Pismo Beach residents will pick between three candidates running for two open seats on the Pismo Beach City Council on Nov. 5: two incumbents and one newcomer.
Scott Newton, who’s been a council member for the past four years, said his platform has always revolved around putting residents first and making sure the quality of life in the city is constantly improving.
“It needs to be the top priority in all decisions that the city makes,” he said during an Oct. 10 forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. “I’m proud that during my term … we completed the largest paving project in the city’s history, broke ground on the new police and fire station, we built both Chumash and Palisades park[s], opened the new Morris stairs beach access, and approved new pickleball and tennis courts.”
Running for her third term, Marcia Guthrie said she’s worked and will continue to work to maintain a sound and responsive government that creates policies to protect the city’s quality of life.
She listed accomplishments including rebuilding the Pismo Beach Pier, renovating the Pier Plaza, reconstructing the Bell Street Bridge, and paving city streets.
“Priorities going forward, I want to finish our general plan, local coastal plan, which serves as a community voice and roadmap for future City Council; I want to complete the fire and safety center, and the James Way beautification,” she said. “I’d also like to discuss solutions for our residential and commercial properties that are experiencing rough erosion and are in need of sea walls.”
New candidate Gianni Scangarello said he appreciates all the work the previous council has done for the city, but now it’s time to focus on the business community and the locals, something he’s prepared to do.
“The city is growing leaps and bounds, and we need to work on our housing,” he said. “We need to focus on our water, we need to focus on the things that are for us in the community.”
One of the biggest topics of the night was the candidates’ long-term plans for the city.
Claiming that Pismo was the city that all other cities around envy, Newton said something like that doesn’t happen without hard work, and it’s important to maintain that work.
“It’s very important that we continue that path to safety,” he said. “Without safety, you have nothing. Funding out infrastructure and just providing for residents and having a very responsive and active government.”
Scangarello said it would be important to tighten up some city ordinances and work on better parking options for downtown.
“We’re seeing some panhandling and things that are happening in the tourist destinations, also we have parking issues that we have worked with the city with, and I was part of the parking committee that went over the hybrid plan,” he said.
Focusing her long-term goals on downtown, Guthrie said she would like to see a study done on outdoor dining downtown as well as a more pedestrian-friendly Price Street.
“I would like to see parking on the perimeters, so it has more walkability. I would like to see more affordable housing downtown, just basically little tweaks to … maybe take the cars out of the mix and make it walkable,” she said. Δ
This article appears in Pet Issue 2024.