2011 City Council Candidates on Transportation

CEC, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, and the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation (COAST) developed a questionnaire for candidates running for Santa Barbara City Council. The questionnaire focused on current transportation issues, such as the attractiveness of alternative transportation and the jobs/housing imbalance.

We asked the following questions:

1. Do you agree with the City's Circulation Element vision statement, "Santa Barbara should be a city in which alternative forms of transportation and mobility are so available and so attractive that use of an automobile is a choice, not a necessity"? If not, how would you improve it?

2. Given that dangerous walking conditions that exist in Santa Barbara's Eastside, what might you do to make the Eastside a safer place to walk - more lighting, re-pavement of crosswalks, speed bumps, more police enforcement, or something else?

3. Is it the City's duty to improve the jobs/housing imbalance in Santa Barbara? If so, what would you have the City do to accomplish this? If not, how can this imbalance be best addressed?

4. Please list three specific things you would prioritize to improve our regional transportation. How would you pay for them? How long would it take to accomplish them?

5. Do you support the State of California's goals for new and retrofitted "net zero energy" buildings that generate as much energy as they use? If so, how can the City be a leader and help its citizens meet this challenge? If not, why?

6. Given projections of increased traffic levels in Santa Barbara, how would you best mitigate our upcoming street congestion?

Eight Santa Barbara City Council candidates responded to the questionnaire. Since CEC’s status as a 501(c)(3) does not allow the organization to endorse candidates, the unedited answers are provided here:

Responses sorted by question

• Question 1

• Question 2

• Question 3

• Question 4

• Question 5

• Question 6

Responses sorted by candidate

• Sharon Byrne

• Iya Falcone

• Dale Fransisco

• Jerry Matteo

• Cathy Murrillo

• Randy Rowse

• Deborah Schwartz

• Michael Self

Please vote, and remember that the City of Santa Barbara’s upcoming election is entirely vote by mail.

• Monday, October 10: Voter Information packets mailed including pre-paid postage for returned ballots

• Monday, October 10: Vote-by-mail period begins

• Monday, October 24: Last day to register to vote

• Tuesday, November 8: Election Day - Last day City Clerk’s Office can receive vote-by-mail ballots.  There will be also be five drop-off centers throughout the City, allowing voters the option to vote in person

• Three City Councilmember seats are on the ballot.

More information at www.SBCityVote.org