For a host of reasons, this year’s endorsements proved to be head-scratchers. In part, that’s because it’s the first time in about 60 years that city voters will cast ballots by district. This came about through a lawsuit alleging traditional at-large elections exclude minority voters.
By the time this spring’s settlement was reached, most of the camps that typically field candidates had precious little time to identify and recruit contenders with a modicum of civic experience who live in the three districts up for grabs. As a result, many of those running were totally unknown to us until a few months ago. Yet here we are with choices to be made.
On housing, we would hope the council would focus intently on maximizing resources to increase affordability. To that end, we’re willing to push the envelope on densities within reason. Likewise, we need to see the new council act more creatively and aggressively with Santa Barbara City College regarding the burden out-of-town students place on the rental market.