As election day dawns upon us, the Santa Barbara mayoral race will soon come to a close. While candidates have different viewpoints on how they would potentially lead the community, they all share the same common goal: bettering the city.

The Channels formally interviewed four of the five candidates running for mayor in next week’s election. The same set of questions regarding issues that are topical and of interest to City College students were asked to Hal Conklin, Frank Hotchkiss, Cathy Murillo and Angel Martinez. Bendy White was unavailable to be reached by the assigned reporter after multiple attempts of contact.

The mayor candidates were asked:

• If their platform includes anything to improve the high rent of City College students’ housing?
• If they plan to work with the Metropolitan Transit District to improve the quality and ridership numbers of City College bus lines?
• How they would plan to keep retail and restaurant jobs available downtown for City College students?
• What they would do as mayor to improve the visible issue of homelessness in Santa Barbara county?

Click the candidates’ names below to read their responses:

Hal Conklin

Frank Hotchkiss

Cathy Murillo

Angel Martinez