Which is the oldest park in Santa Maria? Do you know how it started and why it spurred incorporation of the city?

Here is a hint. It has to do with the Minerva Club, the Morrison family and it was a gathering place for May Day and July 4th celebrations in the 1890s and early 1900s. The 4.03-acre park has a Camp Fire Cabin, a playground, horseshoe pits, barbecue pits, basketball courts and picnic tables. Tall eucalyptus trees shade one area. There are some older shade trees and several young trees that will provide shade in the future.

It is west of the Santa Maria Inn, north of Santa Maria High School and the Fairpark, and east of the Good Samaritan Shelter. Its address is 800 S. Pine Street.

Do you feel like you’re working harder than ever, but have less to show for it? Does it seem like corporations are running the world, and there’s nothing you can do? Would you like to have more say in how your community develops in terms of housing, food production, energy and transportation? Would you like to have more influence at work?

You’re not alone. The economy and power structures have changed, leaving less wealth and influence for the average person, while catapulting a select few into extreme wealth and power.

“The richest 400 Americans now own more wealth than the bottom 180 million taken together,” said Gar Alperovitz, professor of political economy at the University of Maryland.

They are worth just over $2 trillion collectively, an average of $5 billion each, according to Forbes.

On Feb. 11, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will consider a Planning Commission recommendation to deny a rezoning request and conditional-use permit for an illegal conversion of farmland to public recreational uses, which consists of a 1.5-acre paintball field, a half-acre track for remote-control cars, and a 4.5-acre soccer field.

These facilities were developed between 2006-2011 along Highway 246 across the Santa Ynez River from Lompoc. The property is zoned for agriculture. Some of it is prime soil, and is adjacent to highly productive agricultural land. Some of the facilities were developed earlier, but according to the county’s analysis of aerial photographs, active cultivation of the rest of the property ceased in 2009, and the soccer fields were constructed in 2010. Only after a zoning violation complaint did the owner apply for the rezone and conditional-use permit.

Thirty years ago, the biggest Central Coast bottleneck on Highway 101 was the section through Santa Barbara, with its notorious traffic lights.

After the cross-town freeway was built in the mid-1980s, the main bottleneck was the four-lane section from Santa Barbara to Goleta. After that section was widened to six lanes and to this day, the biggest bottleneck is the four-lane section from Ventura County through Carpinteria and Montecito to Santa Barbara.

Over the last 20-plus years, plans have been in the works to widen that section to six lanes. As the project evolved, many residents and community groups urged that it not be a simple freeway widening that would just bring more traffic. In response to those concerns, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) determined the additional lanes would be designated for high-occupancy vehicles during the morning and evening rush hours.

Santa Maria Energy won approval from the Board of Supervisors to extract oil from 136 wells in the Orcutt Hills. Yet, you'd think the project had been denied.

The company got its project. The number of wells was not reduced. The amount of oil they could extract was not changed. They weren't even required to do no harm. They were, however, required to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions further than they wanted, which meant they would make less profit. They still stand to make millions of dollars mining a non-renewable local natural resource. A denial, no doubt, would have cost them millions.

Last week, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors upheld the appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of the Santa Maria Energy project, setting tougher standards for greenhouse-gas emissions.

As one of the appellants, the reader might expect that I came home and popped open the champagne. I didn't. Instead, I've been giving thought to next steps and reflecting on all the heartfelt comments I heard from 110 concerned residents of our region.

Santa Maria planning commissioners said “no” to new senior housing and “yes” to employment-generating land-use designations in a recent straw poll.

In an informal request by Coastal Community Builders, commissioners were asked whether they would be in favor of changing the zoning on part of Area 9, a total of 884 acres between A Street and Black Road, and between Betteravia Road and the railroad tracks.

Human-caused climate change - myth or reality?

Why are we even debating this? And why is it important to us on the Central Coast?

For the past 100 years, scientists have believed that burning fossil fuels might increase Earth's average surface temperature. Decades of research has proven this, according to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the organization set up by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to advise the government on science, engineering and medicine. Members serve in the organization only if they have distinguished themselves and continue to conduct original research.

Congratulations to the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments for adopting the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan & Sustainable Communities Strategy.

Now, cities and county, we hope you'll follow its principles.

SBCAG recognized how important land-use decisions are, not only to the efficient operation of the transportation system, but also to the environment, public health, safety, social equity and a thriving economy.