Sheila Lodge, Feted for "Unparalleled Service," Says, "It's Fun to Have a Say" in How SB Grows
Newly retired from Planning Commission, Santa Barbara's first woman (and longest-serving) mayor shares her views on urgent land use issues, with the benefit of 50 years of planning experience
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors honored Sheila Lodge, former Mayor and longtime Planning Commissioner, for “unparalleled service and contributions to preserving the beauty, integrity and community spirit of Santa Barbara.”
Triple underline “unparalleled.”
Lodge has spent most of the last half-century on the front lines of every major land use battle in a town obsessed with planning, development and growth issues.
She retired from the city Planning Commission last December, bookending a long career in local public service that began on the same board in the early 1970s. Lodge later served a stretch on City Council, before winning three consecutive terms as mayor, from 1981-93, and returned to serve 15 more years on the planning commission in this century.
“Well, I’m 95 years old,” Lodge told Newsmakers with a smile, when asked why she decided to quit now. “I didn’t expect to hang around this long.”
“It’s fun to have a say in how the city operates (and) develops,” she added. “And hopefully what I’ve fought for was improvements to Santa Barbara, and done the right way.”
Among other historic distinctions, Lodge is the first woman ever to be elected Santa Barbara’s mayor, and also holds the record for length of service in the office. Beyond her work in city government, much of it as a volunteer, she also literally wrote the book about local planning: “Santa Barbara: An Uncommonplace American Town: How Thoughtful Planning Shaped a City.”
Crafted with her characteristically thorough and rigorous research, the book shows how Santa Barbara’s elegance, dignity and charm, far from arising from serendipity, luck or magic, evolved through the passionate, thoughtful and nurturing commitment of generations of public-minded citizens who possessed not only a sensibility for quality, design and grace, abut also a keen appreciation of the past. She writes:
“What is it about Santa Barbara that has made its residents so concerned about the development of the town? What has made Santa Barbara what it is?
“The answer lies in part in the city’s beautiful setting between the mountains and the sea, one of the most temperate climates in the world and many strong-minded individuals and government officials who cared deeply about this place.
They fought against the commonlace.”
In a one-on-one interview on this week’s edition of Newsmakers TV, Lodge discusses Santa Barbara’s most urgent current land use issues through the lens of her singular , 50 years of experience and discernment working on such matters:
Among her comments, Lodge:
Expressed scorn for elected officials in Sacramento who have rammed through a host of one-size-fits-all housing mandates that have eroded local control and led to outrages like the eight-story monstrosity proposed to be built behind the Mission: “What concerns me is what the state Legislature has chosen to do…adopting laws that tell Santa Barbara or every local community jurisdiction to do things that are not best in the long for Santa Barbara.”
Criticized the state of State Street, saying that too many blocks are closed to traffic (“I’ve been in numerous cities that have pedestrian streets that are very successful. The only one that’s longer is Copenhagen”) and lamenting the scourge of e-bikes (“I’d love to see them gone”).
Gave mixed reviews to the two huge housing projects proposed at La Cumbre Plaza, on the sites of Macy’s and the former Sears store, adding that she was “very unhappy with (former Supervisor) Das Williams,” who torpedoed the city’s effort to have one overall “specific plan”
In the interview, Lodge also answered questions on a host of other matters, including homelessness, water and growth limits.
Plus: her personal odyssey, from girlhood dairy farms ( her mother banished her to Santa Barbara as a teenager to keep her away from an impermissible boyfriend), to the start of public service with the League of Women Voters (“In those days, we had a crew…called the Observers who would go around to the…meetings…and as I observed these different bodies, I decided I could do that”), and election as the city’s first woman mayor (“On election night…this reporter asked me how I felt about being Santa Barbara’s first woman mayor and I said, ‘I really don’t think about it that way - I’m just glad to be Santa Barbara’s next mayor”).
Check out our interview with Sheila Lodge via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast is on Soundcloud here and also available on Spotify, Apple and other platforms. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 8 p.m. and on weekends at 9 a.m. KCSB, 91.9FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Image: Sheila Lodge receives a standing overation after accepting a Resolution from the Board of Supervisors honoring her service (Josh Molina photo).
More: Check out this illustrated talk by journalist, historian and gallerist Thomas Reynolds about the life and times of Sheila Lodge.