NOOZHAWK: What experiences from your professional or personal life make you uniquely qualified to be a Santa Barbara City Council member?
BONNIE RAISIN: My interest in city politics was piqued when I became an active residential real estate broker in 1980 and served on the Board of Realtors Political Action Committee, which was made up of Realtors and interested parties from the community. I carried its message to the elected officials of the city and Santa Barbara County and to various groups throughout the community. Santa Barbara is my place of birth and I come from a family of lawyers and judges, so to stand for principals has been a large part of my heritage. My grandfather, W.P. Butcher, was the city attorney who wrote the first Book of Ordinances in 1916. I also volunteered in many nonprofit organizations and was in Leadership Santa Barbara County when it started in 1990. I have also worked in the nonprofit sector at Casa Esperanza Homeless Center and the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, and understand the impact of substance abuse and homelessness on Santa Barbara.
NOOZHAWK: With all of the city’s fiscal challenges, why are you running now?
BR: I ran for City Council in 1996 when “times were better.” What better time to run than now when fresh ideas and creative thinking are critical to getting past the current challenges? I have always tackled what might seem to others to be impossible. I like to think of our glasses being half-full; not half-empty.
NOOZHAWK: What three steps would you take first to resolve Santa Barbara’s financial crisis?
BR: I would investigate each department within the city to explore if each department needs the manpower it currently has and whether the jobs could be done with fewer employees. I would explore options for benefits and pensions that might be more equitable and less costly. I would ask for monthly reports to the council, a department a week, for how we are saving money within each of the departments. I would eliminate studies contracted with outside entities. We must do the studies internally and without bias. I would eliminate stipends for committees and commissions.
NOOZHAWK: Public safety accounts for more than 50 percent of the city’s operating budget. With more spending cuts likely, how much would you trim from fire and police services?
BR: The only area that I would look to eliminate would be in administration. Where can fewer employees take on more tasks?
NOOZHAWK: Would you support increasing or adding new municipal taxes as a revenue source?
BR: Yes, providing that the revenues received from the increase went back to the entity itself. For example, a bed tax and/or a transient-occupancy tax, or TOT, should help the restaurant, hotel and lodging businesses and not any other organization, etc.
NOOZHAWK: Should any municipal services be privatized? If so, which ones?
BR: All municipal services should be scrutinized for possible privatization.
NOOZHAWK: Why do you support or oppose Measure B, the ballot measure that would restrict downtown building heights to 40 feet?
BR: I oppose this referendum because it is trying to do what the City Council should have taken under consideration. Measure B is punitive. It is adding insult to injury regarding the right to improve one’s property. We have very little buildable land left between the ocean and the mountains for new construction, so to inhibit the enhancement of existing buildings by restricting improvements is a mistake. Santa Barbara has among the strictest zoning laws in the state, if not the country. We have design review boards, an architectural review board and a Planning Commission, to mention a few of the existing constraints in place for a property owner to pass through. I favor concepts such as mixed use where a third story with a proper ceiling height would be acceptable.
NOOZHAWK: Do you feel the direction of the General Plan update is consistent with your vision? What kind of city will Santa Barbara be in 30 years?
BR: I was born and raised here and, truth be told, except for an increase in population to 90,000 or 100,000 and small businesses leaving and a lean to being a bigger and bigger tourist town, I haven’t seen that much change. I would like any planning to be done by the people who live and work here. I’m not sure enough people understand the significance of the General Plan. Perhaps it needs more council attention on a regular basis. Town-hall meetings in the neighborhoods might be a good way to get real people to give real input.
NOOZHAWK: The General Plan update will have consequences for housing, transportation and other key issues in the region. Does the city have a responsibility to think regionally when it makes policy decisions? How would you rate the city’s record?
BR: The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments includes North County and South Coast elected officials, including members of the Santa Barbara City Council. The spirit of cooperation is essential among this group, which must consider the impacts of a General Plan for any of the cities involved. Who’s looking out for you, Santa Barbara?
NOOZHAWK: If elected, what is the one issue on which you would focus to improve Santa Barbara’s quality of life?
BR: Better representation; government for the people, by the people. Town-hall meetings in the neighborhoods, with one or more council member present, rotating from neighborhood to neighborhood each month.
NOOZHAWK: What is Santa Barbara’s most neglected neighborhood?
BR: From Haley Street south to the ocean, west to the freeway, and east to Milpas Street. Haley Street should have received Redevelopment Agency monies for beautification a long time ago to make it attractive to businesses, customers and tourists.
NOOZHAWK: How would you control aggressive panhandling?
BR: I think community service for a first offender, then jail time and/or fines for repeated offenders. Merchants, residents and tourists should not be the fall guys!
NOOZHAWK: Santa Barbara has a plethora of medical-marijuana dispensaries, relative to other tri-county cities of similar size, but has yet to reject a single application. Why? Is that in the public’s interest?
BR: The City Council has taken no initiative on this and, worse yet, has allowed illegal dispensaries in neighborhoods to continue unabated. I have been privy to the efforts of a group of concerned citizens who have been working with the ordinance committee to draft a new ordinance, but in the meantime immediate action has been deferred. I do not understand why the Police Department has not gotten visibly involved. No illegal operation of any kind should be allowed and the City Council has dragged its feet on this one. Santa Barbara does not need another medical marijuana dispensary; three is enough for the size of the city and the illegal operations should be shut down.
NOOZHAWK: Even with two catastrophic wildfires within the city limits in the last year, the danger is hardly diminished. What can the city do differently to prepare for the next one?
BR: The city should encourage a Fire Safe Council or similar group — made up of members of the public, the fire and police departments and other related agencies — to hold meetings in neighborhoods to explain how people can prepare for wildfires.
NOOZHAWK: A grocery clerk asks you, “Paper or plastic?” You say:
BR: Paper!
NOOZHAWK: How often do you use alternative transportation?
BR: Almost never, but when I do it’s my feet.
NOOZHAWK: What is Santa Barbara’s most precious asset?
BR: The people who live and work in Santa Barbara.
NOOZHAWK: What’s your favorite view?
BR: It depends upon where I am at the moment. Sometimes it’s the beautiful configuration of our buildings, sometimes the foothills, sometimes the mountains, sometimes the ocean and sometimes the faces of people on the streets of Santa Barbara.
NOOZHAWK: Health care is all over the news these days. What do you do to stay fit?
BR: I go to the gym for two to three miles on the treadmill or the elliptical, and for weight training or Pilates at least three times a week. I eat when I’m hungry and never to the point of being full. I include all the necessary fruits, vegetables and protein, and I do not punish myself when I consume a root beer float once in awhile. I drink a lot of French roast coffee!
NOOZHAWK: The Coast Village Road roundabout is slowly nearing completion, but the island inside it is missing something. Do you support our plan to erect a Noozhawk statue there?
BR: I like the idea providing there is room for the big trucks to maneuver in the lanes provided. In other words, let’s not forget commerce on our streets and roundabouts.
Additional Resources
Click here for Bonnie Raisin’s campaign Web site
Click here for Noozhawk’s candidate interview
Larry Nimmer’s “Touring with the Candidates” video (www.nimmer.net)
Bonnie Raisin – Touring with the Candidates for S.B. City Council 2009 from Larry Nimmer on Vimeo.
Click here for SBCityVote.org’s candidate statement video