State Street Advisory Committee Members Named
Fifteen Movers and Shakers Selected to Chart Future Course of Santa Barbara’s Main Drag
The future of State Street has been the focus of much collective soul-searching and hand-wringing, and this Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council voted to appoint 15 movers and shakers to the State Street Advisory Committee to chart the future course for the city’s defining main drag and mainstay of its cultural and economic identity.
More than 95 applicants initially applied. Getting the three council seats on the committee were councilmembers Michael Jordan, Meagan Harmon, and Alejandra Gutierrez. Filling the three slots set aside for the business community will be developer and property owner Peter Lewis, Chamber of Commerce head Kristen Miller, and Downtown Santa Barbara executive Robin Elander.
For the seven at-large positions, the top two vote-getters were Roger Durling, best known as executive director of the Santa Barbara Film Festival, and Dave Davis, former head of the city’s Community Development Department and now on the board of Metropolitan Transit District and the city’s Water Commission. In addition, Davis has been long active with the Community Environmental Council.
Also appointed was Dianne Black, former head of the county’s Planning Department. Likewise appointed were Kenneth Saxon, longtime civic activist with powerful ties to the county’s nonprofit community; Hillary Blackerby, mainstay of the Democratic Party and staff person with the Metropolitan Transit District; Susan Tejada, an architect with mobility issues strongly supported by access advocates; and Nadra Ehrman, a property manager for the Towbes Group.
Selected as alternates were Michael Becker, an über-wonk and planner with Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, and Marge Cafarelli, developer, businessperson, and owner of the Public Market. Representing the Planning Commission will be Roxana Bonderson — a relatively recent appointee — and representing the Historic Landmarks Commission will be architect Ed Lenvik, a mainstay of the city’s many design review boards and commissions.
