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Both candidates in the District 3 supervisorial race have impressive qualifications and compelling personal stories. Our choice, however, to replace Ryan Coonerty for the seat remains Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson. Which isn’t to say her opponent in this runoff, Justin Cummings, is not a credible choice for voters in the Santa Cruz/North Coast district. He is – and his candidacy is supported by two members of our six-person Editorial Board. But, Kalantari-Johnson’s combination of relevant experience, tough mindedness and willingness to take on issues with moderate (at least for what passes as “moderate” in liberal Santa Cruz) solutions will allow her to hit the ground running should she be elected.
Both are currently serving on the Santa Cruz City Council. This looks to be a close race. In the June primary, Kalantari-Johnson led Cummings, by 541 votes, with 6,181 votes or 43.3%, to Cummings’ 5,640 votes or 39.5%.
Kalantari-Johnson has the support of Coonerty, as well as the majority of elected leaders in Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz City Council members. Cummings draws support from unions and progressive organizations.
Cummings, an environmental scientist with a PhD who works at UC Santa Cruz, notes that as an African-American he would bring a perspective in tune with marginalized people in the community. As a former mayor and current council member, he worked with Santa Cruz police after the murder of George Floyd on reforms that included banning chokeholds and predictive policing. Moreover, one of his major campaign themes is that he is a renter in a city where a majority of households are renters.
Kalantari-Johnson is an immigrant, whose family came to the U.S. from Iran when she was 8 years old. And as a woman (and mother of two children), her election would address a serious imbalance on the current board, which is made up of five white men.
She’s a social worker who has worked with homeless populations in the county and in San Francisco. She also has extensive experience in grant writing for public health and human services that should prove valuable on the Board of Supervisors, where funding and delivering these services has become one of the primary functions of the board.
She’s also taken a balanced approach to the homelessness crisis in the city, supporting limits on camping and parked RVs and would bring a fresh perspective to defining the roles of the city of Santa Cruz and the county in overseeing, and funding, services for the homeless.
Cummings emphasizes that he would be a voice for renters in an area where housing is prohibitively expensive. He’ll also bring expertise on climate change issues.
He also argues that Kalantari-Johnson has not pushed back against developers to ensure that truly affordable housing units take precedence over market-rate ones.
Kalantari-Johnson has responded that Cummings has voted against some housing projects – an anti-development posture more in line with old school Santa Cruz no-growth progressivism.
Neither candidate is in complete agreement with the Sentinel’s stands on two controversial Santa Cruz ballot measures. On Measure N, Kalantari-Johnson joins us in opposition. Cummings told us that while he supports the Empty Home Tax, he is not campaigning for it.
On Measure O that would end plans for a new library/housing complex/parking garage on a downtown parking lot, Cummjngs was somewhat ambivalent, saying he was initially opposed to the project when the parking element was paramount, but likes it better with 124 units of affordable housing added.
Kalantari-Johnson is against Measure O, saying the benefits of the multi-use project are numerous, including a child-care center, much-needed housing, and yes, more parking for housing projects she has supported on the council.
While we disagree with her on Measure O, we also think she will bring the kind of focus, determination, leadership and follow through that will serve the district and the entire county well. We recommend her election as District 3 county supervisor.
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