Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina

Santa Barbara Talks: David Silva Talks Housing, Inclusion, Acceptance, and Politics

Buellton Vice Mayor David Silva stole the show at the recent Santa Barbara County Democratic Party Labor Day Barbecue. His explanation for why he his running for mayor wowed the crowd of nearly 300 people. Silva sits down with journalist Josh Molina for a candid discussion about his candidacy and his views on politics. "I don't view this as pitting against two people," Silva says on the podcast. "I see politics as less of a basketball game and more of a marathon. I am really just trying to run the best time I can." Check out the podcast to learn more about Silva, who grew up in Orcutt, the son on a rancher and a farmer. Joshua Molina is a journalist with more than 20 years of experience. He has worked in Santa Barbara, San Diego and the Bay area covering City Hall, politics, housing, redevelopment, breaking news, features, and just about every topic. He is also a college instructor. Please consider a contribution to support this podcast and see more content at santabarbaratalks.com. Also, please subscribe on YouTube.

Duration:: 51m
Broadcast on:: 09 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

I want to thank you. Welcome to Santa Barbara talks with Josh Molina. It's such a pleasure today to be here with David Silva, who is a candidate for mayor of Beilton. He's currently the vice mayor on the city council of Beilton. I just got to say, David, before I formally welcome you here. I watched you at the Labor Day barbecue picnic at Tucker's Grove. And I've been covering politics for a long time and I watch elected officials speak. And I get a wide range of how people connect with an audience. And I just got to say, I was really blown away by how well you spoke, how well you connected with the audience. You were simultaneously humble, but confident and kind of guy. I said, I want to meet that guy. And so here we are. So welcome to the show. Thank you for taking time. David Silva, how are you doing today? Thank you so much for having me and thank you. That is the most generous introduction. So I'll try to live up to the hype, but a flattery will get you everywhere with me. I really appreciate the opportunity to chat with you. And yes, it's been really exciting. The barbecue was such a well attended event and you could fill a lot of the energy there. So I was just happy to be part of that. Yeah. So every year, the Democrats gather and they have an event and sort of talk about the November election and candidates are able to talk. And so you were you were able to speak there. You spoke last year and I do have a vague memory and I do take some pictures of you. Last year, but this year is like a star is born. All right, I'll stop gushing. I want to know more about you because typically I cover South County. So I have some familiarity with the North County stuff in terms of my coverage, but you're running for mayor of Bealton, which is incredible. So talk to me a little bit about your candidacy while you're running what you want to do. What are your goals? Certainly. I'm a Gemini and I love what long walks on the beach. So it's always a good place to start there for it. So I was I moved to Bealton with my husband in 2019. But I grew up in the county. So I grew up in Orchid. My family used to be the farmers there. The silvers used to farm out in drum Canyon, which is just west of Bealton. And then I went to school at UC Santa Barbara lived there. And then when we were looking to buy a home, this was the place that we were able to make that work. And so when we moved here in 2019, it was a really great opportunity for us. And so during COVID in 2020. Unfortunately, my husband was diagnosed with non Hodgkin's lymphoma. He's doing great now. We're in. He's in remission. But it was a real kind of got my pseudo oncology degree with that. So if anyone ever needs to talk about high grade B cell non Hodgkin's lymphoma, I'm, I'm there with it, but it was kind of this really big focus on just surviving that it was he founded in July. And so it really became this thing that because we couldn't see family and our friends were kind of, we had just moved to Bealton really hadn't really built that network. Our neighbors really stepped in for that. They got really involved. Our friends sharing Chris were able to provide like our car died in the middle of one of our his chemos. And so they let us use his car. Our neighbors were providing like, Oh, here's recipes that have helped with that before. And I really just saw like small town living, even though Santa Barbara's a small town. I guess it'd be a small city or a big town. They're kind of on that cusp there. Bealton's 5500 people. And at first when we got here, we felt very isolated. We didn't know where our tribe was and it was just our neighbors who were checking in on us all the time and they didn't know us from Adam. And they were willing to do that. And so after his chemo we got through that. I remember at one point he was like, you need a hobby because I kind of lost my entire identity to being a caretaker. So, after that took place. I was like, okay, I'm going to get involved. And I was like, I've always kind of. Transcendentially and kind of off the side been interested in politics. I have my bike, my little member and junior high watching Mr Smith goes to Washington, which gets everyone inspired. And I've seen house of cards, it's got everyone's inspired in a different way. And it was kind of like, this is interesting. So how could I get involved with that. So I applied to be on the planning commission for here in built in and didn't get it. I was informed by one of the council members that there was a lack of trust because of me being new. And my lifestyle kind of was questionable for sharing the values of the area. Wow. Yeah, it was, it was a little bit as like, okay, and so I always call that my pretty woman moment where I was like big mistake huge and so I decided to run for city council at that point. And so, ran decided in 22 to run for city council. Remember polling papers and telling my husband Jason just like, I think I'm going to do this. And he's like, okay, well, what do you need them ever calling my mom and she's like, Oh, God, are you sure like do you really want to get involved this way? I said, Mom, we're going to make this happen. So, um, ran in 22 and it was really exciting. And then built into small town, as I said, we were in districts is the first district election. So my entire district was only around like 14, 1500 people. So I was able to knock on every door twice in the neighborhood. My friends came up and I think they had a lot of just like, when you're in your 30s, it's like getting involved locally is such an unheard thing. So for them, it was this catharsis of like, whoa, we can come up, we can knock on doors, get to meet people. And it was really exciting. And so, after that, I think that some of my neighbors got annoyed because I knocked on their doors twice, called them twice like, okay, and then we get it you're running, you got our support. And so, got elected. And as soon as that happened, it was this real moment of recognizing there's so many people in this town who have always felt very disconnected from the community at large. And then they kind of pegged as a bedroom community, you buy your home, you put your family here you live here, you drive 30 minutes south, usually, most of the people who are in built and work in Santa Barbara, Lolita. You work and then you come home, have dinner, put your kids to bed and that's really it. And so there hasn't been a hard, like, or a strong sense of belonging in the area and so when I decided to get involved with the city council and got elected. My biggest thing to start with was, I, not to say it's the best example by my Catholic so Vatican to moment of like let's open the doors open the windows and bring new people in. And so it's been a really exciting 18 months we've been able to have kind of this new dynamic of people who moved here recently and people who have lived here for decades who have never really felt invited into the conversation to start really putting their thumbprints on where the community is going. And so, during that time it was, let's get Juneteenth starts we did our first children's Juneteenth event and so it was great to see children who were both of African heritage and non African heritage being able to connect and learn and educate and see each other and be seen in the community. And then we had our Hispanic heritage moment which there's a lot of Hispanic population here in built in who have never really felt invited to be celebrated. And so we did some of those things that was really just kind of the start of it up. Let's get people who've never felt like they're part of this community to start to identify as I'm part of built in and so that was kind of the first run for it. It's been kind of the leading symbol for and I always go back to the place of the best thing I can be doing is coming from a place of service. So wherever there's a need filling in for that need has been kind of my mantra of what council should be. Well, what a story in terms of getting started. I know you're not going to name the person who told you you might not be a good fit. But what, you know, you said it was your sort of, you know, pretty woman moment, you know, where someone tells you you can't do something and then you're going to do it. So talk to me about that. Were you surprised that they said that I mean part of it is the new thing but the real thing they're saying is probably the other thing is like you know lifestyle stuff. How did that motivate you because I think a lot of people would sort of be like, just maybe give up or say they don't want me and you know you you turn that into a motivator. So talk to me about that moment what went through your head. Yeah, it was very disheartening at the moment for it because you know, you think a progress kind of being a forward, forward, always moving forward type of thing and so I came out in 2006 I think it was I came out and I can't I live group and orchid I was going to St Joseph high school. And it was a conversation but not really that big of a deal I felt very fortunate to have a pretty receptive community around me. I feel very lucky for that so my family was pretty okay with everything my friends. I remember a few times there was this thing of like, it was a joke until I came out like oh you can't say that about anymore he actually is gay is like okay interesting rules of engagement here but that's like the honor among teenagers that were going on. And so you forget that it's something new for people. I know that living in Santa Barbara when I met my now husband. You know I work at UC Santa Barbara so does he you're kind of in these bubbles that are just a echo chamber of acceptance that I think happens and so I'm actually very grateful for it because it's given me kind of that reminder of like, though I've enjoyed acceptance in these different pockets, equity and equality are not uniform and not just kind of across the board so it was a moment for me to reflect and realize that there's still a lot of work to do and it also was a real kind of call to action for me of if I'm feeling this way in my 30s what are queer and trans youth in this area being told or fed who are still finding themselves still finding their identity still finding their tribe or where they fit in the world. And it really kind of just became this call to action of like, I want to prove that. I can overcome this, I can push against this narrative and normalize being a queer person I think that it's funny when I door knocked a lot of times I got to see like, I've never met a gay person before and I remember being like, oh yeah we need every second Wednesday down at the local pub like it was just like, I can show you my card it was a weird thing for them to just be like, no one's ever talked to me who's ever acknowledged that they were gay and so there just seems to be a lot of that work to do like what's what's make this a thing that's like, yeah, nice to meet you, I don't think, how's it going. And so it's been really great to see the community kind of move past that now and it's, you know, there's been sensitivity training when I first moved here a few people like oh who's your roommate or who's your friend is like okay, this is my husband at the time it was my fiance it's like we, we can use these words so it's been really great to see the community kind of be educated in us activate that that language to be more accepting. So what are the, the issues in Bealton, I think you outlined at the beginning that there's a perception that Bealton's a, a bedroom community that people live there and then they commute to Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, for some jobs. And there's obviously a lot going on in Bealton, Santa's Valley, I used to live in Saubang, you know, and I used to take my kid I still take my 10 year old when we're out there to. And so this is Riverview Park, you know, that's such a nice space for recreation and the playground and basketball and we've flown kites and the whole thing there, and that's a really great area. So, you know, I'm familiar with Bealton, but what are the local issues that you're focused on in this campaign as well as just currently serving on the council. So, I mean, first one that always comes up that we will I'm sure we'll be able to expand. So I'll go through the laundry list and then we can double back for the things you want to dive in on housing always sits there at the forefront of it. We have a small community with an urban growth boundary that we're working through and we can go into details on that a bit later but kind of that housing opportunity and viability for for living a lot of the jobs that are available in the county. So we're paying at a level that the home prices matched in built in so that's where we saw a lot of commuters come up here is that what type of salary you could make in Galedin Santa Barbara afforded you a home in built in but not in Galedin Santa Barbara. So that's the quickly diminishing as home prices and built in are going up in the compressions being filled farther and farther north so we're dealing with that. And then in weirdly positioned with having a bisection of the 101 and the 246 that kind of breaks us into quadrants so there is this issue of connectivity transportation and creating these little like micro communities that feel very disconnected from each other. And so transportation continues to be an issue with us of just how do you build I'm a big subscriber to the theory of a third spot. That is walkable, that is an economic corridor defined that's easy for people to reach when we are so clearly bisected by these two thoroughfare that just kind of isolates everyone and makes it difficult for accessibility or walkability of the area. And then we have a really, we have an aging senior population with a severe food insecurity issue. And so rural areas don't have access to social services that some urban areas are able to utilize. And so we kind of have to be very self sufficient. We, we don't have a hospital we don't have. We have a urgent care area but like our seniors are needed to do transportation to long put for dialysis or if you want to have a baby you've got a pick. Am I going to Santa Maria or Santa Barbara and so there's these kind of like a medical desert that we're in that we have to figure out how to make that work and it's really where supportive nonprofits provide a lot of that area of support for that. But the city starting to have to recognize like, we can't just rely on resources 30 minutes externally from us and how do we build inter city inter county relationships to help make the people in our area thrive. So those are kind of some of the top issues. The other ones we have a lot of young families that just recently relocated here. built in historically kind of has a history of being a service town USA or very for the traveler. And so when you have that historical context of being travel based of a pass through. There isn't really a lot of amenities that locals build connected to and that our youth can enjoy so unfortunately our movie theater went under. We're working to bring back our bowl bring a bowling alley that's been decades in the work but like, what do you do in built in that doesn't require you to drive 30 minutes out to recreate or like how do you tell your children there's something to do in this area. And there's something to do in this area to keep them motivated to stay in the area so that's kind of a long term issue we're working with to show that the built in has a vision of where it wants to be. Yeah, so you have that, you know, where they're across the street from the movie theater is that newer development with the Starbucks and the habit that's built in right. That's still city and then you get the grocery store across the street. There's a lot of sort of activity around that corner. Right off the highway, and you have the park, the housing situation so is the conversation where to build more housing and built in is are there places to build housing what is the conversation related to housing and built in. Well get ready for the deep dive of the history of built in and everything that goes on with it. So, um, built in was incorporated in the early 90s. In 2008, voters decided to create an urban growth boundary that was co term terminus with our city limits. So that meant that what built in was founded on in 1990 I think was 1992 is we can't expand out. So it led to a natural amount of infill, and it was meant to kind of avoid the sprawl that takes place and I've lived in Santa Maria for half my life I lived in Santa Barbara for almost half of my life. I've kind of seen what happens when you are allowed to build in every direction or when you're really kind of contained and forced to not be able to expand out so I've seen kind of the good and bad of both strategies employed with built in. And I'm very grateful that we had that urban growth boundary because it kind of forced some creative infill to take place so I live in high density housing here in built in, and me being able to purchase a home with my husband was very. So, um, I think it's really important that we were on timing because homes were being built in built in that were high density that we were able to find a concrete slab. And they're like, you don't need a down payment until the home is built you can reserve it and like oh my gosh as a millennial to have a runway of 18 months to save a down payment so I was able to take on extra jobs. And Jason I would like okay well we're going to have a high sodium diet of ramen right now to make this work but we're going to say for a down payment. It's been built there. And then built in actually kind of leading the way in the county with actually owe this to jet black who I met at the barbecue to call it attainable housing and not affordable housing because affordable is relative but attainable is more of that dream of attainable actually being able to live somewhere in the county so we have about 200 units of attainable housing being built here in built in it's all around my neighborhood actually. So we've got polo village, we have senior housing coming in and we have the built in garden partners. That is at the renter base for it to help people kind of get into a spot that allows them some housing security. The issue then goes is after 30 years of being within our seat limits we've really kind of done as much info as we can do you can still do a bit more here and there but. In solving the problem of housing we maximize our space for him. So with what I've been working on this time and it's been a good partnership with a few of the locals is to expand our urban growth boundary to go north. We keep the south side the east and the west there's reasons for all that but the north areas to start to identify that and be proactive in housing I think a lot of times people go, how do you solve the problem what do we do. And it's like, I don't have a solution but I do think that it's an ethical requirement to use every tool in the toolkit to try and address it. So instead of us being like oh gosh housing is always a problem. Let's proactively identify the next space that we could start to put housing, and could this be a thoughtful way where it won't impact our infrastructure poorly. Will it allow people to, you know, create a own subset of community and kind of start to address this bisection that we have that we can expand a bit north and start to diversify where our locations are. The other thing that we're going to go right now is to be leading the way in the area of we've done our infill housing let's look to the next 10 20 years and create those opportunities on the housing ladder. I always struggle with this is that you don't really worry about traffic report you don't worry about traffic studies or light pollution until you've bought your home, and then suddenly that becomes a really big issue and I recognize that as a homeowner myself. Get mine and then pull the ladder up behind me and I think that's something that is always like the self reflection check of. I want to preserve my home, of course, but I also can't remove the opportunity that allowed me to get a home from future generations who haven't had that opportunity yet. It's a product of luck and timing, in coupling with hard work. And I need to make sure that those opportunities exist for the future and so people want to come to built in. We should be looking at it from a scope of what is the market rate housing that people want for their single family home. What is the high density housing that allows people for the starter home which I've calling it starter home in California is insane because a starter home in California is like, no, that that's not a starter home that's like a seconds phase home for most states and so I just think we have to keep that in the back of our mind of, we need to be building homes to ensure that we are welcoming people to our community who want to be part of it and we invite them to that conversation. What do you do, what is your, your day job. Oh, so what's by by day, you see Santa Barbara, I'm involved with their digital fundraising so I, I used to work in hospitality, I worked for Hilton I worked at the Fest Parker double tree. San Diego I used to be a front office manager I call it I did one year of my study abroad outside of the county in San Diego and then I moved back quickly because there was more than one freeway and that freaked me out. So I got back here but yeah so now I work UCSB and do their digital fundraising. Yeah there's like the 805 and the 15 or the island in San Diego for a while and. You greatly appreciate where you grow up when you go to the big city. I also love to that I always get make fun of for my friends in LA where I'm like oh yeah I was in the big city of San Diego oh San Diego so big I was like it was a lot for me. So yeah now going from that to Santa Barbara and then down to built in this is kind of I didn't realize how much small town living can be so impactful for making you feel like. I'm in a smaller town but I know way more people versus when I was in a larger town and was a complete stranger to everyone. So let's go back a little bit you grew up in orca right and you look so what was your upbringing like I mean, this is a stereotype and assumption but you know we people on the south coast with always think like. Oh the valley or you know Santa Maria North County it's so conservative right and so did you grow up in a conservative household where you conservative and then went to college and change can you talk to me about sort of where your liberal values came from. Definitely my family was definitely oh thanksgiving was the cliche. It was very bisected in my family of staunch conservative and very staunch liberal and so I early on learned the negotiation quickly of like as a seven or eight year old of how to thread the needle and like oh boy here we go and like. My mom's side is a product of union labor and union were my dad's side was more conservative mostly from a religious standpoint that came from it but it was interesting. My dad's side even though they were conservative. In a religious way it was always a thing like but once something was in the family it was accepted and normalized because family came over to those values so my conservative side of my family was very accepting of myself and Jason there wasn't an issue and certainly we don't have like we will now make this part of our lexicon that is okay type of thing so but yeah growing up it was very conservative I went to St Joseph high school and I remember in 2004 there was a random straw poll of like, who would you vote for I'm 14 or something at the time and I'm like just projecting what my parents and it's like, oh you know it sounds like my family's going for John Kerry you could just see everyone be like, who are you how dare you. Oh, that was my first awareness of being in a conservative area I had no clue up till then because politics just wasn't, I just thought everyone was like my family like half are blue and half are red and we'll just figure out how to negotiate it. So then when I went to UCSB that was really kind of the moment first time of being in like a group of like minded people the progressive I was like oh this is pretty cool but still had to do a little bit of the education for that at the time 2007 2008 I'm like, what's a gay person who are you what's queer culture like whoa even in this platform I have to do a lot of that so it was a good mix for me kind of early on I think what really imposed for me was this kind of moderation that came from it points that my conservative side and points that my liberal side would make that I was like oh that makes sense that makes sense or that's crazy kind of thing. And so it's kind of led me to have this attitude of always keeping my cup only at most 90% full to leave 10% for new information, new ideas like there's some convictions I hold very true but I work to always leave a space for it because I need to be open to new information and not disqualify it just based upon party preference or party ideologies. And that's kind of been very helpful and built in because I've met very conservative people who care less that I'm queer, but have a lot of ideas that they're like I'm concerned about this that man that that's actually a very fair and valid point, but I need to keep that space available to sit in my own ideas if I am the expert in the room it's like oftentimes I'm not, and there's really good ideas coming from multiple sources and if we could crowdsource those together that'll be the best solution. Yeah, and I think that's what caught my attention. One of the things at the Labor Day event was, you did come across as somebody confident in your political beliefs, but you would listen to everyone, you know, and you're, you're talking to Democrats right, you could very easily be not say those things because that crowd is going to welcome you no matter what but you were saying things as though the world was watching whether they were liberal or Democrat, you know, and I did like how you said, you know, you were going to talk about your opponent, you know, and then you said, bless this mess, which was hilarious, you know, it's like so, you know, kind and tactful, right, you know, it's, it's, I always come back to the thing of, there are personal issues that can come up there are boundaries there's the nature of politics leads to this pitting of each other, and the two things I've been kind of holding on to as one is, I think the day I do know that my opponent wants to do what they pursue to be the best thing for built in and I want to respect that. I may disagree what it is, but at the heart of it, I know they're trying to do what's best for it and that always helps you kind of ease the tension of what's going on if you remember that this is just your perception of what's the best thing for built in, and that your tensions aren't malicious they're just in my opinion, incorrect of where you want to go. The other one that I always come back to is I don't view this as like a pitting against two people I view politics a bit more as like less of a basketball game and more of a marathon. I'm just trying to run the best time that I can. And if that gets me there first great if not, it's my own self training and I have to kind of keep it up like I'm not running against someone I'm running against myself. And when you stay focused on that kind of really decreases the heat taking place because I don't want, I may win. If I lose I still want to be able to work with the person and I want the community to feel like we have a unified front at the end of this election and so it's important for me to always keep that in mind of like my opponent is a person just trying to do the best they can living life for the first time they've ever gotten to live life too. And there should be grace attached with that all the time. Yeah, that's great. So you said at the Labor Day thing that a year ago, you were a nobody you know and you were so grateful to the party. So can you talk about how the party has embraced you been influential because you know the party gets criticized, you know myself included you know about being sort of insular right like if you didn't grow up in the party through activism years of canvassing and phone banking for other candidates or through the UCSB system that you can be like a good Democrat but never really embraced because you weren't part of the party apparatus. And we know there's a lot of good Democrats out there who are going to vote for Kamala Harris who don't know anything about the local party is just how it is but you seem to be able to the sink and click and you know they found you you found them. Can you talk about how that happened and how you were able to, you know, become not a nobody while sinking up with them. Yeah, I honestly think that there was a level of novelty that I have to acknowledge of just like, you don't really expect to hear someone like me running for something like city council and built in. And so I do think first off there was just like, we've got a live one kind of thing that came out. I won't acknowledge that just that was it I actually owe a lot to council member Lewis who serves on city council with me right now. She was the only person who made a vote to try and see me on the planning commission back in 21. And then I got to know her a bit more and she gave some mentorship and she was, she's not super engaged with the party but she had at least some awareness of like, have you thought about seeking the endorsement or things of that sort. And so she ran for mayor two years ago she lost by a few votes, but she kind of at least provided the groundwork of, you should email so and so and I had had the convenience at one point. Many years ago of knowing Jordan kill a brew, who on Instagram saw that I was running for city council and he's like, have you searched the party so there was these really weird kind of echoes from my past relationships that were just like, have you thought of this before or to the fact of just like a network that kind of helped guide me there because when you're first running for things. It was insane to navigate that like I've got it signatures when it's this deadline and then like the endorsement has to happen and so when the I got kind of at the very tail end of the endorsement process. I remember most of the questions there was like, who are you, what are you doing in built in why are you there and so I think for them they were kind of just like, okay. It sounds like he could work with us a bit and we've never really had someone from built and try it out so I think that was kind of a good entry point is that there's just so few Dems from the North County, who are getting we're getting involved at the time there's a lot more now. But that's kind of been what I led with a lot to ever since I got that involved with the party and kind of got the endorsement and then started getting more involved was, I have always viewed an obligation to help. There are people who are like, Oh, you want to get involved. Here's the things it kind of like pay it forward for the people who helped me like here so you should contact here's the email and I break down that barrier of entry that maybe because it's so well known in South County and such a well oiled machine that like maybe it's just those networks and communications haven't been happening in North County so that's where the partnership started and I think the party's been very appreciative of just like we're bringing some new people into the fold I think Democrats always like to say it's like a big tent, and it's like well a big tent so only good if you're actually pushing it up high enough for other people to come in and so I feel an obligation to keep pushing it up as high as we can so people who are kind of on the fringe or maybe like I'm not sure do I belong here. It's like we should be answering that question like of course you do everyone does it's it's open to everyone and if we're going to be a party of equity and equality and inclusion. We need to have that translate translate into how we're helping support other dens in the area. Yeah, that's great so you're running for mayor right so it's a little different than the district election because in district elections you can kind of target certain in neighborhoods and by design you know they might be a little more liberal or not but it's a smaller base so now you're running citywide. What what are the challenges for you you're taking on an incumbent running for reelection. This is not a sure thing for you by any means it's a it's an uphill battle I would imagine. Can you talk a little bit about your attitude going in there taking on an incumbent and having to appeal city wide. Can you talk about how built in you know is it a little more conservative not as much as it used to be but still is. Yeah. So it's interesting because the experience with my my account or the district race. It was it was against someone who had served on council before and had a lot of name recognition and had the support of the community and I remember at that point being told like, you know, probably not going to get it like it was kind of that thing it was like it's cute for you to try, you know come back next time I was like oh boy I love the confidence even from people who were on my side I remember them being like, but like you're going to be okay if you lose right and I was like oh, thank you for all that. And so I approach running for mayor the same way I approach for council which are for the district seat which was just. I have an obligation to we're a small town. We're 5500 people. I think there's 3,400 doors. Not every door in my district, and I will knock on every door in this city I'm about 90% of the way done I was doing it yesterday today before the heat gets too bad I'll do it again. And what I find is that that seems to be kind of a lost art form maybe I'm not sure if that's how it is in South County but up here. I would never expect someone to vote for me. Who I didn't make the effort to connect with now now I don't get everyone doesn't answer the door of course or some people look through the blinds like we're good and like I'm not selling solar I promise. That's a big one I get. But a lot of times it's there's a level of I got a few emails actually an email from a gentleman yesterday who said I'm sorry to answer my door you left your marker and I was like I was rude to you but I wasn't expecting you to be trying and you're out here doing it. People really respect when you, you take the effort to meet them where they are. And so I keep coming back to you like my best way to win to be mayor is to show I'm committed to representing our community as a whole. And I want I've gotten some of the best ideas from residents like have you ever thought of this like oh I'm stealing that thank you will give you trademarks trademark rights later on, but that's kind of been it's get the name out there and have them know who I am. I think sometimes in local politics, because we all live in this echo chamber again of like people who pay attention people who care people who are following it. We think that the mass populations doing that. And it's like no we've got 20 eyes on us who are very invested, but you've got a thousand eyes who don't even know who you are I get a lot of questions we have on there. There's a city council or where do you live and I had to go to run for this act 11 built and that oh I didn't even know we had a government like it's this weird thing that I think we assume people are as invested and have the time at the end of the day being invested and engaged in politics is kind of from a place of privilege you have to have the time to do so you have to have the bandwidth mentally, you have to just not be exhausted at the end of the day to go to a council meeting at six o'clock when you're like you just got home from work or hungry or something like that. And so I don't take for granted that anyone knows who I am, but I also will then be like then it's my obligation to come to them, talk to them here where they invite them to give me their feedback. And maybe they'll vote for me maybe they won't but I want them to know like even if you don't vote for me, I'd love to know your insight and what you'd like to see in the community because I want to represent that. And that seems to resonate with the voters a lot. I think a lot of people are supporting me because I show up and put in the time. I want to be able to help support them whatever they are but I think they're just refreshed if like no one's ever seemed to take an interest in me before. And it's like I have so much interest to you because I don't know how to do this on my own. And I don't know what the city wants to have happened and I'd love for you to help me have an informed decision by your perspective on that and I think people like to feel welcome to that conversation. It's so amazing David I just got to say you know and I talked to all the lectins over the years but you know you have a really good ability to be humble but driven and not talk at people but talk to people. And I would imagine if you're talking like this at the door you know you're going to get a lot of people to vote for you regardless of you know what a party registration is and of course these are nonpartisan races to begin with. But it's a definitely unique trait you know I haven't heard you once today say this is how you should be or how anyone should be like you haven't told you haven't lectured you just sort of talked about yourself and your views you know and I think that's a style and a presentation where you know you obviously have your your thoughts in your head but if people don't feel judged and told how to think they tend to will get to the place you want them to get. You know much sooner, you know so it's a good quality that you have. I actually would I appreciate you saying that I remember one of the best conversations I had is someone who definitely politically at a national level is very as far for me as you could probably be. And I remember at one point them saying well what is your party registration is like well and a registered Democrat, but this is a nonpartisan role. And so I don't have to deal with the craziness at the national level I can actually just sit here and be like what do you want me to do what can we solve for this. And we were able to connect at some point I was able to share about my issues with the medical system in California because of how hard I had to fight to get Jason through his cancer. And my mother-in-law is dealing with dementia and like what that experience has been. And what I found is once I shared that vulnerability of like I'm struggling here and I have these issues. It really allowed they shared with me there like issues historically with like loved ones who had passed or things like that and we kind of had this really kind of come to not come to Jesus moment of this kind of like come together moment of like, you're struggling on this and I'm struggling on this and we both would like to approach it at different ways and we've been promised different things by different sides of the aisle. But really you and I are most close together because we are sharing in this experience. And your perspective in my perspective together was like, it was very empowering because I would have thought by how they presented themselves. There was not a chance that they'd ever support someone like me. And when I walked away from that, you've got my vote. I really appreciate talking to me. I was like, people just want to be treated like humans and like people and like the party designation can really detract from the ability to remember like, inherently people want to be good. And inherently people want to be good to each other. And I was just kind of keep that option available like that's really what we're here to do. Yeah. So are you going to be able to bring back a piece of Anderson's or we do we want it back? No. That is the third rail topic we do not bring up. There's a very strong opinion on how you felt on their soup and I will keep that one I'll take that to the grave. Does that come up as an issue in built in a business development. Is that because I know in piece of Anderson's closed it was like a huge national story, you know, what is the business economy, vitality issues that are people are talking about in built in. Yeah, so we have a kind of strange mix here. When you think of the Valley, first you everyone goes to solving it's kind of the more known city between us, and you had to drive through us to get there so if you don't know where built in is you've been through there. And we have the better gas prices that's usually what we're known for is so solving is very dependent upon tourism that's a big, big portion of their economy, built in being kind of solving adjacent we have a good mix of hotels. So during COVID, we, we felt the impact of that of tourism decrease, but then we also have a, like we have industrial way, we have a lot more of like industrial market businesses that are in place here, that kind of provide more of the blue color jobs of the area. And so we made out much better after COVID, then some of our partner cities because we had a mixed economy between tourism and manufacturing and industrial. That is still our mix right now we do have businesses coming in, the part that we always have to kind of explain is the market being present for it. People struggle because you go to solving you go to Los Olivo so you go to the wine country. You don't really think of built in. And so we have restaurants that are now coming into the area and that's kind of becoming a bigger sector for us because I think people are realizing that when people come to the Valley now there's the LA traveler who used to come up for a day trip and then drive back down. But we're seeing that they're starting to stay for like a weekend three days a bit longer and they start to explore out a bit and I always feel like people will, you know, it's like when you go to Anaheim, you'll stay at Disneyland. But after a while you're like maybe we should look around at what else is going around here and you kind of find these little pockets and built in starting to get a bit more of that, that kind of notoriety. So as we continue to have our housing mix be adjusted. We're seeing some new businesses coming in and I'm a believer of like business follows ingenuity. And so as we work to try and open up our, our, our permitting plans and as we tried it like I'm a big advocate I'm very proud of our chamber and visit the Alton and kind of group. We're actually back we love your business what do you need to what do we need to do to make your business successful I work for UCSB. I'm the farthest things from an entrepreneur that I could think of because I am terrified at small businesses it is a gamble that I find. So terrifying so the least that I can do is make sure that like when a new coffee shop opens or a restaurant opens up, it's take photos of the menu share the hours because we it's like, or if it's like, we need to be supporting this local business and we're seeing more and more of that come in and I like to think that there's kind of getting out that built in this chill place that if you wanted to start a new business, the city is going to invest and support you and now there's a community of people who also, there's a large enough population that would be willing to come and support these new kind of more niche businesses we can be more than just gas station and a drive through restaurant and we're seeing that start to come to fold after the last couple years. Yeah, I know that whenever Paula's pancake house is busy and solving. Go over to Ellen's and have breakfast there, but they're also got a super busy line out there so maybe you can cultivate more places to have breakfast and be able to, you know, that would be. Yes, no, I agree with you, if Paula's is I gave up on Paula's no I'm sure it's delicious but I was like, you go to Ellen's and then we have Mother Hubbard's that's just down the way and also you can't be upset when you have places called like Ellen's pancake house and Mother Hubbard's it's like, okay we gotta check this out like there's a level of where you just gotta like be happy about in this area. Exactly, just a couple more questions you know you talked about Jason is his name your husband, and his battle with cancer and sort of that toughening you up and becoming an expert and you've been through all of this you know when they like a community and that leads to your interest in maybe running for office and so it sounds like that's been a huge part of your life is just sort of going through that experience. But let's talk a little bit just a little bit more about your background you know you grew up in orca, Catholic family, kind of half half conservative half liberal you went to UCSB. And so then did you go to San Diego or where did you go after after you talk a little bit more about your background and sort of your life journey. Yeah so my family comes so, as I said so I come from a family of ranchers on my dad's side, and then farmers in my mom's side my family on my mom's side from South Dakota and if you've ever heard of Webster South Dakota, the biggest market kids say is that it's six hours east of Mount Rushmore which should tell you how many markers there are in South Dakota. And so I kind of come from a background of an ag family with that. But it's really special because, since I've been door knocking I've met people who knew my grandparents who have now passed, and they've talked to me about like oh, he'll does your grandmother I used to ride with her. In the horse drawn carriage out from her ranch to the school house here in built and I'm like what world am I living in where I'm meeting people who knew them that way. Or there was a democratic event in lompoke on a walnut farm that I was informed my aunt and my great aunt and uncle were neighbors to like oh yeah they used to pick walnuts and drive them together to make her cowboy cookies I'm like, this is crazy like I had no clue as a child, how much my family was involved in this area and now I'm meeting them as adults by their peers after they've gone and it's so been this really kind of like reliving of my family history in a way that is so special I mean they've been gone for 10, 15 years I'm meeting people who talked to them like they were just here yesterday so that kind of has been my background is just these you know Portuguese family, they were at the fesh does they did they were in lompoke as the lompoke queen. So I went went when it orchid when I grew up in orchid UCSB was just the natural place to go because I wanted to go to college but I was scared to go too far and so like okay it's an hour drive. It's close enough in case of emergency to go home but too far for my parents to visit daily type of thing so I went to school at UCSB. I do best when very challenged with a lot of topics so I got a degree in religious studies communications and economics I was just like I just want to absorb as much as I can and honestly the religious studies one was the most interesting because I think that's going to talk to people with differing views and kind of Lord I will say that that was the most though the other ones gave me very functional skills religious studies really opened my mind to an inclusive world of just like wow we're all just trying to do the same thing the best we can. So graduate from UCSB and then an opportunity to go to San Diego and I was like maybe I should try living out of the county for a year just you know that's a healthy thing to do. And so I was single at the time and I was like I would like to meet someone and maybe a bigger, bigger pond I might find somebody moved to San Diego within six months I come back to visit friends and I meet my husband. I know husband Jason there and I remember hitting off like are you kidding me I just moved. I just moved and you live in Santa Barbara where were you. And so I had to wait the six months to make it not seem creepy to move back because otherwise it'd be like oh no this is a red flag right there. And so moved back to Santa Barbara and worked for the best Parker double tree for a while and then got a job at UCSB and alumni and then eventually to development. And so that's kind of been the journey for it and then moved to built in 2019 and so it's been a really kind of eye opening experience throughout all that of getting to live in all these different parts of the county. And I'm kind of just seeing how it's evolved over time I remember as a child. Orchid was pretty chill and the valley was very ruby red conservative perception and now I kind of would say that orchids gotten a bit more conservative and the valleys gotten a bit more progressive and so I feel like I kind of landed in the sweet spot where my honestly like my upbringing it feels like it's just thanksgiving 24 seven here and built enough these kind of mixes between the two sides. And I like that dynamic it's a bit more. It's a bit more energetic to have not just people all agreeing with each other or being arguing about like I agree only 90% like well if you don't agree 100% and that's what we're going to find about here it's like, oh we are on far ends apart from it and we got to find a solution that brings us to this point. It's been more rewarding in my opinion so that's been a lot of fun. Yeah, that's great and that's a lot of degrees to communication religious studies economics but this you're going to play for a lot of jobs but that's oh yeah it was honestly the. The econ gave me the thing to be like okay so I understand how to make like a budget work but the communications religious studies were great because it really taught me how to talk to people. And that's been what I really derived my value from it's like that's my sweet spot I need someone else to explain the money to me better I have enough knowledge to be dangerous but not good enough to make a decision without some good insight. Yeah, and then it goes to that thing is people won't really remember what you tell them but they will remember how you make them feel, you know, so you make them feel a certain way they'll do anything or they'll they'll be with you, you know, to support you and a lot of things so yeah it's a free therapy session every time I got on a door it's like well we might I've met the people who are like oh my husband just passed five days ago. And I was like well this is going to be the rest of my day and we'll sit there for 45 minutes I'm like, this is I this is very intriguing now sometimes when it's 95 degrees out here I'll be like, I can feel the sweat drifting that my back then like this is the most vulnerable anyone has ever been and it's with a stranger so clearly they need this right now and I find it just to be like this is this is what I'm here to do this is why I woke up today was to be here for this person so it's always fabulous. Exactly. I just was we wrap up I just wanted to sort of give you the last word here and maybe just talk a little bit about, you know, you're kind of a role model as an elected official but you're also a role model as somebody who's queer out publicly running for office. And so there are many people as you know who are not ready to do, you know, run for office and they're not ready to run for office office is being out and queer and you're, they look to you and they're like wow you know this guy can do it. And he's done it. So can you just sort of wrap up, you know, any advice you have for young people or any people of any age really who see you and sort of say wow this guy is being himself and people are responsive to him. And he's climbing another mountain here by trying to be the mayor. Can you just talk to people watching listening who see you as sort of an inspiration and maybe you're going to be that person for them who's like. David, David, I can do it. Yeah, I hope that that I hope that happens for someone. I always want to recognize that like I have some of the greatest privilege possible as a queer person I may cisgender white male. And so I don't have the same, there are struggles within the queer community that like I cannot identify with but the piece that I can do to contribute to that is I remember when I first were getting my my walk piece together. That was very purposeful like I want to put the word husband in there and some of my friends and allies are you sure that could be it's like, if I don't normalize it by saying there is nothing shameful about this, or that I'm worried about consequences from it. What's that message to other people. And so what I feel is my biggest one is I have to lead. I don't want to be the gay candidate I'd like to be the candidate who is gay and just have that be this thing of like yeah I'm a queer person with respect to everything I do similar to you being a man or a person we know it's like it's just part of who I am. And so what I feel with anyone who's thinking of running or queer considering running for it is this thing of it was so for so long. I remember how important it was when people in pop culture started talking about gay plot lines. And I remember how important it was like when anyone in an office at a higher level or at a national level was, you know, it was queer or anything of that sort. You start to see people who are like you doing things you dream of doing. It just removes one voice in their head saying maybe you're not good enough. And so for me, I have to fight that every day, and I have imposter syndrome. I'm an anxious gay man with Catholic guilt like that's just part of the thing that comes with it. What I find is that when I do what I'm doing right now and I hear from parents who are like, it meant a lot that built in had fried flags put on the 246 with zero issues. And it gives hope to these kids that are kind of like, maybe I could do it too. I see a lot of just like, you're going to do it if you want to and you're going to do it so much better than I am. And all I should be serving for is to just be there to give you that like hands to step on to climb over the next fence. I think that, you know, for me, we have the queer population, and we really need to talk about also with the support of the trans population that is really being right now and really isolated. And I lean on the fact that people before me knocked down wall so that I could have be here today. I could not be running for mayor of built in as an out gay person. 10 years ago, five years ago maybe even then but it's because of the people who put the groundwork in so all I know is that the legacy that I could leave best for this race for mayor is just to have one person out there who thinks that because of their identity because of who they are inherently because of who they wake up as in the morning, they would not be supported by the community. And if I could take a data point to be like, no, look, built in doesn't care. And you could do it with a lot of tenacity hard work and some severe sweat while you do or knock make it happen. And I just think that that's what I could do as my own part to pay back all the people before me who have made it possible for me to do this today. So that's kind of where I'm at with like if you think you want to run do it because even if you don't win or if you face hardship and I'm sorry if you do someone behind you now can get a little bit closer to what you were hoping for and we all move forward that way. Well, perfectly said, what a great way to end the show, David, and you are in the third district, by the way, so, you know, I have options who knows, but David so I really appreciate your time. Thanks so much for talking, sharing your story, talking about the issues in built in and yeah, just great conversation so thank you appreciate it. Thank you, Josh, it is so nice to get to have a chance to chat with you. All right, have a great day, take care. [BLANK_AUDIO]