Lee's astonishing defeat of Das Williams for the First District Board of Supervisors seat, both will usher in changes in style and substance, as the county tackles big issues involving oil drilling, cannabis cultivation and housing -- and send a political message about public annoyance with self-dealing, pay-to-play, Democratic patronage. politics,.
Wendy Santamaria's narrow win over incumbent Alejandra Gutierrez in District 1 instantly reshuffles the deck at Santa Barbara City Council on the volatile issue of rent control, which now appears to have a 4-to-3 majority in favor, as Meagan did not hesitate to remind Randy, about six seconds after we started the show.
Elon Musk - the government's largest contractor and Trump's largest campaign contributor, who has been put in putative charge of "government efficiency," - appears to have zero accountability for the metastasizing number of SpaceX flights launched from Vandenberg, amid growing public concerns about their impacts on mental health and the environment.
And for those who may have missed the last five years of Randy-Meagan debate about, wait for it...The Future of State Street...the two of them offer plenty of snarling, snapping, growling, barking and yapping, as members of the gang egg on their favorite over pet issues, from e-bikes and terrorized pedestrians, to planning process paralysis, and the thick, deep waves of brown, dead leaves that whoosh down deserted blocks of downtown.
Plus: Gwyn on Montecitio's retail renaissance, Nick on his big bike accident, Josh on Das's personality, and Jerry's shout-out to Mayor Sheila Lodge.
All this and more, right here, right now at Newsmakers TV.
JR
Check out our New Year's Rockin' Eve show via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast is available on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple and other platforms. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show at 8 p.m. every weeknight, and at 9 a.m on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Image: Andrew Harmon, 1, made as much sense as anyone else on the panel.