The clogged and choking nightmare traffic now afflicting Old Town Goleta rivals the dystopian congestion of huge cities , from London to New York, Paris to Palermo, Boston to Bogotå.
Okay, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement.
Still the simultaneous construction of a bridge, two roundabouts and back-in diagonal parking pavement re-striping has had many motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, commuters and business owners alike disgruntled, if not in high dudgeon, in recent months, as they've endured the annoyance and inconvenience of four concurrent construction projects on Hollister Avenue.
Goleta City Council member James Kyriaco, who represents the area, drops in for a special hacks-and-flacks edition of Newsmakers TV this week, fashioning a terpsichorean political performance, in an attempt to explain why the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad vehicular delays beat any alternative the city could come up with on the irritating nuisance meter.
Goleta Favorite Son Josh Molina meanwhile offers some hyper-local observations about the traffic turmoil, before he dissects the campaign for an open council seat in the city, while Nick Welsh does the same for the race in Santa Barbara's District 3, where incumbent Oscar Gutierrez is challenged by small business owner Tony Becerra, a duo that faced off in a forum this week moderated by the Angry Poodle his own self.
Then the fellas limber up for a round of mansplaining about how Kelly McAdoo, SB's dynamic new City Administrator, triggered some sudden action to inject a jolt of energy into the endless and somnolent discussion of the (all rise) Future of State Street, which has dragged on for four years, resembling nothing so much as a tragicomedy by Samuel Beckett.
("But that is not the question. What are we doing here. That is the question." But we digress).
Building on the existential puzzle theme, we learn that the crucial reason law enforcement officers in Santa Barbara were the only ones in California's 58 counties unable to employ the tool of a 72-hour hold, known as a 5150, for at-risk mentally troubled people is...no reason at all.
Plus: Oscar's mystery personality transplant.
All this and more, right here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.
JR
Check out the new show via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast is here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight, M-F, at 8 p.m., and on weekends, S&S, at 9 a.m. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Political Junkie Must-Reads and Must-Listens of the Week:
Former Mayor Sheila Lodge, one of a dwindling number of right-thinking Santa Barbara citizens, sets the record straight on commuters and housing.
Here's the smartest guide to the 10 state measures on the Nov. 5 ballot, produced by CalMatters.
Kamala Harris got very good polling news this week, but the nub of the Electoral College map shows why it's still a 50-50 race against Donald Trump.
CNN's online investigative reporting team unearthed astonishing, not to mention nauseating, revelations about Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina (who Trump has celebrated as "Martin Luther King on steroids") which are likely to help Harris in her crucial bid to flip the Tarheel State from red to blue.
The sharpest and most entertaining inside politics podcast focused on the presidential is Hacks on Tap, co-hosted by David Axelrod and Mike Murphy.
The Bulwark's full suite of pods may be the most comprehensive and consistent source of Never Trump content on the web from a center-right perspective. Well worth a subscription.
Image:The longest traffic jam in history - 109 miles, Paris to Lyon, June 16, 1980 (UK Discovery Channel).
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