THE FUTURE WAS THEN: I stumbled onto some hilariously old notes a few months back as the Independent shut down its Figueroa Street digs in response to COVID. They dated back to 1992 and were all about an insane proposal to close down State Street to automobile traffic and open it up to pedestrians. Leading the charge for at least thinking about this were former mayors Sheila Lodge and Hal Conklin.
Where Sheila could get ornery — and still does — Hal, who died of brain cancer about six weeks ago, was the perpetually grinning glad-hander, always equally amused and inspired.
Based on the reaction from the business community — sputtering with incredulity and outrage — one would have thought Lodge and Conklin had embraced an extreme brand of self-abnegating communism practiced only by Albanian monks. Steve Cushman, then head of the Chamber of Commerce — back when Santa Barbara still had its own — urged all merchants to arm themselves with pitchforks and march on City Hall.