Final Election Results

[ From KEYT-TV newscast November 20, 2007]

Final election results are in... Das Williams received a total of 8,415 votes, Helene Schneider a total of 7,521 and Dale Francisco received 7,058 votes... Michelle Giddens (votes at 6,520) and Brian Barnwell (6,558) were just 500 votes short of being elected.

The three elected City Councill members will be sworn into office in January.

All the totals can be found on the City's website.

Stats are at:
Santa Barbara City Certified Election Results

To view the original KEYT-TV newscast, please go to:
KEYT Final Election Results

Different Approaches

Nick Welsh wrote of the major reasons why Brian Barnwell did not achieve re-election and will thus will end his councilman's role at the end of December. In his analysis, Nick compared Brian's approach to Das':


Because of Brian's praise of the St. Francis project, "Little wonder that on election night Barnwell tanked in the upper Eastside neighborhoods near St. Francis. Little wonder, also, that Das Williams — the only councilmember to vote against the St. Francis housing project — was the top vote-getter on the upper Eastside.

"The lesson Williams has distilled from the election results was that the candidates who worked hardest and walked precincts earliest did the best in an election where the fewest number ever bothered going to the polls. For Williams, campaigning has always been like a nervous tic. He has to knock on doors; he has to raise money. And he did — more than anyone else. Williams, who emerged out of Santa Barbara’s progressive activist camp, could always count on the eco-groovy, stop-the-war, cars-suck, granola-eating bloc. But unlike any other operator from that camp, he actively wooed — and in some instances wowed — the splintered micro tribes of Santa Barbara’s neighborhood activists who are unified in their conviction that the bums in City Hall are plotting to sell them out...

"Had Barnwell taken a page from Williams’s book and actively wooed the liberal Dems, maybe he’d have done better. But in this regard, Barnwell proved either lackadaisical, fatalistic, or both, and seemed to blow them off..."

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For Nick's full column, please go to:
SBI: Yellow Dog Blues

Wins & Losses 2

[ Excerpt of "Williams, Schneider, Francisco win Council seats," by ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND, November 7, 2007 ]


Standing on plush red chairs at Pascucci on State Street, Councilmembers Das Williams and Helene Schneider embraced in celebration of their one-two finish in yesterday’s Council election.

“Number one and number two, and that’s a good thing,” Schneider said, pointing first to Williams, then to herself. “…We’re really proud to be continuing our work for the next four years. There’s so much we need to do to keep Santa Barbara the amazing place it is.”

Halfway down the street at Left at Albuquerque, challenger Dale Francisco, surrounded by campaign supporters, friends and family, reveled in his third place finish, good enough to take one of the three seats up for grabs.

“I feel great, but I’ve been feeling great for days,” Francisco said. “I came into this as a complete novice. I knew that if I didn’t get elected this time, I would definitely be elected in two years.”

Williams led the semi-official tally with 7,315 votes, followed by Schneider with 6,539 and Francisco with 6,290. Challenger Michelle Giddens took fourth position in the polls, while incumbent Brian Barnwell finished with 5,725 votes.

“I don’t think the middle of the road is working,” Barnwell said, offering his explanation for the election results. “I was a middle of the road kind of guy.”

Frank Hotchkiss filled in the sixth place position, garnering 5,319 votes, while Dr. Dan Litten pulled in 1,874 votes. Bob Hansen finished with 724 votes and Dr. Michael Cooper, who dropped out of the campaign race early on, still collected 694 votes.

As the celebration party wore on at Pascucci, Williams credited Schneider for keeping him from being marginalized on the Council and in the campaign.

“I really appreciate Helene being there, backing me up on so many issues,” Williams said.

“I want to see us continue to be involved,” he continued. “In this town, when people don’t participate, bad things happen. We’re going to make good things happen in the next four years.”

Francisco, who will take his seat at the Council dais in January, said he is looking forward to the challenge.

“I hope to do all the things I said I would do,” he said. “I want to focus on real city problems.”

Although he will have to relinquish his seat come January, Barnwell said he still plans to be involved in local government.

“I’m still interested in the city of Santa Barbara,” Barnwell said. “I’m violently interested in it.”

With about 1,500 absentee and provisional ballots left to be counted, city officials estimated about 32.6 percent of registered voters came to the polls or sent in absentee ballots.

“It’s an odd-year election,” Marcelo Lopez, city administrative services director, said. “The turnout is lower in odd years.”

At the Presidio Springs Senior Center recreation room, poll workers said of the 900 potential voters in that precinct, only about 100 trickled in during the day.

“I’ve been a poll worker for the County of Santa Barbara for the last 12 years, and this is the slowest I’ve ever seen,” Kimberly Goldstein said.

When voters walked through the doors and heading toward the ballot table, the five poll workers cheered, Goldstein said, glad to see someone coming in to cast their vote.

Gordon Forbes, who filled out a ballot at the senior center, said he cast his vote for Williams, Schneider and Francisco, the three victors. When asked why he picked Francisco, Forbes said, “I don’t know too much about him, but he seemed to favor keeping the town within its limits.”

Yesterday’s proceedings marked the first city-run election in decades. The County of Santa Barbara had hosted the municipal elections in recent years, but prohibitive cost estimates had city officials looking for a less expensive method...

Wins & Losses

[ Excerpt of: "Williams and Schneider In; Francisco Triumphs Over Barnwell
Measure A Election Reform Goes Down in Flames," By Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT, November 7, 2007 ]


... In a low turn-out election where very few voters bothered going to the polls —- the vast majority of ballots were cast, absentee style, by mail —- incumbents Das Williams and Helene Schneider managed to win re-election by comfortable margins. But their fellow incumbent Brian Barnwell was knocked off, placing fifth in a field of eight candidates with only three seats up for grab. Barnwell will be replaced on the council by challenger Dale Francisco... “The middle of the road is no longer fashionable,” Barnwell concluded of his surprising loss. “You’re either one extreme or the other. That’s the way it went tonight.”

While Francisco’s election will not alter the fundamental tilt of City Hall, it will change the council’s composition. He will be the only Republican on an elected body that for the past two years was composed exclusively of Democrats. On the campaign trial, Francisco proved prickly with his throw-the-bums-out rhetoric—often getting under Williams’ skin —- but he pledged to work hard, learn the ropes, and try to be constructive. His perspective will be more openly skeptical of the council’s clear tilt in favor of alternative transportation...

Williams and Schneider both expressed satisfaction in their own victories, and disappointment for their colleague Barnwell... Williams and Schneider have been the progressive wing of the council, advocating for the living wage, arguing against many developments and pushing for affordable housing. Both enjoyed strong support from the social activist core constituencies. And both were willing to do the grunt work required to raise campaign funds and walk precincts.

By contrast, Barnwell proved to be a man without a country. The environmental community always tended to regard Barnwell as too pro-growth, and were not won over by his born-again support for city-wide sustainability policies. And the business community —- which supported Barnwell during his first campaign —- found him too unpredictable for their comfort the second time around. Barnwell lead the charge to impose more stringent height restrictions for new development in Santa Barbara, something bitterly opposed by many in the development community. Nor did it help Barnwell any that he was regularly reviled in the editorial pages of the Santa Barbara News-Press, often for reasons more personal than political. Compounding matters, Barnwell never embraced the money-raising-door-knocking rigors of the campaign trail the way Williams and Schneider did...

Santa Barbara voters also overwhelmingly rejected Measure A, which would have changed the timing of Santa Barbara’s elections from odd-number years to even numbered years, to coincide with state and federal elections. City Hall pushed for the change because it would save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in election costs, and a coalition of progressive-minded activists argued the change would almost double the number of people who turned out to vote... “We were naïve," [Cathy] Murillo said. "We didn’t think anyone would oppose this. Who in their right mind could be against something that increased voter turn-out and saved lots of money? I still don’t get it.”

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For full text of the original article, please go to:

SBI: , November 7, 2007

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Election Stats as of 2:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 7th:

-- Voter turnout: 31 percent

-- Das Williams: 7,315

-- Helene Schneider: 6,539

-- Dale Francisco: 6,290

-- Michelle Giddens: 5,802

-- Brian Barnwell: 5,725

-- Frank Hotchkiss: 5,319

-- Bob Hansen: 724

-- Dan Litten: 1,874


Measure A:

-- No: 7,554

-- Yes: 5,804

Candidates Review

[ Excerpt of: "No Open Seats Make for Tight Squeeze in Santa Barbara City Race," By Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT, November 1, 2007 ]


Many political handicappers regard the upcoming November 6 Santa Barbara City Council election as mere foreplay for the main event: the anticipated showdown between councilmembers Iya Falcone and Helene Schneider over who will replace Marty Blum as Santa Barbara’s next mayor. Add to the mix that three incumbents will be forced from office two years hence because of term limits, and you have the makings of a very wide-open election. By contrast, this is the first year in which there will not be at least one open seat. Instead, we have three incumbents running to retain their office. This situation — and the obvious advantage enjoyed by the incumbents — has chased all but the very determined, or foolhardy, from the field.

The current City Council is a weird anomaly, a group of relatively like-minded people who often can’t get along. For the first time in history, the council is made up entirely of registered Democrats. Yet personal acrimony and political jealousies have made this among the prickliest of councils in many years. Despite this, though, much has been accomplished on this group’s watch. The past four years have seen the council’s approval of a living wage ordinance, unanimous support of the Cottage Hospital expansion and remodel, and a vote embracing plans to convert the former St. Francis Hospital into an affordable housing project for Cottage employees. After bitter negotiations, the council crafted a new contract with its police officers union. (Efforts by the firefighters union have fallen short so far.) And the council’s free-floating environmental good intentions have been channeled into an unusually focused and far-reaching policy to promote environmental sustainability in many forms.

Whoever gets elected to the council will confront the issue of gang violence, which has once again reasserted itself with lethal consequences. They’ll also grapple with traffic congestion, economic growth in the face of Santa Barbara’s “small-town spirit,” and the revamping of the city’s general plan in an effort to determine what kind of growth can occur, where it can happen, and in what densities.


Brian Barnwell

Passionate, impulsive, and unpredictable, incumbent Brian Barnwell has emerged as one of the key swing votes in council deliberations... Barnwell... [once said] “I don’t know whom I appeal to. I really don’t.”


Das Williams

Das Williams understands some people don’t know what to make of him. He figures it starts with his multiethnic identity, evangelical faith, economic populism, and support for neighborhood activists dismissed by many affordable housing activists as “not-in-my-backyard” environmentalists. Superimposed on top of all this is an environmental agenda that combines the sensibilities of a homegrown Santa Barbara surfer with a degree from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

But there’s something else, too. People sense Williams’s ambition in the brash energy he’s injected into City Hall’s traditional genteel ways. He’s been publicly willing to challenge city staff and he’s lobbied members of the Planning Commission, typically not done by councilmembers. He raised more than a few eyebrows when he campaigned — unsuccessfully — to defeat fellow councilmember Iya Falcone. And a year ago, Williams announced he was running for 2nd District Supervisor, resisting serious efforts by many within the Democratic Party establishment to talk him out of it. Janet Wolf won; Williams came in last. In the aftermath, Williams didn’t just lick his wounds; he went to work.

It’s all about getting results, Williams said. Early on, for example, he secured funding to stop sewage from flowing onto Eastside streets by holding up a sewer bond in the city’s finance committee until the extra money had been secured. Williams also led the charge to reduce pesticide use in parks.

Williams has banged the drum for more city-sponsored solar projects, and has supported both commuter rail and more funding for MTD to increase bus service. On affordable housing, Williams has worked consistently to hinder rental property owners from demolishing apartments and building new condos. He’s opposed height restrictions for buildings, which could deter affordable housing construction, and has supported the most intense development scenario for the proposed mixed-use transit village at MTD’s transit center. But Williams was also the only councilmember to vote against Cottage Hospital’s plans to provide affordable housing for its employees at the St. Francis site, arguing that a City Hall independent study should look into the feasibility of the scaled-back alternative supported by Cottage’s neighborhood critics. “A lot of people find it hard to say no to Cottage,” Williams said, “but in this case, I had to because the neighborhood was not given what it deserved.”


Helene Schneider

From the day she was sworn in four years ago, Helene Schneider has received almost uniformly high marks from council colleagues, city staff, and lobbyists of all stripes for the diligence, intelligence, and quiet determination of her approach...


Frank Hotchkiss

Frank Hotchkiss never paid much attention to city politics until the City Council approved spending $12,000 on the Light Blue Line. Had he been on the council at the time, Hotchkiss is confident he could have changed the outcome. “I would have said it’s not good art, it’s not temporary, and it’s only one view and an extreme view at that,” he said. A man with the deep, imposing voice reflecting his former career as a professional actor, Hotchkiss has been selling real estate since moving to Santa Barbara nearly 10 years ago...

“My message to gang members is simple,” he said. “Get out of gangs or get out of Santa Barbara.” The solution, he said, is not more gang intervention programs so much as better utilization of existing ones.


Dale Francisco

... “The one thing I know,” said Dale Francisco, a 54-year-old software engineer, “is I can do a better job than any of the three incumbents running” ...


Michelle Giddens

... “The city shouldn’t be trying to get us out of our cars,” she said. “That’s our choice. The reality is that people drive. We need to solve today’s problems, not the problems of tomorrow” ...


Bob Hansen

“Lots of kids never graduate from high school,” he said. “What happens to them? If they had some hope of making $40 an hour, maybe gangs wouldn’t seem as appealing to them as they do.”


Dan Litten

An intriguing combination of libertarian and environmentalist, Dan Litten... decided to run for the council to highlight his concern that City Hall is failing the environment. “They’re doing a lot, but they could do more,” he said...

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To view the original full text article, with images, please go to:
SBI: No Open Seats...

NoozeHawk Interview

[ Excerpt of: "Election Q&A with Das Williams," By Rob Kuznia, NOOZEHAWK, 29 October 2007 ]


NOOZHAWK: What specific actions are the City Council and the police department taking to fight gang violence? What are the benchmarks for success? What has been your involvement on this issue?


DAS WILLIAMS: The Police Department alone spends about $1.6 million a year on youth-related enforcement and prevention programs, about two-thirds on the former, including officers who go to school campuses and a gang unit, and one-third on the latter, including a Police Activites League and D.A.R.E. In addition, our Parks & Recreation Department has scores of activities for kids and teens.

Specifically, I have pushed for a number of expansions in youth prevention and intervention programs in this year's budget. A $25,000 increase to double the current 20 kids involved in our youth apprenticeship program in Parks & Rec. We have had summer drop-off centers (free child care for 8 hours a day) for grade-school children at Ortega Park and three schools. We've eliminated the fees for Sports league programs with the city (which is a lot of money because of the increase of participation we will have), increased staffing of the neighborhood center on the Lower Westside, starting a handball program, and we've increased by $35,000 the money allocated for junior high afterschool sports. It adds up to $174,000 in Recreation and seven new or expanded programs in all.

On intervention, "nothing stops a bullet like a job," as Father Boyle (founder of Homeboy Industries in L.A. that employs former gang members) often says. The city has recently secured a grant that will allow us to fund stipends for youth jobs throughout our community. We are looking for mentorship in sectors that will be well-paying for young people to get into a real career, so if you run a business or nonprofit and want to participate, contact our Parks & Recreation Department.

Additionally, I and my collegues came up with a plan to pay for additional police bike patrols of the Eastside and Westside. Our officers have been making use of association warrants and, where appropriate, searching houses to look for information or caches of weapons. These have been very successful. The ultimate metric of success, however, is fewer gang members in the city, but that takes time. We shall see in the coming years whether our current number of 600 grows or diminishes. There is more to be done, including programs that help parents deal with "at-risk" youth, but both the people who work with our youth and our police officers are supporting Helene, Brian and me, Das Williams, for City Council. They trust us to lead on this issue.


NOOZHAWK: Would you consider an injunction banning certain individuals from wearing apparel associated with gangs?


DW: There are some real constitutional "free association" issues with gang injunctions and that should be a last-resort strategy. If we ever were that desperate, I would say you want to do the type that forbids gang members to "hang out" together, not something as indiscriminate as clothing. I question whether we should be citing people for wearing baggy pants and white T-shirts. I’d likely get cited on one of my days off.


NOOZHAWK: With the General Plan update in motion, what is your vision of what Santa Barbara will look like in 30 years?


DW: My vision is to avoid two possible fates being pushed by the momentum of the market, private-property rights and political power. The first would be to overbuild and sprawl out, becoming like Orange County. The second, and nearly as damaging, would be to not adapt and attempt to preserve a physical status quo, while losing our middle- and working class and becoming a Beverly Hills-By-the-Sea. I endeavor to preserve the distinctive feel of a Santa Barbara that is not too large, is surrounded by open space, yet still has a vibrant and diverse community. To come true, we must replace some of our commercial space with middle-class housing, to reduce commuting and traffic.


NOOZHAWK: Should Santa Barbara’s Sphere of Influence boundaries be expanded? Specifically, what should the boundaries be?


DW: Yes, it should include areas of the Goleta Valley that want better municipal services or even additional protections on land use. However, this should be up to the people themselves and should not include the mobile homes, whose affordability could be threatened by eventual annexation.


NOOZHAWK: Should Highway 101 be widened from Milpas Street to the Rincon?


DW: Yes, and it should be a carpool lane to encourage ride-sharing and be accompanied by more commuter bus service.


NOOZHAWK: Are you willing to spend local tax dollars to bring commuter rail to Santa Barbara?


DW: Absolutely. Our traffic problem is so bad we should attempt to pursue as many solutions as possible. Furthermore, freeway widening will take years, and during the construction traffic could be even worse.


NOOZHAWK: What is your opinion of street narrowing and roundabouts as traffic-control measures, and do you think they have been successful?


DW: They have nearly always been successful in slowing down traffic in neighborhoods with children, but some have been implemented in a manner that led to much public acrimony. I’m not sure how to solve this. I hate to have to slow down, too, but I think people have a right to have safer streets in areas that were never meant to be thoroughfares for traffic.


NOOZHAWK: With regard to new buildings in downtown Santa Barbara, how high is too high? What should be the height limitation in terms of stories?


DW: I vigorously will require new buildings to adhere to our current height limits of 60 feet or under, and discourage them from even getting that big. But more important than height is requiring adequate setbacks from the street and articulation of the building shape, so much of it is lower than the highest points in order to protect viewsheds and minimize how imposing the building is.


NOOZHAWK: Is Santa Barbara losing its middle class?


DW: It is. Unless we are willing to build price-controlled, middle-income ownership units and protect our stock of rentals in the city we will lose our young people, our critical workforce of police, firefighters, teachers, nurses and public works personnel (like the people who daily make sure you get water when you turn on the tap). A community without another generation is a community without a soul. I will work to avoid this dark fate.


NOOZHAWK: Should the city help develop more workforce housing?


DW: I just answered that above. We should, not only to preserve a middle class but to prevent an even larger increase in traffic. As our workforce moves away the jobs stay here, which is drowning us in traffic. The last 10 years have seen a decrease in our population but an increase in traffic. I would rather have some of those folks downtown than clogging up our freeways daily.


NOOZHAWK: Seizing on the adoption of the Isla Vista Master Plan that will yield more than 1,400 housing units, Santa Barbara County has asked the state of California to certify that the I.V. plan satisfies the county's unmet need for affordable housing under the 2002 Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). Is it fair to use Isla Vista's willingness to accept increased density as a way to avoid a regional allocation of affordable housing units? How would you handle this obligation?


DW: The city has always exceeded its RHNA allocation and I think it's fair to say that the RHNA process does not drive our land-use policy. I cannot say that is also true of the county, where unfortunately all the units used to get dumped in Orcutt and now they’re trying to dump them all in I.V. Instead, I would rezone some of our commercial areas in various parts of the county into residential or mixed-use, which would fulfill the requirement of rezoning, without losing precious ag land.


NOOZHAWK: The City Council is looking at approving a new downtown transit center of up to four stories that, conceptually, would include affordable and market-rate housing, retail commercial space, a day-care center and underground parking. But under the proposal, most MTD buses would still require street parking. Do you agree with this approach?


DW: I leave it up to MTD to tell us how to maximize the efficiency of loading and we will design accordingly. What I know is that we need to make this an attractive place to wait for the bus — with news, coffee and food service preferably. We have asked the designer to minimize size, build and scale of the buildings while maximizing the amount of affordable and middle-income units we can provide. This is an important and difficult design-challenge, because we do not have enough money left in the RDA accounts to do many more housing projects. This one has to count.


NOOZHAWK: Measure A calls for aligning the city of Santa Barbara's Election Day with that of the nation by moving it to even-numbered years. Proponents say this would help boost voter turnout. Opponents say it would add a year to council members' four-year terms and lead to campaigns that are more partisan. Do you support Measure A?


DW: I support it, though it would not be good for me personally because of the five-year term. It is truly important to have higher voter turnout for democracy to really work the best it can, so I support it as sound policy.


NOOZHAWK: Mayor Marty Blum recently gave her staff a grade of A minus. What grade would you give?


DW: I would agree with the mayor. Our staff is extremely competent, but like everyone, messes up sometimes. What I think is important to know is they are not malicious. We all have to learn how to serve the public, with its competing and contradictory desires, better.


NOOZHAWK: Do you support cities competing with the private sector for the deployment of Internet broadband networks? If so, what is your preferred financing method to build the required infrastructure?


DW: I don’t know this issue well enough to give it an adequate answer.


NOOZHAWK: Have we heard the last of the "blue line"?


DW:I don’t think there will be a blue line, but there should be smaller public art projects that increase both education and participation on reducing global warming.


NOOZHAWK: What are your thoughts on medical marijuana? Do you agree with the mayor that it should be available in pharmacies?


DW: It should be treated as medicine, but that should be accompanied by the regulation and restrictions that prescription medicine has. People shouldn’t be smoking in the dispensary just like people hopefully aren’t popping pills in line at the pharmacy. They also should be a proper distance away from schools and with adequate security on site.


NOOZHAWK: What's your favorite neighborhood?


DW: The Mesa, because it has all the beaches, surf, and it votes for me.


NOOZHAWK: What book had the most impact on your life?


DW:The Bible and Lord of the Rings.


NOOZHAWK: What's your favorite movie?


DW:The Last Temptation of Christ.


NOOZHAWK: What music are you listening to now?


DW: Thievery Corporation & DJ Sander Klinenberg. A little U2.


NOOZHAWK: What kind of car do you drive?


DW: Prius Hybrid 2001


NOOZHAWK: What do you do for a living?


DW: Teacher and city councilman


NOOZHAWK: What political leader or historical figure do you draw inspiration from?

DW: Nelson Mandela. He understood that action was more important than words, and was gracious and forgiving in both victory and defeat. That transformed his prison guards from racists into supporters of liberation, and held together the country when I was there working in 1994...

Das TV Ad 2

SBB Endorsement

Santa Barbara’s Blog endorsed Das for Santa Barbara City Council, October 29, 2007.

The following is what Das wrote in response:


“I just want to thank SantaBarbarasblog for their endorsement. Free media is an important part of a free society, and I also thank the Blog for keeping up this work. If you are a voter looking for easy answers to the problems of Santa Barbara, I am not your candidate, I have found that the answers to clean water, open space protection, and youth violence are anything but simple. The most complex and difficult issue this Council will be facing is planning for the future of Santa Barbara.

"How do we reduce traffic loads? Though I am against projects on open space, I have realized that saying no to all development just increases our traffic loads, as more and more people commute from Ventura, Oxnard, and the North County. How can we house a significant portion of our middle-class without losing that unique feel of Santa Barbara? That is our greatest challenge. Since we cannot ever meet the demand for housing, how can we increase transportation options (bus, rail, carpool, and bike) in the City and from neighboring cities? If you want someone who will work hard on those issues, I am your candidate.

"I also am your candidate if you want the City to be a leader in alternative energy and energy and water conservation. Living within our resources means to me that we should not force our problems on our neighbors or on future generations, but do our best to solve them here, with what we have. I believe we have the talents, funds, and resources as a community to face these issues, and we shall do that together.”

-- Das Williams





To view the original posting and comments to it, please go to:

SBB Endorses Das Williams

Das TV Ad

Indy Endorsements

[ Excerpt of "2007 Endorsements," By Indy Staff, SB INDEPENDENT, October 25, 2007 ]


When you go to the voting booth on Tuesday, November 6 — or cast your absentee ballot — The Independent strongly urges you to vote for Brian Barnwell, Helene Schneider, and Das Williams for City Council...

Brian Barnwell, Helene Schneider, and Das Williams bring unique sensibilities to the job. Barnwell is a centrist Democrat and a passionate planning wonk, given to brilliant — if at times anguished — soliloquies. Williams is a progressive Democrat who embodies an intriguing blend of evangelical Christianity, surfer-dude environmentalism, and economic populism. And Schneider is endowed with rare administrative savvy, which she deploys to tackle seemingly insoluble social problems, like chronic homelessness. On their individual merits, these three incumbents richly deserve to be reelected. As a group, they’ve developed a fruitful working rapport throughout the years that would be foolish to throw away.

All have worked energetically and creatively to address the stiff challenges confronting both City Hall and the broader Santa Barbara community. They’ve struggled to address the social violence inflicted when working families find themselves evicted so luxury condominiums can be built. We trust they will bring wisdom, insight, and good faith to bear when balancing the need for maximum housing affordability and neighborhood preservation. The rise of gang violence defies simple solutions and cheap slogans, but we’re confident these three will not shirk from finding the best combination of carrot and stick. When it comes to traffic congestion, we’re not so utopian as to believe the automobile can be rendered obsolete within our lifetime. But as a society, we clearly need alternatives right now. Improved mass transit, better bike lanes, commuter rail, telecommuting, staggered work schedules — all of these will be part of the solution. And these three have demonstrated a commitment to making this happen. Finally, when it comes to sustainability, the City of Santa Barbara is now committed to walking the walk, not just talking the talk. This did not happen overnight, nor did it happen by accident. Were it not for the three incumbents — Barnwell, Schneider, and Williams — it’s doubtful it would have happened at all.

In recent months, City Hall has approved two major solar installations on its own structures, and eliminated many of the design guidelines that have inhibited its citizens from going solar on their own. City parks use far less pesticide today than they did four years ago, and steps are being taken to make Santa Barbara’s creeks more accommodating and hospitable to steelhead trout. Not only that, but City Hall is leading the charge to convert South Coast trash into cleaner-burning fuels, and changing its architectural design guidelines to ensure maximum energy efficiency in the future. There’s still much work to be done. Reelect Barnwell, Schneider, and Williams, and let them finish the job...

"Chewin' On The Cadidates"

Off Leash Public Affairs recently interviewed all candidates in the forthcoming elections for city council:

Part 1:



Part 2: