Where do Atascadero City Council candidates stand on homelessness, sales tax?
Ballots are on the way to Atascadero residents, and soon they will have the chance to elect two new City Council members.
To help as you make your decision, The Tribune has compiled a 2024 Election Voter Guide, meant to give easy access to some of each candidate’s basic facts and stances.
Three candidates are running for two open seats on the Atascadero City Council this November.
The candidates are incumbent and architect Mark Dariz, planning commissioner and paralegal Tori Keen and small-business owner Seth Peek.
Current City Council member Charles Bourbeau is running unopposed for mayor.
Here are the candidates’ responses, organized by candidate and in alphabetical order.
Some responses have been edited for length or clarity.
Mark Dariz
Who are your top three campaign contributors:
Souza Constuction, Grigger Jones, Sam Blakeslee
What is your vision for what your city should look like in 5 years? 10 years?
A vibrant economy with more local jobs.
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your city today, and what will you do to address it?
Economic development is always the biggest issue. Ensuring a business-friendly environment will bring jobs and a stronger economy to the city. To do this, we must make it easy to start a business whether it’s in an existing building or new construction.
Do you feel the city has done enough to make downtown more vibrant? How would you continue to support or improve those efforts?
Yes, I believe the city has made great strides in improving the downtown experience. The downtown enhancement project will make downtown more pedestrian-friendly and invigorate our local businesses. I will support any similar effort.
How do you feel about the city’s response to homelessness, and what specific policies and solutions on that front would you pursue if elected?
The city has been diligent in enforcing the laws to the fullest extent. I would encourage the city to continue to address the homeless encampments and follow the laws to the fullest.
Do you feel the city is doing enough to support affordable housing and the development of new homes?
Yes, we are always looking for ways to incentivize developers to build affordable homes in creative ways.
Ballot measure L-24 asks voters to extend a half-cent sales tax to provide $3 million annually to be used “for such things as repair of neighborhood roads, aging infrastructure along with other vital general government needs.” Do you support or oppose measure L-24 and why?
I fully support the extension of the sales tax for our roads. Without it we would have to make significant budget cuts elsewhere.
Tori Keen
Who are your top three campaign contributors:
Shatter PAC, SLO County Democratic Party, the Atascadero Democratic Party
What is your vision for what your city should look like in 5 years? 10 years?
I would like to see a more inclusive city where everyone feels safe and welcome to offer their points of view at City Council meetings. I’d like to see more affordable housing and more head-of-household jobs so that people can continue living in Atascadero without commuting to Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo or further. I’d like to see the Printery as a functioning arts center where our children can take classes and we can have community theater. I’d like to see less unhoused people on the streets by allocating state, county and city resources to that end. I’d like to see our children have a hopeful outlook on being able to buy a house and stay in the city where they grew up with their support system rather than being hopeless about their future prospects.
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your city today, and what will you do to address it?
I think there are two major issues facing the city.
One is the unhoused population that is an issue throughout California. There are many parts to this issue that need to be addressed. There are issues of mental health and addiction that can make it difficult to help people if they do not want help. The act of building a relationship and trust with people who are unhoused is essential. Helping them reintegrate back into society is a long process that cannot be rushed. I believe building these relationships will be worth it in the long run.
We also have the issue of increasing home prices. Even with the state of California raising minimum wage, it is not a livable wage in many parts of San Luis County, including Atascadero. This is also a multifaceted issue. We need to find the property to build this housing, we need to engage with developers to make it profitable and easy to take on these projects and we need to engage with the residents to make sure they are supportive of the projects.
Do you feel the city has done enough to make downtown more vibrant? How would you continue to support or improve those efforts?
I think the city has made great strides toward making downtown more vibrant. The city hosts events, added parking to the area and is working on making the downtown area more walkable. I support the city’s plans to build more mixed-use projects in the downtown sector to continue to make it more vibrant.
How do you feel about the city’s response to homelessness, and what specific policies and solutions on that front would you pursue if elected?
The Atascadero Police Department hired a resource officer to engage with the homeless population in order to get them into programs that will help them integrate back into society. The city has also been incredibly supportive of ECHO, one of the biggest outreach organizations in the county. We are incredibly lucky to have them in our town.
I would like the city to improve communication with Atascadero residents about how it is addressing the homeless population. I would like to see a safe place for the homeless population to be as they build those relationships with resource officers and get into the programs they need. When they have no where to go, they build encampments wherever there is open space, and I do not think that is good for Atascadero residents or the unhoused population.
Do you feel the city is doing enough to support affordable housing and the development of new homes?
I think the city is moving in the right direction. As the chair of the Atascadero Planning Commission, I have been a part of developing objective design standards to accelerate the approval process. We developed stock plans for people that want to build ADUs on their property. We changed many of our zoning codes to allow for smaller lot sizes in order to encourage infill development in places where there is room to add housing. I think one of the struggles is finding developers who are willing to take on these projects as they can be very expensive and not always easy business decisions.
Ballot measure L-24 asks voters to extend a half-cent sales tax to provide $3 million annually to be used “for such things as repair of neighborhood roads, aging infrastructure along with other vital general government needs.” Do you support or oppose measure L-24 and why?
I support L-24. I think F-14 has been used to repair many roads, and it will continue to be used for that purpose for years into the future. With an oversight committee and financial reports available, the transparency lends itself to instilling trust in the residents of Atascadero that the funds are being used in the way they are supposed to. Recently, one of our many thoroughfares, Traffic Way, was completely repaved and many people have commented on how nice it is. I hope more small neighborhood roads can be repaired in the coming years, and the city will be able to take over some of the small non-city-maintained roads that residents cannot afford to maintain.
Seth Peek
Who are your top three campaign contributors:
Peek Family Businesses, Kirk Consulting, Souza Construction
What is your vision for what your city should look like in 5 years? 10 years?
Vibrant downtown, more head-of-household jobs, a well-funded Police Department attracting top talent
What do you believe is the most important issue facing your city today, and what will you do to address it?
Homelessness is the most talked about issue among Atascadero residents. We need to continue supporting our police and the Community Action Team in their efforts — which have been highly successful — while continuing the conversation with all businesses and residents affected by the issue. The passing of Proposition 36 will be a large help getting fentanyl dealers off the street and slowing the infiltration of life threatening drugs from entering our community and contributing to the homeless problem.
Do you feel the city has done enough to make downtown more vibrant? How would you continue to support or improve those efforts?
Yes, it has been very important to the city and the Chamber of Commerce to create a more vibrant downtown. Progress has been made and will continue. If elected, I would continue to support allowing businesses to build and open in downtown, while working to reduce the friction between the smaller businesses in downtown that experience hardships when construction is underway.
How do you feel about the city’s response to homelessness, and what specific policies and solutions on that front would you pursue if elected?
The Atascadero Police Department’s Community Action Team is a fantastic resource and the main driving force for aiding with the homeless issue. They visit encampments daily and offer assistance, while keeping an eye on crime and drug commerce. They are our eyes and ears. We need to expand their reach and hours of operation.
Do you feel the city is doing enough to support affordable housing and the development of new homes?
The city is doing what it can under the umbrella of California’s stifling construction red tape. The city needs to find a way to streamline permitting. Although it is largely a Planning Commission issue, the city should more easily grant rezoning applications or special use permits when the issue is turning something into a dwelling. Love this topic. Love property rights.
Ballot measure L-24 asks voters to extend a half-cent sales tax to provide $3 million annually to be used “for such things as repair of neighborhood roads, aging infrastructure along with other vital general government needs.” Do you support or oppose measure L-24 and why?
Yes, I support Measure L-24. We have seen it in direct action the last number of years since passing ballot Measure F-14 in 2014. Miles of roads have been repaved and improved with curbing and more. Although it is allocated in the general fund, the citizen oversight committee has done a wonderful job keeping the promise and spirit of the measure alive for the taxpayers. Myself and many residents would be very upset if a new committee was formed or if the current committee decides to use the funds for anything other than roads and infrastructure. The measure originally received a lot of skepticism, and the city has been able to disprove the skeptics. Let’s keep it that way.
