Harriett Phillips — defender of the Goleta Valley, precinct walker extraordinaire, and lifetime fan of the Michigan Wolverines (Go Blue!) — was one of the first people I met after I was hired by the New York Times as a Santa Barbara News-Press reporter in 1985. I was looking for citizen activists, and Harriett was up to her neck in the fight against a proposed Hyatt at Haskell’s Beach.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’d made a friend for life. Over the years, I thought I was special because Harriett kept tabs on me as if she were my mother, but I found out she did the same with Santa Barbara Independent reporter Nick Welsh. We’d both get these phone calls: “I haven’t seen your byline — are you all right?” It was code for, “Call me, please.”
Harriett moved to Goleta in 1974 at the age of 51, leaving behind a whirlwind career with the Michigan Democratic Party. Here, she made her mark as the founder of Citizens for Goleta Valley, a grassroots organization that sought to rein in urban sprawl, and she founded the Goleta Valley Land Trust to preserve open space for the public’s enjoyment.