Three vie to become next mayor of Petaluma

The race for Petaluma’s next mayor is a battle between two candidates deeply entrenched in local politics and a political newcomer with aspirations to “clean house” in the city’s government.

Teresa Barrett, a Petaluma councilwoman since 2007 who has embraced the progressive mantle, is facing off with Mike Harris, a three-term councilman with strong business backing who left the council after narrowly losing a 2014 bid for mayor. The candidates, who have historically stood on opposing sides of the political spectrum, are challenged by Brian Powell, a lifelong Petaluma resident who has never before run for elected office.

Petaluma - the second-largest city in Sonoma County - is the only municipality in the county to directly elect its mayor. The role is largely ceremonial, with no more voting power than any of the other six council members.

Left unscathed during last October’s firestorm, the city of more than 60,000 is faced with a housing crunch, where only 2.1 percent of the units in its major apartment complexes are vacant. A recent Metropolitan Transportation Commission report placed its roads as the worst in Sonoma County. Its public safety departments are threadbare, city facilities are aging and mounting pension costs threaten the city’s ability to maintain services without new revenues.

David Glass, a longtime progressive politician who has served the past two terms as mayor, is not seeking re-election. Apart from the mayor’s race, seven candidates are vying for three open seats, making room for a large shift in a council tasked with shaping the landscape for a city coming into its own as a tourism destination in the broader Bay Area.

Barrett, a registered Democrat and former planning commissioner, has served three terms as a councilwoman. The 70-year-old has strong backing from progressive groups like Sonoma County Conservation Action and politicians including Glass and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. She’s raised $56,574 for her campaign.

She said Harris is “not an advocate for our city,” adding that he lacks the holistic approach necessary to make well-rounded decisions.

“I’m the voice of reason and honestly, I really feel that when I’m talking to people, we’re almost always on the same page,” said Barrett, who will lose her council seat if she is not elected. “I not only listen to people, I actually hear what they’re saying, and I’m actually able to be their voice.”

Harris, senior vice president at a local financial services company, was first elected to the council in 2002. He served three terms until Glass defeated his mayoral bid by 84 votes. He has maintained a visible role in local affairs, and is active in several nonprofit and community groups.

Harris, 47, has strong support from the business community, including the North Bay Leadership Council. He is also endorsed by state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa. A former Republican, he said he left the party to become an independent in 2014. He has raised $33,849 for his campaign.

He said Barrett has “been in the way of progress.”

“I have a business background … I have a good blend of municipal, business and nonprofit experience that would make me a good choice to be the next mayor,” Harris said.

Powell, 38, has no political experience. He has not served on boards or committees. A self-described tradesman focused on construction, he has spent years as a youth sports coach. The registered independent has no endorsements. He has raised no money and is advocating for outsider platforms - like halting all growth in the city and removing cellphone towers.

He said he feels “forced” into running for mayor, saying it’s not a position he wants but feels compelled to take up to protect the future of his 11-year-old son. When asked about several key issues facing the city, he freely admits that he doesn’t have the answers but believes the city must improve public safety and repair infrastructure. He vowed to come up with solutions that change the direction of a city he believes is led by inept and self-serving politicians.

“I’m not them,” Powell said. “I’m the opposite of everyone continuing to make the same decisions that are causing all the problems. I’m going against the grain to stop this madness.”

During their overlapping time on the council, Barrett and Harris have clashed on issues, including the Rainier crosstown connector and the Target shopping center, a project Harris supported but Barrett opposed because of traffic and water consumption issues.

Harris has made Rainier a key issue of his campaign - pushing for the estimated $69 million project that’s been envisioned for decades. Construction of the 0.65-mile four-lane crosstown connector has been viewed by some as a way to alleviate traffic from the city’s east to west sides and by others as a money pit that would create unwanted opportunities for development.

A state transportation agency this year allocated $85 million to widen Highway 101 north of the Deer Creek shopping center - a key to building a road under the freeway to connect both halves of the city. About $24 million is in an account for traffic impact fees that could be used toward the Rainer project, and a consultant is working to navigate issues with rights-of-way through several parcels.

Harris said the Rainer project could be realized by bonding against money from the gas tax increase and traffic impact fees that accumulate before the highway widening is completed in 2022. It’s the best immediate way to deal with traffic, he said.

With incomplete funding for the project, Barrett said there should be a public discussion about the necessary steps to bring it to fruition, potentially a tax.

“What troubles me about having that as our mitigation is that I’m not sure people in Petaluma really understand how much money they’re talking about,” she said. “Do people want to pay that? That’s the only way it’s going to happen.”

To address pressures on the city’s budget, Harris said he would first seek to bolster economic development - which could be achieved through marketing, spurring transit-?oriented development or boosting uses at the city-owned fairgrounds. He would then consider a discussion of a tax that would be “small and short.” Harris was in favor of to Measure Q, a one-cent increase to the city’s sales tax that failed in 2014.

Barrett said while the city has pressing needs, it must first deal with its pension obligations. To shore up the budget, she would explore a “specific, limited-time tax.” Barrett was opposed to Measure Q.

Both said addressing the city’s potholed roads is largely contingent on the outcome of Prop. 6, which seeks to repeal a gas tax increase approved by the Legislature last year. Harris and Barrett oppose the November ballot measure.

Beyond solidifying the approach on the crosstown connector, traffic congestion should be addressed through responsible development - like requiring developers to incorporate bike and pedestrian paths, Barrett said.

The candidates differ on cannabis. Barrett supports opening the city to dispensaries, describing the current ban on walk-in pot shops as a missed fiscal opportunity. She’d like to see the issue taken up as the council shapes its priorities for the next two years at its early ?2019 goal setting.

Harris praised the city’s current approach, calling it a “good middle ground.” The city in November 2017 voted to allow two delivery services and an unlimited number of businesses that manufacture edible and topical cannabis products and test quality. He called for an analysis of “a couple years of data” from the police department about the industry’s impact before the city considers allowing dispensaries.

“The police department is already short (staffed) ... and I don’t know if this will make the problems worse,” Harris said.

Both candidates prioritized providing affordable housing, with Harris touting his desire to work with the state to get a form of redevelopment dollars back to Petaluma - a funding source the state dissolved in 2011. He also suggested exploring opportunities to provide housing in business and industrial areas, and advocating for the development of granny units on the properties of existing single family homes.

Both praised the city’s recent move to require that developers include affordable housing or pay higher fees in future projects. Barrett said she would advocate for a form of redevelopment money that could spur development around transit hubs in the city, a key aspect to development that she said would reduce the burden of traffic on city streets.