Print friendly
E-mail story
Tip Us Off
Comments
Share Article
Facebook
Twitter
Google+1
del.icio.us.
Digg!
Yahoo! Buzz
Diigo
google
newsvine
reddit
technorati
Yahoo!
MyspaceSheila Lodge, former Santa Barbara mayor and current planning commissioner, held a no-frills press conference in front of City Hall Tuesday to voice her support for incumbent Councilmembers Dale Francisco, Michael Self, and Randy Rowse, citing — among other reasons — their resistance to increasing residential densities as a strategy to expand affordable housing opportunities.
Lodge, a liberal Democrat and iconic slow-growther and preservationist, took exception to the “conservative” label tagged on the incumbents by their critics. Rowse voted for Barack Obama, she said, Francisco donated to Democratic Congressmember Lois Capps, and Self is a registered Independent. Besides, Lodge argued, city government should not be so partisan, referring to the Democratic Central Committee’s avowed goal to “Take Back City Hall.”
While Lodge got in a few licks about the slate challengers being too tight with public employee unions, her key concern was housing densities. Increased densities, she said, would not “provide the kind of housing we need in Santa Barbara while it runs the risk of damaging what we all love about this special place of ours.” To the extent density increases should be allowed, she said, it should be targeted for rental housing. Density advocates counter that developers are simply not building rental housing in Santa Barbara, and dismiss rental housing — when discussed by preservationists like Lodge — as an empty gesture.
Lodge served as mayor from 1981 to 1993 and for six years before that on the City Council; during that time, City Hall experienced two major down-zonings. Since Lodge’s tenure, a new wave of younger liberal Democrats have become politically active and pushed hard to expand affordable housing options. To differing degrees, the three challengers backed by the Democratic Central Committee — Cathy Murillo, Iya Falcone, and Deborah Schwartz — fall into that camp.
Previous Month
Comments
Well Sheila Lodge has a history of elitist tendencies and tending to the 'Self.' The Self is just one problem with Lodges' recommendations. The other problem is that Lodges' selections have no solutions except to say NO, to everything except suburban sprawl, wide boulevards, large parking structures and an ever expanding 101 freeway. That is Sheila Lodges charming Santa Barbara and her history.
Randy Rowse revealed his own elitists tendencies as a 3-fingas-down-Mesa-homie and yatchsman. Rowse voted to enrich his neighborhood by simply reducing traffic lanes on Cliff Drive near his home ( a great change for the community btw.) But then within a couple weeks, along with council member Michael Self, claimed that the Citys' processes are flawed and stronger language needs to be added to the citys' transportation document thwarting such considerations in the future. Not very fair for others in the city who might want to propose similar safety measures for their own business and residential districts.
Michael Self and was admonished by the Fair Political Practices Commission for voting for a massive multi-million dollar public works project that she has been lobbying for her-Self since 1992. Self the "independent" has also been outed as a far-right-winger by going far out of her way to the Moneycity Country Club last December, attending a luncheon honoring a race-baiting-right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart.
Dale Francisco is the leader of this pack of far right wingers. Dale Francisco is the compulsive, disingenuous old man next door. Dale Francisco is a successful one man public relations campaign serving his own multiple phobic interests. You could know this by critically analyzing his earlier campaign promotional videos. But in case you are swayed by Francisco please recall that Dale Francisco was outed as a right wing bigot by going out of his way to contribute twice to the prop 8hate campaign. If that is not enough Dale Francisco, a very early retiree from the tech field suggested in a public forum on homeless, electro-shock as treatment.
All of these Sheila Lodge selections are similarly stodgy to say the least. They have no real substance or solutions. They enrich themselves at the expense of others. They are all elitists and they are hypocritical and have a lack of any ability to work with any one outside of their own clique. You wouldn't vote for Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, etc; so why would you vote for any of Sheila Lodges picks. These three Lodge picks are our counterparts to what we have in Washington D.C. on the republican-conservative side of the congress. NO is not a solution.
DonMcDermott (anonymous profile)
September 21, 2011 at 1:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So nice for Mrs. Lodge to decide what is best for all the little people who, unlike her, cannot afford their gated mansions in the foothills and instead have to live downtown on the flatlands in condos and apartments with only one bathroom.
John_Adams (anonymous profile)
September 21, 2011 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Regarding Lodge's characterization of Francisco, Self, and Rowse .... I think what really matters are the decisions they make on the council, not which party they're registered to vote in or who they voted for President. From that viewpoint, those three candidates are statistically well on the conservative side and do deserve the label.
Regarding Lodge, she served the city as mayor, but I perceive her as a one-trick pony these days. Very similar to single-issue voters on the right (e.g. anti-abortion voters). Her hot-button topic is growth/development.
I'm dissapointed Lodge would resort to the same kind of shennanigans as practiced by the local Repubs to sell a wolf as a sheep:
http://www.independent.com/news/2011/...
And finally, what about functional effectiveness? Viewpoints aside, anyone who has been to a council meeting or watched the taped sessions knows Michael Self is not only a poor communicator but has real problems explaining her viewpoints and justifying her decisions. The city deserves better, and Lodge should know that.
EastBeach (anonymous profile)
September 21, 2011 at 3:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why is this news?
One former mayor supports the no-growther incumbents, while a current and two former mayors support the three leading challengers: Murillo, Schwartz, and Falcone.
Will the Indy write about the other former mayors and their endorsements now?
John_Adams (anonymous profile)
September 21, 2011 at 3:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gotta tell ya, Sheila Lodge sounds like a stand-up gal. She represented slow growth when she was mayor and now, she's standing up for slow growth again. The problem is that SB neighborhood folks are stuck w/ bad choices. On one hand, we've got Reeps who don't have good ideas but don't like higher density/overcrowding. On the other, we've got so-called liberals who got into bed w/ developers in the name of "affordable housing". Meanwhile Santa Barbara gets less and less affordable for middle-class families who own a house and are trying to make ends meet. Maybe it's time for someone to represent the families who live in the neighborhoods, own homes, need good schools and want to maintain a high quality of life while still being able to pay the bills every month. So far, Falcone and Byrne seem like they're the closest thing we've got ...
eejensen (anonymous profile)
September 21, 2011 at 6:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)