Cevin Cathell has lived many lives—a Hollywood film producer, the lead singer of a band, a non-profit leader—but she said she’s in her prime right now, running for Santa Barbara City Council.
Seeking mayoral candidate Eric Friedman’s seat for District 5, Cathell is one of three prospects for the job. Her career has come full circle, starting out as a staffer in the Texas legislature, then moving to Los Angeles to pursue film before landing in Santa Barbara 26 years ago. Now, the tumultuous state of the city’s budget is calling her back to politics.
“As a film producer, you decide what elements are important and leave out the ones that don’t move the story forward,” Cathell said. “You also have to hire 200 people and get them all on the same page working together. Those are the skills that I think translate directly to being on the city council.”
She’s especially drawn to the City Council’s Finance Committee, currently chaired by mayoral candidate Eric Friedman. With an analytical mind, she believes she can reconstruct the puzzle of the city’s budget. In fact, Cathell said that when she told Friedman she was running, he was thrilled.
Cathell spent her early childhood in a small town in North Carolina, raised by parents who she said argued against Jim Crow laws that plagued the South. It made her politically active from a young age—she says she’s a lifelong Democrat.
Democratic values are the foundation of her campaign, such as affordable housing.
But when it comes to hot button issues like rent stabilization, Cathell goes against her democratically endorsed competitors like Ian Baucke. She said she supports affordable housing and tenant rights, but said the City Council’s rent stabilization ordinance is a “disservice” to Santa Barbara’s housing supply.
“Rent control ultimately doesn’t work, and in fact it will kill housing,” Cathell said. “I am pro-renter, I am a pro-housing provider. And I think those things are not mutually exclusive.”
To tackle the housing crisis, Cathell instead points to “underutilized land,” changing zoning laws to develop more homes, creating generational stability for people instead of deepening the conflict between tenants and housing providers. She also said housing vouchers are a better alternative the local government can provide.
“I’m a good Democrat, I always have been,” she said. “But I’m also very analytical. I don’t always just go with a party line on every issue.”
District Five, encompassing a majority of residential neighborhoods, presents two large-scale housing projects with La Cumbre Plaza. Cathell said the development is an opportunity to bring vitality back to the commercial corridor. However, after meeting with Hope School District superintendent Anne Hubbard, Cathell said infrastructure feasibility studies need to happen before major progress is made.
“She’s very concerned about the influx of kids and traffic that will be coming with it,” Cathell said. “We’ve got 1,100 proposed apartments, and so we need to look at that as well.”
Cathell said she would like to see a pre-school or Kindergarten program at La Cumbre Plaza when the housing comes in to relieve some stress on District Five’s school district. She also emphasized making sure the new developments fit into the neighborhood’s character.
Environmental stewardship is another one of Cathell’s campaign platforms. She says District Five needs climate change mitigation in place. She recalled a newly built bridge in her neighborhood over Mission Creek that was once destroyed by a debris flow. However, she emphasized that the city’s budget needs to first be re-balanced to make climate change a priority.
“We need to do more, but we also need to have the money to do more,” Cathell said. “And the only way to do that is to balance our budget and make that a priority.”
She also said that District Five’s small businesses deserve to freely grow instead of getting weighed down by “cumbersome” permitting processes. She wants local businesses to become opportunities through which locals can collaborate, forming hubs like food marketplaces.
Cathell said that more than any endorsement, she’s felt the most rewarded by going door-to-door around her neighborhood along the campaign trail. Meeting more and more of her neighbors has left her inspired by how engaged Santa Barbara is and how thoughtful the residents of District Five are.
She even said the city council could learn some lessons on communication from its citizenry.
At a recent city council meeting, Cathell recognized two of her neighbors speaking on behalf of opposite sides of the Short Term Rental Ordinance. Lingering behind them after the meeting, Cathell heard the two reconnect and share respect for each other’s opinions. She said the moment was touching, and felt like an example of how city officials should lead.
“You don’t see a lot of compromise like that happening on the city council,” Cathell said.
Though Cathell has been criticized for being “too nice,” she said that very civility is what Santa Barbara needs. She doesn’t want to bend to fit the role of a traditional, cutthroat politician and lose sight of what she’s learned is most important to District Five: compassion and compromise.
Cathell has always been one to live in the moment. With Hollywood, the stage and 26 years in Santa Barbara in her rearview mirror, Cathell is confident in the campaign she’s built and ready for the next chapter it may bring.
“I’m still in touch with all those musicians and they all say ‘oh, don’t you miss it?’ ” Cathell said. “ But I say no, not really. I’ll always cherish those memories, but I’m really into what I’m doing now.”
