Is it necessary to keep paying for a place that's essentially uninhabitable? What Montecito can learn from survivors of the 2014 Washington mudslide.
Montecito: What leasing laws say about paying rent after disaster
As Montecito residents work to put their lives back together, some people in the area are dealing with an unexpected problem: How to pay their rent in the mudslides' aftermath.
"If the property has become not livable, the term is 'uninhabitable,'" said John Thyne III. Thyne is a real estate broker, attorney and professor of law based in Santa Barbara. After the Thomas Fire and last week's mudslides, he's helped people in the Montecito community figure out what the law says about renting after a disaster.
"If [the property] is totally or partially uninhabitable, the tenant is, generally, excused from the payment of rent from the time that it becomes uninhabitable until the tenant is able to take up habitation in the property again."
Determining whether you have to pay rent after a disaster depends on what your lease says
"In every situation, we want to look specifically to the language of the lease. Because the lease is going to create the contract and the contract is the universe within which the parties will operate. But you look at the language of the lease and if it has the term, as the California Association of Realtors lease does, that says, 'What happens in the event of a disaster,' you want to look specifically to that."
Whether or not it makes a difference that someone's property was in a mandatory or voluntary evacuation area
"The question is one of habitability. The evacuation orders can be some evidence of uninhabitability. It would be the argument of the tenant: 'Hey, during the evacuation order, I could not access the property, therefore I could not habitate within it.'"
What landlords can do if their tenants are unable to pay their rent
"Both the landlord and the tenant have the right to terminate the lease if the property has been damaged, as described by the lease. And we've done that a few times already this week. If you're the landlord and you have a property insurance policy that covers a rental, and you have a policy specifically noting that you have tenants in that property, the landlord will receive lost income as one of the damages that are paid under the policy. We've had quite a few homeowners that live out of the area and have been using their homes in Montecito as rentals, and now they've been completely destroyed and that is the claim we're making for them among the others."
Answers have been edited for clarity
Solvang businesses feel the effects of 101 freeway closure
The coastal community of Montecito continues to recover this morning, a little over a week after mudslides swept through the city. More than 100 structures were destroyed in the deluge. At least 20 people have died.
Muddy debris continues to clog the 101 freeway between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria. Officials say the stretch will remain closed until next week — and that means tough times for people who depend on the highway, like businesses in Solvang, about 40 miles down the road.
Tracy Beard is executive director of the Solvang Chamber of Commerce. She tells Take Two that even getting basic supplies is a challenge.
Truckers are going around, up Interstate 5 from Los Angeles and across the 166 and the 46 and coming back around through Santa Maria to bring goods and services to our community.
They've made that decision, but it costs them more. It takes six hours for a truck driver to come around and to have to work an eight-hour, ten-hour shift on their driving time. It costs more, and they don't get as far through the day.
What's Solvang like usually this time of year?
Solvang is a beautiful Danish community. At this time, we have just finished our yule fest.
Normally at this time, we are a little quiet, but it has been extremely quiet to us. Our hotels are filled at 30 percent capacity, which normally they are at 60 percent capacity and 100 percent on the weekends. Our hoteliers are feeling the pinch right now, which means our restaurants are feeling the pinch also.
During Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, a lot of our wineries have closed now through that week.
What are you hearing from business owners? What are their biggest concerns right now?
I think the biggest concern with business owners is, once the 101 is open, making sure there is no fear factor of people coming up — that they will want to come up right away.
Motels could shelter thousands of LA's homeless
Trucks dominate at this year's Detroit auto show
The top three bestselling vehicles in the U.S. are all full-size pickup trucks: the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado and Ram 1500. And with low gas prices and a healthy economy, there's no sign that trend will end anytime soon. Not surprisingly, this year's North American International Auto Show was a hotbed for new pickup trucks. Ford, Chevy and Ram all introduced new models.
2019 Ford Ranger
Available in early 2019, Ford's midsize pickup returns to the market after an eight-year absence. The new version has a mostly steel body, but its hood and tailgate are aluminum to help it lose weight. Only one engine is available -- a 2.3L Ecoboost inline four, similar to the engine used in the Explorer SUV. The Ranger can be had in two- and four-wheel-drive versions and includes a terrain management system similar to the one used on the Raptor sport truck. Automated emergency braking is standard; higher trim versions include semi-autonomous features like adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and lane-keeping assistance.
2019 Chevrolet Silverado
For its re-do, Chevy incorporates more lightweight material that saves the Silverado up to 450 pounds compared with the outgoing version. Slighter bigger than the 2018,it now has three inches more rear seat leg room and seven inches more width in the bed. Six different engines are available, including a new turbo-diesel 3L inline 6.
2019 Ram 1500
Available early this year, the new version of Ram's full-size pickup gets a new grille and other design changes. Larger and lighter than the outgoing model, some versions of the truck include luxury touches like a panoramic sunroof and heated, cooling and reclining rear seats.
From heroism to reconstruction: The phases of emotional rebuilding
Four years ago, a mudslide just outside of Oso, Washington, engulfed 49 structures and killed 43 people. At the time, it was the worst U.S. disaster of its kind.
Until Montecito. The mudslide in Santa Barbara County has killed 20 and three are still missing. As Montecito begins to recover, we wanted to know if there are any lessons from the Oso mudslide that could be applied here.
Jason Biermann is the director of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management. He spoke to A Martinez about Oso's rebuilding and offered advice to the residents of Montecito:
"Be inclusive in the sense that even community members who were not directly impacted are still affected. But also understand that the recovery process happens at different speeds for everyone. There are emotional impacts and physical impacts and other things and all of those take time for people to heal and communities to heal...not everyone is on the same timeline."
When it comes to rebuilding after a disaster, it isn't only about replacing lost structures. There's also emotional healing. Heroism, honeymoon, disillusionment and reconstruction are the four emotional phases victims often experience following a disaster.
Carolyn Adolph reported on these phases of emotional recover after the deadly Oso landslide in Washington almost four years ago. She's a reporter with the NPR station KUOW in Seattle. She spoke with A Martinez about how the people of Montecito may be experiencing these same emotional phases.
Heroism
Two days after the mudslide, Adolph spoke with Dan Ranking, mayor of the Washington city of Darrington, which was deeply affected by the mudslides.
"Rankin: Right now going in there somewhat rogue, they're putting themselves in a dangerous situation. We don't know how many people are in there, we don't know how many people come back out."
This illustrates the heroic phase because it highlights the people who are closest by the site, and their desire to help their neighbors and members of their community. "There's too much at stake," Adolph explained, "so everybody is throwing all of their energy at trying to help the people that they know."
Honeymoon
The honeymoon quickly follows the heroism phase. It marks an emotional peak for survivors. This was most evident to Adolph when she spoke with two high schoolers, Taylor Lindeman and Lindsay Fabri, following the mudslide:
"We're all affected as a whole because this community is so close. We're just one big family. So when one person goes — part of our town's missing."
During the honeymoon phase, the whole community becomes galvanized. When it comes to Oso, it was the nearby communities that really came together. "They become, in this moment," Adolph said, "one big family. Completely united emotionally."
The phase, Adolph continued, is really beautiful, but it doesn't last very long and it's followed by a stage that is fueled by anger and often goes on the longest.
Disillusionment
The third and possibly longest phase is disillusionment. Evidence of this phase became clear when Adolph met Diane Reece, a woman waiting in a gas card line at a Darrington community center following the mudslide.
"This is the only option we have. It's either this or we don't have food on our table or we don't pay our utilities. What's your choice?"
"The gas card was to partially compensate them for the fact that they were now driving five hours a day to their jobs and back," Adolph said, "As opposed to 20 or 40 minutes." However, the charity providing the cards only offered them in the middle of the work day.
"The recognition of the limits of aid comes about when you realize that the organizations that say they're going to help you will help you on their terms and not on your terms. And that's really harrowing for people to come to terms with."
Rebuilding
The last stop in the emotional journey is rebuilding. That's when people are slowly, but steadily, recovering. Adolph spoke to a woman who survived the Oso slide, Robin Youngblood.
"As far as I know I was underwater and mud for about three minutes. I can't hold my breath that long. As far as I'm concerned. I died. The conclusion that I finally came to is that what drew me out of the mud in the correct direction...even though my eyes were closed...there had to be some sense of light coming in and pulling me up. I feel like I was reborn."
During this phase, victims still struggle with trying to be made whole. But at the same time, they're finding meaning in their experience. "If you can actually begin to tell yourself some sort of a story about the meaning of this to you..." Adolph said, "that starts to give you the strength to move on."
Surfing may soon be the official sport of California
Surfing is as Californian as bears and tacos. And now, a pair of state lawmakers -- Al Muratsuchi of Torrance and Ian Calderon of Whittier -- are proposing a bill that would make surfing the official state sport. Sam George is a journalist and former pro surfer who joined Take Two's A Martinez to talk about the AB 1782 surfing bill.
A surfer's take on making it official
When you think about it, it's the only obvious choice. The first recorded surfing on the west coast was in 1885 in Santa Cruz with these three Hawaiian princes. Then in 1907 the first professional surfer was brought here from Hawaii to promote a railway line to the beach. But the important thing is that both of those things came from the west. All other sports in California came from the east. Surfing came from the west, so it's only right that in that sense historically that is the essential California sport.
Why surfing isn't the official sport already
It's interesting when you think how influential surfing and the image of surfing has been to the image of California. In many ways, the modern image of California was based on surfing. The film Gidget, let alone the book, in 1959, that introduced that bohemian, sexy beach lifestyle to the world. In many ways surfing has helped define California culture. There are more mountains in California than there are beaches, but nobody talks about California mountain culture, so it's interesting it's taken this long to be recognized.
Not everyone surfs, so why should it be the official sport of the state
Surfing affected the California culture way beyond the participation level. Southern California was known for aerospace and automotive factories. That free spirited sort of I'll say bohemian lifestyle associated with California -- there's a reason the Summer of Love happened in San Francisco and not Philadelphia and it's because of that image. The youth movement that invigorated that California lifestyle, a lot of it was based on that sort of seminal surf culture so it affected California culture in many ways beyond just people who could surf.
Assembly members Muratsuchi and Calderon don't live near the beach, but they surf
The majority of Californians live within just a few miles of the coast. You don't have to live right on the beach to love surfing or be enthralled with it. Let's face it, they surf from Crescent City to Imperial Beach. Every inch of the California coast is surfed, so I think it's really appropriate.
Why surfing should be the official sport, not skateboarding
Not skateboarding because it's a derivative of surfing, the same as snowboarding. As a surfer, I don't think I care if it's the official sport because the word official and surfing is sort of anathema to surfing.