I am a parent of a student at Washington Elementary School. I do not have a student who was involved in these election deliberations. And I am disappointed.

I am disappointed with our local parents.
I am disappointed with our local press.
I am disappointed with our school district.
I am disappointed (though not entirely surprised) by the national news. 

We do not know the full story of what happened with the student elections at Washington Elementary School. Nor will we ever. 

What we do know (and have experienced): The student body elections happen and there are complaints that they were mishandled. A parent calls the district and threatens to go to the press. Miss Curry is placed on Administrative Leave, where little information is shared. An unnamed group of parents and teachers posted inflammatory and hurtful signage at the entrances to the schools. This group spreads rumors about the Principal and the students involved. Many of these rumors are walked back. Two interim Principals are instated while Miss Curry is on leave. 

Meanwhile, kids are going to school in tears, teachers are trying to support each other and their students, and parents are trying to figure out what happens next. 

Nine business days after being put on leave, the school district reinstates Miss Curry and includes a letter from Miss Curry herself. In that letter, she writes the following:

“This year, I led deliberations after the student votes were tallied that resulted in overriding the outcome of two positions: the President and one additional position. In these cases, the runner-up candidates were selected instead of the candidates who received the most votes. This resulted in my own child being appointed president. I sincerely apologize for allowing this practice to persist. I take responsibility for the disruption it caused within our school community and I am committed to making this right moving forward. Students and families directly affected by the election will receive appropriate communication and support as that work is completed.”

I acknowledge that the results were overridden, which was a mistake. However, calling it 'rigging' is inflammatory and does not accurately describe what happened. Frankly, this term is clickbait (and it's working). Miss Curry led a group of teachers in overseeing student body election results. That group of teachers decided to pick the second place winner instead of the 1st place winner.  

John Becchio, the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, is quoted in the Independent as stating “The district expects that for student/ASB elections, the candidate with the most votes wins.” What John doesn't say, is that there is a process in place where alternate candidates are selected at almost every school. Teachers regularly have to overrule the student popular vote for multiple reasons (all girls/boys are elected, a winner has an attendance/disciplinary record, etc). 

Let's not lose sight of the fact that Miss Curry followed a practice that has been in place for years. Rigging implies a secret plot to cheat. Using a long-standing district-wide practice is a systemic failure, not a reflection on Miss Curry. Parents chose to care now, because her daughter was involved.  

I do think that there is a world where Miss Curry might have removed herself from the position of leading these deliberations, but who would stand in her stead? Per District orders, there is no longer an Assistant Principal at Washington Elementary School. 

Miss Curry is receiving threats and hate from every angle of the local and international internet. This is wrong.

Why is the district allowing the blame for a systemic failure to fall solely on Miss Curry? It seems cowardly to ignore the identical practices happening at other schools. Where is our Vice Principal? Where is the district's support for its own administrator?

Equally disappointing is our local press. Rather than performing their actual investigative duty, they have opted for the easiest possible narrative: an attack on a principal. They are taking the opinions of a few (anonymous) parents and a single teacher, then splicing together snippets from releases. This isn't journalism. These are opinion pieces masquerading as news.

Finally, we need to address the parents. Why are we inserting ourselves into a student election process instead of teaching our children how to advocate for themselves?

We are adults; it is time we started acting like it. Stop this. Let's support our Principal, our students and our teachers. Let's call for accountability, and then, please, let's move on.

Saw this posted at SBCC. Link to a form. Apparently there is a petition for new rent control to supplant our current rent control bc landlords want to gouge.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17vrWVnO-gZFw8gl3uMkaTtZJgN0aHNoGxJu1B15Qkbk/edit?usp=drivesdk

Hi ladies!

I'm newly single (37F) and looking to make new single female friends! Most of my dear girlfriends are in long-term relationships or married with kids, so it's hard to find time to hang out. I'd love to meet other women who are down to have fun and build genuine friendships.

I'd love to get dressed up and go out for dinner or drinks (mocktails, wine, or cocktails!), but I'm not a big partier. I'm also happy doing more low-key activities like beach walks, yoga/Pilates, book clubs, watching funny or reality shows, or trying new cafés and restaurants.

A little about me: I love reading, crafting miniature dollhouses, art, and international travel. I'm also brand new to OCIA and would love to learn more about Catholicism! I've lived in SB for 18 years, so if you're new to town, I'd be happy to show you around.

I've also been wanting to learn how to knit, so if you know how, I'd love to learn!

I'm hoping to find girlfriends who want to make plans, try new things, and create lasting friendships. It would be lovely to have people to look forward to hanging out with on the weekends! 😊

Feel free to DM me if this sounds like your vibe!

P.S. Women only, please! No male DMs. I'm strictly looking for female friendships.

Does anyone have an idea what the terrible smelling scent is around Samarkand is? Smells like skunk or like rotten meat.

I woke up and could smell it in my home.

A Shocking Endorsement

By Richard Flacks, S.B.
Thu Oct 15, 2026 | 5:16pm

I’m frankly shocked that the Santa Barbara Independent has endorsed Eric Friedman rather than Kristen Sneddon for mayor. Friedman, despite his past as a liberal democrat, has chosen to run as the candidate for the real estate, landlord, and developer interests in our community. These interests have engineered our extreme housing costs and seem eager to perpetuate them.

The national and local real estate lobbies have invested some $100,000 in Eric’s campaign. He claims to have led the formation of the city’s recently created Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Actually, coucilmembers Kristen Sneddon and Meagan Harmon proposed the fund and a broad grassroots coalition, inspired by Housing Authority Director Rob Fredericks, organized support for this essential measure.

Eric’s support helped get it passed because the council vote was divided. But more recently he has opposed funding it. Had his preference for maintaining reserve funds prevailed, significant affordable housing development, now going forward, would have been lost. Nor has he advocated the necessary local revenue raising required for affordable housing at scale, Indy’s endorsement of Eric Friedman fails to ask necessary questions about his stances in office and in his campaign and how they relate to his business support.

Here’s a glaring example: Although he reluctantly voted for the State Street Master Plan, he advocates a car-free pedestrian mall for only half of the Master Plan proposal. His biggest contributor is Jim Knell, who owns a large number of State Street commercial properties. The Indy mentions these facts — but fails to note that one factor in assessing commercial property value is the number of vehicles that pass it.

Is Eric’s stance on this matter clarified when these dots are connected?

In 2022, the California Legislature passed SB1439, which prohibits an elected city official from accepting campaign contributions greater than $250 from any party who has or is seeking an entitlement from the city government. The size and nature of Eric’s campaign contributions suggest multiple possible “pay to play” conflicts like the above Knell example.

Were he to become mayor, he might have to recuse himself from deciding some of the most consequential matters facing the community’s future. More importantly, whether or not he’s already a party to violating this law — the huge donations from the Realtor associations and other business interests should raise questions about his capacity to be the unifying leader the Indy imagines.

His leadership record on council raises further doubts. If he were an effective leader in a city whose work force is maybe more rent burdened than any other, he could have declared support for a strong rent stabilization measure and offered ideas to overcome his concerns about it. The specific size of the rent cap might well have been negotiable, for example. Kristen Sneddon twice suggested raising the cap — Eric could have seconded such a motion. Of course, then he wouldn’t have been able to attract those campaign dollars.

I suggest readers who are trying to figure out who to vote for — reread the endorsement article. Between the lines one can see that Kristen Sneddon is a visionary, principled human being who has fought in very specific and effective ways for the needs and rights of the least of us. She is, moreover, a scientist whose knowledge areas include matters like water and emergency management. And she may well be a mayor who can build wide community trust in a government of, by and for all the people.

Link to Letter: https://www.independent.com/2026/10/15/a-shocking-endorsement-2/

Are there any large, mostly empty parking lots or similar paved spaces around SB where it wouldn't be excessively strange for an adult to go practice biking?

I just want to get used to riding my bike so I'm less scared on the road, nothing major.

Restaurant, bakery, donut shop, grocery market, whatever, who has the best bear claw in town?

I'm from Australia, lived in SB for 8 years, and haven't really met any other expats. I don't drink, or play team sports, so my opportunities to meet groups of people are a little limited.

Are there any meetup groups? Id love to go to a meet up event or meet up with people who want to make friends :)

Anyone seen this?

I know there are existing threads about our favourite dentists here (and the atrocious ones lol) but I’m curious if any of you recommend one who takes Delta insurance?

It seems that Delta, and true insurance company fashion, has refused to negotiate new rates with dentist for over 10 years. Naturally, a lot of dentists have dropped them. The Delta website does not reflect how many of these doctors have left their program, hence my Reddit post. :)

We’ll be traveling from out of town to inter a loved one’s cremated remains with their spouse at Santa Barbara Cemetery and would appreciate some local advice.

We want to keep it simple and personal, probably 6–20 friends and family. I would say a few words and perhaps one other person would as well.

This isn’t intended to be a particularly sad or formal occasion. They lived a long and fulfilling life and were an incredibly positive person who cared much more about people and genuine experiences than formality.

I’ve attended a service there that used the chapel followed by the gravesite, but I’m wondering if that may be more than we need. They weren’t religious and loved being outdoors, the sun, and a beautiful view, so simply gathering at the gravesite might actually be more fitting.

For those with experience there, what worked well? Chapel and graveside, graveside only, or something else?

We’d also appreciate recommendations for a good local florist or other resources we might not think about since we’re coming from out of town.

Thank you for any advice or experiences you can share.

The ramp to CA217 from Hollister is like the damned trinity of freeway danger.

1. It's a short up ramp
   
2. The overgrown bushes completely block sight of the freeway when you're on the ramp.
   
3. You have to merge immediately after the ramp ends.

Not just this entrance there's also another right before ucsb gate that's a extremely short ramp and merge into 1 lane immediately.

There's numerous times i had to stop before i merge because it's impossible to see any car at my blind spot when I'm on the ramp.

So who should I call and is it going to work?

Favorite bakery/grocery store to order a cake from? Love chocolate cake, marbled, cookies and creme. We love Jeanine’s but they only do chocolate on chocolate

For my dad’s birthday I’m getting him a ukulele and wanted to pair it with some lessons to get him started. Does anyone have any recommendations for teachers that are local? This would be the first instrument that he would be learning

Something nice about sharing beer from a pitcher. Where is the best?

I’m working on learning a new language and would love to study somewhere other than my house. Problem is, I need to do a lot of speaking out loud to practice, and I can’t think of anywhere I can do that privately. I wish the public library had individual rooms! Does anyone have any suggestions?

I’m looking for somewhere indoors, quiet-ish, with wifi, that has private spaces. I could potentially go to the SBCC library and reserve a room there with my old student ID, it’s just a bit out of the way for me plus I’m not technically a student anymore. Thanks!

Found a small dingy washed up on Sands Beach in Goleta Serial Number BBL 200470974. I pulled it up the beach so it wouldn't get washed back out, but it is solid, with oars, mast intact, except the sail is torn. Does anyone know how I could find the owner?

Hiii! I’m hoping to move to SB in the next year or so and would love to hear from other young adults who live here! For those of you in your early 20s renting independently, what do you do for work, how did you meet rental qualifications, and roughly how much did you have saved before moving? I’m a hairstylist with a side job, and I’m curious how realistic it is to qualify for a studio when you don’t necessarily make 2.5–3x the monthly rent, even with solid savings and good credit. Thanks in advance!

The Chumash are calling for the presently empty wading pool next to the Los Banos community pool to be turned into a Chumash cultural center.

I feel like there are so many better uses for this site, the splash park or wading pool being two of them TBH.

I'm also frankly surprised the Parks and Req department would not put this out to a larger vote. I very much doubt that most people would put a Chumash cultural center as their #1 pick of what to do with this area.

If this did get built, I think it would have about the same community benefit as the Carriage museum down the road. Good to take a field trip to it once or twice in your life, maybe an interesting tourist stop, but unfortunately that's about it.

EDIT: semi-hot take, not as hot as I imagined, but still a good discourse.

F19 looking for women friends in sb, i can’t go out much right now due to chronic illness stuff but id be happy to get to know anyone and eventually hangout maybe or chill 🖤

The Downtown state street SBIFF Film center was finished and ready for shows last year. However it makes me sad because the marquee is not finished it does not register as a place that's open for business to me! Does anyone know why the marquee is taking so long to complete? Thanks!

Gathered 6,000 signatures surpassing the 5,400 needed.

“The city clerk will now verify the signatures, and the City Council would then decide whether to repeal the ordinance or put the matter before voters during a future election.”

How to Report Misleading Signature Gatherer Behavior

https://www.reddit.com/r/SantaBarbara/comments/1x6ch41/how_to_report_misleading_signature_gatherer/