Sensei Challenges Former ‘Grasshopper’ in Council Race for Westside District

In Santa Barbara’s ongoing clash of political titans, the one now pitting incumbent Santa Barbara City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez against challenger Tony Becerra for the city’s westside district is about as sweet and congenial as they get. After all, Gutierrez used to take classes at martial arts dojo Beccera has run for the past 28 years near the corner of San Andres and Micheltorena streets. His older brother did too. When Gutierrez first ran for office, he held meetings at Becerra’s dojo, then as now a thriving hub of activity most evenings as parents drop their martial arts attired kids off for lessons on Becerra’s mats.  “I love Oscar,” Becerra gushed at a recent candidates’ forum. 

The striking absence of any evident acrimony may be refreshing but it’s not surprising. In key ways, the two candidates share many striking similarities in their life trajectories. Both are children of unschooled Mexican immigrants; both grew up in households where Spanish was the language spoken. Both are large, solid, and formidable physical specimens. Both played football in high school — though for different school teams. Both are the youngest of their respective families — Becerra is the baby of 12 siblings and Gutierrez, the youngest of four. Both were bossed around by tough big sisters. And coincidentally, neither were given a middle name at birth. 

But on the issues and their political inclinations, the differences could not be more striking. Gutierrez — who has now served six-and-a-half years on the council — is a strong supporter of rent stabilization — formerly known as rent control — and supports restricting the amount landlords can increase rents to as low as two percent a year. He has yet to see a tenant protection he has not embraced; tenants displaced for repairs should be allowed to move back into their renovated units at the same rent, Gutierrez says. He also thinks City Hall should ban the development of new hotels, especially on properties on which housing could be built. Of all the councilmembers, Gutierrez supports the highest inclusionary requirement — 25 percent  on newly developed rental units that have been blessed by City Hall with bonus densities. (Ten percent is what most councilmembers will go along with, meaning that ten percent of the units built must be “affordably priced.” 

Gutierrez has never experienced an eviction first hand, but his family was pushed out before he was born by a sizable rent increase. Today, he lives with his mother, who is a small-time landlord — colloquially known as a “mom-and-pop” landlord. She and he, Gutierrez readily acknowledges, decidedly don’t see eye to eye on rental policies.  Why should small landlords who’ve never gouged anybody, she reportedly has asked, suffer with punitive regulations? 

That’s similar to the questions Becerra asks. Becerra opposes rent control, rent stabilization, and restrictions on new hotel development — the market should sort it out, he says. By limiting the amount landlords can increase rents, he argued, City Hall would be discouraging the development of new housing units. It sends the wrong message at the wrong time. Landlords need to be allowed to recoup the real costs of doing business; sometimes that means rents go up. Although he has been forced to move because of rent increases, Becerra talks more about the small landlords he’s rented from over the years who’ve kept their rent increases low. Rent control laws induce panic in the smaller landlords, he said, sparking them to increase rents — while they still can — demanding more than they otherwise would. He readily agrees rent increases from $2,600 to $3,500 a month are not right, but he’s less certain than Gutierrez on what he thinks should be done to prevent them. Perhaps a voucher system could be created, he suggested, to underwrite low income families when it comes to paying the rent. Or maybe landlords could get tax breaks as a reward for not charging top-of-the-market rents. These ideas, Becerra readily acknowledges, far exceed the jurisdictional grasp of the City Council.

Gutierrez is not one to get down in the wonky weeds and wrestle over details. No matter what City Hall does or doesn’t do, he stated, property values in Santa Barbara will keep going up. Rents will keep going up with them.  They always have and they always will. They have yet to go down, he said. Renters need more protection. 

Gutierrez just got elected to the Democratic Central Committee steering committee and has been a lifelong independent who only registered as a Democrat relatively recently. Becerra was a registered Republican until recently re-registering as an independent. His parents became naturalized citizens in the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. Becerra supported Trump in 2016 — he cited Trump’s economic policies — is not sure who he voted for in 2020, and more recently has expressed enthusiasm for Bobby Kennedy’s campaign. (Kennedy, however, has just announced he would be endorsing Trump.) 

It’s a truism that all politics are local and Becerra and Gutierrez differ on the art of what’s possible when it comes to the Third District. It’s a fact that no councilmember is out and about more than Gutierrez; there are no ribbon cuttings, grand openings, or ceremonial events he does not attend whether they’re in his district or not. Gutierrez boasts he is the most accessible Santa Barbara councilmember who’s ever served, claiming he has no less than 27,000 constituent contacts. Lots of people don’t feel comfortable going to City Hall to talk to their local officials, Gutierrez stated. So he goes out to where the people are.

To the extent the campaign has an edge, it’s here. Becerra pointedly disagreed, arguing there’s a big difference between being accessible and being effective. He took issue with the upkeep of streets and sidewalks near his Westside dojo; a woman tripped and fell, bloodying her face, on the sidewalk near his dojo. Benches had been removed, trash cans too, he complained. Even when replaced, the work — Becerra complained — was often slipshod and half-assed. There’s no parking on the streets, and in the evening when the sun goes down, his students have to be especially mindful of cars zooming down San Andres street. 

Gutierrez said he’s banged his head against the wall working to deliver services to his constituents. He’s been cautioned, he said, about pushing too hard. If it wasn’t for his efforts, Gutierrez said, nearby schools would never have opened their fields to the surrounding community during weekend hours. He was the councilmember who led the charge, he added, for the much used City Hall  app — Connect S.B. — that allows residents to contact City Hall anytime of day about problems — often involving trash or paint containers left out on sidewalks — they encounter. 

According to the political handicappers, Gutierrez enjoys a considerable head start in terms of name recognition, popularity, incumbency, money in the bank, and political endorsements. He’s already walked the district once, he said, and about half of it a second time. Becerra — who is well known and well respected in the neighborhood around this dojo — is just getting started walking precincts and knocking on doors. With Kamala Harris now in the race against Trump, Gutierrez can expect his chances will be buoyed by an especially strong turnout by Democrats eager to dump Trump. 

To hear first-hand what the candidates think about the issues, the Santa Barbara Independent will present a candidate forum moderated by Nick Welsh this coming Wednesday, September 18, at 5:30 p.m. at the Harding School (1625 Robbins St). For more information on the free event, click here.