NOOZHAWK: What experiences from your professional or personal life make you uniquely qualified to be mayor of Santa Barbara?

BOB HANSEN: Housing people and giving them dignity all across America. Pay rent or volunteer.

NOOZHAWK: With all of the city’s fiscal challenges, why are you running now?

BH: (Fellow candidates) Steve Cushman and Dale Francisco say vagrants are causing a loss in profit! Housing nationwide a 24/7 place to call home.

NOOZHAWK: What three steps would you take first to resolve Santa Barbara’s financial crisis?

BH: 1. Like Las Vegas, coupon discount books.

2. Grow packaged hemp with profits that would be for all.

3. Cross-training of fire and police forces to save $50 million a year.

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?

BH: Cross-train fire and police to help each other 24/7. Think about this: It can work, plus with cell phone calls.

NOOZHAWK: Would you support increasing or adding new municipal taxes as a revenue source?

BH: Don’t tax pot. Profit from controlling the profits. Grow Santa Barbara Gold, package and sell it.

NOOZHAWK: Why do you support or oppose Measure B, the ballot measure that would restrict downtown building heights to 40 feet?

BH: I support it in a way. Set back from sidewalks eight feet, over store than 40 feet.

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?

BH: I don’t trust staff reports. If Dale Francisco gets elected, we’ll be a gated community. No youth. No homeless. Rich and white.

NOOZHAWK: Santa Barbara’s 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?

BH: Santa Barbara’s record is not good. Use natural-gas school buses up and down the coast on timetables of 7-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.

NOOZHAWK: If elected, what is the one issue on which you would focus to improve Santa Barbara’s quality of life?

A national homeless housing plan led by President Barack Obama. Building or parking, pay or volunteer for a 24/7 place to call home.

NOOZHAWK: What is Santa Barbara’s most neglected neighborhood?

BH: Downtown’s Old Town Santa Barbara is out of control with drinking and policing it. It’s a party zone like Isla Vista.

NOOZHAWK: How would you control aggressive panhandling?

BH: Five tickets in five years! Give me a break!

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?

BH: California is going to vote in 2010 for a tax on pot. Come on, there are big profits. It’s an example of California gold.

NOOZHAWK: In the last year, two catastrophic wildfires have devastated foothill neighborhoods. Are stricter building codes needed or should development even be restricted in brush areas?

BH: Building codes, plus loud sirens in all foothills.

NOOZHAWK: A grocery clerk asks you, “Paper or plastic?” You say:

BH: I have my own bag! My old lady. Ha, ha!

NOOZHAWK: When’s the last time you rode public transportation?

BH: Not enough! The bus back from jail July 25 after Casa Esperanza Homeless Center had me arrested for protesting its event at the Veterans Memorial Building.

NOOZHAWK: What Santa Barbara historical figure do you admire most, and why?

BH: Lillian Child, owner of the estate that is now the Santa Barbara Zoo. Knowing that housing is the answer, she had a hoboville on the property from 1913 until the 1950s.

NOOZHAWK: What is Santa Barbara’s most precious asset?

BH: Its people. They are friendly and helpful.

NOOZHAWK: What’s your favorite street?

BH: Milpas Street and its old-town charm. The mom-and-pop stores have not sold out like on State Street.

NOOZHAWK: Health care is all over the news these days. What do you do to stay fit?

BH: Water aerobics at the Santa Barbara Family YMCA Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 to 11 a.m.

NOOZHAWK: Gaveling a City Council meeting to order or to adjournment is boring. Would you use a hawk scream, sponsored by Noozhawk, instead?

BH: Go jump off the pier. And why you’re at it, anything is better than big bad rules.

Additional Resources

Larry Nimmer’s “Touring with the Candidates” video (www.nimmer.net)

Bob Hansen – Touring with the Candidates for S.B. Mayor 2009 from Larry Nimmer on Vimeo.

Click here for SBCityVote.org’s candidate statement video