Kristen Sneddon: Santa Barbara is not for sale

Santa Barbara is not for sale.

That is what we need to tell major developers and powerful well-funded real estate interests in next week’s election.

They have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into our city elections because they see an opportunity. Not an opportunity to serve our community, but an opportunity to control the plans that will shape it for the next century. The real question on this ballot is who decides Santa Barbara’s future? The people who live here, or the people writing the biggest checks to steer this race from the outside?

For the better part of a century, Santa Barbarans like you and me have fought hard to protect what makes this place special. For most of that time, we understood that developers coming into our city with big plans and bigger promises did not necessarily have our community’s best interests at heart.

Over time, through strategic donations and a lot of PR, developers and oversized property interests have rebranded themselves and added the narrative of not being heard.

Make no mistake, Santa Barbara: corporate developers are businesses. And they are businesses whose priorities are profit and not about preserving the character of our community.

We have seen where that mentality can lead. Donald Trump built his career as a developer, treating rules and institutions as obstacles to get around when they stood in his way. He has brought that same mentality to our democracy and our rule of law: push hard enough, spend enough money, and maybe you can change the rules that apply to you.

I don’t want that mentality anywhere near Santa Barbara City Hall.

Across the country, we have watched developers move into neighborhoods, towns and cities, build whatever makes them the most money, and destroy the very things that made those places special in the first place. And right now, one of those developments looms over this election and over our historic Mission.

I believe strongly and have worked hard for more affordable housing for the people who live and work here. I am incredibly proud of and supportive of the work our Housing Authority does. Those projects are 100% affordable and targeted to people in our local community. That is what we need more of.

But that is not what corporate developers care about. They care about making money. That’s it.

Growth also has to respect the limits of the place we live. Santa Barbara sits between the mountains and the sea, with finite resources, one freeway in and out, and a long memory of fire, flood and debris flow. Every plan we approve should answer basic questions. Do we have the water infrastructure? Can our firefighters and police keep up? Can families get out safely when the next fire comes? Is it meeting the needs of our community?

When disaster strikes and the freeway closes, we have to be able to take care of ourselves. That means local workers who can get to their jobs, neighbors who know each other, and a community that can stand on its own for days at a time. First responders and essential workers need to live locally to help our community stand on its own. Living locally isn’t nostalgia. It’s how we stay safe.

Our foothills, beaches, creeks and open spaces are not empty lots waiting for a buyer. They are the reason so many of us live here, and once they are gone, they are gone for good.

As your mayor, I will do everything in my power to make sure we build housing that actually meets our needs: housing that lets the teacher at your child’s school, the nurse at your hospital, the firefighter at your neighborhood station, artists, and the workers at your favorite restaurant afford to live in Santa Barbara. I will stand up for our seniors who built this city and the young families who are its future.

Protecting what we love doesn’t mean standing still. State Street needs thoughtful, flexible planning that can carry us through the next 50 to 100 years: a downtown that works for locals first, with room for housing, small businesses, the arts and public gathering places, and the flexibility to adapt as our needs change. That vision should be shaped by our community, in public, not drafted by whoever owns the biggest city block.

Developers and powerful well-funded real estate interests want us to make it easier for them. The State of California wants to make it easier for them, too. But we still have a choice. We can take a stand as a community and protect what makes this place special, without sacrificing the generations who fought to preserve the unique place we call home.

If we allow developers and outsized property interests to take control of our city, they are going to turn Santa Barbara into any generic overbuilt coastal city. No thank you.

Santa Barbara is not for sale. Let’s say so on November 3.

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