County officials alert Montecito homeowners that they face prosecution, including daily fines of $850 if stones are not removed
Montecito, California, is known for being home to Oprah, a former royal family, and a stunning stretch of coastline. It’s also home to miles of trails, some of which are being blocked by residents hoping to stop people from accessing public hot springs.
Santa Barbara county has been watching encroachments on East Mountain Drive and Riven Rock Road in Montecito since at least 2022, when they sent letters to residents warning them to remove large stones.
Last month, county officials sent letters again to at least six homes alerting residents to remove the stones by 28 March or face civil or criminal prosecution, including daily fines of $850. The county insists that these roads are a public right of way.
The issue seems to be with parking at the trailhead, where a tiny lot allows for just eight vehicles. When that fills up, hikers have to park on roadsides. The hot springs contain six bright blue pools that are located 1.3 miles from the trailhead in the San Padres Forest, surrounded by a deep forest and rocky hills. It became popular during the pandemic when hiking surged in the area, and has also taken off on social media as a destination.
Montecito has so much money and influence that any freeway construction in the area has to avoid Montecito because they hate the noise and traffic. They are also used to getting their way. They want to be a small town of multimillionaires but the problem is that they are between a big city and a national park.
And a small but significant private liberal arts college (Westmont)
Fuck rich people.
Every last one of them is a scummy, scammy piece of garbage.
I remember when people realized it was dumb to generalize an entire group of people. I guess we’re past that now.
Yup, we are. I know I am.
Fuck yeah we are! Eat Billionaires!
I’m trying to understand the situation, because the article is a little confusing. It doesn’t sound like they were actually blocking access to the hot springs. It sounds like they were placing boulders to discourage people from parking along the road leading to the trailhead. There are only a few actual parking spots, and once those fill up people are lining the roads with their cars, possibly damaging private property in the process. I can understand the frustration. Though suing to stop the construction of additional parking seems counter-productive.
The Guardian article links to the original SFGate article which gives a better description and picture.
The obstructions in question include large boulders and plants placed along the sides of East Mountain Drive and Riven Rock Road in Montecito, blocking spots people would otherwise be able to use as parking before hiking to nearby Montecito Hot Springs.
The encroachments are on the right of way which allows for only certain encroachments:
the county says that the only encroachments that can remain within 10 feet of the pavement include mature trees and “boulders historically situated onsite and partially buried 40% or more, particularly those boulders adjacent to a buried, high pressure gas line”.
Edit: I don’t know why people get so worked up when someone parks on a public street in front of their house. It literally does not compute for me.
In the US, I don’t understand. In other countries, it can simply be illegal.
Unless marked, you can park on the roads in the US. And it’s up to the local government, not the property owner.
Hmmm they’re blocking parking on the street and suing to stop making the parking lot bigger than 8 cars. Tell me again how that isn’t “rich fucks trying to stop people from accessing the public hot spring”
Well, that’s part of why I’m confused. The article doesn’t say if it’s the same people doing both. It might be completely separate groups. Like maybe one group doesn’t want people parking on the side of the road in front of their house, so they placed the boulders. Maybe a completely different group doesn’t care about that, but they don’t want construction crews making a bunch of noise while they create more parking.
It’s honestly just giving “we only want 8 spots so the 8 of us that live here can go, stay home poors”
Eat the rich
Just redistribute their wealth!
Redistribute their mottled flesh
Technically, we’d just need to eat one rich person. Just one. The rest will get the message. OceanGate showed us they are not immortal. Their own stupidity got them killed. After that, if I were ultra rich, I’d be very scared. Like “Let’s call up a team and come up with a strategy” scared. You see, for decades they’ve built this narrative that they are this untouchable class of beings, beyond mortals. Then OceanGate showed us that they can, in fact, bleed. You see, when a dragon is killed, we don’t mourn it’s life, we cheer the Dragonslayer. So, if I were in the 0.1%, I’d be worried about appearing very human, very quickly.
Don’t eat junk food.
Compost. Eat the veggies they fertilize.
Wow. This is like those homeowners that were sued for blocking access to the beach in Malibu.
Rich people seem to like to buy expensive property near nice natural resources and then try to keep those filthy poor away.
You don’t own the beach and you don’t own the hot springs, you rich fucks!
They’re practicing for climate change resource scarcity, they will keep us away from the potable water.
They’re too poor to afford buying the beach? Pathetic.
This reminds me of cities after the Civil Rights Act getting rid of their public pools rather than being forced to integrate them.
“It’s either just for me or no one can have it” is such a weird attitude.
People with wealth that want privacy also want cool things near them. You can’t have both unless you’re mega wealthy.
Like Oprah?
Yeah, but this is here pre-megawealth home.
Her megawealth home that satisfies this is in Hawaii.
Zuck’s Hawaii estate (and its beach blocking wall) also comes to mind here.
In
front ofin front ofon Oprah's houseWhy not in Oprah? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The issue seems to be with parking at the trailhead, where a tiny lot allows for just eight vehicles. When that fills up, hikers have to park on roadsides.
County officials plan to create 62 new parking spots near the trailhead – which caused four homeowners to sue in protest in 2022.
They can go get bent.
which caused four homeowners to sue in protest in 2022.
So this is what rich people do with their excess wealth.
They use it to further oppress poor people!
Remember this whenever anyone says “they’re a business and they need to make money.”
I mean the most obvious malicious compliance here would be to make a bus line that runs to the tiny little parking lot at the entrance. Nothing the wealthy hate more than public transportation in their backyard.
a park with a ski hill near where I used to live did this during ski season because the ski hill terminated near the access road. Imo even if they just ran the shuttle on weekends it would probably be cheaper than a lawsuit.
I like the way you think.
It became popular during the pandemic when hiking surged in the area, and has also taken off on social media as a destination.
On one hand, fuck those rich people who live there. On the other hand, fuck those assholes that ruin places like this because they want to take pictures for social media.
The courts agreed they have to remove the barriers.
Of course, they didn’t have the right to do that, and everyone has the right to visit the place. The problem is that when too many people visit somewhere, then it ruins the experience. It leads the place getting destroyed or permit lotteries.
That sounds like a problem that would solve itself. The local area could invest in amenities and staff to keep it clean if they cared that much, probably be cheaper than the $850 daily fines plus future prosecutions on top of legal fees.
Public places are for everyone… If the rich don’t like it, they shouldn’t have bought a house near a public area. Just like when our neighbors complain about airplane noise, I remind them that they bought the home near the airport.
Or … And just hear me out… People actually like walking through scenic nature and visiting hot springs because they simply enjoy it
If it were just people naturally finding these places, that’s one thing, but social media seems to fix its gaze like the Eye of Sauron on specific places and suddenly they explode in popularity. The Eye inevitably shifts its gaze elsewhere, and the orcs follow. What’s left behind is usually for the locals to clean up.
Idk, it seems like every time there’s a patch of flowers near trails I use that eventually some idiot is going to trample all over it looking for a nice photoshoot. If it were simply people visiting these things for enjoyment, there wouldn’t be so much destruction left in their wake.
I live here. No one is driving across country to visit our hot springs because they saw it on social media, and even if they did, more power to them. These are locals that want to visit our public spaces. There are supposed to be 20+ parking spots at the trailhead. The people that live in the area eliminated over half of the spots with planters and rocks.
I sympathize with the notion that human activity can ruin an area, but I will not endorse the idea that public space is only for certain members of the public. We have trails and signage in this area. It is meant for public use. Whether or not it is popular is not the point. The point is that we all decide how to use it through our local government, not through the lawless actions of a few rich people.
Oh, I should have clarified my message, I especially dislike the fact that the rich people nearby think it’s ok to close off public places. I just felt the need to point out that, while they chose the wrong way to react to it, the problem they’re reacting to is a legitimate one.
It’s like the Reddit hug of death. Someone share’s something, it goes viral, suddenly a business used to handling 50 costumers a week is trying to support 10000 and can’t.
I would never advocate for allowing rich people to do whatever they want because their motivations are undoubtedly “filthy poors”. What you’re saying makes it very clear that they were just being selfish. Especially with the added mention that there was no social media push, and it is effectively just locals being blocked.
Edit: that being said, human beings are dirty. Take care of the spaces you occupy.
It is a difficult issue for sure, but California has a sore history with individuals or small groups cutting off access to public spaces.
Personally, I think the solution lies in infrastructure and other investments that increase access while protecting the natural wonders around us. This particular location is not exactly pristine wilds; it lies among several sprawling estates in the foothills.
What I want to resist is the notion that some ‘others’ are the problem when a good location becomes popular. All too often when you ask someone “Who should not be allowed?” the answer is “Someone else, but not me!”
but social media seems to fix its gaze like the Eye of Sauron on specific places and suddenly they explode in popularity.
And here I thought letting people know about neat new places to visit/hike would be a good thing.
Popularity is not the problem, at least not directly. The problem is the state has to engineer that area to handle the traffic, and seems to not want to, hence the residents trying to take matters into their own hands.
Reminds me of stories I’ve read in the past of residences in an area with a lot of speeding traffic, and their city doesn’t want to do anything about it, so the residents themselves try to fix the problem by constructing their own speed bumps.
It’s become a problem in the past few years. Hopefully the trend will taper off.
https://consumerenergyalliance.org/2022/02/too-many-people-tale-national-parks
honestly why don’t they do a park and ride somewhere else and then just have a bus/shuttle service on high traffic days?
It’s public land, fuck those people. They can sell their house and move if they don’t like it.
While I get what you’re saying, and fuck them for wanting to hoard public resources, a shuttle here would be less damaging to the area and allow ample parking where it isn’t impacting those public resources as much. And if done right, would even allow people without cars to enjoy this resource.
Public shuttle? How about a bus route?
Sorry, where I live they call free public buses shuttles, usually for short routes with many stops such as downtown.
maybe you can get the rich on board if you call it a jitney
That would be even worse to them than parking. They might see a homeless person!
There needs to be hefty fines, with a time component, accumulating since the first notice
It’s a GOOD thing we don’t TAX these Wealthy People! Otherwise they might have to give US access to the National Parks we paid for since they won’t be able to Afford the Fines!
The courts will be fining these individuals unless the boulders are removed, it’s already been decided on. So, to clarify, the mean taxation govment are the ones protecting people from the rich people in this situation.
I hear what you’re saying, but the problem is that fines don’t affect the rich the same way they do everyone else. It’s not a level playing field.
They’re ordered to remove the boulders even while they’re paying the daily fines, so if they don’t remove the boulders they’re going to be looking at further prosecution.
Personally, I really hope they escalate things even further so they can charge them enough to expand education or other public services. I want to see more zeroes on the fines. IDGAF about cramming 10 people in some blue water pools.
Mate the lawyers that live in those towns will eat the township’s attempts at clawing any amount of money from these scum sucking parasites before their morning coffee cools down.
LMAO they’ve literally already lost a court battle when the daily fines were decided, if they try to fight it again then the courts will be even less favourable out of spite.
Battles don’t mean shit if there’s no enforcement.
You literally don’t believe in the enforcement happening before your very eyes.
The rich and poor alike are forbidden from stealing bread?
Except if a poor person fails to pay the fine, they get locked in a cage. The rich ‘person’ will fightbitbin court for a century, til they’re long dead.
I’ve said this so many times now, but on top of the $850 daily fines they will face further prosecution if they don’t remove the boulders. They’re ordered to remove the boulders, they cannot make that go away with money in any legal avenue.
Uh huh. Why do they care though? Its basically an expensive rental.
They’re not going to be punished. Thats not what laws are for. Not unless theres a mob of people with pitchforks and torches, and the parasites need to be rescued with a wrist slap and some community service.
It’s going to become an ever more expensive rental as time goes on and I’m all for it. I hope they get drained of every drop and have to start selling properties and stock portfolios.
Oh honey that’s not how any of this works. The government is never there to save you.
Cute thought though. I’d like it to be true.
Lmao COPE
finland has income based tickets. We could, theoretically, do that here.
what’s that? America holding The Rich accountable for their misdeeds?
Well I guess there’s a first time for everything.No fuckthat. That was the solution forty years ago. Not that the US government ever would.
We need guillotines now. We need justice.
Money sure seems to bring out the moronic meanness of people dont it
Great… now I got to do a side quest to get to the hot springs.
