It’s been a tough year for Santa Barbara City Planning Commissioner Addison Thompson. First, his father died. Then, the Tea Fire burned his house down. And last week, without a syllable of advance warning or subsequent explanation, he was unceremoniously replaced on the Planning Commission-the most powerful, influential city body short of the City Council-by someone with an impressive political lineage, though none of the experience on city commissions typical of such a high-level appointment.
Adding to the sting, Thompson only discovered his application for re-appointment had been rejected while attending this year’s annual Christmas party the Planning Commission hosts for the city’s planners.
Typically, sitting city planning commissioners are automatically re-appointed unless they really screw up. By any reckoning, Thompson, a moderate-to-conservative commissioner, was no screw-up. “Addison is the Planning Commission’s planning commissioner,” exclaimed fellow commissioner and City Council member-elect Bendy White. “He was always well prepared, very clear in his thought process, succinct in his comments, yet global in his perspective.” White noted it was not uncommon for him and Thompson to disagree on the issues, but they did so, he stressed, with respect and civility. Fellow commissioner John Jostes, equally lavish with his praise, said, “This smells of politics.”