Two familiar faces in Old Town Goleta are looking to secure the Goleta City Council’s District 2 seat in the November election.

A local business owner, Phebe Mansur, and a human resources professional and Goleta City Council incumbent, James Kyriaco, are vying to represent the district that encompasses the southeast and Old Town neighborhoods.

Meet the candidates.

Phebe Mansur

A longtime Goleta resident and Old Town Goleta business owner is asking residents ahead of the election, “Have you had enough?”

Mansur, owner of CopyRight Printing Systems, wants to “fix Hollister Avenue” because “Old Town businesses can’t wait four more years.”

She first arrived on the South Coast from Orange County to attend UC Santa Barbara. She fell in love with the Good Land, she told Noozhawk.

While working to put herself through school, she became deeply integrated into the local community, making it difficult to leave after she graduated in 1992, she said. 

Since graduating, she has owned and operated small businesses, eventually opening CopyRight Printing Systems in 1996 and moving to Old Town Goleta several years later. 

Her “grand plan” when she opened the shop, she said, was to make enough money to produce her own independent films. 

She made one, called “Jill the Ripper,” a horror-comedy film. 

While she still produces films, she also loves her store and wakes up every morning looking forward to going into work. 

“Every day I get to meet new people and hear their stories and find solutions for them,” she told Noozhawk.

If elected to the City Council, she promises to continue doing that and to use her shop as an office, where residents can pop in and voice concerns.

“That’s why people would be electing me, because they know I am going to have their backs,” she said. 

After she moved the business to Old Town Goleta, Mansur helped create the Goleta Old Town Community Association because she felt the community was not being properly represented.

Through the association, she helped create events to drive business and foot traffic to the Old Town businesses, including a Halloween trick-or-treat event.

Mansur is no stranger to Goleta City Council elections, having run multiple times in the past, she told Noozhawk.

“It’s a good thing I did because I needed to run all those times, to learn of the things you need to do,” she said.

She is also a familiar face in council chambers, attending meetings to voice her concerns about the city, she said.

However, she stopped attending regularly because she felt she was not being heard, she said. She promised that would change if she were elected. 

This election cycle, her campaign platform focuses prominently on “fixing Hollister Avenue.”

Mansur has been a strong critic of Old Town Goleta’s interim restriping project, which reduced vehicle lanes from two to one in both directions, created dedicated bike lanes, and added back-in angled parking on one side of Hollister Avenue. 

She proposes restoring four active travel lanes, improving bike safety infrastructure, implementing regular parking enforcement and eliminating the back-in parking, which she has called “discriminatory” against certain types of drivers. 

Mansur’s other campaign priorities include affordable housing and homelessness. 

When asked about her favorite spot in her district, she said her store or any Old Town Goleta restaurant. 

James Kyriaco

The longtime Goleta City Council District 2 representative and human resources professional hopes to keep his seat this year, running on a theme of sparking joy for residents.

“I really want people in Goleta to have something in their neighborhood, in their area that makes them proud, that brings joy to them and their families,” he said.

Kyriaco, a fourth-generation South Coast resident, was first elected to the City Council in 2018 and has served on it since. 

Kyriaco is also the human resources manager at Pueblo Radiology Medical Group.

His career began in local government and politics, including work on the campaign of a former school board member, now State Senate president pro tempore, Monique Limón.

His career later shifted to nonprofit and private-sector work. He has held leadership roles at prominent Santa Barbara organizations, including Standing Together to End Sexual Assault and the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.

Kyriaco holds a bachelor’s degree from Antioch University Santa Barbara and a master’s degree from California State University, Northridge.

Eight years ago, his campaign focused on housing, childcare and transportation. For his re-election this year, his priorities remain similar, he told Noozhawk. 

He seeks to protect the small-town quality of life, prioritize public safety, strengthen parks and libraries, and improve the city’s infrastructure. 

He also wants to find solutions to affordable housing, childcare and homelessness.

“I think the fundamental challenge that I see for Goleta going into the future is how do we balance protecting and enhancing this incredible quality of life that we have here,” he said.

Kyriaco is also seeking re-election to continue building on the projects and issues residents care about, he told Noozhawk.

Multiple projects are “on the cusp of completion,” including Project Connect, the Goleta Valley Library and the Goleta Community Center, which he would like to see through, he added.

In his district, he is well acquainted with Old Town Goleta residents’ concerns and frustrations regarding the interim restriping project.

Many Old Town Goleta businesses said the project has cost them regular customers, resulting in a stark drop in revenue.

However, Kyriaco said it is a two-sided issue that needs a balanced solution, which he hopes comes out of more community discussions.

“We want to give them every chance every day to be able to be successful,” he said. “On the same token, we also have to do certain things to make it safer for all residents.”

Reflecting on his eight years of service, Kyriaco identified the Heritage Ridge residential project and the city’s role in addressing childcare issues as significant wins for Goleta. 

When asked about his favorite place in his district, he said Jonny D. Wallis Park for its proximity to the Armitos Park and Community Gardens, where he and his wife have a plot.

Here More From the Candidates

All of the Goleta City Council candidates are expected to participate in a forum discussion on Thursday.

The League of Women Voters is hosting Thursday’s City Council candidate forum at the Goleta Community Center, 5679 Hollister Ave., from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Registration is not required.