When 30 cruise ships float into Santa Barbara’s harbor this year, several will have poor-to-failing environmental grades. And all the ships will carry passengers that, on average, spend about a quarter of what day-trippers and overnight tourists do.
The area has seen a boom in hotel remodels and renovations recently, with upgrades to Hotel Santa Barbara and Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort, among others.
Santa Barbara County’s economy relies heavily on its billion-dollar tourism and agricultural industries, two of the fastest-growing sectors of California’s economy by number of jobs. But those are also industries with highly seasonal workforces and generally low-paying wages.
The cruise ship industry had an estimated $2.4 million economic impact on Santa Barbara last year, with more than 50,000 passengers visiting the city, according to a recently released survey.
Construction on a 17,000-square-foot Children’s Museum in Santa Barbara kicks off this summer. Area general contractor Armstrong Associates has been tapped to build the new museum at 125 State St., adjacent to the train station.
With so much attention focused lately on water issues in Paso Robles, I was curious about the vintners who direct a kind of tough love to their vines known as dry farming.
Toy magnate and Santa Barbara hotelier Ty Warner has avoided prison time, instead landing probation and community service at a Jan. 14 court hearing in Chicago.
