Here’s who is running for a seat on Pismo Beach’s City Council
The race for who will represent Pismo Beach has begun.
The field has been set for a competitive election cycle to determine who will lead the South County city through one of the most difficult periods in its modern history.
A total of five people have applied for the two open seats on the Pismo Beach City Council, including both incumbents.
Councilwoman Marcia Guthrie and councilman Erik Howell will face off against businesswoman Debora Ann Lossing, automotive warranty administrator James Robert Prichard and small business owner Scott A. Newton for the two open seats on the council.
Both seats are for four-year terms.
In the mayor’s race, incumbent Ed Waage will face off against realtor Dan Shadwell.
Here is a brief introduction to those running in November, including information from their publicly available candidate statements. All statements are also available on the Pismo Beach city website at https://www.pismobeach.org/814/Mayor-Council-Candidates.
Pismo Beach Mayor
Ed Waage: Waage, 77, has served on the Pismo Beach City Council since 2008 and as mayor since 2016. A former emergency planning manager at Diablo Canyon, Waage said he is “passionate about safety” and has worked to reduce both wildfire and coronavirus risks during his time at the city’s helm. If elected, Waage said he would focus on building a new fire station to improve emergency response times. View Waage’s candidate statement here.
Dan Shadwell: Shadwell, 58, said he is running for mayor because “it’s time for some new ideas, new perspective and teamwork.” Shadwell, a former KSBY news reporter and current Realtor, said he wants to focus on the city’s growth. “As Pismo Beach continues to grow, we need to keep an eye to the future,” he said, “involving our citizens and listening to their input as we problem-solve, not just five years down the road, but 20, 50 and 100 years.” View Shadwell’s candidate statement here.
City Council
Marcia Guthrie: Guthrie is a small business owner in Pismo Beach. She joined the council in 2016. She said her priorities if elected include completing the city’s General Plan and Local Coastal Plan update, wastewater treatment, implementing traffic recommendations, working on downtown parking solutions, ensuring funding for maintaining streets and continued bluff protection. “I am passionate about protecting our quality of life and have the tenacity to get things done,” Guthrie said. View Guthrie’s candidate statement here.
Erik Howell: Howell, 53, grew up on the Central Coast and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School before getting his bachelor’s degree at Harvard University and then his law degree from USC. He’s served on the Pismo Beach City Council for eight years. Howell said his priorities are the revitalization of downtown, the development of long-term solutions for parking, undergrounding utilities throughout the city and completing the recycled water project Central Coast Blue. “Most importantly, however, is preserving our unique quality of life here in Pismo Beach,” he said. View Howell’s candidate statement here.
Debora Ann Lossing: Lossing, a lifelong resident of Pismo Beach, said she is the president of her homeowners association group in Shell Beach and worked on the opening of the new Shell Beach staircase. Lossing said she wants to serve the residents of Pismo Beach and “specifically address their challenges in keeping our city beautiful, safe and thriving as a community.” She added: “My objective is to achieve a balance in preserving our neighborhoods and at the same time welcoming our visitors.” View Lossing’s candidate statement here.
Scott A. Newton: Newton, 50, said he wants Pismo Beach “to always be a terrific place to live, raise a family and start a business.” He said he was concerned that the focus on bolstering tourism in the beach city has been to the detriment of the people who actually live in Pismo Beach. “No one should feel like a second-class citizen, least of all in our own town,” he said. Newton said that, if elected, he would look to balancing tourism and meeting the needs of residents. View Newton’s candidate statement here.
James Robert Prichard: Prichard said he is running for a seat on the Pismo Beach City Council because he wants to “represent the people who live in our beautiful and diverse neighborhoods.” Prichard has worked in the private sector for most of his life, from newspapers to the automotive industry. If elected, he said his goal would be to “facilitate collaborative solutions for quality of life issues.” View Prichard’s candidate statement here.
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