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Sonja Brunner skipped the debate forum at the Hotel Paradox on Thursday evening. Is she the only council candidate in our city who has done so? It was definitely an acknowledgement of how far out of step she is with the neighborhood that she proposes to represent.

She had nothing to gain by answering questions from her opponent, the forum moderators, or from the audience. Doing so would only expose the gulf between her and the majority of her district’s voters.

It was only happenstance that, when the district lines were drawn, Brunner ended up in the lower Eastside district. She lived there as an at-large council member. Her interests lie elsewhere — Brunner is the director of operations for the city’s Downtown Association. This group’s interests and priorities have little to do with those of the Seabright neighborhood and the lower Eastside.

She has shown scant interest in neighborhood issues. Her voting record makes that clear. For example, when she voted to upzone the lots on the south side of Soquel Avenue, along “the corridor,” she didn’t consult with the business owners there — many of whom are opposed to the increased heights and densities that have resulted in the zoning codes. Ask them, they will confirm this.

Brunner went early to the YIMBY people for their endorsement and got it. The irony — the Seabright neighborhood is the YIMBY neighborhood of Santa Cruz. It is zoned differently from the rest of the established neighborhoods. Many of the lots have two, three, four, even five residential units on a single lot. Yet we worry that she favors stuffing even more housing into Seabright, while other city neighborhoods remain mostly zoned for single-family housing. Are we right about her agenda? We could have asked her on Thursday.

Big money and the support of the established politicians might get her elected. Her opponent, Hector Marin, is poorly funded and has to rely on door-to-door grassroots campaigning. The more she can obscure her agenda, the better it is for Sonja Brunner. Hence, she was a no-show Thursday night.

If she is elected, the lower Eastside will not have anyone who truly represents them on the council.

Alan Speidel

Eastside Santa Cruz