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.
just waiting for the “non-local resident drags massive boulder down road after locals block entrance” news article to pop up now
Or you might wanna take a look at the big yellow double arch natural stone carving McDonald’s stone ad! Para pa pa pa! I’m loving it!.. Drink responsibility…come frutas y verduras. For every one minute you stare at the rock, McDonald’s will donate 1 mcflurry to a homeless person nearby. All you have to do is scan the code at the bottom of the rock, attach your GPS coordinates and heading angle, pitch and jaw, then fill in the form with your name and address, print it out, sign it, and mail it to 1800 Elm St. Zaragoza California 92322. Then just wait two to three weeks and invite your favorite homeless person. You’ll need proof of purchase and a print out of your form that you’ll need to sign once more. They may have to as you the form questions again, but don’t worry, they are used to doing that, they worked for the DMV before. Enjoy the outdoors and give a homeless a helping hand! And don’t forget this form too after you’re done with the quickie! He’ll enjoy knowing there’s someone who cares, and you’ll enjoy knowing you cared! Because who cares? You cares!
what a fucking comment
Thanks! I do do my best.
idk that i would describe that as the best, but it’s definitely something.
I do do!
if you say so.
It’s not clear if the stones have been cleared.
🤡
More like, “we just got paid to not do anything about it”. If they wanted those stones cleared they would have brought a fucking excavator, got shit done, and fined the people responsible over $10,000 for the cost of moving them.
That’s actually exactly what is happening, the courts have ordered them to remove the rocks or be fined.
Those are not the same. In one, the right-of-way is cleared and they are fined… but while that plays out, it’s usable.
I’m the other. They’re paying a price to keep people out. If you’re wealthy enough, then it’s just a thing. Like paying the yard guy.
I don’t really understand what you’re saying, they’re ordered to remove the boulders and are being fined $850 a day AND risk further prosecution which are likely to be much more severe. Not OR. They don’t get to keep paying $850 forever, they have to remove the boulders.
I think the capitalization should be on the word “RISK in that phrase. There are lots of delaying tactics. Let’s presume they’re going to have to pay. So why not spend the money (and then charge interest until they pay) and fix it now, rather than waiting weeks/months++? It’s in their best interests to delay as long as possible.
Yeah and I hope they do, I want to see them pay larger fines more than I want the stones moved.
It is April 10th, and they say “remove the stones by 28 March or face civil or criminal prosecution”. I didn’t read anything about real repercussions, did you?
According to the article above us, they’re being forced to pay daily fines of $850 and may face prosecution. Given that the article is getting attention, the “may” part seems very much likely.
Bro what country do you live in? It’s pretty obvious that they won’t face a day behind bars no matter what they do. Rich people break the law all the fucking time and never see jail.
I hope they don’t, I want to see them pay fines with more zeroes. I want them to get charged so much that the potholes get fixed and school lunches become free. I want a new wing at the hospital funded by them but with somebody else’s name on the plaque. I hope they try to fight this for months so that they pay the $850 a day, their legal fees, and much larger fines on top of it.
IDGAF about 10 people sitting in each blue water crevice.
Roll the stone into their house and then fine them for creating a hazard that damaged a house.
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!
You always have exception to rules. It’s even how you do good science. Riches are a giant piece of shit, and charity is enslavement.
Eat the rich
Don’t eat junk food.
Compost. Eat the veggies they fertilize.
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.
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)
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.
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.
$850/day to someone who owns a house worth an average of $7.2m really isn’t much. These people are wealthy beyond belief and can easily pay that penalty. If the punishment for bad behavior is only a fine, then the bad behavior is effectively legal for the rich.
Pretty good money for the town though.
I’m fine with the $850/ day fine for 10 days as long as on the 11th day the public is allowed to attach one of their boulders to a helicopter and drop it on their house.
$850/day to someone who owns a house worth an average of $7.2m really isn’t much.
~ $26K/month, $312K/year.
Oprah could pay that annually by herself and not even notice the expense.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again. Oprah is too powerful and, honestly, I bet she has nukes.
Oprah could pay that annually by herself and not even notice the expense.
I’m wondering if she would though, as it might affect her profit-making, if the politics of it went bad.
Then again, she could probably buy California at this point.
Great… now I got to do a side quest to get to the hot springs.
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
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.
That actually varies quite a bit from state to state. In a lot of states, depending on the type of road, it’s illegal to park on the shoulder except for emergencies.
It’s honestly just giving “we only want 8 spots so the 8 of us that live here can go, stay home poors”
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 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!
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.
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.
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
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.
In
front ofin front ofon Oprah's houseWhy not in Oprah? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
What is it with you humans and your insistence that nothing matters unless you can keep it away from those who need it most?
While I agree with the sentiment, I don’t think it really applies in this case.
That said, people shouldn’t be blocking access to a public area just because they’re upset about something
How not, they hate that poor people are using the hot spring
How is a hot spring something that people NEED to use? You’re acting like it’s a necessity of life to go use it. It’s not. And the people using it are poor? That’s a pretty damn big generalization you’re making there to try and further your point.
They still should NOT be blocking people’s access to anything, but don’t turn this into something it’s not. The destination and their wealth aren’t what matters here. They’re pissed that there are more people around and trying to do something about it. This is a common theme with any tourism heavy area.
