Edhat Staff
Dumping of 1/9 debris flow mud from Montecito at Goleta Beach in late January 2018 (Photo: Melinda Burns)
Source: City of Goleta
Some questions have been raised about Goleta Beach in the aftermath of the material being deposited there since the January 9 storm. Depositing of this material has ceased and access to Goleta Beach Park is open. However, the waters off Goleta Beach are still closed due to higher than normal levels of bacteria there. We appreciate our residents’ concerns and want to update you on the efforts to restore safe access to this important beach.
As most know, Goleta Beach is not within the City’s jurisdiction, but instead is under the County’s control. Still we recognize that this park and beach are heavily used by Goleta residents and that our City does have a role and great interest in assuring public access to both.
Goleta’s Mayor and staff have had numerous discussions with Santa Barbara County staff. Most recently, Mayor Paula Perotte and City Manager Michelle Greene met with County Supervisor Janet Wolf and County staff to discuss why the ocean water at Goleta Beach remains closed and what actions the County is taking to reopen it. We are working cooperatively to keep the public informed on our progress in reopening the beach as soon as it is safe. We are also urging the County to identify alternative places to deposit material should the need arise again and the County assured us that they are committed to seeking alternative disposal sites.
In the interim, we wanted to assure the public that Goleta officials and staff are actively involved in the discussions and have expressed our deepest concern about the impacts the deposited material has created. We remain committed to the restoration of safe ocean water at this treasured community and environmental resource. We are also committed to keeping the community informed as this situation progresses. Thank you for your concern over this special place.
What happened to the ecologist guy that said the dirt was “beach nourishment”? Most of us knew this was gonna be bad.
This is really a bummer and was completely foreseeable. What’s worse though, is that any of us Goleta residents who complained about the dumping of toxic mud on our beach were instantly (and quite rudely at times) shot down and received backlash as being “uncaring” or “selfish” or some other nonsense about the tragedy in Montecito.
Unfortunately, the whole beach scene here seems to have morphed into a haven for homeless rotten motorhomes. I choose to stay away.
Oh, the paid shill for the County? Seth something or other? Yeah, total credibility loss for the so-called Project Clean Water scam. Also where are the Heal the Ocean folk? Environmental Defense? They turned their collective backs on Goleta Beach and don’t even pretend to care that their rosy predictions about minimal impact from the Montecito sludge did not pan out. Talk about environmental injustice!
So, where is our 3rd District Supervisor? In fact WHO is our 3rd District Supervisor? I expect their attention is elsewhere – on to the next gig. Pretty pathetic.
Some comments from both sides were completely horrible, I understand the frustration with this situation but I think at the time it was the best option. I still don’t think it’s acceptable for people to be commenting “Montecito should have kept their bacteria” or making it seem like it was dumped in Goleta rather than Montecito because Montecito has money like they are on Facebook. Kinda insensitive if you ask me. We all know why it wasn’t dumped on the beach in Montecito and money has nothing to do with it. I wish this whole situation didn’t have to happen, but it did, and it’s being fixed, and that’s all we can do at this point.
You can thank Tom Fayram for all of this. He made the decision and isn’t worried about the contamination. Of course he doesn’t live anywhere near Goleta………….
Janet Wolf has censored my original comment and violated my First Amedment Rights. Typical for a Progressive who fears everyone who disagrees with her….second district residents have been under represented for too long! Almost 12 years to be exact. January can’t come soon enough.