Candidates talk candidly on private lives

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

The eight candidates running for a seat on Santa Barbara’s City Council, three incumbents and five challengers, have delivered their positions on gang violence, transportation, housing, the environment and a multitude of other topics at candidate forums and in newspaper articles during recent months.
As the November 6 election date rapidly approaches, here is a quick peek into how these high-powered political types wind down at the end of the day — where they hang out and what they like to do in those few, narrow windows of free time.

A day at the beach and a night on the town. That’s a pretty typical Saturday for current Councilmember Brian Barnwell.
“I’m a beach person,” Barnwell said. “…If we have the kids, we’ll go to the beach with the dog.”
Demeter, his Labrador, also accompanies him on jogs along the beach at the Douglas Family Preserve. When his stepchildren are with him, Barnwell might invite friends he met through Peabody Charter School, where the kids go to school, to a barbecue in his backyard.
“A lot of our activities are centered around Peabody,” Barnwell said, “which is funny, because it was the same when my kids went there.”
When they have a free weekend, Barnwell and his wife usually go out on the town, at least two weekends a month.
“Our favorite restaurants are probably Chase or Opals, when we are going to do some fine dining,” he said. “And we go dancing every chance we get.”
For lunch or a casual dinner with friends, his top choices are Pascucci or Paradise Café. But when he’s just by himself and wants to grab a quick bite, he heads to The Habit.
“It’s the greatest chain hamburger in town,” Barnwell said, adding that Paradise Café has the best burger around.
Fiesta is definitely a busy time for Barnwell, since his stepdaughter is in a dance studio and participates in plenty of dance performances, about 22 by his estimate.

Cruising through local bookstores, hiking front country trails and taking plenty of walks around town are tops for City Council candidate Dale Francisco.
“I try to walk downtown once a day at least,” he said. “For me, it’s fun. I never get bored with that walk. I think it keeps me in touch with what goes on in this town.”
With a self-described “mini-library” in his home near the Mission, Francisco said he browses used bookstores and buys plenty of literature online as well. Although he reads on a variety of subjects, lately he’s been focused on American and recent European history, and architecture.
With the Council race in full swing, Francisco hasn’t had the opportunity to hit the trails as much as usual, but said he’d like to go hiking a few times a week.
“I love hiking and I think we are so fortunate here, because we have such incredible trails within 15 minutes of downtown,” he said.
San Ysidro Trail is one of his favorites and he used to walk Rattlesnake Trail frequently when he lived in Mission Canyon.
Francisco is also an avid musician, with a history of playing in bands through high school and into his early 20s. Recently, he took up cello after being inspired by a performance at a music festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
“Everything is suffering at the moment,” he said, “but I was making a lot of progress.”

In her free time, between campaigning for City Council and managing her home business, Michelle Giddens spends a lot of time with her 3-year-old son, Cody.
“When you have kids, it kind of takes over your life,” Giddens said. “You find yourself listening to kids music in the car even when they aren’t there. You find yourself at home on a Friday night watching a City Council meeting.”
Visiting the zoo, Ty Warner Sea Center and the Museum of Natural History are all favorite activities for Cody. The youngster is also learning Spanish, Chinese and some Arabic, so he teaches her a few words every now and then and corrects her pronunciation.
Speaking from a cell phone while Cody played soccer at MacKenzie Park in a program called Mini Kickers, Giddens said she also leads a pretty active lifestyle.
“I like to exercise and be outdoors,” she said. “I use the parks for jogging and exercise.”
She also enjoys heading to the beach below Shoreline Park and her Mesa home with her dog, as well as visiting the Mission and Rose Garden. Explaining her reason for moving to Santa Barbara in 1999, Giddens said she knew she wanted to live in California.
“I’d been to Santa Barbara several times before and always admired it,” she said. “Probably besides the weather, which is great, and the ocean, just that it wasn’t Los Angeles, that it was just a nice, remote place.”
Some of Giddens’ favorite places to eat in Santa Barbara are Carlitos, Lucky’s, and Brophy Brothers.

They say home is where the heart is, and challenger Robert Hansen seems to definitely take that to…well, heart.
“I just hang out at the house,” Hansen said. “I really don’t go out that much.”
When he does go out, he usually spends most of his time working on homeless issues and attending advisory meetings at Casa Esperanza.
“I’ve been working on that for the last five years,” he said, “but I’ve been working on the homeless problem for the last 15 or 20 years.”
To keep in touch with the community, he reads the newspaper and listens to the radio. When he’s not making a statement during the City Council’s public comment period, he said it is one of his favorite things to watch on television.
“It’s interesting to see what people are saying in the community,” Hansen said. “It’s kind of like keeping a finger on the pulse of the community.”
Keeping Hansen company at his De la Guerra apartment are four Chihuahuas, two fish and two parakeets.

As a former television and screen actor, Council challenger Frank Hotchkiss said he loves to get involved in local productions.
“I was an actor once upon a time, so I’ve done five different plays at the Garvin Theatre,” he said.
Hotchkiss held parts in An American Daughter, On Golden Pond, and the Trials of Oscar Wilde. He also played multiple roles in the Laramie Project, a play chronicling the 1998 death of Matthew Shepard.
Although he remains a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Hotchkiss said he’s not seriously pursuing that path. He is, however, involved in the creative world in another way.
“I’ve written three books,” he said. “I’m not working on a book now, but I may be soon.”
His first three novels, all fiction, have yet to be published, but he said he’s getting close to a deal for his latest work. That novel tells the story of a jet fighter pilot who lost both arms and legs and wants to take his own life in a hospital bed, Hotchkiss said, but a string of incredible events occur on what is supposed to be his last day alive.
In addition to acting and writing, he said he spends time exercising, either running near his Riviera home or swimming at the Los Banos pool. Hotchkiss and his wife are also involved in the local art scene and love to travel.
“I used to live in Europe, so I go back there when I can,” he said, adding that his daughter lives in Hawaii, so visiting her there is an obvious necessity.

Hiking and riding his bike are pretty common activities for Council candidate Dan Litten, although a recent knee injury and poor air quality have kept him sidelined for a few weeks.
A few days ago, however, when a drunk driver hit his car parked outside, he hopped on his bike to chase the fleeing driver down and get the license plate number.
“My lungs were burning,” he said. “I could feel it afterwards. Oh man, the air is bad.”
He managed to jot down the license number and said police later tracked down the driver. Luckily for Litten, his car isn’t his major method of transportation.
“I’m trying to be pretty religious about not driving my car to any of these campaign events,” he said, explaining how he’s not looking forward to hoofing it out to a candidate forum at San Marcos High School on Monday.
Other than chasing down lawbreakers, Litten said he spends a lot of time playing with his 2-year-old daughter and soon-to-be 5-year-old son. His favorite locales are the top of Gibraltar Road, Wilcox Dog Park and Hendry’s Beach.
His dog, a collie and Chow Chow mix, “loves to run and chase animals and other dogs at the park,” Litten said.
Taffy’s Pizza, Uncle Rocco’s New York Pizza, Galanga Thai Restaurant and Sojourner Café rank among his favorite spots to grab a bite to eat.

After the daily grind of City Hall, current Councilmember Helene Schneider said she likes to hang out at the Daily Grind…or anywhere she can just lean back and relax.
“Life as a City Councilmember is busy with so many events, sometimes it is great just to chill out at home or hang out with friends in town,” Schneider said. “…Going to Brophy’s on a twilight evening is always beautiful.”
On free mornings, she likes to sit on the front porch of her Westside home with her cat nearby and a good book in her hands. Her favorite bike ride heads south on Cabrillo Boulevard along the coastal bike path, past the Andree Clark Bird Refuge to Butterfly Beach.
“I haven’t done it in a while, but when my husband and I go for walks, the Douglas Family Preserve and Arroyo Burro Beach are always great,” she said. “Anywhere I can see the water, really, especially on a crystal-clear day.”
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a big seasonal event for Schneider (she said she can be seen cramming in two or three movies a day), as is women’s basketball at UC Santa Barbara.
“I’ve been a Gaucho women’s basketball ticket holder for seven years,” she said.
She enjoys meeting up with friends at Palmieri’s, a neighborhood bar, and chows down at Your Place Thai restaurant and Paradise Café.

For those who know him well, it should come as no surprise to hear what fills most of current Councilmember Das Williams’ free time.
“The thing I do most in my spare time is go surfing,” Williams said. “My favorite spots to surf are Mesa Lane Steps and of course I surf out in Goleta a lot too.”
Most of the time, he’s hanging ten on a long board, but when waves hit 8 feet or higher, he brings out his big-wave board, known as a gun.
“It’s like a really thick board with a heavy curve at the end so you can catch really steep waves,” Williams said.
He has taken trips to Costa Rica and Baja California to catch some waves and sun, and said he’ll travel anywhere between Ventura and Morro Bay if he gets desperate enough to find decent surf.
Williams also spends plenty of time with his girlfriend, Jennifer, whether it’s dancing, playing card games or hitting local parties.
“Jennifer and I read to each other a lot,” he added.
Williams said he also spends the occasional summer day backpacking and rock climbing in the Los Padres National Forest, and enjoys hiking and walking local trails.
“I really like the new park at Sheffield Reservoir,” Williams said. “I think that’s one of the nicest new walks in town.”
Bouchon and Emilio’s Ristorante are a few places he loves to dine, and he can often be seen hanging out at NorthStar Coffee Company.