Santa Barbara Mayoral Candidates Talk Racism, E-bikes at Youth-Led Forum

With Santa Barbara's mayoral election just weeks away, the three candidates vying to lead the city faced some of their toughest questioning of the campaign season Friday — and it came from students.

Wendy Sims-Moten, Eric Friedman and Kristen Sneddon appeared at a youth-led candidate forum hosted by the NAACP Santa Barbara branch, where local students pressed them on how the city should respond to racism in schools, whether young people of color could become targets of e-bike enforcement, and how to make transportation work for low-income residents.

The panelists asking the questions were Dos Pueblos High School students Sofia Summerhill and Jaxon Honeycutt and Santa Barbara City College students Arielle Goodson and Dillan Scott, according to Noozhawk, which first reported on the event. The forum was one of the candidates' final joint appearances before voters choose the city's next mayor on Nov. 3.

The exchange came at a charged moment for Santa Barbara families. The forum's questions about racism followed a recent Blackface incident at San Marcos High School, an episode that has renewed debate over how the Santa Barbara Unified School District handles race-related incidents on its campuses.

Candidates Split on How Schools Should Handle Racism

Sims-Moten, a former board president of the Santa Barbara Unified School District, said she was disappointed to learn of the incident because she believed the district had made progress in recent years, Noozhawk reported.

"To be here again is simply not OK," Sims-Moten said, adding that schools are part of the broader community and that adults share responsibility for responding. "Just because it's in the school doesn't mean it's not our responsibility as well, as adults."

She called for more accountability from schools and the Santa Barbara County Education Office, more community education, and direct work with students affected by racist actions.

Sneddon pointed to her record on the City Council, noting that after the murder of George Floyd she and Councilman Oscar Gutierrez worked to declare racism a public health crisis and invited Healing Justice Santa Barbara to present to the council. The city subsequently formed its police oversight committee and secured ongoing funding for Juneteenth celebrations.

"If I were to give advice to the school district right now, I would say stop what you're doing, stop everything, bring everyone together, have training, have accountability there," Sneddon said. "It's absolutely unacceptable."

Friedman took a different approach, highlighting the Teen Court Program run through the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, in which teens explain what happened before a jury of their peers who determine how the situation should be resolved. Peer accountability, he argued, is more powerful than traditional punishment.

E-bike Enforcement and Equity

The students also zeroed in on one of the city's most contentious issues: e-bikes. Ridership has surged among young people, and so have complaints about dangerous riding — raising concerns among some residents and advocates that new enforcement could fall disproportionately on youths of color.

Sneddon said dangerous riding isn't limited to teenagers, noting she has seen older riders behaving recklessly as well. She warned against criminalizing e-bike use or targeting youth based on appearance.

"I'm not going to sit here and pretend that that's not a genuine risk," she said of unequal enforcement. She suggested the city could engineer roads differently to encourage safer riding and use the police oversight committee to monitor for disparities in enforcement.

Friedman framed the issue around education, engineering and enforcement. Rather than confiscating bikes after a first violation, he said, riders behaving dangerously should be required to complete a safety course. He also proposed concentrating enforcement in high-traffic areas where officers could issue warnings to unsafe riders.

"We want to make sure we're giving everybody the right opportunity to show that they're having safe behavior," Friedman said.

Sims-Moten emphasized ongoing dialogue between safety advocates and the young people who would be affected by new rules. When people feel something is about to be taken away, she said, "they're going to get creative on how to make sure it stays."

Transportation Gaps for Low-Income Riders

On how to improve mobility for low-income students and residents, the candidates offered distinct prescriptions.

Friedman said the city must make it safe to cycle across town, incentivize bus and bike use, and promote housing near jobs and schools so residents can walk rather than depend on cars. Building housing near workplaces, he said, "is incredibly powerful."

Sims-Moten pointed to grant funding as a way to improve transportation options and cover bus pass costs for low-income individuals.

Sneddon was the most blunt, criticizing Santa Barbara's bus system for offering limited service at high fares.

"I don't think the level of service matches the cost of what it is, so it needs to get better," she said. She also endorsed free downtown parking for local residents and a free shuttle running up and down State Street.

What Comes Next

The forum underscored the role young residents are playing in a race that will shape how Santa Barbara addresses equity, mobility and public safety in the years ahead. With the election set for Nov. 3, voters will soon decide which of the three candidates — a former school board leader, a longtime council member, and a sitting councilwoman — will lead the city through conversations that, as Friday's event made clear, are increasingly being driven by the students themselves.