Joe Guzzardi Announces

[ Excerpt from SBN-P, 2/26/2006, article by BARNEY McMANIGAL ]

Pledging to fight hardest to protect South Coast neighborhoods from high-density development, Joe Guzzardi formally declared his candidacy for county supervisor Saturday...

"First and foremost, I will fight the state housing mandate," said Mr. Guzzardi, 51...

Most candidates for 2nd District, which stretches from the Santa Barbara waterfront to the city of Goleta, have made preserving neighborhoods a top priority. Besides Mr. Guzzardi, contenders Dan Secord, Das Williams and Janet Wolf have ramped up their rhetoric in recent months, pledging to fight plans for dense housing that lack proper planning...

While his positions have won him accolades from residents, his three unsuccessful bids for City Council in the 1990s -- including a near win in 1999 -- have tarnished his credentials among some political elites, who say he can't win...

So far, members of neighborhood groups, like the Coalition for Sensible Planning, have played a high-profile role in his campaign, forming an ad hoc organization, the Committees to Save Santa Barbara and the Goleta Valleys...

Taking aim at opponents, he [Guzzardi] asserted that Dr. Secord, a former Santa Barbara city councilman, "has been approving projects that are harmful to neighborhoods since he's been on the (city) Planning Commission."

... While he notes that Mr. Williams has opposed several projects since he joined the council in 2004, Mr. Guzzardi said the sitting Santa Barbara councilman has created only the appearance of neighborhood preservation, and has failed to back residents on key votes.

"Time and time again it appears that (Mr. Williams) is creating a facade, and that's why I don't trust him," Mr. Guzzardi said.

When asked about former Goleta school board member Janet Wolf, Mr. Guzzardi warned that the 11-year education veteran "has no track record."

But Mr. Guzzardi's challengers reject those statements.

Saying he was "disappointed" by the remarks, Mr. Williams, who nominated Mr. Guzzardi to a city planning panel last year, said he has accomplished more because he holds public office.

"Joe says good things about neighborhoods, but if you want results on neighborhood protection and preserving open space, I've produced those results," Mr. Williams said.

Ms. Wolf said she wants to "bring people together" on the housing issue. She has pledged to protect neighborhoods, but declined to take on the state mandate.

"Density and design standards are important, but so are the firefighters, nurses and sheriffs that keep our community safe and healthy," Ms. Wolf said.

Seeking to shift the discussion back to the region's housing needs, longtime affordable housing advocate and county Housing Authority Commissioner Mickey Flacks said that the MTD property where Mr. Guzzardi made his announcement Saturday has not cultivated crops for a decade and has been used as a storage yard for oil-emitting buses.

For years county officials and developers have discussed building homes for low-income residents on the site, and point to the parcel's proximity to mass transit lines as a potential benefit.

"The precious ag land is a brown field," Ms. Flacks said.


Santa Barbara News-Press