IV Community Center

(Isla Vista Community Center project plan layout)

The Isla Vista Community Center is taking shape. There is seed money, but the project still needs further financial support from community, businesses and I.V. Alumni. If you can, please spread the word and contact Laurie Hoyle at the Office of Student Affairs, at UCSB. Her email is:

Laurie.Hoyle@sa.ucsb.edu

AS Presidents

The UCSB Associated Students present... "a forum featuring a reunion of Associated Students Presidents. This free public forum will be presented on Friday, April 7, 2006 at 1:30 pm in the UCSB MultiCultural Center.

"The UCSB Associated Students Presidents Forum will feature more than 25 former Associated Students Presidents reflecting on their experiences. Included in those expected to attend are Robert Scalapino (1939-40), founder of the Institute of East Asian Studies and Professor of Government Emeritus at UC Berkeley, Bill James (1969-70), the first student of color to serve as AS President who has gone on to work with the US State Department US Aid program and at the United Nations, and Claude Ruibal (1976-1978), CEO of the World Championship Sports Network.

"Also scheduled to attend are several former AS Presidents who served during the turbulent ‘60’s and 70’s when Isla Vista became a hotbed of activity which culminated in three separate riots and the historic burning of the Bank of America.

"Former Associated Students Presidents have been asked to share the highlights of their time in office and reflect on what impact the experience has had on their life. The Presidents will also be available to answer questions from the audience."

The full list:

Robert Scalapino 39/40
Howard Eckles 41/42
George Graves 47/48
David Hodgin 53/54
Robert Andrews 63/64
Jay Jeffcoat 66/67
Greg Stamos 67/68
Bill James 69/70
John Grant 72/73
Abby Arnold 73/74
Howard Robinson 75/76
Neil Moran 75/76
Claude Ruibal 76-78
Rich Leib 78/79
Marty Cusack 79/80
Tibby Rothman 80/81
Curtis Robinson 87/88
Michael Chester 90/91
Aaron Jones 92/93
Geoff Green 93/94
Brittany Oates 94/95
Wayne Byrd II 97/98
Jason Nazar 99/00
Mahader Tesfai 00/01
Chrystine Lawson 02/03
Miguel Lopez 03/04
Cervin Morris 04/05
Chaz Whatley 05/06

For more info, contact Andrew Doerr, Publications Coordinator

UCSB Associated Students
UCen Room 2537
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
(805) 893-3374 Fax: (805) 893-7734
andrewd@as.ucsb.edu

Goleta Slough

The Goleta Slough Management Committee's got a neat website with lots of high quality images of Isla Vista's neighbor. Go to:

Goleta Slough Management Committee

... Click on an area of interest on the map, then click on the picture that comes up in the header for a slideshow of that particular map section.




1782 Spanish Map of the Slough Area, Mescaltitlan -- the area of highest Chumash centralized population.

Isla Vista Today

At the website listed below, there's a detailed map of current businesses, complete with a legend and description of all businesses. Shows fairly well how much has changed since the goode olde daze...



Shop Isla Vista - Community Information and Resources

(Thanks to the Isla Vista Yahoo Group for the heads-up)

Libertarians vs. IVRPD

Libertarian Party Files Lawsuit Against IVRPD
Charged With Brown Act Violation, IVRPD Accuses Santa Barbara Libertarian Party of 'Gouging District'

by Mollie Vandor - Staff Writer, DAILY NEXUS
Wednesday, January 11, 2006


With the filing of a recent lawsuit, the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District (IVRPD) has found itself facing its second major legal battle with the Santa Barbara Libertarian Party in less than a year.

On Dec. 15, the Santa Barbara chapter of the Libertarian Party filed suit against the IVRPD with the chapter's vice chairman, Michael Lamboley, named as plaintiff. In the suit, Lamboley's lawyer, William Hansult, alleges that the board violated the Brown Act - a California law requiring meetings of legislative bodies to be open to the public - during three closed session meetings in August and September. IVRPD General Manager Derek Johnson said the board used the meetings to interview law firms looking to serve as the IVRPD's legal counsel. Since meetings dealing with district employment issues are exempt from the Brown Act, Johnson said the IVRPD did not violate the law.

"The district fully believes in the Brown Act," Johnson said. "We are confident in the district's position that the district lawfully met in closed session to interview legal counsel."

According to the text of the lawsuit, the Libertarian Party is asking Judge James W. Brown, who is presiding over the case, to issue an injunction against the IVPRD. The injunction would officially condemn the district's actions and prohibit the board from violating the Brown Act in the future. The party also calls for the board to pay the Libertarian Party's legal fees, as well as any other financial penalties the court deems necessary.

Lamboley said the IVRPD could potentially avoid a legal battle over the alleged violation if it admits that the lawsuit's accusations are correct and changes its procedures accordingly.

"The district can either say to the judge that [the Libertarian Party is] right and this is how they're going to fix it, or they can fight it and it could cost them money," Lamboley said.

According to papers Hansult filed at the Santa Barbara Superior Court in support of the suit, the Libertarian Party believes that legal action is the only way to keep the IVRPD from violating the Brown Act again in the future.

"The actions of the defendants ... were designed to purposefully and maliciously deprive the people of their right to know and to remain informed of the actions taken by the public body," Hansult stated in the supporting documents. "Further it is believed and hereby alleged that without this court's intervention and issuance of an injunction, that the board will continue to violate the Brown Act in similar ways."

IVRPD board member Bryan Brown said he thinks the Libertarian Party is using the suit to get money from the district.

"They have consistently made it clear they're out for money," Brown said. "This is an attempt to gouge the district."

However, Lamboley said the lawsuit was motivated by a desire to hold local governing bodies accountable to state laws.

"The State of California has some of the best good government laws in the nation, but there are no provisions in the budget for enforcing those laws," Lamboley said. "They're on the books, but it's up to individuals or organizations to enforce these rules and basically that's what we're doing."

Brown said the suit comes down to how the judge decides to interpret the Brown Act.

"They're claiming that by interviewing attorneys in closed session, we violated the Brown Act because an attorney is not an official employee, they're an independent contractor," Brown said. "The Brown Act says you can meet to discuss official employees, but there's a conflict in how the Brown Act specifies who is an employee."

In early 2005, a judge ordered the IVRPD to pay over $40,000 in fines stemming from a lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party in November 2001 over another Brown Act violation. Johnson said the suit ultimately cost the district close to $300,000 in fines and legal fees.

"It made things tough," Johnson said. "It made the district's ability to provide its services tough."

Brown said the district has been bracing for the second lawsuit since Craig Geyer, who was the Libertarian Party's chief witness in the 2001 suit, attended one of the meetings in question and informed IVRPD board members that he thought their closed session agenda violated the Brown Act.

Geyer said he is not involved in the lawsuit and declined further comment. The lawsuit itself cites an anonymous citizen who attended an IVRPD meeting and informed the board about the alleged Brown Act violations.

Brown said the IVRPD hopes to have this lawsuit resolved more quickly than the last one, which was in litigation for three years. He said he thinks the two lawsuits show that the Libertarian Party is specifically targeting the IVRPD.

"I think they have a grudge against us for reasons I don't entirely understand," Brown said.

The district plans to discuss the suit in further detail at its Jan. 19 meeting, Johnson said.

Hansult could not be reached for comment.

Libertarian Party Files Lawsuit Against IVRPD - Daily Nexus Online

Isla Vista Yahoo Group

There's an interesting thread going on currently at the Isla Vista Yahoo Groups site, which also invites new members for those of you who would like to write about Isla Vista on a more frequent basis. The thread excerpt, below, is just a portion of the current discussion:


> In a message dated 1/9/2006 4:43:45 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, qim@yahoo.com writes:
> I remember Borsodi's (sp) Coffee House as the first coffee house I ever went to...poetry readings, guitarist/singers doing actual folk music...interesting place!

Borsodi (I can't remember his name) died a few years back, living in New Orleans. I think it was lung cancer. I think Linda left in the late 1970s? I remember they had this great mural on the inside ceiling that was the view from the center of the Bank of America the morning after it burned down, looking straight up, with the smoldering wood timbers sticking up on every side and the blue sky in the middle.

It occurs to me that if we put together a list of people and their estimated birth dates I could check my Social Security Death Index and find out if any passed on. It wouldn't be definite as in some cases there would be multiple people with the same name and birth year. More help if we had place they were born in but that is probably not known.

I told Dave that Joyce Roop passed away in Boston sometime in the past few years. I taught her massage (she lived below me at the Campus Crusade for Christ on the south side of the 1st block of Pardall (6504?).

Gotta stop. Could go on forever.
Ed

> I am SURE concerts have changed! We held them in People's Park, before and after they built what was easily the world's goofiest amphitheater! I remember we "sold" beer to raise money for the IVCC. Actually, people "donated" for the beer. We kept it cool (as in "proper" not chilled), and the Foot Patrol never gave us any trouble, because the way we ran it, there was never any trouble! By the way, the statute of limitations HAS passed on this, correct???
> Having caught up a bit with Ed, I was saddened to hear of the death of several people I knew, and delighted by good news about others.
> Isla Vista: It was an intense experience, that is for sure!
> I could go on for pages about life there in the '70s, it was indeed a very special place!
>
> Dave Pye
>
> To Post a message, send it to: islavista@eGroups.com
> To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: islavista-unsubscribe@eGroups.com

Charlie Celebration 3

A Good Friend Remembered (photo by Susan Swift)

Charlie Celebration 2

Jeff & Carrie (photo by Susan Swift)

Charlie Celebration 1

A Celebration of Charlie 1 (photo by Susan Swift - Thanks, Susan!)

Eugene McCarthy, RIP

Eugene McCarthy has passed on -- once again with very little media coverage; this time for the last time.

A number of key UCSB student leaders were in the McCarthy campaign in 1968, so, in a sense, you could say that the leftist bent to late 1960's and early 1970's politics at the University of California Santa Barbara campus had its foundation in the McCarthy campaign...



REMEMBERING EUGENE MCCARTHY, by Ken Rudin, NPR:

By any measure, 1968 was a horrific year. An endless war in Southeast Asia. The toppling of a sitting president. The assassinations of a civil rights leader and a presidential candidate. A nation torn apart on race and war and culture. It was one of those benchmark years that people who lived through it will remember forever. And when you think of 1968, you also remember Eugene McCarthy, the Democratic senator from Minnesota, whose presidential candidacy was based on opposition to the war in Vietnam and who helped bring down a president.

McCarthy was a reluctant national figure, to say the least. He was not a showboat; he looked more comfortable reading poetry than drawing attention to himself. And he was not one of the earliest opponents of the war. For example, in 1964 he voted for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that essentially gave the Johnson administration carte blanche authority to wage war in Vietnam (only two senators -- and no House members -- voted against it). But once McCarthy broke with President Lyndon Johnson on the war, in 1966, he never turned back. For months, McCarthy publicly urged that Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) challenge Johnson for the nomination; for his part, Kennedy always said he wouldn't run and that he intended to back LBJ for re-election. Finally, with the war dragging on, the casualties mounting, and no one else willing to step forward, McCarthy made it official. And even as he announced his candidacy, on Nov. 30, 1967, he still said that he hoped that Bobby Kennedy would get in the race.

In the winter of 1967-68, all eyes were on the New Hampshire primary. Gov. John King (D), who led the pro-Johnson forces in the state, said McCarthy was the "spokesman for the forces of appeasement," one who advocated "a policy of surrender which would destroy everything we have been fighting for." King opined, "The people most interested in the results of this election are Ho Chi Minh and his Communist friends," and that a sizable vote total for McCarthy would be "greeted with great cheers in Hanoi." (King at one point said he thought McCarthy would get about 12 percent of the vote.)

That Johnson won the New Hampshire primary was not a surprise; he had the party machinery, the money and the endorsements all in his favor. That he won with just 49 percent of the vote -- compared to McCarthy's 42 percent -- was a surprise. In fact, it was a stunning repudiation of a president and his war policy. And it was carried out by the unlikeliest of political figures, leading an unlikely army of college students who decided to "Clean for Gene" -- shave, shower, clean up their acts -- and toil in the snows of New Hampshire to spread their message.

(Where Are They Now Department: McCarthy staffers at the time included press secretary Seymour Hersh, now a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist with The New Yorker; political director Curtis Gans, currently the director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University; and finance committee co-chair Martin Peretz, who has been editor-in-chief of The New Republic since 1974.)

The satisfaction McCarthy may have gotten for his strong showing lasted less than 24 hours. One day after the primary, Kennedy announced he was "actively reconsidering" his decision not to run. And three days after that -- on March 16, 1968 -- Kennedy made his candidacy official. He said he feared from the beginning that challenging Johnson would have made it look personal; his enmity for the president was no secret. Kennedy said that McCarthy's showing in New Hampshire made it clear that Democrats were losing confidence in the Johnson administration. He insisted he was not out to divide the antiwar wing of the party. "In no state will my efforts be directed against Sen. McCarthy," he said. But for those who joined McCarthy's crusade after having given up on the hope that Kennedy would run, it was an act of betrayal. And it made McCarthy a bitter candidate.

Fifteen days later, Johnson stunned the nation by announcing he would not run for a second term.

McCarthy was never able to capitalize. He spent the next few months campaigning as much against Kennedy as he did against Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who became the choice of the party establishment after Johnson's withdrawal. He beat Kennedy in Oregon in late May. In early June, Kennedy turned the tables on McCarthy by winning in California -- only to be assassinated within minutes of declaring victory.

Although Humphrey got in the race after the filing deadlines for every remaining primary had passed, and thus never won a single primary, he went on to easily win the Democratic nomination. But the cost to the party was enormous. Antiwar demonstrators outside the Chicago convention clashed with and were beaten by the Chicago police. The entire spectacle showed a party in chaos, and it had a big role in assuring the election of Richard Nixon in November. McCarthy refused to endorse Humphrey until very late in the campaign.

Retiring from the Senate after 1970, McCarthy again sought the Democratic nomination in 1972 but was not a factor. As the years went by, he became even more of a Democratic outsider. He ran as an independent presidential candidate in 1976. In 1980, McCarthy endorsed Ronald Reagan over President Jimmy Carter. He even sought the presidency again in 1988.

If you ever got to speak to McCarthy in later years, it always seemed like you were in a time machine. The conflict, the drama, the personal slights of 1968 were never far from the surface. And the conversation rarely was about Vietnam or Lyndon Johnson. It was almost always about Bobby Kennedy.

In 1968 Eugene McCarthy was an imperfect candidate leading an improbable cause. He didn't get the nomination and he didn't end the war. But he stepped forward when antiwar forces needed him the most.

NPR text : Remembering Eugene McCarthy

NPR audio : Audio recap of McCarthy's political life