Voting is an Act of Hope

Voting.  The election this year is November 5th, now just a week or so away.  If you have already voted. THANK YOU!  If you are planning to vote THANK YOU!  Below is some information about our local polling places and ballot drop boxes, you may find helpful.  If you are able to vote but not planning to, I ask you to reconsider.  

Voting is a privilege and a responsibility in a democratic country.   It is how our preferences and choices are communicated to our leaders.  It is a way for our individual voices to be heard amongst the noise of the world.  It is a way to make change in policy that we don’t agree with and keep policy that serves us. It is a way to help shape the world you live in to reflect how you want it to be.  It is a way to have power when we feel powerless because it is only in staying silent that we relinquish our rights.  

Ultimately, voting is an act of hope.  Hope that no matter how dire things may be or how grand we may think they are, we believe we can still make this a better world through our voices.  So join me as I keep hope alive, casting my ballot by making choices based on research and conversations with others that I believe will reflect the kind of world I wish to live in.  Let us all use our voices and vote as acts of hope.   

Options for voting in our community~

At Home With Ballot~

Complete your ballot.  Secure inside the return envelope sent with the ballot.

Sign and date.  Make sure the signature on your ballot envelope matches the one on your CA driver’s license/state ID or the one you provided when registering to vote.

Ballots may be returned by mail but must be postmarked by November 5th, 2024.  No stamp is needed.

Ballots may be dropped at a Secure Ballot Drop Box available 24 hours a day from October 5, 2024 until November 5th, 2024 at 8PM.  These are the following locations in our community-

Lompoc City Hall - 100 Civic Center Plaza

Lompoc Public Library - 501 East North Ave

SB County Dept. of Social Services - 1100 West Laurel Ave

Vandenberg Village Library - 3755 Constellation Rd

Ballots may also be dropped in person at a polling place 7AM to 8PM on November 5th.  For a complete list of Polling Place locations in Santa Barbara County, visit www.sbcvote.com.

Sign up and Track My Ballot at http://wheresmyballot.sos.ca.gov/ or call the Elections Office at  805-568-2200 or 800-722-8683.

Voting at the Polls~

Your assigned Polling Place is printed on the back cover of your County Voter Information Guide, which was mailed to you or can be found by calling 800-722-8683 or visiting www.sbcvote.com. 

It is helpful to bring your own ballpoint pen to sign in and use while voting.  Polls are open 11/5, 7AM-8PM.  The Polling Places in Lompoc are-

- Dick DeWees Community Center-Banquet Room - 

1120 West Ocean Ave

- Events Mission Valley - 

138 North B Street

- First United Methodist Church-Fireside Room -

925 North F Street

- Grace Baptist Church - Large Fellowship Hall -

1009 East Pine Ave

- North Avenue Baptist Church-Fellowship Hall -

1523 West North Ave

- Providence Landing Clubhouse -

699 Mercury Ave

Wondering if you are registered to vote?  Visit 

https://covr.sos.ca.gov/ to check your status.  Not registered?  It’s not too late.  

You can register conditionally and vote a provisional ballot at any Polling Place or Elections Office in Santa Barbara County on election day.  The ballot is counted once eligibility is confirmed. 

Visit www.sbcvote.com or call 800-722-8683 for more information.  

Dream Big Lompoc!

Dreams.  Cotton candy fluff and ethereal or a concrete reality?  For Lompoc skate park, aka College Park, it is a dream that became literally a concrete reality over 20 years ago.  A dream first dreamt in the late 1970’s (and perhaps before then) but discarded as impossible, became more probable with the advent of SB994. 

Working together, the Youth Commission, Lompoc Parks & Rec and Surf Connection rallied the skateboarding community and raised monies as a good faith testament to the need.  A piece of property was acquired through an agreement with Santa Barbara County and the Lompoc City Council agreed to fund the project through the City Budget.  Several meetings with an experienced professional skate park designer and the skateboarding community resulted in the current design of the park.  With the design in hand, the project was put out to bid, a builder selected and ground was broken.  Soon a simple dirt field became a concrete playground for skateboarders of all ages and levels of ability to enjoy.  

Today, while virtually unchanged from when it first opened to the casual observer, the park is beginning to reveal its age.  Many of the edges are showing the wear and tear of daily use and the concrete in some places is crumbling.  The skateboarding community has talked of having lights added to the park for many years and when the park was built there was discussion and hope that it would be enlarged in the future, offering more recreational opportunities.

We now have the opportunity to make those long ago and not so long ago wishes come true.  But we need your help.  The City of Lompoc is currently is seeking a grant to rebuild the skate park, to expand its usage, possibly add lighting and other amenities depending on the requests of the community and the viability of the features.  Now is the opportunity to dream as the your input is sought.  How would you like to see the skatepark?  What changes or additions would you like to see at College Park?  Lompoc Parks and Recreation has put together a packet to help you design the park of your dreams which may be picked up at Parks & Rec, Lompoc Aquatic Center or Surf Connection.  Once you have built your ideal park on paper it may be returned to either of the three locations to indicate support for the grant request as well as input as to how the final park will look.  There will also be public meetings on Zoom for input as listed below.

This is a wonderful opportunity to let your voice be heard and to help make a difference.  So dream big and speak loud because isn’t that what dreams are for, becoming concrete?

Zoom Meetings

Wednesday 10/14 6PM  - Zoom ID is 820-7474-3686

Saturday 10/17 10AM

Thursday 10/22 7PM

Soul Surfer or Pure Sport

We just read an article about a new surfboard being released by Samsung called the Galaxy Surfboard.  It caught our attention as Samsung was synonymous to us with smart phones, not the ocean, so we were intrigued.  Would this be for surfing the web or is it truly a surfboard as we understand it?  To our surprise it is a surfboard for use in the ocean but has the communication capabilities of a smart phone.  Quite a combination.   Or is it?

This ‘smart’ surfboard purports to enhance the surfing experience of the individual with the addition of technology predicated on the following.  It allows the surfer to obtain real time information regarding the weather, swell and wave conditions.  It allows for communication with a coach or other party to improve surfing skills.  It allows for support and encouragement from fans, friends and family through social media channels.  All of this is possible through a screen on the board’s deck connecting a surfer with individuals not only on shore but miles, even continents away.   

On the surface these communications seem innocuous but for the surfers we know this is contradictory to why they surf.  Surfing is a chance to unplug from the day to day rat race of technology.  It is a chance to commune with nature, to face the elements of the ocean and make decisions based on knowledge acquired through practice, to conquer the force of the wave.  And while there is a camaraderie that is enjoyed with friends in the water, cheering and joking with each other in turn, it is still primarily an individual activity in which your competition, if you will, is yourself and the experience of the activity is primary to the performance.  

Perhaps though, this distinction is the difference between the serious athlete or professional surfer and those individuals that surf for the pure enjoyment of spending time in the ocean, feeling the board beneath their feet as they ride a wave…for us, soul surfers.  We are not trying to say professional surfers don’t enjoy surfing, that it is not their passion, but that perhaps there is a different motivation and with that the need for more progressive equipment.  For the professional surfer the Galaxy board does have advantages a traditional surfboard does not but it also changes at a fundamental level the experience while in the water.  Is one experience better than the other?  That is not for us to decide but rather for the individual.  However, if the ‘smart’ board becomes the norm we do believe something precious in the art of surfing will be lost.  

Surf Beach and the Snowy Plover

Surf Beach, a beautiful, untamed stretch of coastline, is our local beach and possesses a rather unique history. From race track, to train station, to city, and back to undeveloped sand dunes, it is home to many shore birds, including the Western Snowy Plover.  The impact this small seemingly insignificant bird has had on Surf Beach is almost as great as the train station that is again in existence above the dunes today.

A modest, tiny shore bird, The Western Snowy Plover is approximately six inches in length with grey, brown upper plumage and white under plumage.  It primarily forages for small invertebrates in wet or dry beach-sand and among tide-cast kelp.  The birds nest in the dunes with a breeding season March through September and nests typically host three small eggs.  The parents share in the incubation duties but unlike many other birds, within hours of the eggs hatching, the small fledglings will leave the nest in search of food.  

In 1993 this unassuming, small bird was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and has since become the fulcrum point for Surf Beach visitation seven months of the year.  As Surf Beach is on Federal property, strict interpretation and enforcement of the Endangered Species Act has been observed.  During the nesting season of March 1st to September 30th each year, only a 1/2 mile of the coastline at Surf Beach is open to the public.  No fishing, kite flying, dogs, bonfires or camping are allowed on the beach and the dunes are off limits during this time period as well.  The number of violations allowed each season before the beach is closed completely to the public is limited to 50 and can be as vague as a set of footprints in the off limit areas.  Thankfully beach closures and limitations are just one aspect of Vandenberg AFB’s management program for the recovery of this species.  Others include predator management and habitat restoration through the removal of nonnative plant species. 

With all this focus on the recovery program at Surf Beach some are surprised to find the Western Snowy Plover’s habitat extends along the West Coast from Washington through Baja Mexico and beyond.  Indeed, many contend the bird is not truly threatened and cite reliable sources, information and data.  An appeal has been submitted to USF&WS to delist the bird but to date no response has been received.  It is not, however, our position at this time to debate the fairness or accuracy of the listing or the measurements taken by VAFB mandated through the ESA.  Rather, we are asking everyone to observe the rules in place and help keep our beach open all year so that we may enjoy the beauty of this untamed area in its natural glory.  Currently, after just one month, violations are listed at 9 of the 50 allowed for the season.  If they continue at this rate complete access to Surf Beach will be lost again prior to the end of the nesting season.  

Truly, whether you believe the bird is threatened or whether you agree with the restrictions, we strongly believe we should always strive to be better stewards of our incredible planet and work to live side by side with nature everyday, not just seven months of the year.