1-1. In SB Council D5 Race, Newcomer James Zurlinden Promises to be a "Voice for Working People" at City Hall
A political novice, James Zurlinden decided last year to run for Santa Barbara City Council, driven by frustration at feeling constantly “worked up” and “embarrassed” by the City Hall soap opera.
At 41, Zurlinden had a 15-year career as a chef before transitioning a few years ago into accounting and financial services work. In seeking the District 5 council seat, he positions himself as a fiscal moderate and a blue-collar guy who provisionally backs rent control on behalf of families economically struggling to stay in Santa Barbara, and supports reopening the upper blocks of the State Street “promenade” on behalf of local businesses.
Born and raised in Tucson, he moved back to Santa Barbara in 2013, after briefly living here in the aughts, and says he is running as a “nonpartisan person” seeking to represent neighbors “who don’t feel represented by City Council anymore.”
“I’m really trying to create a voice for the working people of Santa Barbara,” Zurlinden said in a Newsmakers interview. “I never saw myself running for any kind of office. But instead of being worked up and just kind of fed up with what’s been going on … there comes a point in time in your life where you say, ‘Okay, you got to put your money where your mouth is.’”
“Because when you feel strongly about something, there comes a point where you have to stand up,” he added.
State of play. District 5 includes Upper State Street, part of San Roque, Hitchcock, Hidden Valley and other nearby neighborhoods. It is relatively affluent, with the highest share among the six council districts of bachelor’s degree holders, according to U.S. Census data, and over half of households owning their own home.
Zurlinden is one of three candidates who have pulled papers to run, with film producer and community volunteer Cevin Cathell and Ian Baucke, a Democratic Party-endorsed Monique Limón aide, also competing for the seat.
While offering a set of prescriptive generalities for a familiar litany of problems Santa Barbara faces, the candidate promised to provide a level-headed alternative to what he described as “embarrassing” ideological and personality clashes among incumbent council members that have little to do with the day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens.
“With my background growing up in a working family … I’ve seen the struggles that families take and I’ve experienced them — including having to leave Santa Barbara (in the early 2000s) because it was just not feasible to live here anymore,” Zurlinden said. “And seeing the issues that people are having — hard time paying rents, getting around town, the lack of housing, all the issues going on with State Street and all the development that’s going on … people want an actual voice in city council.”
“People are just feeling their voices are left behind, that the people in city council, they have their blinders on,” he added. “There’s been a lot of heated confrontations in City Hall, and it’s kind of embarrassing.”
On the issues. Our conversation with Zurlinden is the latest in a summer-long series Newsmakers is doing with candidates for council and mayor. In our campaign interviews, we ask the candidates for their views on four key issues. Here’s what he said about them, lightly edited for clarity:
Rent control. I support rent stabilization, but only as a piece of a larger housing strategy, not as a solution...I believe it can be used more of a bridge solution while we’re getting housing developed a little bit more (but) what actually concerns me with the city, is they don’t have any kind of a sunset for this. I see it kind of like a way to really incentivize - let's do five years while we're cleaning up the permitting, incentivizing redevelopment, doing this (while) saying, ‘let's study the actual housing population. So what units are getting taken off the market?…We need transparency on everything, the actual costs (of) this entire ordinance…It's a great program, but it needs to be used correctly.”
State Street. “I think a promenade of about three blocks would be great…I see it as a smaller promenade keeping the upper sections open, be it one-way or two-way traffic (but) I don't feel we need eight or 10 blocks closed…I would like to see is a (cars-free) promenade from De La Guerra to Haley, a three block stretch…Up from De La Guerra Plaza, I haven't seen the need to have that entire section closed. It's a huge stretch.”
“(On e-bikes) I think we need to give the police the resources to actually enforce the laws that are on the books and encourage the crackdown events that they’re doing. And so if we have on State Street, the promenade, those three blocks, we need to have an officer down there, especially right now because it’s kind of wide open, and we need to have that force down there to be able to start educating these people.”
Budget. “It’s very embarrassing…emergency reserves should not be used in normal times (and) we can't just keep breaking out the credit card to pay for everything. And so we've got to get our emergency reserves paid back. (On a vacancy tax): We need to talk to the property owners and say, ‘What’s going on? Is it a permit holdup? Is it a need for a reduced fee? What is it to help encourage you guys?’ Because...it can’t be the only thing. And so I would consider it, but I wouldn’t say it has to happen right away.”
Ranked choice voting. “I think an introduction to ranked choice voting might be good….but maybe looking at the mayoral race, for example, as a (way) to start out and see how that’s going to go.”
Check out our conversation with James Zurlinden via YouTube below or by clicking this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on SoundCloud. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on weekends.
Newsmakers’ Candidate Conversations. To offer Santa Barbara voters early introductions to contenders for four City Council seats, including Mayor, in the Nov. 3 election, Newsmakers is publishing one-on-one interviews with the candidates over the summer. Upcoming interviews include candidates Alexander Stoeber, Wendy Sims-Moten and Kristen Sneddon. Here is who we’ve spoken with to date:
District 4
District 5
District 6
Mayor