Campaign 1-on-1: Eric Friedman Stresses Fiscal Restraint, Anti-Rent Control Stance in Bid for S.B. Mayor - "I'm in the Center"
The two-term council member says he was "shocked" at chief rival's claims about budget deficit and expresses fears about downstream financial costs of rent control measure which he opposed.
Portraying himself as a pragmatic moderate, City Council member Eric Friedman says that he is well-suited to be Santa Barbara’s next mayor because, both on policy and personal temperament, he is “very in the center.”
In an extended interview about his candidacy, the 49-year-old, two-term representative of District 5 said that his top priorities would be public safety and restoring the city’s depleted emergency budget reserves, as he pointed to his opposition to rent control, along with a more cautious approach to fiscal matters, as crucial differences with council colleague and chief rival Kristen Sneddon.
Friedman also chided left-wing council member Wendy Santamaria for recent “performative” personal attacks on him and two other white male colleagues, while contending that his low-key style would enable him to forge compromise and restore civility on a council that is now divided sharply over conflicting ideologies and personalities.
“I am very in the center, trying to bring compromise together, and have a history of doing that,” Friedman told Newsmakers a few days ago, part of our ongoing series of conversations with leading candidates for city council and mayor.
“This is Santa Barbara and we all respect each other’s differences of opinion. And it seems that with that type of personal attacks, we are bringing the national discord into Santa Barbara,” he added. “And it’s unfortunate that happened, and I think the rest of us need to step up and say, ‘That’s not Santa Barbara. That’s not who we are.’ It never has been. We agree to disagree here. We don’t make it personal like that.”
A little over four months before the Nov. 3 election, Friedman faces an uphill challenge in overcoming Sneddon’s early campaign organizational advantage, due to the volunteers, slate cards and other resources due to flow her way thanks to the endorsement of the local Democratic Party. Friedman is a lifelong Democrat, and ran with the party’s endorsement in his first race, but has since broken with them over his votes against rent stabilization legislation favored by tenant advocacy groups.
“I think where the chief difference is (with Sneddon), and I think people understand this, is when it comes to rent stabilization, rent control — that is a key difference between the two of us,” he said.
Beyond the polarized policy dispute over rent control’s impacts on the local housing market, Friedman said that downstream costs — including $400,000 already set aside for outside counsel to defend the city in a lawsuit, and the cost of setting up a new regulatory structure to police the ordinance — represent unnecessary and burdensome expenses at a time when the city’s reserve funds are overdrawn.
Looming in the background of the city council’s vote on a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, scheduled for Tuesday, is a recent contretemps between Friedman and Sneddon, after she said she was shocked at the low level of the emergency reserve fund and complained about inconsistent and conflicting data provided by staff in the Finance Department.
“Well, it was a little shocking to hear that she didn’t know that we were in a deficit,” Friedman told us. “The reason is that … these reports come in and we’re constantly asking questions. We constantly talk about, ‘Where’s the reserve level? What’s our expenditures versus our revenues?’
“And those are presented to the full council over the course of the year. I think (Sneddon’s comments) caught me off guard, especially given that last year, myself, Mayor (Randy) Rowse and (council member) Mike Jordan voted against the budget for the very reason that we were worried we were going to be dipping further into reserves, including emergency reserves.”
(Sneddon discussed her campaign for mayor with Newsmakers late last year, when she announced her candidacy on the program. She’s expected to return for another conversation about the race in the coming weeks.)
Along with the budget and rent control, Friedman also discussed efforts to revitalize State Street, praising a number of new projects underway, while expressing sympathy for a coalition of small business owners who are pressing the council to lift the ban on cars on nine blocks of the city’s main downtown corridor.
He also talked about his dramatic brush with death following a heart attack he suffered while out on the water in 2025, and the effect it had on his decision to run for mayor.
“After going through a life-changing event, a medical emergency last year, it’s given me a new perspective on life and what community service is, and what this city really means, and why I want to continue to serve,” he said. “And it’s been a wonderful journey so far … I just really want to serve and hope that my experience in the past will continue to resonate with people.”
Check out our full conversation with Eric Friedman 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.