Noozhawk: Santa Barbara Council Candidates Discuss Housing Affordability, State Street

Not all Santa Barbara City Council candidates believe that the city shares any responsibility in the housing affordability crisis, a recent candidate forum revealed.

Radius Commercial Real Estate and Meridian Group hosted the candidate forum last week for the City Council candidates gunning for the four open seats this election season.

For two hours at the Cabrillo Pavilion, candidates of Districts 4, 5 and 6 weighed in on the cost of living, the city’s rent stabilization ordinance, the proposed “mansion tax” and the State Street Master Plan.

Running for the District 4 City Council seat are Devon Wardlow, Monte Lee Wilson, Genevieve Taft-Vasquez and Jason Dominguez. Current District 4 City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon is running for mayor.

The mayor’s race is a four-way match that includes Sneddon, District 5 Councilman Eric Friedman, Wendy Sims-Moten and Matt Kilrain.

Running for the District 5 seat are James Zurlinden, Ian Baucke and Cevin Cathell. Friedman currently holds the seat.

Running for the District 6 seat are Alexander Stoeber, Gabe Escobedo, Anabella Lehne and Jason Carlton. Current Councilwoman Meagan Harmon has hit the term limit and is not running for re-election.

Donald Katich, general manager at Radius Group, and Krista Pleiser, chief government relations officer for the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors, led the forum and asked questions of the candidates.

It was the first time all 11 candidates were represented in a forum, according to Cathell, a District 5 candidate.

District 4 candidate Wardlow was absent but sent a representative, James Altman, a volunteer for her campaign, to answer questions on her behalf.

There was a series of questions in a yes-or-no format in which candidates responded with a paddle with “yes” or “no” on either side. Two questions garnered almost unanimous consensus.

For one of the questions, when asked whether the city has any responsibility in housing affordability, all but one candidate responded yes.

Dominguez, a District 4 candidate, raised the “no” side of his paddle. He also declared that he wasn’t worried about losing endorsements over his answer.

“We do not have a housing crisis,” Dominguez said. “We shouldn’t be blamed for making our place one of the most desirable places in the world to live.”

He shared that it was difficult for him and his wife to buy a home in the area but followed it up with, “That’s the market.”

Some of the candidates were in disbelief at his claim.

“(Saying) no affordability crisis is crazy,” said Escobedo, a District 6 candidate.

He said the city has “absolutely” contributed to the affordability crisis and lack of housing.

“We have done it in our policies, in our process, in how confusing it can be,” he said.

Carlton, also a District 6 candidate, claimed that the city’s rules and permit process “cut away” at the city’s affordability.

When asked what metrics the candidates use to define the crisis, Escobedo, a Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education member, said he measures the cost of living by looking at declining school enrollment data and how many housing units have been built per decade.

In the same round of the yes-or-no questions, the candidates almost had another near-unanimous response: The majority did not support increasing the transfer tax for property transactions of $3 million or more, also called “the mansion tax.”

In March, the Santa Barbara City Council deliberated adding the property transfer tax to the Nov. 3 election, and some council members were hesitant to support it.

A month later, the tax was dropped from consideration after city finance staff learned that voters had mixed opinions about the tax and that there would need to be “significant” public outreach before reaching a decision, as Noozhawk reported.

Wardlow’s representative abstained from voting in response to that question, making the response not unanimous.

The candidates did not expand on their responses but were excited at seeing the consensus, with Pleiser, one of the moderators, joking that majority agreement might not happen again.

Additionally, the candidates shared differing opinions on the recently approved State Street Master Plan, with some in support and others worried about some aspects of the plan, including funding.

“We don’t have the money to do it,” District 4 candidate Wilson said. “It reminds me of somebody in a retail store (saying), ‘Put this much on this credit card, put this much on (another) credit card.’”

He called it a “nice plan” that needs a concrete strategy on how to pay for it.

Cathell, a District 5 candidate, said she is a staunch advocate for the city not to spend money unless it has it.

She added that State Street needs infrastructure changes.

“It’s imperative, actually, with climate change making some severe threats,” she said.

Dominguez, who supports the plan, proposed a new rule that would state that when there are cost overruns of 3%, the City Council should review it.

Lehne, a District 6 candidate, also said she could support the plan in pieces and wants it to start with three to four blocks at a time.

“(And) not just focus on the beauty part,” she said. “We need to focus on what’s underneath the infrastructure.”

Additionally, the candidates were asked to reflect on a recent City Council discussion on the rent stabilization ordinance that came to a head-to-head debate between Councilwomen Wendy Santamaria and Harmon.

Only three of the candidates — Escobedo, Baucke and Wardlow’s representative — said they would vote yes on the ordinance presented to the City Council last Tuesday.

“Let’s be real: This is going to be the law in January. Our job is to implement it so it can be fair,” Baucke said, “and that property owners can go through the city and not have to spend tens of thousands of dollars and months and months to get answers on their petitions.”

Wardlow’s representative, Altman, clarified that the District 4 council candidate supports the ordinance but believes amendments are needed.

The candidates also discussed their proposed strategies to address the city’s budget shortfalls.

District 4 candidate Taft-Vasquez proposed enhancing efficiency when employee vacancies occur.

“Can we look at technology?” she posed. “Is there excessive overtime with some of the forces that has been an issue at the county level?”

Similarly, District 6 candidate Stoeber proposed utilizing technology “everywhere in City Hall” to make city employees’ jobs more efficient.

However, for Zurlinden, a District 5 candidate, the answer to increasing the city’s revenue lies in reinvesting in infrastructure, including the downtown bathrooms and city parking lots.

With the current bathrooms, which he called “dark and dirty,” residents are spending shorter amounts of time there, which means their potential to shop and spend money downtown also decreases, he said.

The Nov. 3 election ballots will begin to be mailed out on Oct. 5.