mayor heidi harmon
San Luis Obispo's Newly Elected Mayor
By Holly Walsh
On Dec. 9, 2016 over 300 members of the community gathered at City Hall to bid farewell to outgoing mayor Jan Marx, and to welcome new mayor Heidi Harmon. Marx served as mayor to San Luis Obispo since 2010 and has served as a City Councilmember since 1998.
On Nov. 8 Marx was predicted to win the election with a 5% lead in votes. With perseverance Harmon prevailed and won the election by a mere 47 votes in what was the biggest voter turnout in city history, according to local news station KSBY.
Harmon has been apart of the SLO community for 30 years. During Harmon’s beginning years in SLO she worked as an early childhood educator, business owner, and mother to her two children. 10 years ago Harmon started her political activism career by advocating for local environmental issues. This is Harmon’s first time holding public office.
Many residents and Harmon supporters are excited for the future of SLO and the positive changes she plans to implement amongst the community. While some people disagree with her strong democratic political views they still believe she holds the best interest of the city.
In an interview with Rich Loper, long time of resident of SLO, says “I’m not a fan of many of Mayor Harmon’s political positions, but I have absolutely no doubt that she is a woman of character and will act in a way that she honestly believes is in the best interest of the City of San Luis. We needed new blood and congratulations to the new Mayor.”
Harmon strengthened her campaign by connecting with Cal Poly students. Harmon throughout her campaign has expressed how much the students of SLO mean to her and how she wants them to be involved in major decisions, especially ones that concern Cal Poly campus. “One thing I’ve already done is be really proactive and meaningfully engage with the students,” Harmon said.
On Dec. 5 Harmon held a student meet and greet to hear the voices and concerns of students both from Cuesta Community College and Cal Poly. One of Harmon’s top priorities is to bridge the gap between students and long-term residents of SLO.
Students responded with positive enthusiasm while one student expressed their excitement by saying “I really feel like Harmon cares about the students here at Poly. I never even knew who Jan Marx was before she was campaigning against Harmon, it’s a great feeling having a voice that wants to be heard."
Among some of Harmon’s ideas as a mayor is affordable housing. Most citizens here in the city of SLO can agree that there is an affordable housing crisis that has existed for many years. Harmon plans to increase affordable housing by implementing small, modest homes as well as “tiny homes”.
Harmon says she will be working with both Cuesta and Cal Poly to house a much larger percentage of students on campus. In result Harmon is hoping that this will reduce demand from students in off-campus housing and in turn lower rental rates for the rest of the city’s residents.
In addition to Harmon being sworn in as mayor, Andy Pease and Aaron Gomez were also sworn in as councilman and councilwoman. This making the current city council the most newly elected one since the 90’s. In addition this is the first time these three elected city officials have ever held office.
Marx and former councilmembers John Ashbaugh and Dan Carpenter gave emotional proclamations and stepped down from their positions on the city council last Friday on Dec. 9.
On Nov. 8 Marx was predicted to win the election with a 5% lead in votes. With perseverance Harmon prevailed and won the election by a mere 47 votes in what was the biggest voter turnout in city history, according to local news station KSBY.
Harmon has been apart of the SLO community for 30 years. During Harmon’s beginning years in SLO she worked as an early childhood educator, business owner, and mother to her two children. 10 years ago Harmon started her political activism career by advocating for local environmental issues. This is Harmon’s first time holding public office.
Many residents and Harmon supporters are excited for the future of SLO and the positive changes she plans to implement amongst the community. While some people disagree with her strong democratic political views they still believe she holds the best interest of the city.
In an interview with Rich Loper, long time of resident of SLO, says “I’m not a fan of many of Mayor Harmon’s political positions, but I have absolutely no doubt that she is a woman of character and will act in a way that she honestly believes is in the best interest of the City of San Luis. We needed new blood and congratulations to the new Mayor.”
Harmon strengthened her campaign by connecting with Cal Poly students. Harmon throughout her campaign has expressed how much the students of SLO mean to her and how she wants them to be involved in major decisions, especially ones that concern Cal Poly campus. “One thing I’ve already done is be really proactive and meaningfully engage with the students,” Harmon said.
On Dec. 5 Harmon held a student meet and greet to hear the voices and concerns of students both from Cuesta Community College and Cal Poly. One of Harmon’s top priorities is to bridge the gap between students and long-term residents of SLO.
Students responded with positive enthusiasm while one student expressed their excitement by saying “I really feel like Harmon cares about the students here at Poly. I never even knew who Jan Marx was before she was campaigning against Harmon, it’s a great feeling having a voice that wants to be heard."
Among some of Harmon’s ideas as a mayor is affordable housing. Most citizens here in the city of SLO can agree that there is an affordable housing crisis that has existed for many years. Harmon plans to increase affordable housing by implementing small, modest homes as well as “tiny homes”.
Harmon says she will be working with both Cuesta and Cal Poly to house a much larger percentage of students on campus. In result Harmon is hoping that this will reduce demand from students in off-campus housing and in turn lower rental rates for the rest of the city’s residents.
In addition to Harmon being sworn in as mayor, Andy Pease and Aaron Gomez were also sworn in as councilman and councilwoman. This making the current city council the most newly elected one since the 90’s. In addition this is the first time these three elected city officials have ever held office.
Marx and former councilmembers John Ashbaugh and Dan Carpenter gave emotional proclamations and stepped down from their positions on the city council last Friday on Dec. 9.