City of Capitola City Council Councilmember Alexander Pedersen

In the five-way race for three open seats on the Capitola City Council, lone incumbent Yvette Brooks won handily. The margins were much tighter for the other two slots, with newcomer Alexander Pedersen coming in second place with just 20 votes more than third-place winner Joe Clarke. Pedersen was no doubt helped by endorsements from two members of the Capitola City Council, Margaux Keiser and Kristen Brown, as well as former mayor Dennis Norton. He was sworn into office on Dec. 8, 2022.

Since moving to Santa Cruz County from Sacramento, where he was going to college, Pedersen states on his campaign site that he has pursued interests in business and community service. “The Small Business Development Center has provided me with valuable experience in economic development, technical skills and grant writing and administration that I use today to support the small businesses in Capitola and throughout our county.”

Pedersen shared with Santa Cruz Local that housing is one of his key issues: “Capitola and  Santa Cruz County have one of the worst ratios of income-to-housing costs in the nation. So that’s a huge issue. And that’s a big reason that I’m running is to hopefully have some positive effect on that issue. I’m a renter. I have been my whole life. Eventually, it would be great if I could own a house and (have) something, somewhere to raise a family and pass down to my children. That’s the American dream. It’s less and less of a reality to more and more Americans, which is pretty sad.”

Day job: Owner of a home repair and maintenance business. He also works at the Santa Cruz County Small Business Development Center.

Previous government and nonprofit experience: Capitola Finance Advisory Committee, Second Harvest Food Bank, Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce ambassador.

Notable quote: “Redevelopment of the 41st Avenue mall is a top priority of mine and is central to both the lack of affordable housing and the economic vitality of our city. Now that the social and economic effects of COVID-19 are known and beginning to subside, I hope that we will be able to make some serious progress on this project despite the ongoing economic downturn. In addition to working with and providing flexibility to the owners and developers of the 41st Avenue mall, We can also incentivize the redevelopment of some of our older apartment complexes by adjusting their requirements of floor area ratio (FAR), unit density and height restrictions. (Source: Lookout Santa Cruz, Nov. 1, 2022)