What Went Down in The Club: A Recap of the District 1 S.B. City Council Candidate Forum

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This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

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https://www.independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/23-Sept-24-District-I-2way_final.mp3

Candidates Alejandra Gutierrez, Wendy Santamaria, and Cruzito Cruz covered a range of topics at the September 23 forum at “The Club” (formerly the Eastside Boys & Girls Club), including affordable housing, rent control, the city’s $7.5 million deficit, preserving the culture of the Eastside, and addressing critiques against them. The race is for a seat on the Santa Barbara City Council representing District 1, the city’s Eastside.

The Santa Barbara Independent’s Mickey Flacks Fellow Christina McDermott and news reporter Ryan P. Cruz break down what happened at the forum, including candidates’ approaches and perspectives on key issues.

You can listen to this discussion by clicking the play button above and follow along with the transcript below.

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Christina McDermott: I’m Christina McDermott, and I’m a Mickey Flacks Fellow for the Santa Barbara Independent covering housing. I’m here today with the Independent’s Ryan P. Cruz, who moderated the forum on Monday featuring City Council candidates for District 1. That’s the Eastside. Ryan, can you set the scene? Who are the candidates for this race?

Ryan P. Cruz: The candidates in this race are: Alejandra Gutierrez. She’s the incumbent. She’s local, born and raised on the Eastside, fiercely independent on the council, and she’s been a councilmember since 2019.

Then there’s Wendy Santamaria. She’s a challenger. She’s really young. She’s a tenant advocate, a union organizer, and she’s really been able to capture people’s attention with her passionate public speaking.

The last candidate is Cruzito Cruz, and he’s a longtime Chicano activist here in Santa Barbara. He’s actually a seven-time candidate, and he’s really helped fight to push the needle toward district elections and for more diverse representation on the east and west side.

McDermott: Discussion of affordable housing played a big role. What were some of the perspectives?

Cruz: Housing is a huge issue in Santa Barbara, and every candidate understood that these topics will come across the council in various ways.

Alejandra gets a lot of criticism for her ties to local developers, but she stresses bringing them into the conversation. Wendy, due to her advocacy with the Santa Barbara Tenants Union and CAUSE [Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy] is very progressive with her housing policies.

Cruzito Cruz was able to add some perspectives about the city’s Housing Authority, which a lot of people think might be the only way to get truly “capital-A” affordable housing.

McDermott: Proposition 33 was mentioned. Prop. 33 is on the ballot for Californians this year at the state level. It would repeal a roughly 30-year-old act [the Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act] that limits a city’s ability to pass rent-control measures on certain residences, like single-family homes and condos, and buildings built after 1995. How does this statewide proposition relate to Santa Barbara?

Cruz: Well, here in Santa Barbara, we’re one vote away from the council passing more strict rent control. Last time the vote came across, it was four to three in opposition.

If Prop. 33 goes through and the Costa–Hawkins is repealed, that would give the local government the ability to pass an ordinance that includes new construction, which is protected by the law right now.

Rent control, or rent stabilization as most supporters like to call it, has been one of the major spark points between Alejandra and Wendy throughout this election. Alejandra has been against it and is noted as the swing vote on the council. She said that it’s just a Band-Aid and that it could end up doing more unintended damage to mom-and-pop landlords and renters.

McDermott: Right. Here’s some of what Alejandra Gutierrez said at the forum on rent control.

Candidate Alejandra Gutierrez: “Putting a rent cap: The reason that it’s not sustainable is because we have inflation right now. There are homes [where] their insurance is being canceled. Everything has gone up. Also, when we put a rent cap, we’re also helping those people that are not in need.”

Cruz: Wendy, on the other hand, has advocated for rent stabilization from the beginning as part of a whole housing policy package that would take on the crisis on all fronts with a rent board, rental registry and permanent right to counsel program.

McDermott: Each candidate spoke a little bit about preserving the culture of the Eastside. What did each candidate have to say about that?

Cruz: I think they all know how culturally important the Eastside is to Santa Barbara. With La Casa de la Raza, Milpas Street, and Ortega Park, there’s a real feel to the district, and they all spoke about how important it is to keep this character and this culture even in the face of the slow gentrification of the area.

McDermott: Another point of discussion was the city’s deficit. The city has more than a $7 million deficit. How did each candidate propose addressing this?

Cruz: Alejandra has been on the City Council for the past five years and is the chair of the city’s Finance Committee. She stressed that the city spends too much and says that it takes a council that’s willing to make unpopular decisions to balance the budget.

She was against the [proposed] sales tax, as was Cruzito Cruz, while Wendy said that after meeting with city staff, she understood that this could potentially help save the city from falling into an even larger deficit as revenues continue to fall below expectations.

McDermott: Here’s some of what Wendy Santamaria said at the forum on the proposed sales tax.

Candidate Wendy Santamaria: “I think the tax is something that shouldn’t be based on one person’s opinion. I am going out to the community speaking to my neighbors, our first responders, and people see this tax as an investment in our community.”

Cruz: Alejandra criticized that the sales tax would go into the general fund and not specifically for District 1 projects.

McDermott: Lastly, each of the candidates addressed criticism against them. What did that look like?  

Cruz: For Cruzito, the main concern was [that] he’s run six times in a row and has yet to make a big impact at the polls. During the last election, when Alejandra Gutierrez won a very competitive race by just eight votes, he had only 100 votes total, which is less than 5 percent.

Alejandra’s been the target of a lot of criticism during her time on the council. Residents and her opponent during the debate have pointed out that she’s missed meetings, shown up late, and was uninvolved with a lot of important issues in the district.

There’s also questions about her ties to the Democratic Party. She was heavily supported by the party in 2019 but had drifted away and had been essentially acting as an independent until recently re-registering and earning the Democratic Women nomination.

Wendy, on the other hand, she’s been accused of being a one-issue candidate who’s too focused on rent control and inexperienced on other issues that would come before the council.

These philosophical differences have been the source of a lot of conflict in these campaigns, and they address this criticism during the forum.  

McDermott: Thank you so much, Ryan.

Cruz: Thank you. And I hope you continue reading the Santa Barbara Independent.

That was The Santa Barbara Independent’s Mickey Flacks Fellow Christina McDermott and news reporter Ryan P. Cruz discussing the September 23 District 1 forum. 

The forum was sponsored by the Santa Barbara Independent. The Santa Barbara City election will be held on November 5.