Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
Local developer Barrett Reed announced his candidacy for the Santa Barbara City Council this week seeking to unseat current councilmember Kristen Sneddon in District 4.
Reed, 36, was born and raised in Santa Barbara, has served on the Santa Barbara Planning Commission, and is a board member of Downtown Santa Barbara. He is also the co-founder of the Miramar Group, a real estate development company behind the creation of several mixed-use buildings including the Waterline building in the Funk Zone and “Kim’s Service Department” on lower State Street.
“Our city has been celebrated around the world, it is a very special place. And today it needs some serious attention,” stated Reed in a press announcement. “Santa Barbara is not what it once was nor is it what it should be. For many, including me, it’s hard to come to terms with what we have allowed to happen.”
Reed stated he will create incentives for downtown revitalization to bring residents and families back, and emphasized the need to have a “robust conversation about the future of Santa Barbara,” specifically homelessness.
“We have to help the truly homeless, get them into housing and off the streets. And we need to remove the lawless element and move them out of town, the dangerous encampments that pose a fire and safety threat to our neighborhoods must be removed,” he said.
Reed states he would be the only member of the council with business experience. “As a small business person, I know to succeed you must do more than talk or write reports, we must act, measure and make changes and continue until we achieve our goals,” he said.
If elected, he also plans to focus on preserving single-family neighborhoods from state demands for more housing.
Not if you keep voting the same way.
Reed has no substance in his campaign. Great, he wants to address homelessness and centers his campaign on it. So what’s the plan? There it is, right next to DB Cooper and Blackbeard’s treasure. Sorry developer puppet, you’ve already lost me bud.
Why don’t you listen to his interviews and read past the headline. He has a specific plan and the drive and the motivation actually to make change. There are ways to tackle homelessness and revitalize the downtown and he has a plan. I support Mr. Reed.
Mr Reed is a “developer” but he repurposes buildings that are vacant or neglected and brings new life and economy to them and our City. He is no outsider looking to make a quick buck.
Working in Real Estate development does not make Mr Reed a greedy opportunist. Look at his projects and the success he brings to his tenants and the neighborhoods he works in. He brings new life to vacant and empty buildings and forges a path for local businesses to have long term success in Santa Barbara. I suggest doing some due diligence and looking at his track record. He is a local who does what is best for his home town in business and will continue that in his politics.
I agree. Everything he touches is better for it.
LSBT so you agree with yourself???
I’m excited for a breath of fresh air in our City. Barrett is a family man born and raised in Santa Barbara seemingly with the heart and drive that this City needs. His goals align with all of ours and he is taking this passion to the City!
That was meant to be a response to a comment down below about how a change is needed in the City leadership.
@Local, I looked at his website. Nothing too concrete on homelessness. All he says is we must enforce laws and ordinances and his “first priority will be to complete a comprehensive homeless action plan.” Where is this plan? Why can’t we read it now? Again… just words nothing concrete.
Currently, there is no one on council with any real business experience.
Regarding the homeless, he has a plan to seek funding, and he has a plan for working with the Housing Authority and Landlords to house people who are suffering from homelessness. The lawless element he speaks of need to be held to the standards of the law that all citizens must abide. When that is enforced correctly, they will leave.
A-1623. You shouldn’t let the word “developer” turn you against a person that might be what this city needs. At a minimum listen to him, let him tell you what type of changes he will be proposing and vote accordingly.
Local @ 1:28: He is an insider, looking to make quick and long-term bucks. And judging by his YouTube video, he is waging war on the homeless without any longterm plans, except maybe to send those without homes here to Bakersfield.
Pit – A person with business experience, especially if the experience involves the type of problems the city needs to minimize/resolve is a plus IMO. Not sure what your asking in your second question.
Talking about another city’s plan in passing isn’t a plan. Especially when it’s Bakersfield, which is different in every conceivable way from SB and their plan hasn’t been tried yet. I don’t know Mr. Reed but being a Drunk Zone developer isn’t exactly a sterling credential for elected office. It’s an indication that he’s part of the problem, crowding out working families to put in luxury condos and wine bars instead of building reasonably priced workforce housing.
When District 4 learns that he only recently moved to District 4, the home of planner Jay Higgins, Sneddon’s last opponent, to a house owned by his developer father, they may be not so enamored as are his early supporters. If District 4 has not been in the news, it does not mean it is “long-neglected”, it means things are ticking along without any big issues, except for wildfire prevention.
And looming, SB 9 and SB 10 which, if Sac. developers have their way, will do away with single-family zoning. Where does Barrett stand on those state measures?
Doilie: What’s the problem Reed can address? A chronic shortage of granite countertops in overpriced rental units? A lack of cringeworthy political ads?
Great photo of Reed. And what a coup to catch him sitting in front of his next redevelopment project!
The partisan politics of personal destruction are now in full bloom, ready with their cheap shot labeling – a “developer” against an “environmentalist”. If the current city council rep Sneddon were a true “environmentalist” she would have stopped the utter vagrancy degradation of our local environment dead in its tracks when she was first sworn in, but instead for four years she enabled even more of it. If Reed were a “developer” he would not be talking about SFR neighborhood protection as the hill he is willing to die on, and repurposing existing vacant buildings. Let’s not turn this into a cheap shot name calling race when there are critical issues and decent choices to make this time. Sounds in fact like a race between a city preservationist (Reed) and an indifferent polluter (Sneddon). Take your pick. Don’t own the “developer” label, Reed. And Sneddon tell us what you really did to clean up the growing vagrant camp take over of our city, every creek and every park, bringing their extreme environmental hazards along with them. Did you even bother to teach them to dig Peace Corp toilets?
I too want to know what he thinks of SB9/10. And WHAT? He’s living in Jay’s house? Did he buy it from Higgins, or is this a convenient rental just so he can run? This city council has failed miserably at the new challenges, and existing (homelessness, downtown vacancies), that they’ve faced. Having said that, Sneddon is the best of them – does her homework, listens, asks questions, conservative on growth, pushes for affordable inclusionary housing when possible, etc. This won’t be an easy race for Reed to win.
Haha! Yes, I feel great knowing our town and neighborhoods will be safe in the hands of a developer. Yeaaa right!
Re-developer would be more accurate, which is sorely needed in town with old, obsolete, and out of compliance buildings. I’m not sure how you can look at the state of our city and not see a change is needed, and that change starts at City Council.
Santa Barbara ——- Where the term “Developer” and anyone in anyway related to it will always and forever be noxious and unwelcome. To all Developers: Please leave our “very special place” and don’t forget to take with you your affordable housing/ mixed use/ housing the homeless b.s.. Thank you.
11:36am sounds like a developer.
Whenever a politician says they’re gonna “fix” these problems I want to know how. Give me a specific plan. Barrett, where will you house these homeless, where will you find the social workers, psychiatrists, addiction specialists, and who will pay for it? This is a bigger problem than 1 sole council member can fix. And where will you “move them out of town”? A bus to Ventura?
The type of change citizens want and the type of change developers want are not the same thing.
District Four is primarily single family homes. He is making exactly the right case to the people who will be voting for him – do everything in his power to protect the single family home. That was the point of district elections – each district brings in a unique voice . City council overall does need leadership; not more reactive passivity. He has a good story to tell and a long-neglected district with specific needs which badly wants a new voice at the table. Thanks for stepping up for the fight, Barrett Reed. Keep the issues local and pragmatic, that is what District Four wants. His would be just one new voice out of seven city council seats. Don’t be afraid of what he can bring to the discussion. However, when voters across the city decide they want a new city council majority, and bring in new voices from at least two more additional districts and a new mayor, then the people will have spoken and it is time to listen to them. City is at a crossroads. We tried it one way for the past few decades. Not happy with the final outcome. City has to change and saying you can’t do this or you cant’ do that is no longer acceptable. The current status quo is what is no longer acceptable.
So, I think Sneddon could be doing better, but you’re way off on some things. She doesn’t believe everyone deserves a roof over their heads. State St is not a ‘disaster’ – Montecito’s debris flow was a disaster. State St’s implosion is entirely on the backs of landlords who wouldn’t lower rents, calcified city planning processes that failed to respond when conditions changed, and too many homeless. Plus retail fundamentally shifted in the past 5 years to Amazon. So the council had control of 2 of those 4 things, and greedy landlords could have been dealt with by a penalty ordinance for continuing to leave a property vacant. Sneddon hosted a towhall on SB9 and 10, and Limon flipped her vote because of it – what more did you want Sneddon to do there?
Just what we need, more privileged white males running things.
Local commercial broker here. @1:06 you know not of what you speak.
Barrett would be a good choice for the council.
If we get “new people” every four years then we’ll have, as has happened this past two years, councilmembers who say, “I am new here…” and then spend some time learning how things work. It took Mike Jordan 8-years on the planning commission and 4-years on Creeks Commission to feel knowledgeable about the council and not to have to apologize his first two years. Mr.Reed who hasn’t been on the planning commission even two years (and often has to recuse himself because of conflicts) is a newcomer to city government.
If we get “new people” every four years then we’ll have, as has happened this past two years, councilmembers who say, “I am new here…” and then spend some time learning how things work. It took Mike Jordan 8-years on the planning commission and 4-years on Creeks Commission to feel knowledgeable about the council and not to have to apologize his first two years. Mr. Reed who hasn’t been on the planning commission even two years (and has had to recuse himself from some of the major projects because of conflicts) is a newcomer to city government. The learning curve is steep to be a competent councilperson, taking the time to read the often lengthy staff reports, able to understand the issues, and, most importantly, be a “people person”, appreciating that SB is a historic city of people where buildings enhance the history and serve the people, not the developer.
Barrett is way more more qualified than Sneddon and would run circles around her . Who cares that he just moved to district 4 . It’s not about that , it’s about how much more qualified he is than Sneddon . District 4 has a lot of problems , just bc it’s not on the news doesn’t mean people are not unhappy with Sneddon who doesn’t return calls or emails .
What we need are qualified people . Regardless of their sex or race .
I recall a letter being sent out in district 4 during that campaign telling people in the district to vote for Sneddon because she was a WOMAN . During that whole me too thing that was happening .
voting for him is could be like putting a fox in charge of the hen house. SB doesn’t need anymore development, time to pull the ladder up. Building and conserving water are opposite objectives.
The current council have D’s in front of all their names . Not R’s and they are not cleaning up any messes .
Developer & Public Servant are antonyms.
Mr Reed is successful and definitely enjoying an upwardly mobile trajectory, serving on multiple boards and recently gaining a seat on the planning commission. But if he was really concerned about district 4 and the city, he’d have waited to run and not tried to unseat Kristin Sneddon. She is not status quo and it’s clear watching the meetings that she’s often a thorn in the side of others on council because she’s willing to ask hard questions, consider compromises and alternatives, and even stand alone. She’ll be termed out after this term and the council seat will be up for grabs anyway. If Mr Reed cared about district 4 he’d want to keep her in there for now, knowing she represents that district and the city well, and then take over her seat next cycle to continue strong representation when she’s out. He already has multiple commitments to focus on to keep him busy. Challenging Sneddon now suggests he’s less concerned about the best interests of that district or the city and more concerned with advancing his personal success and rise to power.
I do not know much about Mr. Reed, but I do know that the council as now constituted has been one of the worst in my over 50-years living in Santa Barbara. We have a mayor who was elected by barely one of every four voters, 27%. Even Putin got 77% of the vote in his last election We need a run-off election system. This council, as past councils has spent far too much time and resources on the State St. and Funk drunk zones and neglected residential areas of our city. District 4 has not had its streets cleaned in almost 40 years! We have no regular police patrols and burglaries are a growth industry here. Almost 50% of our police budget is spent on keeping drunks in line in the drunk zone. SBA has the most liquor licenses per-capita of any city in the entire state of CA and more are being added. At present6, Sate Street is not local friendly. Locals have nothing that they need to buy there and feel unsafe. Mr. Reed says that he will eradicate the homeless problem. It won’t happen in his lifetime. The 4th City Council District needs a council representative that stops treating the district as a stepchild. Our district is among the highest paying property tax districts in the city. The Eucalyptus Hill Homeowners Association asked for council help in funding our goat and sheep weed eating fire prevention project. We were turned down flat, yet Mayor Murillo appointed a committee to examine a $500,000 request for taxpayer money to pay two years rent for a Black Cultural Center, Mayor Murillo and Councilmember Snedden: Where is our police protection and where is our street cleaning. At this point, I don’t know if we need Reed the developer, but what we do need is a mayor and District 4 councilmember who will give District 4 a fair shake on city services that we pay for and never get!
Everyone should ask themselves what Sneddon has done for you and our city?
1. We have out of control homelessness that is so bad that the every citizen’s public safety is at risk due to encampment fires, public urination and defecation, indecent exposure, assaults, theft and burglaries to support their drug habits, public intoxication, but she believes that every ‘unsheltered individual deserves a roof over their heads’. Has she even talked with a homeless person? Has she ever done any outreach? What about someone in prison? Homeless are being bussed here from all over. Phoenix and other areas are sending them here, since after all, who doesn’t want to live in ‘paradise’? At least Reed seems to be more connected than she does. What’s her plan?
2. State Street is a disaster. Do locals even go down there anymore? I don’t. Who better to understand the business community, but a businessman, board member of Downtown Santa Barbara, and Planning Commission member. I think I’d rather have someone who understands the ins-and-outs of how our economy works rather than a SBCC professor that gives ‘easy A’s’ as seen on Rate My Professor. Translate that to not making students accountable and therefore can never take personal responsibilit. Oh, and attendance was not mandatory and that was before COVID! A business owner is forced to take personal responsibility or his business will fail. A tenured professor never has to worry about dismissal. See any correlations?
3. As a renter, she is supposedly advocating for me for lower rents and affordable housing. She must not have ever rented in SB as it’s never been ‘affordable’. My rent goes up when my landlord’s costs go up, when taxes and utility rates, etc. Sneddon has no problem increasing taxes, utility rates, etc. She is advocating for rent control, although she calls it rent stabilization. Same animal, folks, and while it sounds great, it isn’t having lived in a rent controlled unit before moving to SB. Rent control means landlords have no incentive to fix up their units, answer your maintenance calls, and it results in run down housing. She thinks Dario Pini’s units were bad, but they were affordable!
4. She consistently has asked for consultants and studies and when they come back to council, she constantly ignores what they recommend. Why bother spending the thousands of dollars to ignore advice? Maybe that money would be better spent on helping homeless and renters.
5. Now she has brought groups like Healing Justice to council after leading them to believe that she can get the council to give them money. She also asked for fire mitigation money for a HOA in her district, knowing that they wouldn’t get the money either. Does she even understand the budget process? As a renter, she has lead me to believe she can help me. She consistently promises anything to her constituency, and anyone who thinks that she is for social justice, but delivers absolutely nothing except frustration! Empty promises! Empty words!
6. Sneddon doesn’t even talk about SB 9&10 that want to bring increased housing density. Does she even know about it? Reed is against it!
I’ll take Reed over Sneddon, thank you!
You are on the money! I am convinced that we need new people with fresh ideas on the council. City government is adrift and shows no specific route to at least improve our local conditions. They either talk issues to death or they hire expensive consultants. If consultants are an ongoing necessity for this council to be able to govern, then why are we paying them?
Support new people who don’t need the job.
Do not vote for people with a zero track record of addressing the big issues of SB; homeless, businesses, ghost town state street, etc…
what has Sneddon done in any of these areas. Walking around SB I can’t see any evidence of progress, can you?
The government is dictating Calif development . Wouldn’t it be better if we have to develop parts of SB , we actually have experience on the council on how to deal with the directives from Sacto ? That experience is currently lacking on our council, so while you think that is a weakness , it’s a strength for the council .
Reminder: the “state” who is telling us what we can and cannot do is nothing more than the collected voices of those whom we elect. In our case, the “state” includes the politically ambitious voices of Monique Limon and Steven Bennett, who are merely picking up where too many years of Hannah-Beth Jackson and Das Williams left off -a solid string of community destroying “progressives” who kept electing and re-electing. We are not the victims of the “state” – we are the willing recipients of the edicts coming down from Sacramento written by those we keep choosing to elect. By now it should be obvious, the current partisan dominance in this state is not interested in you; just themselves.
PitMix: Grant House was a leading spokesperson for the Eastside Business community and did a lot of work upgrading city attention to this previously neglected part of town, as well as outreach rasiing its visibility to the general public. His type of small local business friendly energy is exactly what this town needs. Creating and maintaining a healthy street environment is essential for customer attraction to our local storefront businesses. The Milpas small business corridor finally got the attention it needed due, to both Grant House and exemplary follow up work continued by local community organizer Sharon Byrne. Remember Sharon’s trash can art campaigns and rebranding Milpas as “Eat Street”? It was our own Mayor who tried to sabotage these efforts, and participated in a disruptive event at one of the Milpas businesses who was supporting this Milpas business improvement activity. So yes, having a local business person on city council was a huge benefit, have more than one will be even better. Simply representing the organized city employee interests who are now sitting on both sides of the bargaining table has not left us with a fiscally sound, administratively efficient or even a community responsive city government. District elections merely allowed organized status quo interests an easier seat to acquire; but it so far has not broadened input from the city at large.
Because Rowse is still a better and more qualified than the other candidates by far . And you have no idea what he is capable of doing on the council this term . A Rowse that did “nothing” by your standards for 9 years is way better than what we have or what is running .
When was the majority of the council conservative ?