Here are Sierra Club's official endorsements for Santa Barbara's November 2, 2021 Municipal elections.
On November 2nd, the Mayor and three Councilmembers (four out of seven members of Council) will be on the ballot. This will be the last odd-year election in Santa Barbara, as the City switches to even-year voting to increase participation and reduce expenses. The winners’ terms will expire in 2026, a 1-year extension created by the calendar switch.
Sierra Club supports the reelection of three incumbents previously endorsed in 2017: Mayor Murillo and Councilmembers Friedman and Sneddon. We also endorse Councilmember Meagan Harmon who was appointed by City Council in 2019 and who has been a great environmental champion.
Re-elect Mayor Cathy Murillo
Cathy Murillo was elected Mayor in 2017 after serving six years in Council. In her 10 years of public service, Cathy has demonstrated a deep understanding of challenges to our natural environment and a voting record worthy of Sierra Club support. One of the most critical issues she has tackled is climate action and resilience, leading the charge for a community choice energy program, a prohibition of natural gas hookups in new construction, and taking a stand against the ExxonMobil proposal to re-start offshore oil production in Santa Barbara County.
Her other notable accomplishments include banning single-use plastic bags and straws, initiating the designation of Santa Barbara as a Bee City USA, standing firm on Bicycle Master Plan projects that replace on-street parking with bicycle lanes, supporting the ChannelKeeper effort to have the City comply with the federal Clean Water Act related to sewage spills, and adopting the most stringent set of storm water regulations while advocating for an assessment district to share costs fairly.
Mayor Murillo understands how dense housing in central locations prevents sprawl and pollution-causing commuting; she serves as the vice chair of the Coast Rail Coordinating Council, which aims to improve passenger rail service in Central California.
Her goals for her second term are: Enhancing habitat for the endangered steelhead trout; reviewing waterfront resources with an eye to protecting bird habitat especially at Sandspit Beach; taking recycling and re-use to a new level as part of the City’s solid waste programs; updating the Pedestrian Master Plan; and working with MTD leadership to get more people using public transit.
The City is in the process of debating the permanent vehicle-free status of State Street. Cathy believes that both the public and local businesses support making the Promenade permanent and she is a strong supporter of this change. She is also a supporter of creating and expanding bicycle facilities elsewhere.
Regarding desalination, Cathy is concerned about its negative impacts (the large amount of power required to produce potable water; the brine discharge; the harm to marine life during intake) but supports its operation as a last resort, expecting that the City will soon use a substantial amount of renewable energy to operate it. The Mayor chairs the Council’s Sustainability Committee and the Community Choice Energy Committee.
There are five other candidates running for Mayor, among them: James Joyce III — who ran former state senator Hannah-Beth Jackson’s Santa Barbara operations; Santa Barbara Planning Commissioner Deborah Schwartz; and Randy Rowse, the owner of Paradise Cafe who served nine years on City Council.
Re-elect Councilmember Eric Friedman (District 5)
Eric was elected in 2017. During his first term on Council, he has been a strong voice for environmental stewardship and sustainability. For over a decade he has been working to bring Community Choice Energy to Santa Barbara.
His efforts on City Council led to the City of Santa Barbara to implement its CCE program, Santa Barbara Clean Energy, which went live this October. In addition, he is Chair of the Central Coast Water Authority, Vice Chair of the League of Cities Coastal Cities Leadership Committee, serves on the League of Cities Environmental Quality Committee, is a member the Beach Erosion Authority for Clean Oceans and Nourishment (BEACON) and also serves on the City of Santa Barbara’s Sea Level Rise Subcommittee and Chairs the Long-Range Development Oversight Committee.
His leadership on these Boards and Committees provides a broad policy background as the City works to plan for impacts of Sea Level Rise, Coastal Resource protection and beach access, diversifying our water supply and locating affordable housing downtown that is environmentally sustainable.
He is especially proud to be part of the Council decisions to close State Street to vehicles and implement the bike share program. He looks forward to continuing work on the future of downtown and implementing policies to achieve the City of Santa Barbara’s goal to be carbon free by 2035. Eric Friedman is running unopposed for District 5.
Re-elect Councilmember Kristen Sneddon (District 4)
Kristen was elected in 2017. She serves on the City’s Sustainability Committee and supported the ban on natural gas service in new buildings as a necessary step toward meeting climate goals. New construction will impact future carbon emissions for 60 years or more.
Kristen is also a member of the Community Choice Aggregate team working on incentives for vehicle charging stations, incentives for electric cars and bicycles, micro-gridding opportunities, and prioritizing renewable energy that is not cost-prohibitive. She hopes to develop incentives for homeowners to invest in solar with battery storage, and to promote installations in government and school buildings. One of her top priorities is to run the desalination plant on renewable resources.
She is particularly proud of the City’s new Sustainability and Resilience Department to address climate change, fire risk, natural disaster considerations, energy goals, waste management, and sea level rise.
Kristen has been calling for a Downtown Master Plan to address a plethora of issues, including a solar overlay with pre-determined photovoltaic installation locations approved. City parking structures would be prime sites. This would save on lengthy design reviews, and Kristen is working on updates to the Historic Resources Ordinance to address this.
Kristen supports banning vehicular traffic on State Street and a dedicated bike lane throughout the length of the closure. Part of her vision for the Master Plan is a storm water management district along State Street to address water runoff on a comprehensive basis with swales, cisterns, planter boxes and permeable pavers to allow developers and review boards to work toward a common, transparent goal.
Kristen supports higher densities in the downtown core between Anacapa and Chapala, with higher density on the Chapala side to preserve mountain views from State Street. The Downtown Master Plan would assess parcels that might be amenable to housing, creating a blueprint for development to streamline the process. While Kristen supports higher densities downtown, she calls for inclusionary provisions of 20% to help address growing income inequality.
On the other hand, Kristen believes that there are areas near Upper State, including the former Sears site, where high density housing could be more financially feasible. She favors the down-swale side to minimize visual impacts.
Planning Commissioner and commercial developer Barrett Reed will challenge Kristen Sneddon on the District 4 race.
Re-elect Councilmember Meagan Harmon (District 6)
The Sierra Club is proud to endorse Meagan Harmon for a second term. Since joining the Council in 2019, Meagan has been a champion for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, keeping our creeks and drinking water clean, and protecting our beaches from oil development and harmful stormwater runoff. She is a strong supporter of the local Climate Action Plan, Santa Barbara Clean Energy, installation of photovoltaic systems on municipal properties, storm water management, and active transportation. She supports City subsidies to property owners to install solar, solar microgrids, and transitioning the desalination plant to 100% renewable energy.
Councilmember Harmon is a strong supporter of building housing in the downtown core to address the housing crisis. “People who work here should be able to live here. We must prioritize the creation of new, affordable housing units,” she says, and the Sierra Club agrees.
Meagan advocates for car-less living to minimize pollution and overcrowding; she supports the e-bike program and hopes to see it expanded. As a member of the State Street Advisory Committee, she is dedicated to the development of a community vision for downtown. “Infill housing is the sustainable, environmentally responsible choice – the City must maximize this especially in commercial and high density areas, which also promotes more walking and biking and less use of cars, and creates communities where people live near their workplaces.” (M.H.)
Councilmember Harmon was recently appointed by Governor Newsom to the Coastal Commission to represent our area. She is a strong voice for coastal protection and efforts to implement a comprehensive plan to react to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
There are three challengers on the District 6 race; one of them, Nina Johnson, has a strong background in City policies and a good grasp on environmental issues.
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More about the Sierra Club endorsement process:
The Sierra Club leverages the power of our networks of volunteers and members in every state to help elect environmental candidates. The Sierra Club sees the importance of having environmental champions at all levels of elected office. To ensure the Sierra Club only endorses the best environmental candidates, our volunteers and staff have developed a multi-step process and criteria for selecting which candidates receive our support. Driven by our grassroots members, the endorsement process begins at the chapter level. Volunteers examine each candidate's record and distribute questionnaires to candidates who meet our criteria. The questionnaire responses are then evaluated, and interviews with candidates are conducted. If the local volunteers support an endorsement, the endorsement must win the support of two local committees, and then committees at the state or national level, depending on the office. Throughout our process, volunteers and staff evaluate the environmental and public health records of candidates, their electability and their propensity to be a true champion on our issues.
Paid for by Sierra Club Political Committee, www.sierraclub.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee