Santa Barbara’s enormously contentious and endlessly debated push to impose rent control in the city stumbled at the finish line this week, amid a clash between two of its City Council backers over whether public housing units should be excluded.
The fight between pro-rent-stabilization members Meagan Harmon and Wendy Santamaria disrupted, at least for the moment, the certainty that a final ordinance would be in place by City Hall’s self-imposed January 1 deadline — and raised the possibility that its backers might wait for the election of a new, presumably more liberal council to pass a measure even more sweeping than the one now before them.
On this week’s episode of Newsmakers TV, Ryan P. Cruz, Josh Molina and Nick Welsh join the genial host to analyze the latest policy brawl — and unravel its tangled, multidimensional political implications, among them:
Within the council: The duel of wills between Harmon and Santamaria, normally aligned on rent control, over which units to exclude from the rent-stabilization ordinance risks upsetting the one-vote majority that has pushed the measure to the finish line, and perhaps sending the whole matter to a newly elected council.
Outside City Hall: The mayoral race between termed-out Councilmembers Kristen Sneddon and Eric Friedman, shaped in part by her support for and his opposition to rent control, could be affected either way depending on whether the council succeeds or fails in passing final legislation on the bitterly divisive issue.
Waiting in the wings: There is the looming likelihood of a referendum effort to repeal the rent-control law — presuming it ever passes — perhaps as early as next March, when a special election could be held on a ballot measure seeking to undo the ordinance.
Across the city: Wide-open council races in Districts 4, 5 and 6 — which, along with the mayor’s race, will determine the balance of power on the next council — are in large part defined by candidates’ positions on rent control. Democratic Party-endorsed candidates are required to support it as a condition of that endorsement, while many challengers oppose it on economic grounds.
Plus: The fellas go district by district through the council races, offering up-close-and-personal judgments about what they’ve seen from the candidates so far.
All this and more, right here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.
Check out the latest episode 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.
Image: Redbubble.