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Negotiations between Rick Caruso and County officials are su...

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 335021P	2012-10-24 09:08 AM
Gee what a shock. Bad public policy elicits bad process especially when a known wheeler-dealer L.A. billionaire is involved.
COMMENT 335025P	2012-10-24 09:13 AM
Just say no.
COMMENT 335036	2012-10-24 09:24 AM
at what point does the County finally develop a pair and tell slickyricky to pound sand.
COMMENT 335040	2012-10-24 09:29 AM
exactly. I am special. give me money....blah blah blah blah blah blah blah... someone woke up and smelled the coffee it sounds like.
COMMENT 335048	2012-10-24 09:34 AM
As so glad this giveaway is being stopped. What will Salud Carbajal do next to pay back his donor and benefactor? Next the County should condemn the buildings and hire someone to tear them down, then send Caruso the bill. Don't you think they would have already done that with any other land owner in Montecito that allowed their buildings to be come a nuisance?
COMMENT 335051P	2012-10-24 09:38 AM
Bout time! I'm glad Ms. Waller and the BOS finally stood up to Mr. Caruso. That $15 million deal was such a rip off to the community and a total sweetheart deal to an already enormously wealthy guy. Let him do business in SB Co. the way almost everybody else does. If it didn't pencil out in the first place he never should have purchased the property and begun the project. I do feel sorry for the people living near that eyesore, and I do miss the Miramar, but lining Caruso's pockets and bending to his pressure was not the correct answer.
COMMENT 335052P	2012-10-24 09:38 AM
In the mean time can someone go into there with a wrecking crew and knock down those eyesores, PLEASE? To me, an open field is far more preferable then those old, dilapidated buildings.
COMMENT 335060	2012-10-24 09:50 AM
Open space is always preferable, but if we're going to build, let's do it on the already developed coast and not untouched land. Yes on G. G for Goleta and not GREED.
COMMENT 335072	2012-10-24 09:59 AM
I believe those MiraMar"buldings" are now "historical," so, in order to do anything with them, plans have to be reviewed, and reviewed and again, reviewed. LOVE IT!
COMMENT 335078	2012-10-24 10:06 AM
If the business isn't viable "without" the rebate, well buddy sorry go back to la We shouldn't pay ( or not get paid as much ) him for building a hotel, and taking a risk on a business. Honestly,I miss the miramar as it was. Wish this wasn't hapoening
COMMENT 335090P	2012-10-24 10:13 AM
This project was "toxic" the day Mr. Caruso was first associated with it!
COMMENT 335021P	2012-10-24 10:21 AM
Caruso has bullied his way through this county from DAY 1, with the acquiescence of certain county elected officials and deep pocket donors. I'm wondering who is paying for the inordinate amount of time that has been devoted to creating and ENACTING this ordinance on behalf of Caruso, only to have him demand more. Oh, our taxpayer dollars, I imagine. ENOUGH! GO HOME!
COMMENT 335052P	2012-10-24 10:58 AM
072, was that historical or hysterical? But sad is closer to the truth.
COMMENT 335036	2012-10-24 11:10 AM
im surprised in the past 12 years the site has not been hit by 'lightning'.
SHOREBIRD	2012-10-24 01:09 PM
Thank you BOS. Don't give a penny. That's how capitalism works. You get the business that you can afford to build. If you can't afford, it hasta la bye-bye baby.
YIN YANG	2012-10-24 01:19 PM
Wow, every post so far agrees, and I agree with them all. Infuriating situation and political deal. I sure hope the "incentive deal" gets blown up and out of existence. I'm almost certain this BOS incentive deal will be my first "single issue" issue ever, if you know what I mean. I can't see voting for anyone who supported it. It just angers me too much.
COMMENT 335227	2012-10-24 01:23 PM
Unfortunate reality is that if they don't work with Caruso then that lot is going to sit there - rotting away. There's no line behind him to buy, raze and rebuild. Hard to believe that this is still going on but then I remember where I am....land of analysis to paralysis.
COMMENT 335021P	2012-10-24 02:10 PM
227- "unfortunate reality" is that Caruso never had any intention OTHER than for it to "sit there" until he could line his pockets enough to "flip" this property. Sorry, can't blame "analysis" for this one...this is pure and simple greed and bullying.
STRAY	2012-10-24 02:34 PM
The Board of Supervisors should give Mr. Caruso an ultimatum: raze the Miramar Structures and cart them away, or your building permits, several times extended already, will expire. If the buildings are razed, and the hotel never gets built: the public wins. Remember Hammond's Meadow? If the Mr. Caruso doesn't keep his building permits, he'll lose money because he can't sell the land for what he paid for it, but that's not our problem.
COMMENT 335317	2012-10-24 04:01 PM
Stray is correct but the weak wussies that run the county will roll over. As long as we herald wealth more than common sense we will have politicians kissing the butts of the wealthy and the rest of us will be ignored.
COMMENT 335326	2012-10-24 04:12 PM
Isn't Caruso part of the 1% that doesn't believe in government handouts, unless it is their hand?
COMMENT 335345P	2012-10-24 04:43 PM
I guess so, 326.
COMMENT 335368	2012-10-24 05:30 PM
It looks like Caruso held up his part of the agreement. The Board has failed to keep their promise. I guess we can leave it like it is now which appears to make the local citizens happy. I looks like the biggest complaint against Caruso is that he is an uncompromising businessman.
COMMENT 335429	2012-10-25 06:24 AM
It would solve the problem if the county or SB, or a group of citizens worked to buy the property and create a park. I would donate, maybe grassroots with a philanthropist backing. SB is great at this kind of project. There has got to be a solution. Even preschoolers are better at negotiating and solving conflicts in a timely manner.
FRESHPAVEMENT	2012-10-25 07:19 AM
Some time ago I purchased a small office building in SB. It was a deal between two private parties and the only involvement the County of SB had was to collect taxes and issue permits if applicable. Like every other businessperson, the risk in this transaction is entirely mine, as are the potential rewards. No favors were expected or requested of the County. Perhaps I’m just a chump. Caruso is a very successful businessman and developer and also bought property from a private party. The risk in this transaction is also his, as are the rewards. The county should grant no special favors here, and treat this as any other project. If he makes a mint on this project, terrific. If he loses a fortune, so it goes. That is the risk he agreed to when he purchased the property. Neither should be the concern of the County and as a business owner and taxpayer here I do not want to provide him with any special favors everyone else does not get.
FLICKA	2012-10-25 07:24 AM
The first mistake the BOS made was not getting a bond of completion before letting it be torn down. Now, it should be condemed and torn down. The little cottages might pass for "historical", but the big ugly two story rooms were put in about the 60s, nothing historical there; that's when the Miramar started it's decline into a glorified Motel 6.
RONNIEB	2012-10-25 07:59 AM
OK, how about putting a trailer park there? (Ha ha...)
COMMENT 335474	2012-10-25 08:30 AM
A trailer part with vintage trailers would be cool. Check out this place in Bisbee, AZ. http://www.theshadydell.com/
COMMENT 335479	2012-10-25 08:37 AM
There are plenty of millionaires in Montecito They could pool there money, buy the property, turn it into a park Good for the community Good for the environment john
COMMENT 335498	2012-10-25 09:20 AM
I think this gives my 1st district sup a method to moonwalk his way out of this fiasco after the beach parking debacle.
GOBBLEDYGOOK	2012-10-25 10:20 AM
I think Caruso is just playing the rich man's game of seeing how much he can make the little people jump. There's this whole macho thing these guys get into to show off how many concessions they can get, how powerful they are. I'm so pleased this legal technicality seems to have scuttled the county's reprehensible tax-rebate offer. Since when do the taxpayers have an interest in assuming the risk to get a new luxury hotel built? As a local taxpayer, I think a better use for that space is more housing; a lot of nice condos could go in there, generating stable property taxes not subject to kickbacks. I also love the idea of a Bisbee-style trailer park, especially on a site smushed between the highway and the railroad tracks. It's so in keeping with the historic Miramar, which was originally little cottages for motoring tourists. But it offers not nearly enough potential for ROI, given the gigantically inflated property values that now weigh that site down. Can't some rich benevolent crackpot visionary pop up right about now, Frank Capra style?
COMMENT 335040	2012-10-25 10:40 AM
Gobbledygook got it right. Freshpavement too. We should not be bending over backwards, or forwards (HAHA) for these guys. Tune into the History channel and watch the show "Men who built America" for some insight to the psyche of a "successful" narcissistic ego filled business man. While the earlier examples of win at all costs, ego, take no prisoners may have been extreme, (Rockefeller Carnegie), etc..you have these current modern day peeps (Trump, Cuban) trying to compare themselves. Caruso, while successful, comes from the same ego mold.. push as far and hard as you can till they pop. I bet you he back tracks now, or somehow tries to take legal action against the county.
COMMENT 335498	2012-10-25 12:03 PM
You forgot to mention Caymen Island Mittens 526.
COMMENT 335040	2012-10-25 12:13 PM
@549...Oh that is a good one, but I have been trying not to get comments deleted lately. I think that county CEO did a great job.

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