Meet Gregg A. Carty • Carpinteria City Council District 5 Candidate

Carty, a longtime Carpinteria City Council member, previously served as Carpinteria’s mayor. Carty has been involved in local government for 30 years and has been a resident of Carpinteria for 60. He was one of four city council members to sign a letter against the controversial Measure T initiative, released last month.

Introduce yourself and tell the community why you are running for Carpinteria City Council. Speak to any experience you bring to the table. 

Carpinteria has been my home for over 60 years. I was raised and instilled with gratitude and dedication to the Carpinteria community by my late parents, Daphne and Bill “Doc” Carty. I watched as they helped others less fortunate in the community through formal volunteering and anonymous acts of kindness. Based on their lessons, I, too, knew the importance of community involvement and have been volunteering and formally part of various local government committees for the past 30+ years. I have been on the Carpinteria City Council since 2006, was selected as mayor during my first term, and served as mayor for an additional term. 

I worked tirelessly with my fellow council members, city staff and other government agencies as we navigated the fire, flood and pandemic. Through these extreme situations, I’ve seen what I’ve always known – Carpinteria coming together and supporting those who have been negatively impacted by these events. My goal is to serve the entire community, not focused on a singular issue, but look at the plethora of goals we seek to achieve collectively as a city. I lead and serve based on fairness, equality and vision, engaging with all walks of life and ensuring all voices are heard.

As a member of various boards and committees, I’ve been educated and worked with experts in finance, business, housing and the environment. One of my proudest achievements while serving on the council was working with The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County to help orchestrate the acquisition of the Rincon Bluffs Preserve. Today, Carpinteria is a community that is and not one that was. I use my historical knowledge and experience of the past to inform and connect our vision of the present while preparing the community for the future.

The city has seen a number of hot-button issues in its community forums recently, related to crime and community safety, employment, and residential and commercial development, such as the Surfliner Inn project. What do you see as Carpinteria’s most pressing or important issue, and why?

There are several important issues, but there is no single issue that takes precedence over another. We are fortunate to have financial stability based on decisions made by past and current councilmembers. It makes me proud to know Carpinteria is one of the most efficiently and effectively run cities in the state of California. As a member of the Budget Finance Committee, ensuring Carpinteria remains and continues to be financially sound is important to me. We’ve weathered floods, fires, and the pandemic, so continuing to restore our reserves and remaining fiscally responsible positions us to handle the unexpected.

Our financial integrity is made possible by our local business community which has done its best to make it past the hurdles thrown over the past few years. I want to continue to support our local Carpinteria business owners and watch them prosper for years to come. It is encouraging to see the younger generation of Carpinteria business owners thrive, and it’s more important than ever to continue the momentum.

In addition to the downtown, I’ve made a motion and will continue to pursue a city-wide review of public health and safety, as well as see through the completion of a dedicated Senior Center. Pedestrians, students and bicyclists deserve safe passage throughout the city, so I am all for implementing proactive measures to protect our citizens from vehicles and crime. Sidewalk improvements and cleaning up our downtown is just a small part we can do as a city to support business owners. As a member of the Senior Services Planning Committee, along with councilmember Roy Lee, we are committed to delivering a Senior Center deserved of Carpinterians.

Reflect on a recent city council decision. Would you have made a different decision? Why or why not?

I personally stand by the decisions I’ve made while serving on the Carpinteria City Council. I commit time to study every issue, reviewing all the facts, and listening to experts and public comments. While not every decision is easy, the use of compromise is necessary for the greater good of our community. State decisions require the city to adhere to requirements that are not always designed for a city the size of Carpinteria. As a city, we work so hard to comply with state mandates, yet it is discouraging to see changes forced upon us that we as a community cannot always influence. Nevertheless, it’s important to work as a community in collaboration with other agencies and be proactive on pressing issues like affordable housing and environmental initiatives.

I am happy with the decisions made regarding the dog park, as well as the protections from formula businesses in the downtown. While the dog park does a satisfactory job of fitting the needs of our pet owners, I would like to do more to establish a formal dog park. 

Protecting our locally owned “mom & pop” stores is also vital to our downtown and I believe the decisions we’ve made on formula businesses shield us from the challenges of big developers. Balancing sustainable tourism while ensuring the needs of our community are heard is vital to keeping Carpinteria the place we all love to call home. With every decision, I understand what we have as a community and how precious Carpinteria is, so your voice will always be heard!