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September 3, 2021, 6:07 am
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By edhat readers
Anyone knows what’s going on at Bellosguardo ? Looking towards it from Mesa, looks like searchlight towards ocean and emergency vehicles on driveway…
Does anyone know what is going on at the Hugette Clark Estate by the cemetery? Unbelievably huge tents etc.
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Is this how Helene Schneider makes her living now by getting funds as a consultant via her “boyfriend” Jeremy Lindaman? I have no idea what she did for a living before or after being mayor, but I really/really truly hope that did not set herself up to make money off of this public property. I remember Marty Blum setting things up to get that cush job at SBCC….I was sickened when I heard about Ms. Blum continuing on the public’s dime. Some of these pols only know how to take/take/take, and they believe in their heart of hearts that the more they take, the more they are GIVING to us (their lowly servants).
Talk to the “Foundation” Owners. They run the show there, no huddled masses allowed.
We drove by there in the morning around 7:15 AM on our way to Montecito. There were two guards at the “west” gate (the gate closest to the volleyball courts at East Beach. We were wondering “what the heck is going on here”, but we kept driving. On our way back to downtown SB later in the day (around 5:45 PM) we noticed guards at the “east” entrance who had set up a table and also a truck blocking the driveway up to the caretaker’s house, which overlooks the Andree Clark Bird Refuge. We continued toward the volleyball courts, and the guards were still there at the east entrance, one of whom was holding a clipboard. We each looked at each other and almost simultaneously said, “What the heck is going on today at Bellosguardo…..there must be some event going on.” We surmised that it was most likely a private event as someone had to pay for the guards. We did not see the tents, and certainly not the “search” lights after it got dark. It’s too bad that the place will never truly be open-open to the public due to the clientele who would take it over (much like East Beach used to have more picnic tables and BBQ pits until they were taken over as all-day camping spots).
Yeah. It sort of feels like there is nothing nice for the middle class anymore, especially since COVID. The public places are abused, closed, or dominated by the homeless. I’ve been really grossed out on my visits even to places like Nojoqui Falls (kids throwing plastic drinks bottles into the stream while their parents watched and did nothing, a guy pervertedly filming a woman from very far away on his cell phone – she was doing a maternity photo shoot). The beaches are taken over by hobos, or by dog crap, off leash pit bulls, people abusing seals at the Carp rookery, or creepy ultra-wealthy Miramar guests. Free parking is hard to come by. And our communal events like Fiesta have become for the rich and famous only. We are members at Lotusland, and even that has gotten bad. Lotusland nickel and dimed this year even worse than before. A membership has become all but worthless. We enjoyed the picnics last year, this year they jacked up the price (which you pay on top of your membership). This is all just more evidence of the class divide and the coming class war that is burgeoning.
*From the Bellosguardo website….
“Santa Barbara’s most talked about secret.
For sixty years, Bellosguardo has been shrouded in mystery—one of the least-visited and most whispered-about landmarks on the California coast. An impenetrable secrecy has long hung over the estate—until now…
Built by Anna Clark, widow of copper king, Senator William Andrews Clark, in 1937, and then owned by their daughter, Huguette, until her death at age 104, Bellosguardo sits high on the bluff overlooking the ocean.
Upon her death, Mrs. Clark bequeathed this magnificent estate to the Bellosguardo Foundation with the goal of transforming it into a focal point for art and culture in Santa Barbara and beyond.
For half a century, the historic, twenty-four acre, estate has stood frozen in time. Now, we begin the next chapter in the story of this extraordinary property.”
7+ years, and the “Foundation” hasn’t done much?… I’m pretty sure no hoi polloi will ever set foot upon the estate, unless it’s to serve drinks to the wealthy glitterati.
I wonder, is this what Huguette had in mind?
It was a party put on to thank and celebrate Cathy Murrillos’s 4 years of helping our homeless community to thrive and trash the city, to decrease tourism, raise local taxes, and waste your money all while being a successful failure to Santa Barbara. Good job Cathy, keep up the good work.
Prying anything from the hands of the wealthy even if you are wealthy and are philanthropic, is nearly impossible. At the very least, legacies must be run through layers of “administrators” who rake off a portion each time it changes hands. The first scavengers in line take the most, and by the time it gets down to those it was intended for, there’s as much left as there is for beetles after the lions, jackels, hyenas, ravens and so forth get through with a carcus.
On the other hand we just witnesses at least $13 billion dollars in government Covid Relief fraud, proving how easy it is to pry money away from taxpayers when the government is running the distribution operation. Belleguardo creates a huge ongoing daily maintenance operating expense, while its board flounders seeking its next appropriate mission. Expect the occasional revenue generating fund-raisers, until it establishes its next mission. As a public gift, it does need public transparency and scrutiny. That is missing. But it does not need class envy conspiracies. One of those well-intended charitable bequests that may be more burdensome, than beneficial. The donor’s heart was in the right place, but failed to understand the practical burdens her generous gift would entail for the recipient.