Ask the Mayor: Randy Rips Rent Control Plan as Lefty Political Scheme; Says Paseo Developer Still Wants a Deal; Knee Update

As City Council liberals seek strict new regulations on landlords and property owners, SB's mayor foresees economic, legal and fiscal ills, as he discloses latest details on downtown quagmire.

Mayor Randy Rowse on Friday delivered a blistering critique of a proposed rent control package backed by his liberal City Council colleagues, forecasting a batch of economic, administrative and legal tribulations and trouble for city government, landlords and tenants alike.

On Tuesday, the left-wing council majority on a 4-to-3 vote submitted a sweeping set of “rent stabilization” proposals to City Hall administrators to be shaped into legislative language and returned to members early next year. Included on the menu is the notion of imposing a rent freeze - perhaps retroactively - while elected officials ruminate on further restrictions and regulations to impose on property owners.

Rowse, who plans to seek re-election in 2026, in an interview with News-Press Editor Josh Molina and the genial host on Newsmakers TV, assailed the scheme as part of an ideologically-driven, statewide campaign, targeting the city of Santa Barbara as the first “domino” in a bid to thrust rent control on communities throughout the county.

“This is not a Santa Barbara issue - it’s a movement,” Rowse said. “And it’s a domino effect. And I think the folks, the tenants union and whatnot, they’re fighting to make this the first domino in the county.”

Citing problematic rent control experiences from Stockholm to St. Paul, San Francisco to Santa Monica, the mayor argued that the policy consistently fails to achieve its stated aims, invites legal action on Fifth Amendment grounds, and costs local governments enormous sums to administer and attempt to enforce.

“We’re not doing the math, we’re not paying attention to facts, we’re doing things on emotion, we’re doing things for political position,” the mayor, the only City Hall official who must win citywide under Santa Barbara’s district election system, said of his pro-rent control colleagues.

“And I’m not exactly the Webster’s definition of ‘political’ when it comes to how I run and how I see things. And if it were beneficial to tenants, I could maybe see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it has never been beneficial to a rental climate anywhere. And so at the end of the day, it’s going to hurt tenants.”

Paseo update. Addressing another consequential and hotly-contested issue now simmering at City Hall, Rowse also disclosed that representatives of AB Financial, owners of the leasehold for much of the Paseo Nuevo mall, is still speaking to City Hall administrators about a possible deal, despite reported earlier threats to walk away if council rejected a controversial development agreement that was roundly rejected on Dec. 2. Rowse was the only council member to back the proposal, which calls for 200+ units of new downtown housing as part of the plan.

“AB is in constant touch with the city administrator, Kelly McAdoo,” Rowse told Newsmakers.

“That's not what I understand from talking to them myself,” he added, when asked about claims by other council members that representatives of the developers had presented the agreement as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.

“But I mean, AB's a big, company. This is a gnat on the elephant's rear end as far as they're concerned. And they could just walk away, take the haircut and just say, ‘We'll just sit on it. We don't have to do anything. We'll put a 99 cent store in Macy's and call it good,’ which is not what we want. We want to go forward with this. “

“Job 1” in getting talks back on track, Rowse said, will be seeking broad agreement on a three-way deal going forward from negotiators for the city, AB and the owners of the lease under the old Nordstrom building.

Ouch. Asked for an update on his re-elect campaign, the mayor said he is still getting enforced rest after a recent knee surgery.

“I’m still recovering from my knee surgery. So my normally sunny attitude is also affected by the fact this thing hurts,” he said “And I sat in a chair for 11 hours on Tuesday to talk about (rent control).

“But yeah, my intention is to run. As far as getting things fired up and rolling and doing all that stuff, there are people out there that love to campaign. I’m not one of them. I like my job. I like to serve. But running for office and asking people for money, not really,” the mayor added.

“And this is it. My political future is behind me. But I intend to continue in the job,” he said. “As for all these folks jumping in for mayor… like the hemophiliac that falls overboard and is swimming around with the sharks said, ‘Come on in, the water’s fine.’ And that’s where I’m at right now.”

For our full conversation with Mayor Randy Rowse, check out Episode 537 via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on Soundcloud here. 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.