Paula Perotte
| Candidate Name: | Paula Perotte (*incumbent) |
| Position Sought: | Goleta Mayor |
| Website / Social Media: | www.paulaperotte.com Facebook: Paula4Goleta Instagram: @PaulaPerotte |
| Why are you running for office? |
| My family and I have lived and worked in Goleta for over 40 years and I’ve served 14 years on Goleta's City Council, first as a city councilperson and more recently as the elected Mayor. I am fully “invested” in, and care deeply about Goleta. I’d like to continue to make a difference as Goleta's Mayor. I'm running to protect and build on the special character of Goleta’s neighborhoods and businesses, especially as the State is mandating decisions historically in the control of local government. I'm committed to continuing to provide leadership in preserving our community character, protect our environment, get our infrastructure, especially road capacity in line with Goleta's recent and expected growth. I am fighting to ensure that we have sufficient jobs and housing so our young people and elderly don't have to move away. And I want to continue increasing the participation of our wonderfully diverse residents in Goleta’s operation and priority setting. |
| What makes you qualified for this position? |
| A key qualification is my 14 years of experience and a solid record of accomplishment, first as a Council member, and since 2018, as Goleta’s Mayor. I have a solid record of advocating for the "right" development at the right pace. My record shows that I've provided the leadership to support the needs of both residents and local business, while protecting the character of Goleta neighborhoods and its environmental resources. Despite facing many challenges, including the pandemic, natural disasters and those at the hands of the State, facts show that Goleta has never been a more desirable place to live, work and visit. As Mayor I have provided leadership in several key areas - increasing emergency preparedness and public safety, increasing community participation through evening-only meetings, Spanish translations of those meetings, and establishing a resident academy on how local government works, ensuring fiscal responsibility and increasing Goleta's financial reserves, and finalizing the long-awaited new zoning ordinance for greater clarity and transparency for residents. At the same time, we've made progress on several fronts. We enhanced our quality of life with Old Town improvements such as new parks and a community Garden, Community Center renovation for earthquake safety and safer sidewalks and crosswalks, as well as ending flooding on eastern Hollister from San Jose Creek. We secured nearly $4 million to provide safe and easy access to Ellwood's Preserve, butterfly habitat, and beach. We secured regional and state funding to fund Buena Tierra, providing 60 units for mostly Goleta homeless along with onsite services. And recently we doubled our budget to repair and upgrade our roads. At the same time, we are improving circulation safety with more dedicated bike paths, and soon a new rail station to help reduce traffic and the high cost of repairing our streets and highways from cars and trucks. |
| What are the two hardest issues facing the candidate who wins the office you are running for? |
| My first and highest concern is ensuring the health, safety and well-being of our city's residents, city staff and visitors. Though the pandemic has receded, we have to protect residents from constant threats from natural disasters, especially fire. I’m committed to ensuring sufficient funding for our police department. And we need to work to resist longer term threats especially from climate change. We need to support a reliable and safe supply of the energy our businesses and residents depend on, including a greater mix of solar panels and backup battery storage. The other difficult issue is securing funding for residents’ priorities. This is challenging, as under the so called “Revenue Neutrality Agreement” that Santa Barbara County required for Goleta Cityhood in 2002, the County continues to take 50% of our property tax revenue and 30% of our tax revenue in perpetuity. We continue to seek a way to keep this from continuing in perpetuity. But in the meantime, we need to keep Goleta fiscally sound, without excessive borrowing or reducing our reserves that we’ve successfully built up for emergencies. I am committed to guiding our city through our financial challenges in a way that ensures a strong and resilient economy, enhances public safety, while continuing to carefully manage growth and its impacts as much as possible. |
| How do you plan to address the issue of inflation and its impacts on your constituents if elected? |
| We recognize the toll that inflation has taken on everyone’s paycheck. However, we have no control over the rate of inflation. We will continue to do our best to provide our community with a host of public services such as our recreation, library, parks, etc. that are free. In addition, we can and do minimize the effects of inflation on our city’s finances. For example, we negotiate to keep our expenses down with outside groups that provide our city with services, mostly policing and infrastructure. |
| What major crime issues do you plan to address if elected and how? |
| Goleta is fortunate in having a very low rate of crime in both absolute terms and compared with many other communities. Our major effort in combating crime is fully funding our police department that we contract with Santa Barbara County Sheriff. I am honored to have the endorsement of the SB Deputy County Sheriff’s Association. |
| How do you plan to address the issue of housing if elected? |
| As in many communities nationwide, our housing situation is sub-optimal. There’s not enough, and the purchase and rental prices are too high. We were dismayed when, though we already had sufficient zoning to meet State housing mandates, despite our resistance, the State of California imposed significant, rigid requirements and forced Goleta to rezone more land for housing. And, the state-mandated rezoning falls short, and seems likely to produce too little affordable housing relative to market rate housing. Further resisting the State mandates would have only resulted in futile and expensive court challenges, and also the state imposed “builders’ remedies” that would have totally removed any Goleta control on what is built. Making matters even more challenging, the County has rezoned land right adjacent to two of Goleta’s borders for at least 3,500 more units that will impact Goleta roads and services. Goleta’s role to ameliorate the situation lies in multiple actions. My commitment is twofold: First, it’s to negotiate with developers to maximize the number of affordable units per project. We will also negotiate with developers so that their developments comply with Goleta’s General Plan provisions, such as limits on height and limits on incursions to our creeks and other sensitive areas. Similarly, we will work closely with SB County to do the same as above, maximizing affordability and minimizing impacts. Second, it’s to work with non-profits such as People’s Self-Help Housing and the Santa Barbara County Housing Authority to find funding to help produce more units that are affordable. Third, we must continue to press the University to fulfill its settlements with Goleta and SB County to build units planned for students, faculty and staff already here, currently driving up housing costs in Goleta. And we must strive to ensure that new housing is not incompatible with Goleta’s character and dedication to environmental standards. |
| What do you hope to accomplish in your first year in office if elected? |
| If I am re-elected, I will continue my leadership on our City Council to meet our challenges and pursue our opportunities. We will identify and achieve Goleta’s priorities by listening to residents, businesses, staff and fellow council members. And I think it will be more important than ever to recognize how much of what we accomplish requires regional collaboration because the biggest issues, such as housing, homelessness, water supply, traffic and more, do not begin and end at city borders. My relationships with, and endorsements from, a wide range of local, state and federal officials will have a very positive role in our potential for success. |
| What actions do you plan to take to reduce political divide? |
| The key is to continue to stimulate, support and inspire two seemingly opposite actions. On the one hand, we want to continue our efforts to involve everyone. We want the benefit of our residents’ creativity, wisdom, ideas, and expressions of their priority. At the same time, at some point we must come together and move forward into the best future we can create for our residents. The way to do both is, first to facilitate open and civil discussion and debate. Then we must seek consensus to guide council’s decision making, especially on matters that can be controversial, and to allocate resources such as funding that by definition are limited. Done “right,” such a process will channel the energy of differing views into action that benefit all with as little “friction” as possible. |
