Santa Barbara seniors flipped through their voter guides and studied their sample ballots as the mayoral and District 5 candidates spoke about artificial intelligence, disaster preparedness and what they would bring to the Santa Barbara City Council. 

The Santa Barbara League of Women Voters held a joint forum on Wednesday at the Valle Verde Retirement Community. That included the city’s mayoral candidates — Kristen Sneddon, Eric Friedman, Matt Kilrain and Wendy Sims-Moten — and District 5 candidates — Ian Baucke, Cevin Cathell and James Zurlinden. 

All seven candidates were on stage and answered mostly the same questions, while some were specific to the mayoral or District 5 candidates. 

When asked about the role of the mayor and collaboration with city departments and the public, Sneddon said the role of the mayor could be “so much more.”

She said the mayor should be actively out in the community. Specifically, she would want to hold town halls in every district throughout the year — with council members.

“Throughout the time as mayor, I think it’s also important to be working with each individual council member. That’s something that hasn’t currently been happening,” Sneddon said. “It’s the role of the mayor to serve the entire community. It’s a difficult task, but I believe I’m up for it.”

Sims-Moten said the role of the mayor is to center the city’s vision by meeting with different neighborhood groups and understanding goals and issues.

“Everyone has to be involved in decisions that we make because they are impacted, either indirectly or directly, by policies that we make, decisions that we make,” Sims-Moten said. “So it’s important to make sure that the city, the folks in the community, are part of decisions that we make, and as mayor you lead that vision.”

Kilrain said the mayor should focus on public safety, eliminate corruption in the city and help people make more money.

“Everybody’s coming up short on money, and they don’t have enough for rent or mortgage,” Kilrain said. “There are ways that the mayor can help them.”

Friedman said the mayor needs to listen to the needs of the city and work with council members to understand specific neighborhood issues. 

“That’s exactly what I’ve done as your council representative for my entire time on council is look at the city as a citywide entity,” Friedman said. “I don’t believe that just because you’re elected by districts that you are a specifically district representative. We make decisions for the entire city.”

Council Candidates Debate AI

All of the candidates were asked whether artificial intelligence could be used as a tool to help the city, or if it’s a danger. For the most part, the candidates agreed that it was a little bit of both. 

Sneddon was the most against AI and said even her Santa Barbara City College students are rejecting it. 

“It’s not accurate, it’s skewed, it is frankly racist and misogynistic,” Sneddon said.

On the city end, she said it could be used for some efficiencies, but it’s also resource intensive. 

“This is a genuine threat to artists, to writers, to thinkers, to people everywhere,” Sneddon said. “So I think it’s more of a threat than it is helpful, and I think we have to be very, very careful about what we wish for, trading efficiency for privacy and safety.”

Sims-Moten said it shouldn’t replace human connection. 

“It has to be a human that’s directing it. It has to be a human that’s checking it in and making sure,” Sims-Moten said. “It should be a helpful tool, not a tool that takes over your mind. You need to make sure your mind continues to think on its own.”

Friedman said it could be used to improve administrative processes but that he has serious concerns about the lack of regulation. 

“I don’t trust it because I don’t trust the people who are creating it,” Friedman said. “They don’t trust it either. They’re asking the federal government to regulate it and they’re saying, ‘Regulate us because you can’t trust us to regulate ourselves.’” 

Kilrain said he uses AI “quite a bit” for personal and legal use but agrees that it can be destructive.

Cathell agreed with the concerns around AI use but thinks it could be used to streamline permitting. 

“I think we all really need to pay attention to that, and use AI for the small things, but really, when it comes down to figuring things out, it’s up to us,” Cathell said.

Zurlinden said AI could be used for data processing, but it shouldn’t replace the city’s personal connection with people. He said he was also happy to see the city cancel its contract with Flock.

“There’s a lot of data being collected by these cameras,” Zurlinden said. “I was glad to see City Council pull that contract, and we got to make sure that we don’t move forward in anything else like that.”

Baucke said the dangers outweigh any opportunities, but it could be used “to get the ball rolling” on certain projects by making mock-up designs for inspiration. He was also vehemently against using AI to replace city employees, even during challenging budget years.

“Think about the long-term consequences of that,” Baucke said. “It’s just like using out-of-town consultants. When you diminish the capacity of the city as an organization to deliver quality services with skills with folks who know this community and our neighbors, 10 years from now, you may have saved a little bit of money, but you have less leverage going forward.”

How Should Santa Barbara Prepare for Disasters?

The candidates were also asked how the city can ensure residents are prepared for floods, mudslides, fires and other potential disasters. 

Sims-Moten said the city should see whether individual districts need updated disaster plans, and look at populations to figure out what is needed for evacuations.

“Let’s bring them all together so that we can understand how is our city going to move through a disaster,” Sims-Moten said. “I think it’s something that has to be ongoing.”

Sneddon wants to see resilience hubs in each city district so that if a disaster happens, residents already know where to go to refrigerate medicine, get food and translation services, and charge devices. 

“This is essential,” Sneddon said. “We need to have this in place ahead of time.”

Friedman highlighted recent city efforts on fire prevention, including passing the short-term vacation rental ordinance that limits rentals in high-fire-risk zones. He also mentioned clearing out the Laguna channel, and an increase in battery storage. 

“With that battery storage, we have the ability to keep the lights on in your homes and in places so that you are able to make sure that your medications and everything else doesn’t come offline, so that you have that security,” Friedman said. “That’s why we need to invest in alternative energy and battery storage.”

Kilrain said he believes that the military uses weather as a weapon, provoking some chuckles and confusion from the crowd. He also said the city should prepare to take in refugees from Los Angeles and other areas of Southern California experiencing natural disasters.

Zurlinden said the city needs to make sure it replenishes the budget reserves in case of an emergency and work with utility companies to boost solar rebates and battery backups.

Cathell wants to see more investments in microgrids for renewable energy, and more education in Spanish and English.

“We also need to get people on board to work together when something happens that we can turn to each other because the city has only so many public safety officers and we are going to have to rely on each other,” Cathell said. 

If elected, Baucke said he would spend his time focusing on improving fire safety and getting specialized advanced life support on fire trucks and changing staffing plans.

City voters will decide on the new mayor and council members for District 4, District 5 and District 6 on Nov. 3.

The Noozhawk Voter Guide has more information about Santa Barbara County election candidates and ballot measures.