••• “State Revives Plans for Hollister Ranch Beach Access, Seeks Public Opinion [….] Public workshops in Buellton, Goleta and online this November will help shape shoreline access plans.” —Noozhawk
••• “Services for the homeless on Santa Barbara’s Eastside are set to come to an end December 31. PATH, which has run the shelter since 2015, will cease operations at 815 Cacique St. […] The City of Santa Barbara has put out a request for qualifications to find an organization to run the site so that service is not interrupted. The city is also in the process of acquiring the property.” —Noozhawk
••• The New York Times took a long look at California’s insurance problem. The gist: “Even before the devastating wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles this year, companies that insure the ever-growing number of homes perched in California’s fire-prone foothills were threatening to abandon the state, declaring that the risks were becoming unsupportable. […] Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration went into crisis negotiations with the insurance industry, and emerged in September 2023, with what was billed as an ‘historic’ compromise, one that would reward insurers with higher rates in exchange for protecting homeowners in neighborhoods that climate change was turning into tinder boxes. The central promise was that insurers would have to write policies in fire-prone areas at a rate equal to at least 85 percent of their market share across the state. But […] a series of loopholes quietly negotiated by the insurance industry all but eliminated that guarantee.”…