Alexander Stoeber didn’t learn about poverty from a textbook.
He lived it.
He moved eight times—in elementary school. His mother struggled with addiction, and they were homeless. He slept in tents, on people’s floors and in cars. At school, he ate free lunch.
“I was homeless for a lot of my childhood and my upbringing was very difficult,” Stoeber said. “All I knew was poverty.”
That upbringing, however, made him stronger. And now he uses that childhood adversity to his advantage. He hopes to bring the three things he learned as a child—resilience, resourcefulness an independence to the Santa Barbara City Council.
He calls himself “Alexander the Grateful.”
Stoeber is looking to replace Meagan Harmon in Santa Barbara’s District 6. Harmon must step down because of term limits. He faces opposition from Santa Barbara School Board member Gabe Escobedo.
Stoeber was a guest on the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina. The News-Press and TV Santa Barbara are sponsoring a series of candidate interviews over the next few weeks.
The downtown renter, who also is a Realtor, said Santa Barbara is not the place it was 15 years ago when he came to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB.
Unlike a lot of political candidates, Stoeber oozes with positivity. He’s less about saying what is wrong with Santa Barbara, and instead focuses on what it could be.
Just like he and mother turned their lives around, Stoeber said Santa Barbara can become a place that not only tourists love, but locals do too.
“I feel like we’re in this scarcity mindset,” Stoeber said. “We’re trying to nickel and dime and sharpen our pencils about a budget that I feel like should be exploding. I feel like we should have so much revenue coming into the city. And I feel like State Street, every day I walk down State Street, I see another sad story.
“And then I see tourists all around that are like, ‘this place is awesome, this is incredible.’ And I wanna feel that too.'”
Stoeber said he empathizes with renters, but believes the answer to the escalating rents is to build more housing. He said an additional 3,000 units would have the same effect on stabilizing rents as a rent stabilization ordinance. He also said building accessory dwelling units and encouraging property owners to rent their homes to tenants rather than let them sit vacant .
“Rent stabilization doesn’t help people who are going to move out of their rental,” Stoebder said. “It also doesn’t help people who are living in rentals that are built after 1995. and that’s like 13,000 people.”
Regarding State Street, Stoeber said he prefers a hybrid approach.
“I want State Street to be sacred, safe, and social,” Stoeber said. “It should also be dynamic. I think right now it’s a little stagnant.
He supports having bollards on State Street, along with parades and a trolley.
“I want what’s best for State Street,” Stoeber said. “I think that there are times when it makes sense to have the cars totally blocked off and no cars at all.”
In the podcast, Stoeber also talks about the value he puts into fitness and having a positive attitude toward solving problems.
He said the three pillars of his campaign are housing, health and hope. He believes in routines, physical movement, setting fitness goals and seeking to find better ways to live life.
“I really think that say Santa Barbara specifically is a heaven for people who love fitness and love health,” he said. ” We get a lot of sun, we get more sun than anywhere else on the coast, maybe else in the world. I’m not really sure. but it’s the most beautiful place, I think, and I think it’s a reflection of the people who live in it.
Stoeber on the podcasts said he is neither a Democrat or a Republican, and that he wants to make decisions that people, not political parties, first.
“I am independent and I don’t feel like I need to go and appease either side,” Steober said. “I feel like I need to bring them together. I need to be the bridge between the two. I have conservative ideas, I have liberal and progressive ideas. I like both sides. I think both of them paint wo separate sides of the picture and we need to bring them together as one mosaic, one beautiful tapestry that Santa Barbara is.”
Here are time stamps for the podcast.
- 00:00 — Introduction: Santa Barbara City Council election edition
- 01:15 — Why Alexander Stober is running for City Council
- 03:37 — Growing up homeless and finding stability
- 08:02 — Resilience, resourcefulness, and independence
- 11:53 — Family, personal responsibility, and his relationship with his father
- 14:30 — Campaign priorities: housing, health, and hope
- 16:40 — Revitalizing State Street: cars, bikes, events, and a flexible downtown
- 23:24 — Rent stabilization, affordability, and housing supply
- 33:16 — Vacation rentals and incentives for longer-term housing
- 37:10 — Health, fitness, and his personal philosophy
- 41:03 — Political independence and bridging ideological divides
- 44:32 — Campaign strategy and challenging the establishment
- 51:06 — Santa Barbara’s budget, revenue, and economic growth
- 53:35 — Sports, the Rams, and a final message to District 6
- 55:49 — Star Wars and closing remarks
