Opinion: In local government, the facts matter

Over the past seven years on the Santa Barbara City Council, I have learned that misinformation about what we do circulates far too often. Voters and City residents are best served by facts, rather than rumors and misinformation.

As we near election day, distortions of the truth in the mayoral election are being promoted by supporters of Kristen Sneddon. They must be corrected.

One of the more laughable inaccuracies is that Councilmember Friedman was not involved in, or did not support, the creation of the City’s Local Housing Trust Fund. It is a matter of public record, and has been extensively reported, that the opposite is actually true. Councilmember Friedman originated the idea for the Trust Fund, along with our colleague Meagan Harmon.

This is visible for all to see in the video of our Oct. 4, 2022 Council meeting. At 1:15, Councilmember Friedman suggests the creation of the Trust Fund. Indeed, the minutes of that meeting identify Friedman and Harmon as the two who moved the reassignment of $250,000 towards the Fund.

A similar inaccurate claim is circulating that Councilmember Friedman, as Chair of our Council’s Finance Committee, is somehow to blame for the City’s current budget challenges.

Again, these assertions are made by supporters of Kristen Sneddon. Again, the opposite is true.  Indeed, Eric and I both voted against the budget proposed in 2025 precisely because we knew that irresponsible spending would put the City in financial jeopardy and force our disaster preparedness reserves to dangerously low levels.

The fact is that Kristen Sneddon is the one who voted for the irresponsible 2025 budget, despite clear and multiple warnings by me and Eric that it would put the City on unstable ground both financially and in terms of disaster preparedness reserves. 

Then earlier this year, in the 2026 budget cycle, when our clear warnings had proven true, Sneddon claimed to be shocked that disaster reserves were raided. She blamed staff for a supposed lack of transparency rather than just admit she got it wrong.

Interestingly, Sneddon’s fix to address the budget shortfall once she understood it, was to reduce funding for police officers to help fill the gap. Thankfully, nobody else on Council supported that.

Another misleading attack on Eric Friedman is that he does not support the State Street Master Plan. Again, not true. Eric has always voted for it. Where he has differed with Sneddon is on the size of a car-free promenade: Councilmember Sneddon continues to support keeping it car-free for the entire length of the downtown corridor, while Councilmember Friedman, having done extensive research on other cities, supports a shorter (3-4 block) car free segment.

While I have been on City Council, I have repeatedly seen Councilmember Friedman look at the facts, welcome and listen respectfully to diverse perspectives, and come to well-informed decisions that put the City and local residents first. I encourage all voters to do the same thing in considering who to vote for in the mayoral campaign.

When you look past the political divisiveness and misleading attacks, I think the decision is clear: Eric Friedman for Mayor.

Mike Jordan is Santa Barbara City Councilmember for District 2.

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