Richard Foster runs against incumbent Paula Perotte in Goleta Mayor Race
GOLETA, Calif.—Goleta is home to over 32,000 people and a growing business community.
Mayor Paula Perotte and Richard Foster agree Goleta is a great place to live, but they have higher hopes for the future of the city and their own ideas of how to get there.
“I want to maintain the character of Goleta that that small town feel that why people want to come here and and live here. So I we have a lot of things that we still would like to accomplish and we have a great council,” said current Mayor Perotte.
Perotte says she has accomplished a lot the last few years, with capital improvement projects like retrofitting the community center for earthquakes, creating new park amenities, and making old town safer for pedestrians.
But Foster says the city has been spending money poorly, and it’s hurting residents and leading to long-term debt.
“People when they leave their house, look at the streets, say, is this what I want for my road? And the other problem is a lot of money is being spent on projects such as this week. They're turning ground on the $32 million train station,” said Foster, who comes from a contracting background.
Inflation and housing are key issues for many Americans. Goleta is no exception.
Both candidates explained what they can do to address the housing crisis.
“ Housing is too expensive and rents are too high. So when we do see a development project, we hope to be able to have the control to really negotiate with the developers for a more affordable without having to change that character of Goleta,” said Perotte.
Richard Foster says he understands the idea behind accessory dwelling units and bonus density units, but he is skeptical on whether they create affordable housing.
“ I would favor the possibility of looking into a rent control rent cap, new ADUS and on bonus density units over. You know, you have the original amount that you have to do just to meet requirements. The bonus density allows them to go up to 50% more. Those should be the ones that are affordable. And so then the developer can decide whether it pencils out, the homeowner can decide whether they want to defer some of their return,” said Foster.
Another major issue is the re-striping project in Old Town.
The project— which Perotte says was intended to create more parking and spurring more business—is getting some negative feedback.
“There's about 34 businesses at the eastern end of town where the way it's striped in the middle lane, you can't legally turn left into most of them and you can't turn left out of them. And that's caused some of their clients to say, well, it's getting difficult to get here,” said Foster.
“ People are coming to us and showing us things that we need to maybe look at differently. And we are. So we're open to hearing if there's ideas about how we can,” said Perotte.
We have the full length interviews with both Perotte and Foster that address crime, the political divide, and their qualifications.
