SUPERVISORS COMMEND CENTENARIAN, WHILE COUNTY GOES CENTURY-IN-THE-HOLE!

Your Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, fresh off another week of approving new taxes, spending taxpayer dollars like it's Monopoly money, and generally making life more unaffordable for everyone not named 'campaign donor,' took time out of their busy schedule to issue a 'resolution of commendation.' Yes, while the county's infrastructure crumbles faster than a progressive's polling numbers, our esteemed Supervisors found time to honor Paul Lopez for his 101 remarkable years. Frankly, we're surprised they didn't try to tax his longevity.

The real angle here, which the Board of Supervisors' own agenda item cleverly obscures, is whether this 'extraordinary contribution' resolution was printed on recycled paper from a county-funded 'climate change awareness' pamphlet. One can only imagine the carbon footprint generated by the bureaucratic process of drafting, debating, and ultimately back-patting over such a proclamation. Meanwhile, actual taxpayers struggle to afford gas to drive to work every day, thanks to the very same officials who are now celebrating someone who's seen a century of common sense disappear into the Santa Barbara ether.

While Mr. Lopez's lengthy and presumably productive life is certainly commendable, one has to wonder if the Supervisors spent as much time discussing how to fix the ever-climbing pension liabilities as they did polishing this particular honor. Perhaps they should dedicate a resolution to the disappearing middle class of Santa Barbara County, or maybe one for the businesses being driven out by endless regulations. But no, that would require actual work, not just virtue signaling from the dais. Good on Mr. Lopez for sticking around, perhaps he can offer some fiscal advice to the folks who couldn't balance a checkbook if their lives depended on it.