"Los Sembradores" - Art Alliance Dedication

I was so proud to be a part of the dedication of the Eastside park murals!

The dedication was held to honor the murals created by the Santa Barbara Art Alliance.

The Santa Barbara Arts Alliance Project provides participants with ongoing training centered on the creative arts.

Participants assisted City Staff with special projects including Community Services Annual Holiday Dinner & Toy Drive, 4 Neighborhood Clean-Ups, and with food distributions through the Franklin Neighborhood Center's Mobile Pantry.

A total of 22 young adults between the ages of 14 and 21 have just finished a four-month art program that included the creation these 4 AMAZING murals as well as 4 equally amazing murals at the Westside Boys and Girls Club.

This year’s project is being made possible thanks to a generous grant (in the amount of $15,120) from the Santa Barbara Foundation-funded by the Orfalea Fund.

This piece was done to honor the local farmers who have plots at the Yanonali Community Gardens. Here is a neat post over at Edhat.com about the local gardens.

Overall, the Santa Barbara Arts Alliance Program offers a great opportunity for OUR youth to “give back” to their communities. And the results are brilliant.

Please stop by the Eastside Park on Soledad and Yanonali to check out their great work!

Project Completed!

I'm am so happy to report that the city has finished fixing the crumbled curb across the street!! YAHOOO!! They actually finished last Thursday and can I just say...it's beautiful. If you told my 20 year-old self that I would one day be so excited about a repaired curb that I was actually considering throwing a celebration ceremony (much less keeping an online journal dedicated to recording every stage of it's completion)...I'd have laughed in your face.

But here I sit. Staring at the beautiful curb across the street feeling slightly jealous that I don't have such a pretty curb on my property. And...it took everything in me to not etch www.eastsidesb.blogspot.com into the wet concrete! Thankfully, everyone restrained themselves and the result is a perfectly perfect sparkly new curb w/handicap access. Hip Hip Hurray!Thank you, City People for taking care of this dangerous & ugly spot - and for giving my Little Guy a pair of ear plugs of his very own! We know the list is long and appreciate you putting this project at the top of the list.

Art Alliance Dedication - March 27, 2009

Mural Dedication for Santa Barbara Arts Alliance Project on Friday, March 27

The City’s Parks & Recreation Department and the Franklin Neighborhood Center Advisory Committee have planned a dedication ceremony for a mural created by the Santa Barbara Arts Alliance on Friday, March 27, 3:30pm, at the Eastside Park and Yanonali Community Garden (Yanonali & Soledad streets). Santa Barbara Arts Alliance program participants will dedicate one of four recently completed murals, "Los Sembradores," dedicated to those who garden. The public is invited to attend along with the Mayor, City Council members and department/city staff.

This ceremony culminates a four-month Parks & Recreation art program including the creation of 4 murals at Eastside Park, 4 murals at the Westside Boys and Girls Club, a silk-screening design t-shirt project, and a digital art graphics project. Twenty-two Alliance participants between the ages of 14 and 21 benefited from the hands-on opportunity, learning creative ways to express themselves while receiving community service hours for their participation. In addition, Alliance members assisted with a Community Services Annual Holiday Dinner & Toy Drive and the Franklin Neighborhood Center's Mobile Pantry. In coming months, mural projects and digital arts classes will continue at the Franklin Neighborhood Center.

Clean-Up Save the Date - May 30th

SATURDAY MAY 30TH; 9AM - 12PM

What an awesome opportunity to take part in cleaning-up the Eastside!

Click on the image for more details.

We meet at the Eastside Park (Soledad & Yanonali) at 9AM.

The event is sponsored by Looking Good Santa Barbara (thank you!) and is to be the BIG clean up of the year. Please mark your calendars to be a part of this event!!

Graffiti Removed

Last week I cleaned up three trash cans that had been tagged several weeks ago. Thanks to my handy-dandy Graffiti Removal Kit from Looking Good Santa Barbara I was able to completely remove all of the paint in about 3 minutes. The kit included gloves, a paint-remover solution in a spray bottle, a paint brush and a clean rag.

You simply spray the solution, agitate it with the brush and wipe it clean with the wet rag. Done and done! I was so pleased I walked the block looking for more graffiti. I didn't find any. That's a good thing...but I was still disappointed that I didn't get to use my kit anymore for the day.

DID U KNOW! -- Recycling Guide

DID YOU KNOW! about the Santa Barbara County Residents and Businesses to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Guide?

For a complete online copy go here. Or to request your own hard copy, call 805.882.3600. I picked up my free copy at the Eastside Library.

Somehow, over the past 4 years, we've collected a healthy collection of prescription medications. We've been holding on to them for one reason....we've been too lazy to research where we can take them for proper disposal. So, I grabbed my guide and searched 'medication' (non-controlled substances). I learned how to safely dispose of all in the garbage and even better - I can take them to UCSB's Hazardous Waste Collection Center [805.882.3602]. Jackpot!

Ever wondered exactly which plastics can be put in the recycle bins? Answer: any plastic marked with a 1-7 triangle. Basically, everything but Styrofoam (why is this stuff still being made??)

Please visit WWW.LESSISMORE.ORG for more on recycling in Santa Barbara county. A BIG THANKS to them for the great publication!

Curb News

The curb across the street has been a crumbled mess for about 30 years. The nearby tree has gotten so big that the roots are kicking up the concrete. It's a mangled mess and extremely dangerous. I asked my neighbors if they'd ever called the city to request repairs? They hadn't.

Last week the city guys actually marked the curb! That's a different story from actually FIXING the curb but I think it's a start. They said that it was going to be a handicapped curb which is even more exciting! For some reason, some of the curbs on the Eastside are a good two feet off the street. It makes lifting a double stroller onto sidewalk a clean-and-jerk type action. Not fun.

The curb was marked on Thursday and it still sits in disrepair. I'll be keeping everyone aware of the progress. Hopefully we'll see fast results!! And I am really looking forward to posting before/after pictures!

Update 3/11/09 - Work has started!! The corner is a big mess right now but we are all very excited about the action. Looking forward to the finished product!

If you have broken streets or curbs, call the Pothole & Sidewalk Hotline at 805.897.2630

Green Mommies

Scolari's now sells cholorine-free, environmentally-sensitive diapers by Full Circle. Oh, happy day! An affordable option for green(er) diapers.

They are obviously not as green as going with cloth diapers or even with the hybrid options available (like www.gdiapers.com). BUT they are tons better than the popular disposable diapers.

Why does it matter?

These Environmentally-Sensitive Diapers claim to be chlorine-free which means that these diapers do not contain some of the harmful chemicals that are found in the major-brand disposable diapers. While it's not protecting our planet from the billions of soiled diapers that will sit in our landfills for hundreds and hundreds of years, it is a step toward protecting our children.

These Environmentally-Sensitive Diapers by Full Circle are made with renewable resources derived from corn!

* Bio-based absorbent materials reduce the use of petroleum based gels
* Inner liner & outer cover made using annually renewable resources (corn)
* Premium fit with full stretch side panels
* Soft and comfortable leg gathers for maximum leak protection
* Fragrance and dye free for baby's sensitive skin

They are priced competitively and work just as good as the the other guys. Eastside Mommies, try these diapers!! We've been using them for the past month and are very satisfied.

I'm so glad that Scolari's offers these diapers. It saves me a trip to Lazy Acres!

Update: I spoke to Manager Ron at Scolari's who assured me that these diapers will stay on the shelves...as long as people are buying them!

Eastside Library

One of our favorite things to do is to got to the library. It's two blocks from our house so we go every week. We absolutely love our Eastside library!

My Little Guy likes to spend the first 20 minutes playing on the computers set up in the kids section. They have great programs for kids and full internet access if you want to visit out www.pbskids.org, for example. While he is having computer time, I like to catch up on some magazine reading, go thru the coupon box (love this!!) or hunt down some specific kids books to take home. Sometimes I'll take this time to check out the new arrivals & Express books section for adults.

Occasionally they will have a neat activity-time or guest entertainer for the kids. You can pick up a calendar specific to the Eastside Library on location each month or go here for a list of activities for all of the city librarys.

After computer time, we usually read a book or two and decide if we want to take them home.

Then we head to the movie section. Thank you, Public Library, for FREE movie rentals!! And you get a whole week! They have a ton of great VHS & DVDs available for kids and adults. You might scoff at the VHS option but listen....DVD's scratch. Easily and quickly. We are happy to borrow VHS tapes - they are in good shape and durable!

There is a lot to praise about the Eastside library so I'll probably talk about them often. For this post, I wanted to touch on just a few of the reasons we love visiting. Go ahead - "check them out"! :)

If you're interested in obtaining a library card, go here for the requirements. And be sure to check out the city library website. It is a wealth of information!! http://www.sbplibrary.org/index.html

1102 East Montecito Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
(805) 963-3727

Adopt Your Block

My family recently took responsibility of our little slice of the Eastside by Adopting our Block!

The Adopt-A-Block program is offered through an organization called Looking Good Santa Barbara. LGSB is a City Council-mandated program with the goal of providing citizens with free supplies in the efforts to keep our neighborhoods graffiti and litter-free. They promote recycling practices, eliminate visual pollution and keep Santa Barbara 'looking good'! I think it should be 'lookin' good'. Either way.

They gave me a cool little trash picker-upper which my 4 year old loves (this makes the trash collecting process take a bit longer but I think the lesson is well worth it). And a white bucket that includes a safety vest, gloves, safety glasses, a bottle of graffiti remover, paint brush, trash bags and materials to invite your neighbors to join the program. Information is in English and Spanish.

To sign up, call LGSB at 805.897.2526 and request a registration form and information packet or visit their website at www.lookingoodsb.com to download the forms.

Thank you, Lookin' Good Santa Barbara! Good work!