The race for Santa Rosa's District 5 city council seat

Jeremy Newton, chair of the Santa Rosa Housing Authority, is looking to fill the council seat being vacated by Chris Rogers.

photo credit: Newton for Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa District 5 candidate Jeremy Newton.

Four city council seats are up for election in Santa Rosa, two are contested; and only one is guaranteed to have a new face fill the chair.

Santa Rosa’s District 5 encompasses the West End neighborhood, Railroad Square, parts of downtown, and Coddingtown Mall.

It has been represented by Chris Rogers, who’s now running for a seat in the state assembly.

Two new candidates are running to fill the seat Rogers is vacating.

First you read KRCB’s Noah Abrams interview with Caroline Banuelos, here he speaks with the other contender for the seat, Jeremy Newton.

"I consider myself a public servant," Newton said. "I'm a graduate of the US Naval Academy, and on day one there, they taught you that as a citizen, you have a duty to get involved in your community and help solve tough problems. So that's how I've lived my life ever since."

"I graduated there in 2001 and spent the next decade as a fighter pilot for the Navy," Newton said. "I went on to DC as the Navy's legislative liaison to the US Senate, and that's where I really learned how to be effective in a legislative environment."

"Can you talk a bit more about your background in the service, and as a public servant too," Abrams asked.

"After I left active duty, I took those skills forward as a veteran advocate with a post 9-11 veterans group where we really focused on issues affecting the newest generation of veterans," Newton said. "I do that work now as a member of my labor union. I'm an airline pilot and Airline Pilots, Association International [member] and I'm part of the legislative committee there. We go back to DC and advocate for our issues, which are airline safety and supporting US jobs, and we've been very successful there using those same skills and tactics."

"So continue that public service mindset now here in the community, I chair the Santa Rosa Housing Authority, where we do a lot to incentivize affordable housing within the community," Newton said. "We administer the rental assistance program and give out loans to developers to incentivize affordable housing."

"Do you have a number one issue to focus on if elected?" Abrams asked.

"Build more affordable housing in the community," Newton said. "So that rental assistance program is housing choice vouchers, what most people know as Section 8, and that's about two thirds of our budget on that committee," Newton said. "The other third is loans to incentivize low to very low income housing; but I wanna focus on bringing down the cost of living in the community."

"Most of that burden for folks is housing," Newton said. "So that includes working people. I think about my daughter who's a young working professional in the city. She's the head [softball] coach at the JC. She should 100% be able to afford a home in the place where she lives and works, and she cannot. Her and her partner, they have a third roommate, and the three of them together can rent in the JC neighborhood. That's unacceptable to me."

"So we are doing some things...at the very low [income] range," Newton said. "We also need to incentivize at the middle income, sort of working family ranges as well. There's things the city can do. We have to be innovative. I am interested in seeing where we can relieve the burden on developers who wanna build that type of housing while we still respect the cultural integrity of our neighborhoods and our city and our environment. I don't think those are mutually exclusive. Programs like the Down Payment Assistance Program are things that help those young working families to get into housing in the current situation."

"In District 5 you’ve got some important commercial areas, including downtown, and there’s frequent talk about revitalization, do you have any specific ideas for what the city should do?" Abrams asked.

"That was one of the big drivers for me for getting in this race, is the fact that it does represent the downtown area, I see this area as a huge asset for the city," Newton said. "My vision is a safe, welcoming, economically vibrant downtown area; I say yes to all of it. Certainly a grocery store, because where I live, there's no grocery store anywhere close, unfortunately. And here's the other thing I bring to the table is I understand business. I have an MBA, and so I understand the risks that our small business owners are taking. We're not talking about big corporations. We are talking about families that are trying to provide something to the community."

"So as the city, we need to be as supportive as we can," Newton said. "Talking to folks in that area now, the relationship almost seems adversarial. So that's one thing that I'm gonna try and bring to the table is a different mindset. Parking is a big one I hear a lot is a disincentive for folks to come downtown and hang out. So that's my second big priority is economic development for the city, particularly in our downtown area, and I've heard housing is economic development and I love that."

"Are there any issues with city processes or administration you’d like to take on if elected?" Abrams asked.

"I guarantee you there's a lot of room for improvement in the city," Newton said. "I live in Burbank Gardens. It's a preservation district, but if you wanna do anything near your house there's a whole issue with the fees for that and permits and things like that. So just understanding that and learning about that, I think you could see some efficiencies just there."

"So step one, that's where I would look [or] at least push the city manager to look, who's doing a great job and has the absolute right mindset," Newton said. "Let's pop the hood and let's see where we as a team can be more efficient and maybe bring technology to bear, but just be more productive. My campaign, bottom line, is to make life easier for working people in the community."