Six-year alderman challenged by businessman in Santa Barbara’s 3rd District race

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City Council race for District 3 has voters from the city’s densely populated Westside to a section that connects to State Street downtown.

Oscar Gutierrez is the incumbent who was elected for the first time in 2018. He is being challenged by Tony Becerra, a west side business owner.

When asked about big issues, housing costs and safety were priorities.

“The longer term would be the cost of housing and affordable housing available and I have worked a lot with my colleagues over the last few years protecting tenants’ rights and making sure they know that if they are going to be able to get third-tier housing. the district or the city in general, they will be protected against eviction without cause,” Gutierrez said.

Looking at his neighborhood, Becerra says, “people don’t feel safe walking up and down the street, especially when we have heavy people in the area, so lighting was important, sidewalk safety. on the sidewalk and come tell me We recently had something in front of Foodland and the city fixed it very quickly within a week, that’s great to see.”

The city’s June financial report showed an estimated deficit of $7 million or more.

Candidates differ on the cause and how to solve it.

Becerra said, “I can take the ability to look at finances from a real accountability perspective, and that’s what our city hall is about. They don’t have that responsibility, they feel like they have an open checkbook and that’s just not the case. .”

Gutierrez works at City Hall and says that when he looks at the financial options, “to have an experienced fire department and a fully staffed police department, we have to pay them accordingly, so most of our budget went to this”.

Hard times with inflation, job insecurity and rising housing costs have residents looking to leaders to help. In this regard, each candidate has a different approach.

Gutierrez says, “people are amazed when I go to their door and they tell me there’s this problem here that hasn’t been solved and I say, ‘well, let me know, just send me a message.’ So they text me and a day later I’m like “wow, I literally didn’t expect that to happen the next day.” I say ‘all you have to do is ask!'”

Unifying audiences is what Becerra says he can bring to the table. “The idea is to be able to give them the vision of hope and show them the steps that I’m going to take so that they can see in real time the steps and get to the goal line and cross it together as a community.”

Working on the city council requires a certain skill to get a unanimous vote on key city issues. Becerra says, “I’ve lived my life that way. As the youngest of 12, you learn to negotiate quickly. You know with those skills I didn’t think they would help me later in life. They’ve helped me in business, they’ve helped me in coaching, you know, mentoring, things that I’ve done all my adult life.”

With his time on the board, Gutierrez said, “we know how to talk to each other, we know how to communicate and get things done pretty efficiently and quickly, so I would continue that.”

(A full copy of each interview can be found on KEYT.com)