Santa Barbara Mesa newspaper owner honored for 15 years of community information
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The owner of the Santa Barbara Mesa newspaper has been honored for her 15 years of proding information for the specific area of the city.
Alice San Andres-Calleja was emotionally moved in a special ceremony at Santa Barbara City Hall Tuesday afternoon.
She started the paper in 2008, even with the dominant Santa Barbara News-Press covering the city on a daily basis.
When the News-Press printing plant shut down in summer, the Mesa paper ended. That's where it was printed, and going to another printer out of the area would be too expensive.
The paper was also the driving force for many discussions and projects in the area. San Andres-Calleja sais, "the monthly Village town meetings, I think made a big difference. We had it for 12 years at least every month, different topics, issues and concerns and guest speakers."
The paper often featured topics that caused the Santa Barbara City Council to react including the call for new safety features on Cliff Drive, which are now going to be implemented.
When the paper came out on a monthly schedule it was delivered to 200 locations, mainly news racks and businesses, both on the Mesa and in other nearby areas.
