Devon Wardlow, a five-year member of the city’s Planning Commission and supporter of rent stabilization and the closing off of State Street to traffic, has thrown her hat into the proverbial ring for the city’s District 4 in the November 3 general election.
Wardlow, who moved to Santa Barbara when she was 13, went to high school here, and attended UCSB, will be running in what appears to be a four-way contest for a district that includes parts of the Riviera, Foothill, San Roque, East Beach, and Coast Village Road.
On the Planning Commission, Wardlow has been energetic, engaged, and occasionally outspoken, particularly when it’s come to hotel proposals that could otherwise have been developed for housing. Endorsed by the Democratic Party, Wardlow brings an expansive political and professional portfolio, having done field work for Lois Capps’s 2010 congressional campaign and worked as an intern in Barack Obama’s White House, not to mention the Department of Labor. Along the way, she’s worked for Lyft, Facebook, and as a government affairs consultant for various cannabis businesses; she’s also spent time in the Middle East as part of her graduate field work.
District 4 is currently represented by Kristen Sneddon, who’s termed out and running for mayor. Also running for the seat is Jason Dominguez, a private attorney and former councilmember representing the eastside’s District 1. In his prior term, Dominguez was distinguished by an obvious intelligence, an insistence upon speaking his mind, and discordant relations with other councilmembers.
Also joining the fray is Monte Wilson, a retired businessperson whose wife runs the Painted Cabernet on the 1200 block of State Street. Politically, Wilson hews more to the middle, which in the Santa Barbara context will make him the campaign conservative in the mold of Mayor Randy Rowse, who has endorsed Wilson. Like Rowse, Wilson calls for opening State Street back up to traffic and opposes rent stabilization, arguing City Hall needs to accentuate the carrot rather than the stick in getting more housing units built.
Also taking out papers is a newcomer to the City Hall political scene, Genevieve Taft-Vazquez — the only one of the four to be born in Santa Barbara — who serves on the Neighborhood Advisory Council and who reportedly works for the Human Rights branch of Coca-Cola. In the wake of the recent César Chávez rape scandal, she supported renaming Calle César Chávez after UFW activist and living legend Dolores Huerta, penning an op-ed for Noozhawk expressing concern for the paucity of streets named after women in Santa Barbara. The only one she said she could find was Juana Maria Avenue.
