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At ten years old, he was the youngest student. And the smallest.<\/p>\n
Eric Friedman had just moved from Santa Barbara to East Berlin<\/a> with his parents. His father, the late UCSB<\/a> English Professor, Frank McConnell, had received a Fulbright grant to teach English Literature in East Berlin.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first day of Junior High was the most traumatic day of my childhood,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cIt was 1988, the height of the Cold War. I was surrounded by kids from Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Cuba, no one spoke English and they all looked at me with suspicion.\u201d<\/p>\n During the six months he lived there he developed many close friends, learned to speak German and gained a new understanding of other cultures and ways of life.<\/p>\n \u201cBerlin changed the trajectory of my life and continues to influence me to this very day,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cI gained a global experience at a time when my world view was that of my neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n The fall of the Berlin Wall<\/a> one year after he and his family left East Berlin impacted him so much as a 10-year-old that he eventually co-authored a book with his mom called Ghosts of East Berlin<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Friedman has been serving as City Councilmember<\/a> representing the fifth district since 2018. He was sworn in on the day of the Thomas Fire.<\/p>\n He says his six months of living in East Berlin as a ten-year-old shaped his philosophy on the importance of accessible transparent government and guided him into public service.<\/p>\n Friedman began his public service by taking an unpaid internship with superintendent of schools, Jack O\u2019Connell<\/a>. Next, he served as staff for Supervisor Naomi Schwartz<\/a> and then Supervisor Salud Carbajal<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an introvert so I enjoyed being staff for Naomi and Salud because I could work on issues I cared about without being out front,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cWhen Salud decided to run for Congress, I decided to take the next step and run for city council office.\u201d<\/p>\n Friedman spent multiple years preparing himself by building his network and learning what it takes to make good public policy. He participated on city boards and commissions including the library board and the harbor commission to help him understand how city government works. He received warm welcomes as he went door to door meeting people in his district and talking with them.<\/p>\n The fifth district encompasses from the beach to the mountains on the Goleta side of Las Positas plus Samarkand<\/a> and the Airport<\/a>. The families and retirees who live there are concerned about traffic congestion, park maintenance and water issues. There are many renters, so affordability is an issue, especially for families.<\/p>\n \u201cOne big issue is redevelopment of La Cumbre Plaza and its impact on this area with hundreds of units of housing on the Macy\u2019s property,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cThere is an application into the city to build mixed-use housing. We need to figure out how to incorporate that project into the greater city area. It will impact the school district, roads, parks and everything.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a once in 50-year opportunity with downtown and La Cumbre Plaza<\/a> to make thoughtful decisions about how the community will look and who will be able to live here in terms of affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n Many issues that affect the city as a whole are also concerns of the fifth district. For example, Friedman worked on getting the people who live in their vehicles the services they need by proposing the Rose Garden Inn<\/a> project. There had been 20 fires in the city related to the homeless including a fire going up TV Hill. It was time for action.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed to clean out the encampments so city staff made a plan to lease the Rose Garden Inn for homeless housing for six months,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cThis would impact businesses in the fifth district, but the city as a whole needed a place to address the serious fire issues. The number of fires were dramatically reduced and we were able to get homeless individuals into the services they needed.\u201d<\/p>\n However, when the proposal to extend the program beyond six months was considered, he voted against the extension due to the unsustainable costs and impacts in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n Friedman is proud of his investment in our library system. He served on the Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation<\/a> for four years, including two years as president, and the city library advisory board for ten years, with seven years as chair.<\/p>\n He said the new Central Library Plaza public space will complement the Children\u2019s Library<\/a> and help make downtown a vibrant community space and enhance our vision for downtown.<\/p>\n His number one issue is constituent responsiveness. \u201cI always respond and will meet with anyone about any issue,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cI want to understand. The personal touch is so important. People need to know you hear them and you care about their issues.\u201d<\/p>\n One way Friedman connects with his constituents is by working at Trader Joe\u2019s<\/a>. He began working there six years ago, just before his first election. Customers love to see their councilmember working there and they eagerly share their ideas with him.<\/p>\n \u201cI am humbled to hear things that I wouldn\u2019t hear in the community,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cI love to hear about people\u2019s lives and working at Trader Joe\u2019s makes me a better councilmember by being more attuned to the community\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people ask me what I do, I tell them I work at Trader Joe\u2019s and then I tell them I\u2019m also a councilmember.\u201d<\/p>\n Friedman will be terming out in three years and is committed to serving to the end of his term. He says that afterward he may consider running for first district supervisor where he started his career with Naomi Schwartz.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as I continue to learn and grow everyday by focusing on the needs of the city, I will be positioned for the next step,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cThis a biggest small town you could ever live in. It has lots of big town amenities but a small town feel.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the years Friedman has served on several nonprofit boards including CALM<\/a> and the Fighting Back Youth Mentor Task Force<\/a>, West Side Boys & Girls Club<\/a> advisory board, and the Casa Esperanza<\/a> board.<\/p>\n \u201cI served on Santa Barbara Surf Rider\u2019s<\/a> executive committee which taught me a lot about government and how to protect the environment,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cI remember speaking up at a planning commission meeting about the importance of preventing a golf course from being built on the coast.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that being part of the Emerging Leaders Program<\/a> has been an important part of his journey. In 2014 he went through the second cohort of this incredible program. That program really helped him gain the confidence and determination to know that he wanted to serve on the city council.<\/p>\n Friedman said that the two greatest challenges facing the city in the coming years are affordable housing and homelessness.<\/p>\n He said we need to find a way to create truly affordable housing for our workers here and to address the root causes of homelessness, addiction issues and challenges to metal health. If our critical workforce can\u2019t live here everyone suffers because we lose a lot of talented people.<\/p>\n \u201cOne piece of legislation I\u2019m proud to have brought forward is a framework to build an affordable housing trust fund to maximize the ability of housing partners to leverage those dollars to create affordable housing for middle income people,\u201d said Friedman.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to figure out how to create housing in a strategic manner that ensures that Santa Barbara will continue to be esthetically pleasing and not lose our unique character.\u201d<\/p>\n Friedman moved to the South Coast when he was three years old with is mom, Celeste, and attended Isla Vista Elementary<\/a> then Monte Vista Elementary<\/a>. When he was in seventh grade, they moved to Lompoc so they could buy a house instead of renting\u00a0<\/p>\n Ten years later, he attended the University of Notre Dame<\/a> where he earned a degree in history, which he later followed up with a Master\u2019s in public administration from Cal State Northridge that continues to help him understand how city administration works.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ten years later, he attended the University of Notre Dame<\/a> where he earned a degree in history, which he later followed up with a Master\u2019s in public administration from Cal State Northridge<\/a> that continues to help him understand how city administration works.\u00a0<\/p>\n