I certainly approve of a small business owner and someone with his background being elected to city Council. With labor unions, NGO’s and nonprofit organizations working against him, I’m not sure about his chances.
When the city changed the voting process to only allow residence of each district to vote for a candidate in their district instead of citywide voting, the insured the likelihood of being able to isolate and propagandize large blocks of marginalized citizens that vote on single issues. I think it is hurt candidates such as Monty with the overall health of the city in mind.
At some point, I hope the inhabitants of the city wake up and see what the current policies of our city Council and Board of supervisors are doing and change their voting tendencies
Agree, Brian. District elections for this small community have proven to be a major failure. Especially since the CVRA requires two "protected districts" that can be easily purchased by partisan forces for only few hundred TOTAL votes.
Four other non-protected city districts require thousands of votes to obtain their voting seat on the seven person city council. Only the mayor must now appeal to the entire city at-large, leaving him often the sole voice to speak for the entire city that elected him. This is a primary cause of the current city council dysfunction.
Protected representation only by fiat is not representative government. These two CVRA protected districts (Eastside and Westside) now get two full votes on city council, but in fact actually represent very, very few actual voters, in this now Balkanized 90,000 resident city.
For too long it has seemed as if our Mayor, as the only businessman on the Council, has been the only dissenting voice of reason when the long string of disaster-prone decisions has been proposed and implemented. Monte seems to be the sort of monied elite who takes his responsibility of wealth as a challenge to go Good. More power to him. He sounds exactly like what we need right now. AND let's vote to change the system back to being able to vote for council members at large, not by sectioned off neighborhoods. That has only given us racial ideologues who have voted against the betterment of the community as a whole.
If the current CVRA won't easily allow a total change back to at-large elections, there is a hybrid compromise: that requires candidate residency in various districts, but must be voted for at-large by all city residents. We are in fact all in this together, even when various neighborhoods have different needs and characteristics.
Local attorney Barry Capello, I believe, helped lead the charge for district elections, It would be good to get his views on this nearly 10 year post-mortem. SBCC and SBUSD were also impacted by these newly-imposed district elections, and loss of at-large voting.
A good study project, within the confines of the California Voting Rights Act and any test case litigation since its passage and application. Attepts to change or resist the CVRA mandates come under threat of highly punitive lawsuits, if the new mandates not instituted.
The City of Palmdale was the most notorious early test case, which opposed the district election mandates, to the tune of several million dollars in penalties . I suspect our current local Sacramento representatives, Gregg Hart and Monique Limon will be of no help.
Thanks for the thoughts and support. My only feedback is I'm not sure I would call myself a monied elite. I came from a very humble background. My Dad worked at Pabst Blue Ribbon in Peoria, Illinois, and we never had much money. When I met my wife, I was living in a 720 sq.ft. apartment. Fortunately, I've done well in my professional career and am in a position to pay it forward now, but I had to work very hard to get here. I think that's why I like to give back and we focus on children's charities because we know sometimes kids just need a break.
Thank you for writing. I'm hesitant to say that replacing K. Sneddon with anyone would be better then her mixed-up politics, but Monte Wilson looks very, very promising!
Bonnie, love the comment Monte made about Santa Barbara not being a stepping stone but home. The Dems use the SBCC and the SBBOD as their training grounds to advance their career politicos . He is running against Sneddon . I would vote for almost anyone running against her. Thanks
Instead of merely promising to wave magic wands, we do need a pragmatic, experienced candidates who set metrics both before and after taking any city action. Monte Wilson is off to a very good start.
Thanks for the introduction to this District Four candidate. Wilson's resume and community engagement is exemplary. But big issues remain. Can he penetrate past the large number of highly paid city government employees who reside in his district? How will he make both tax payer interests and city employee union interests mutually compatible?
Maybe Loweg, we can press to make public employee, and public management, unions unlawful in Santa Barbara County. Just imagine! Maybe we can cut out supervisory jobs, and excessive consultants and contractors. Parks and Rec contracts out maintenance while having hundreds of workers told by supervisors not to maintain parks. Moreover, City Park Rangers told not to enforce park rules, as are SBPD.
Driving around in city trucks, golf carts, and SUVs is a good pensioned job if you can get one. No one is accountable! There is no oversight. No one is in charge. Mayor is ceremonial only.
Thanks so much, Bonnie, for the kind words. It really means a lot coming from you. Thanks for all the comments from everyone, too. I'll do my best to try and answer questions that come up in the comments and you can also write me directly at monte4sb@gmail.com.
Thank goodness it looks like we might have a candidate that will do what is necessary to cut spending and get things done. Honestly if anyone runs that isn’t in the race to be a career politician and get rich, I’ll vote for them.
Thanks for the info, Bonnie. "Getting things done" or getting the right things done sounds good to me and we should give him the opportunity.
Back in the late 1960's and early 1970's I knew a very smart engineer in Van Nuys that once was an Olympic soccer team player from Columbia. Over the weekend he'd play soccer and Monday morning he'd arrive to work and comment, "I hurt all over ... (while groaning)." As I recall, his name was Al Mercado. This was at Litton Data Systems, Van Nuys.
Cevin Cathell, candidate D5, states she’s a DEM to the core, and is running to replace DEM Eric Friedman in D5: San Rogue, Samarkand, LaCumbre (Sears-Macy’s Redevelopment). She also says she is against rent control. Who knows? Will we ever break up total DEM control of City except for Mayor Randy Rowse?
Will Monty cut government spending or increase taxes to cover City deficits and emergency reserve spending? D-4 voters are mostly homeowners, government workers or pensioned, who would rather pay higher taxes than reduced spending.
D-4 voted twice for DEM controlled Kristen Sneddon, who is now running for Mayor. Proves these homeowners want higher taxes, rent control, a registry, DEI, tax paid protection of illegal residents. Afterall, that’s the DEM Platform a voter supports when voting for any Democrat.
D-4 runs from Olive Mill along Coast Village Rd along Alston (Eucalyptus Hill) and APS (Riviera) past the Mission.
These voters, donors, influencers will determine if the SB Chapter Democrat Socialists of America take the 3 open Council seats. Seems that most benefit from keeping DEMs in power.
2 or 3 Mayor candidates are DEMs: incumbent Randy is the only non-DEM running. BEWARE: D5 City Council candidate is also a DEM to the core: we interviewed her. Is there cause for hope?
From a gal who’s known Monte for quite awhile, call me amazed when I found out he was running for City Council. It’s time though isn’t it for concerned business leaders to step up! Our city politics, our State politics are such a mess and certainly won’t get any better with the current City Council. Santa Barbara would be lucky to have Monty.
I certainly approve of a small business owner and someone with his background being elected to city Council. With labor unions, NGO’s and nonprofit organizations working against him, I’m not sure about his chances.
When the city changed the voting process to only allow residence of each district to vote for a candidate in their district instead of citywide voting, the insured the likelihood of being able to isolate and propagandize large blocks of marginalized citizens that vote on single issues. I think it is hurt candidates such as Monty with the overall health of the city in mind.
At some point, I hope the inhabitants of the city wake up and see what the current policies of our city Council and Board of supervisors are doing and change their voting tendencies
Agree, Brian. District elections for this small community have proven to be a major failure. Especially since the CVRA requires two "protected districts" that can be easily purchased by partisan forces for only few hundred TOTAL votes.
Four other non-protected city districts require thousands of votes to obtain their voting seat on the seven person city council. Only the mayor must now appeal to the entire city at-large, leaving him often the sole voice to speak for the entire city that elected him. This is a primary cause of the current city council dysfunction.
Protected representation only by fiat is not representative government. These two CVRA protected districts (Eastside and Westside) now get two full votes on city council, but in fact actually represent very, very few actual voters, in this now Balkanized 90,000 resident city.
I couldn’t agree more
I hope Monty is not a registered Democrat to appeal to all other registered voters including every NPP.
I'm an Independent and have been since 2014.
For too long it has seemed as if our Mayor, as the only businessman on the Council, has been the only dissenting voice of reason when the long string of disaster-prone decisions has been proposed and implemented. Monte seems to be the sort of monied elite who takes his responsibility of wealth as a challenge to go Good. More power to him. He sounds exactly like what we need right now. AND let's vote to change the system back to being able to vote for council members at large, not by sectioned off neighborhoods. That has only given us racial ideologues who have voted against the betterment of the community as a whole.
If the current CVRA won't easily allow a total change back to at-large elections, there is a hybrid compromise: that requires candidate residency in various districts, but must be voted for at-large by all city residents. We are in fact all in this together, even when various neighborhoods have different needs and characteristics.
Local attorney Barry Capello, I believe, helped lead the charge for district elections, It would be good to get his views on this nearly 10 year post-mortem. SBCC and SBUSD were also impacted by these newly-imposed district elections, and loss of at-large voting.
A good study project, within the confines of the California Voting Rights Act and any test case litigation since its passage and application. Attepts to change or resist the CVRA mandates come under threat of highly punitive lawsuits, if the new mandates not instituted.
The City of Palmdale was the most notorious early test case, which opposed the district election mandates, to the tune of several million dollars in penalties . I suspect our current local Sacramento representatives, Gregg Hart and Monique Limon will be of no help.
AB 2231: CalifVoting Rights Act - prohibitions of at-large elections
https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_201720180ab2231
(NB: Cal Matters is the Dan Walters website)
Thanks for the thoughts and support. My only feedback is I'm not sure I would call myself a monied elite. I came from a very humble background. My Dad worked at Pabst Blue Ribbon in Peoria, Illinois, and we never had much money. When I met my wife, I was living in a 720 sq.ft. apartment. Fortunately, I've done well in my professional career and am in a position to pay it forward now, but I had to work very hard to get here. I think that's why I like to give back and we focus on children's charities because we know sometimes kids just need a break.
Thank you for writing. I'm hesitant to say that replacing K. Sneddon with anyone would be better then her mixed-up politics, but Monte Wilson looks very, very promising!
Bonnie, love the comment Monte made about Santa Barbara not being a stepping stone but home. The Dems use the SBCC and the SBBOD as their training grounds to advance their career politicos . He is running against Sneddon . I would vote for almost anyone running against her. Thanks
Monte is running for Sneddon's seat/district on the city council. Sneddon is running for Mayor against Randy and Eric.
Bonnie who is running in District 4 that the Dems want?
I haven't heard yet, but will find out...
Chuck: D-5 known candidate is DEM Cevin Cathell.
You will never see me running for anything other than City of Santa Barbara roles. No desires or plans for bigger roles than the City of Santa Barbara
Instead of merely promising to wave magic wands, we do need a pragmatic, experienced candidates who set metrics both before and after taking any city action. Monte Wilson is off to a very good start.
Thanks for the introduction to this District Four candidate. Wilson's resume and community engagement is exemplary. But big issues remain. Can he penetrate past the large number of highly paid city government employees who reside in his district? How will he make both tax payer interests and city employee union interests mutually compatible?
Maybe Loweg, we can press to make public employee, and public management, unions unlawful in Santa Barbara County. Just imagine! Maybe we can cut out supervisory jobs, and excessive consultants and contractors. Parks and Rec contracts out maintenance while having hundreds of workers told by supervisors not to maintain parks. Moreover, City Park Rangers told not to enforce park rules, as are SBPD.
Driving around in city trucks, golf carts, and SUVs is a good pensioned job if you can get one. No one is accountable! There is no oversight. No one is in charge. Mayor is ceremonial only.
Thanks so much, Bonnie, for the kind words. It really means a lot coming from you. Thanks for all the comments from everyone, too. I'll do my best to try and answer questions that come up in the comments and you can also write me directly at monte4sb@gmail.com.
Thank goodness it looks like we might have a candidate that will do what is necessary to cut spending and get things done. Honestly if anyone runs that isn’t in the race to be a career politician and get rich, I’ll vote for them.
Thanks for the info, Bonnie. "Getting things done" or getting the right things done sounds good to me and we should give him the opportunity.
Back in the late 1960's and early 1970's I knew a very smart engineer in Van Nuys that once was an Olympic soccer team player from Columbia. Over the weekend he'd play soccer and Monday morning he'd arrive to work and comment, "I hurt all over ... (while groaning)." As I recall, his name was Al Mercado. This was at Litton Data Systems, Van Nuys.
Cevin Cathell, candidate D5, states she’s a DEM to the core, and is running to replace DEM Eric Friedman in D5: San Rogue, Samarkand, LaCumbre (Sears-Macy’s Redevelopment). She also says she is against rent control. Who knows? Will we ever break up total DEM control of City except for Mayor Randy Rowse?
I met with Cevin and found her to be very moderate and she agrees with many of the things I've discussed like Rent Control. I liked her.
Many of the Dems sound that way.....until they get elected.
Will Monty cut government spending or increase taxes to cover City deficits and emergency reserve spending? D-4 voters are mostly homeowners, government workers or pensioned, who would rather pay higher taxes than reduced spending.
D-4 voted twice for DEM controlled Kristen Sneddon, who is now running for Mayor. Proves these homeowners want higher taxes, rent control, a registry, DEI, tax paid protection of illegal residents. Afterall, that’s the DEM Platform a voter supports when voting for any Democrat.
D-4 runs from Olive Mill along Coast Village Rd along Alston (Eucalyptus Hill) and APS (Riviera) past the Mission.
These voters, donors, influencers will determine if the SB Chapter Democrat Socialists of America take the 3 open Council seats. Seems that most benefit from keeping DEMs in power.
2 or 3 Mayor candidates are DEMs: incumbent Randy is the only non-DEM running. BEWARE: D5 City Council candidate is also a DEM to the core: we interviewed her. Is there cause for hope?
Technically, city council is designated a non-partisan office. Oh, for the good old days.
From a gal who’s known Monte for quite awhile, call me amazed when I found out he was running for City Council. It’s time though isn’t it for concerned business leaders to step up! Our city politics, our State politics are such a mess and certainly won’t get any better with the current City Council. Santa Barbara would be lucky to have Monty.
Let’s get this guy elected!
MB Snow