The two candidates running for San Luis Obispo County District 2 Supervisor are Democrat Jim Dantona, who currently works as chief of staff for current Supervisor Bruce Gibson, and Michael Erin Woody, who is a civil engineer with no political affiliation since 2019.
“It’s gonna take a lot of work to protect and preserve the quality of life we have here and we need a representative who's going to do that, and I knew I could be that representative for our community,” Dantona said.
“Americanized culture, but there’s native culture involved with this as well. I don’t think we’re talking about that enough, especially for these communities, I want to see that brought to that table," Erin Woody said.
The second district covers coastal communities from Los Osos north to Ragged Point, where there is the possibility of offshore wind energy.
“I have been adamant against those types of projects as well. It’s one of the many reasons why I’m running for office. We gotta make sure that we keep energy development out of this beautiful place that we call our home and keep these projects on land where they belong,” Erin Woody said.
“Wind farms that were proposed, the Trump administration has eliminated those, even bought out some of those places, but they are going full steam ahead on oil off our coast and that is something that just can’t have in our community,” Dantona said.
Back in December, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved a 0.4% growth increase for Los Osos, going against the Los Osos Basin Management Committee's recommended 0%.
“We build more housing, we want to do that in the urban areas where we have assets to deploy on transit and reduce traffic impacts,” Dantona said.
While Erin Woody said the decision by the county needs to be reversed on day one.
“We need to solve once and for all — how do we get water into Los Osos correctly and start pushing back against the seawater intrusion and against the overdraft we have right now,” Erin Woody said.
One thing the candidates have in common is the disapproval of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) being in San Luis Obispo County.
“Not because we don’t want to enforce laws but because they are skipping due process of what our constitution, our nation was built on," Dantona said.
“When you have a federal agency that is not properly trained in de-escalation tactics, what you have is you have a recipe for disaster," Erin Woody said.
The primary election is June 2.
