Michael Bennett, Eric Onnen, and Roger
Aceves took the oath of office as members of the young City of
Goleta’s second City Council, replacing Cynthia Brock, Jack
Hawxhurst, and Margaret Connell. Goleta’s administrative staff
welcomed the new councilmembers with sparkling cider and a prettily
decorated sheet cake from Costco. The latter was dwarfed, though,
by the ornate, multi-layered pastry with thick butter frosting
delivered by the Bacara Resort and Spa, sent to celebrate the
pro-growth candidates’ ascension to power, along with a second
creation for sitting councilmember Jean Blois. The Bacara and Blois
both had every reason to feel festive, besides the fact that it was
Blois’s 79th birthday.
For nearly five years, ever since the City of Goleta’s inception
in 2002, Blois has voted in a minority of one, watching helplessly
as her four fellow councilmembers lovingly handcrafted a
slow-growth General Plan to guide the new city for the next 20
years. “The lone voice for business,” Goleta Valley Chamber of
Commerce CEO Kristen Amyx called her. Now the tables have turned,
and Blois was practically hoisted on the shoulders of her newly
elected colleagues, who also handed her the mayor’s gavel.
It is unlikely the Goleta City Council’s new majority will
actually tear the original council’s General Plan into little
pieces and toss it out the window, even though their campaigns
focused on attacking the plan and the process by which it was
created. “Actually, it’s a good plan,” said Bennett, shortly before
being sworn in on Monday night. “It just needs to be
corrected.”