Only here could a guy get twelve grand to paint one line. Granted it's a long, jagged line, but it's just a line, and a suspect one at that. Professor Gore and his cohorts would have you believe that there is no debate on global warming, that it's riding on the horizon like the four horsemen of the apocalypse and all but a done deal. But one needs to only look at the frequency and rapidity of new articles and theories on the issue to see that the debate is far from over. Indeed, millions if not billions will be spent over the next several years to study the impact of humans on the earth and our climate. I guess somebody's got to pay the salaries of the academics that are sure to argue and counter each other for the next 20 years. But here in Santa Barbara, you can get the city to pay you for your theories, and it pays pretty well.The Light Blue Line folks applied for and received a grant from our city for $12,000 American dollars to paint a blue line across streets and sidewalks that purports to delineate where the waterline would be if global warming melts all the ice on Greenland (if all the ice on Greenland was in danger of melting).
Twelve grand! For a line! I love the idea. In fact it has inspired in me several new ideas for lines across our city. The front runner would be what I call the Amnesty line. Here we would draw a line around the middle of Montecito, effectively shrinking the size of that burg. The line would show what would happen if the Bush/Kennedy Amnesty bill went through, or if it ever came up again. Hispanic presence in the city of Santa Barbara would grow, their neighborhoods on the east side would expand, and the areas of town affected by gang violence would begin to encroach into the peaceful streets of the town that Oprah calls home. Scary, isn't it? I should note this is a two-color line, half green and half red, and the extra color is probably going to run the city another six grand, so let's call it 18 all day.
I know Santa Barbara has gone very green; I've commented on it here. But trying to do what seems right (paper or, uh, paper sir?) is different than taking a definitive political stance on an incomplete science. Public money for political art crosses a line akin to the mix of church and state. Let's hope that that line never gets blurred.
