Five candidates for three Capitola City Council seats; budget, revitalizing mall, affordable housing are top concerns

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Candidates

Yvette Brooks, the incumbent and mayor in 2021, is executive director of the Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Your Future Is Our Business. Brooks has been on the Capitola City Council for the past four years. Before that, she worked on special education issues for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education

Community Voices Election 2022

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Joe Clarke is a retired Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s sergeant who has held various law enforcement titles, including serving as a K-9 deputy, a SWAT team member, a hostage negotiator and as director of police services at Cabrillo College.

Enrique Dolmo Jr. is athletic director of New Brighton Middle School and also serves as the school’s security supervisor, transportation operator and a head coach. Dolmo is also president of the district’s union and says he successfully negotiated the largest staff raise in union history. He has lived in Capitola for 12 years.

Lookout note: Dolmo did not respond to Lookout’s requests for responses; his campaign site is here.

Gerry Jensen is co-owner of a construction and development firm. He has worked in the operations, construction and transportation departments for Campbell Union School and Moreland School districts. He has served as a union president and chief union negotiator. He was a reserve deputy in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office for close to seven years. Jensen has lived in Capitola since 2013.

Alexander Pedersen is the owner of Pedersen Home Enhancement, a home repair and maintenance business. Pedersen also works at the Santa Cruz County Small Business Development Center and serves on Capitola’s finance advisory committee. He serves on the Second Harvest Food Bank’s board of trustees and as an ambassador for the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce.

Yvette Brooks

Please tell readers why they should vote for you. What specifically sets you apart from your competitors?

It has been my honor to serve as mayor and a member of the Capitola City Council for the past four years. We have accomplished a lot, but much work remains. That’s why I’m running for reelection, to continue working on our community’s biggest challenges.

My priority has been to ensure Capitola is sustainable, safe, and family-friendly. Beyond my service on the council, I have spent my adult life advocating for quality education, advising on child care and serving on several commissions.

As a mother of a young daughter in Capitola, my top priority will always be working hard to ensure future generations like her can live, work and grow in this amazing community.

My education at UC Santa Cruz, work experience at the County Office of Education, leadership as the executive director of a local nonprofit, plus years of community involvement in Capitola have taught me that investing early in children and families, supporting community service, building public safety programs and protecting our environment is fundamental to sustaining a healthy community. I hope I have earned your support over the past four years and I would be honored to have your vote this November.

Please focus on the single most important issue facing your city and how, if elected, you will address it. Be as specific as space allows.

Answer: Budget.

There are many issues facing our city, each warranting its own concerns; however, without adequate funding, our city will not be able to address any of them.

In order to address the rise of retirement costs, inflation and new housing requirements, offer livable wages, maintain our roads, parks and beaches, we will have to explore a new funding option after the expiration of Measure F in 2027. Our staff and city council have done a tremendous job, especially while helping the city recover from the pandemic. We have successfully supported business, families and youth in our community, but in order to continue to do so, the city council will need to explore next steps now.

If reelected, I will continue to advocate for the city’s economic vitality through smart and strategic budget planning, encouraging staff to continue to apply for grants, while maintaining our relationships both at the state and federal level. In addition, I will be open to exploring potential funding opportunities that bring in ongoing revenue that impact our community equitably before the expiration of Measure F. We must plan smart now so that Capitola can continue to be the beautiful place it is today.

Joe Clarke

Please tell readers why they should vote for you. What specifically sets you apart from your competitors?

I believe I am the most qualified candidate for Capitola City Council. For the past 35 years, I have dedicated my life to serving this community, where I have been fortunate to raise my three children and two grandchildren.

Throughout my career in law enforcement, I have held several positions that have given me an appreciation for what it takes to properly administer all affairs of the city. My duties included K-9 officer, school resource officer, SWAT team member, hostage negotiator, bailiff supervisor of the Santa Cruz Superior Courts, search-and-rescue supervisor, and director of police services at Cabrillo College. My academic experience includes Cabrillo College, CSU Long Beach, and the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute.

I believe we need to protect our neighborhoods and our financial base. I also believe we need to provide substantial public safety for our residents, improve our city streets and preserve our city’s distinctive seaside character.

I am committed to working hard to achieve these goals and be a strong advocate with community-minded planning for our future. I will continue to strongly support community programs like Capitola Public Safety and Community Services Foundation, Capitola Junior Guards and Operation Surf. Experience matters.

Please focus on the single most important issue facing your city and how, if elected, you will address it. Be as specific as space allows.

Answer: The Capitola mall redevelopment project.

I remember going to the Capitola Mall in the 1980s when there were crowds, a booming food court, and just a general hustle and bustle of people everywhere. Forty years later the mall is just a mere shadow of what it once was. Before the pandemic, there was discussion of a plan to redevelop the mall with a mixed-use concept that included a new open-air design with a main commercial street, new commercial space, a theater and 400 to 600 residential units.

Currently, the City of Capitola does not have an active redevelopment plan, and I believe it’s time we get the redevelopment plan back on track. Building costs have skyrocketed the past few years and Capitola has to get the developers back to table so we can get the project moving before costs rise again. We need to work with developers on new zoning laws to make it easier for them to want to come back.

In order to maintain projects and further community development, Capitola must continue to make progress. Over 70% of Capitola city tax revenue comes from the mall and 41st Avenue corridor. We must listen to our community members while making decisions about this project. Affordable housing, maintaining our community’s charm, addressing 41st Avenue traffic problems, and quality-of-life issues are some of the problems we must face head on.

We must make these decisions thoughtfully knowing it will be one of Capitola’s biggest projects within the next several years. I know we can do this and keep Capitola what it is: the best seaside town in California.

Gerry Jensen

Please tell readers why they should vote for you. What specifically sets you apart from your competitors?

In my 30-plus years as a building contractor and small business owner, I know the power of networking and building consensus to solve complex problems. In addition to working hand in hand with law enforcement as a reserve deputy sheriff and for unions and school districts, I have been a resident of Capitola, involved in volunteer activities for over nine years. I have also been endorsed by 10 previous leaders in Capitola, including the past city manager, treasurer, city council members, planning commissioners and multiple local businesses and community members. All of my endorsements have been 100% from Capitola.

I feel qualified to serve based on my unique experiences working in the education sector and being responsible for the operations department, overseeing student transportation and being responsible for construction, where I oversaw multimillion-dollar construction budgets. I also worked hand in hand with the community and youth programs as we built neighborhood gardens, a community center and multiple sports fields.

My present experience as a general contractor will be a major asset to the community, city and city council.

Please focus on the single most important issue facing your city and how, if elected, you will address it. Be as specific as space allows.

Answer: The Capitola mall.

The most important issue facing the future of Capitola is the redevelopment of the Capitola mall and the surrounding area. This project is extremely important to Capitola as an additional destination for residents and visitors and the potential increase in tax revenue. As a successful general contractor for commercial and residential construction, I am uniquely qualified to provide leadership and guidance to the city for this major undertaking.

Listed below are four of my main goals and pledge to the community:

• I support rebuilding the mall and rezoning areas around 41st Avenue to help offset some of the mandated housing requirements from the state.
• I would encourage the mall project to include a hotel that would help drive the transient occupancy tax directly to the city.
• I would encourage the mall design to have an open area for youth, seniors and families to enjoy.
• I would work hard to make sure the mall project is another destination for our community and that it is connected to the village and surrounding neighborhoods by better transportation, buses and a bike-sharing program.

My main overlying pledge is that I will work tirelessly to ensure that with major changes coming to our community, I will advocate so “all are included” in the process.

Alexander Pedersen

Please tell readers why they should vote for you. What specifically sets you apart from your competitors?

I’m running for city council because I want to see real progress in the areas of affordable housing, support for small businesses, and environmental stewardship. I believe that it’s important to have representation of individuals who know firsthand how difficult it can be to find housing and family sustaining jobs in our city, and I want to change the narrative that protecting Capitola’s small-town charm and creating good jobs and affordable housing for our families, children and essential workers are mutually exclusive pursuits.

I have a longstanding history of working with local nonprofit and government organizations, including my current membership on the City of Capitola’s financial advisory committee, founding a nonprofit to advocate for living-wage jobs, working closely with our city and county governments to distribute emergency relief funding as a grant administrator with the Santa Cruz County Small Business Development Center and working to reduce food insecurity as a board member of the Second Harvest Food Bank.

I am dedicated to serving the people of Capitola, and as your council member, I will promote policies that support small businesses, create thoughtful zoning for affordable housing, protect our environment, and maintain the unique culture and atmosphere that make Capitola a wonderful place to live.

Please focus on the single most important issue facing your city and how, if elected, you will address it. Be as specific as space allows.

Answer: Affordable housing.

While there is no single most important issue facing our city, the lack of affordable housing comes to mind as one of the largest and most complex. Whether it’s losing friends, family and essential service workers to the cost of living or being unable to find housing yourself, the lack of affordable housing affects every demographic in our city. With the new Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) passed down by the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, Capitola is required to accommodate an additional 1,336 housing units within the 2023-2031 timeframe.

Many residents have understandable concerns about the type and location of these new housing developments and it will take a serious and dedicated effort to find common ground. This includes a commitment to adequate planning and research, having long, ongoing and potentially difficult conversations with all parties involved, and making sure that everyone has a voice at the table.

Redevelopment of the 41st Avenue mall is a top priority of mine and is central to both the lack of affordable housing and the economic vitality of our city. Now that the social and economic effects of COVID-19 are known and beginning to subside, I hope that we will be able to make some serious progress on this project despite the ongoing economic downturn. In addition to working with and providing flexibility to the owners and developers of the 41st Avenue mall, We can also incentivize the redevelopment of some of our older apartment complexes by adjusting their requirements of floor area ratio (FAR), unit density and height restrictions.

I sincerely hope that we will be able to come together as a city and do what is needed to provide our residents with adequate and dignified housing options.