Congratulations to Cathy Murillo on her election victory. She will become the next mayor of Santa Barbara, and I support her efforts to make improvements. She will focus on helping to make housing more affordable, on securing a more dependable water supply, and on revitalizing the lower State Street corridor.

I just want to point out one thing. Murillo will become our next mayor because she got the most votes — true, but she only got 28 percent of the total. The rest of the vote was split between four other candidates.

Murillo, with her 28 percent, does not have a mandate. The voters have not given her a green light to forge ahead with her agenda.

I strongly advise her to begin her term with a listening tour of the city. She needs to find out what the other 72 percent are thinking. She needs to forge alliances and exercise team-building skills. If she does that she will succeed as mayor.

A strong majority of Santa Barbara voters did not choose her, and she has to work with that fact. It can be done, and I wish her the best.

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