By the edhat staff
California Governor Gavin Newsom visited Santa Barbara County on Friday to survey storm damage and meet with local leaders.
Newsom addressed members of the press on Friday afternoon at the Randall Road Debris Basin in Montecito where members of the National Guard are working around the clock to clear out debris.
The National Guard unit arrived from Chico on Thursday and is expected to be in the area for a few weeks preparing the debris basin for incoming winter storms.
Newsom described how amazing it is that our community has shown resilence and come together in the 1/9 Debris Flow aftermath that killed 23 people in 2018.
He discussed spending time with the Bucket Brigade that formed five years ago and called them a “spirited group of folks” that embody the spirit of community.
Newsom priased men and women in uniform who quickly responded to all emergencies in the area during the storms and thanked the collaborative efforts of local leaders with the state.
He also stated the Biden-Harris Administration has been extremely responsive and a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director is currently in the state assessing damage.
Newsom highlighted the number of projects and initiatives through the state to address wildfire and floods, as well as upcoming plans to more efficently retain storm water.
Watch the 30 minute press conference below:
Gavin newsom sucks!!!
CADILLACKID – so why don’t you do it? Go on, go govern the state. You’d be so good at, obviously. Right?
I’d do it and could do it better than Mr hair gel. I’d just never get elected because this state is beyond repair
Meanwhile Cadillac Kid is preparing for his burger flipping shift and his degree in armchair politics. VOR would not stand for these ad hominem attacks.
Excuse me Mr. Cadallic, ummm … your IQ is showing.
Literally anyone could to better than Newsom. Even Generaltree would be better
GeneralTree, you got that right!! 100%! Today’s GOP is so embarrassing. Ugh.
Everyone is SO Jealous of our handsome qualified Governor.
Seeing some butt hurt down votes. Hilarious. Repuglicans chasing drag shows, harassing transgender children, banning books, ruining higher education, attempting to exonerate insurrectionists, and allowing NAZl ideals to grow like cancer throughout their party – and the blue collar white nationalists are on the troll. The GOP is not only dead – but a mere zombie mumbling “Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hillary’s emails”.
Cadillackid gets its. It’s amazing to watch someone single-handedly destroy a state.
Just HOW EXACTLY is Governor Newsom “destroying” our state? By standing up for wildlife and helping us get important conservation legislature passed? By passing a middle class tax refund? By protecting reproductive freedoms and women’s rights? By making climate change a priority to address? By investing a – truly – historic $170 billion to continue our transformation of education in California??? Yeah, I thought so. Just more Republican whining.
California is not “destroyed” and whatever is wrong with it was not caused by Newsom. I’m so sick of the zombie-like republican voter hate of Carbajal and Newsom. The Democrats that govern this region and state do so much to help all the residents but the far-right media and leadership indoctrinate the GOP voters to believe that Carbajal and Newsom are “bad” and are “ruining everything” just because they are Democrats. “You are required to hate all Democrats, even if their leadership improves your life, simply because they are Democrats”. Ugh.
Whatever your feelings about Newsom are, most of the angry commenters here and on social media are missing the facts. Newsom went to Montecito because the ENTIRE COMMUNITY was evacuated. It’s the same place where 23 people died five years ago, and this debris basins was one of the major projects to after the 1/9 debris flow. So working to clear it to make sure 1/9 never happens again is 1000x more important than some people’s cars getting flooded on the Eastside. No one died over there.
Relax. He only came here specifically to piss you off. Just ignore it.
To all those clamoring and moaning that CA is “destroyed” and “beyond repair,” get out. Go. We don’t want you here. Go to Texas or Florida or Mississippi or wherever you think is “better.” It’s cheaper to live there anyway. Heck, the only thing you’d be missing by leaving is the skiing and wine, maybe? Why are you here? CA will ALWAYS be a blue state. Why would you torture yourself living here any longer? Seriously. I’m not trying to be all “love it or leave it,” just baffled why you sit here, screaming your entire life that you hate where you live.
Pull up your bootstraps and go on, git!
We don’t need to burden those poor, red, failing states with more useless residents. This way, at least some of our federal tax dollars stay here.
I’ve enjoyed the mass exodus of Republicans leaving for Florida, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma – and other s-hole states. Good riddance. Excellent population decrease. Please go – I’d be happy to donate to a monthly Go Fund Me to send more away.
The FACT is, Newsome has done great harm to California.
I’ve heard better parrots at the pet store scotty. BACAW!!!! Polly want a cracker!
Last time I checked, Gav didn’t support the attempted coup d’etat on Jan 6th. Yet the repuglican far-right nationalist house loves their boy George Santos. You have people running around like Boebert, Greene, Gaetz and Santos yet you have a problem with Gavin? Take a deep look in the mirror. The infection has spread, time to lance it. Can’t wait for the DOJ to purge a bunch of these corrupt insurrectionists in our federal government. The law doesn’t care if you did your research on YouTube and are so shallow you believe the election was rigged. Lock them up. Red states are all on the dole – but they don’t talk about that in red-circles.
So now the progressives are dusting off the old Vietnam war era hyperbolic to literal. Turning again to America Love it or leave it and dialing it deeper into California Love it or Leave it. The moron on your team is always the best because, well, he/she is on your team while the moron on the other team is always worst ever because he/she is on the other. We call that tribalism, but it really is just groups of people who refuse to think independently and/or critically
Randall Rd. Such a Newsome photo op. How about going to PINOS street or spring street. Where lower income families have lost most of belongings due to damage. Cars filled with water. These are the places he needs to see not Randall Rd. Praise him for a Photo Op.
I don’t recall there being a mountain slide on Pinos killing 20 plus people. I think Cal Trans and the city have Pinos covered, not sure the national guard is required there at the moment. But you do you.
I think Newsome is a classic poser and politician, and not in a good sense. Lots of elements of this state ARE failing miserably under him – schools, infrastructure, law enforcement are the ones that come to mind.
Gavin is looking for campaign money. Montecito is a great fishing pool although not as D as most of coastal CA in middle-class areas. Photo op and governors don’t pay for travel expenses.
2 of 3 down voters: What? You know it’s true. (The third one always votes against anything coming up w/my name on it. Probably does that automatically to me and some others so their vote means nothing.)
Some of the ignorants here can’t even spell the governor’s name.
Your usual noisome post.
That’s your response? Wow. Talk about 4th grade …
Hey, what about how he’s handled the issues? I don’t give a crap if it Newsom, Newsome, or Nonsense…
It’s great that Gov. Newsom visited us for whatever reason. It does not matter if he was here for a photo op or to raise money for his potential run as the POTUS. Bottom line is that he is drawing attention to our area and to help get us the funding we need to fix the recent storm damage. The roads and infrastructure do not care if you are an (R) or a (D) or an (I).
For forty years we have largely been led by one-party rule, and it shows. No one here seems to want to admit to the reasons why we are nearly at the very bottom of the ranking in terms of education. The downfall of CA is completely unrelated to the Jan 6th insurrection, George Santos, Boebert, Greene, Gaetz and Santos. Unbelievable that some want to blame and hold those same reasons/people for people living in the bathrooms at LAX and SFO. CA has 25 to 30 percent of the homeless in the US, and it’s not because of the weather. Forty years of mismanagement and failed policies go a long way to explain the sad state of our state, but go ahead and blame the Jan 6th idiots. This logic reminds me of my house guest who drank nearly an entire 5th of scotch one evening, and the next morning was extremely hung over and said, “I think there was something in the dinner last night that made me sick.” Yeah….it was something in the food (uh huh….eye roll….).