Ahead of the November general election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates who wish to represent you. You can find the full questionnaire below.<\/p>\n
Name: Santosh Dattatray Sabnis<\/p>\n
Age: 49<\/p>\n
Current job title: Business Owner & Technology Executive<\/p>\n
Incumbent: No<\/p>\n
Other political positions held: None<\/p>\n
City where you reside: Placentia<\/p>\n
Campaign website or social media: santoshsabnis.com\/placentia<\/p>\n
How can the city best meet the demand and mandates for more housing, including at lower price points, while also preserving local control and the quality of life for existing neighborhoods and residents? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think the answer is simply \u201cbuild more\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t build.\u201d We have housing requirements to meet, but we also have a responsibility to people who already invested their savings, raised families, and built their lives in Placentia.<\/p>\n
Before approving significant housing, I want four questions answered: Can our streets, parking and public services handle it? What infrastructure will it require? What will the developer pay for? And will the project generate enough long-term value for Placentia?<\/p>\n
Growth should pay for its impact. Existing residents should not get the bill later through higher costs, more congestion or declining neighborhood quality.<\/p>\n
City Hall should also cut unnecessary permitting delays and costs that make housing more expensive before anyone moves in.<\/p>\n
We cannot control every housing mandate from Sacramento, but we can control how we respond.<\/p>\n
My outcome is simple: more attainable housing for young families and seniors, protected neighborhoods and home values, infrastructure paid for as we grow, and development that strengthens Placentia\u2019s tax base.<\/p>\n
Growth should leave Placentia financially stronger than it found it.<\/p>\n
How should the city balance rising costs, paying off debts, such as pension liabilities, and building reserves, all while meeting residents\u2019 needs? Should a solution involve finding new revenue, economic development, trimming the budget, or something else entirely? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t start with another tax or another cut. I\u2019d start with the bills.<\/p>\n
Placentia just cut $1.46 million, including employees and services, while our projected General Fund reserve remains below the city\u2019s own 25% target. Simply cutting more isn\u2019t a financial strategy.<\/p>\n
I would go line by line through major contracts and recurring costs, competitively bid where appropriate, and address vacancies that become long-term consultant dependence. I\u2019ve already found contracts that grew substantially over time without a new competitive bid.<\/p>\n
Then put the savings to work: protect police, fire\/EMS, streets, parks and essential services; make planned pension and debt payments; and rebuild reserves to the 25% policy level.<\/p>\n
On revenue, I would start with economic development, not residents\u2019 wallets. Our sales-tax revenue is still below where it was three years ago. Help existing businesses grow, fill vacant commercial space, make it easier for new businesses to open, and prioritize development that expands Placentia\u2019s recurring tax base.<\/p>\n
Cut waste before services. Grow revenue before taxes. Pay what we owe. Rebuild our savings. That\u2019s the order.<\/p>\n
The public expects transparency from public leaders in spending and governance. How can this be achieved? How can the city do better in this area? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)<\/p>\n
Transparency isn\u2019t putting a 400-page agenda packet online and calling the job done. If residents cannot easily understand what we are spending, why we are spending it, and what they received for it, we are not truly transparent.<\/p>\n
I would require every major contract and amendment to show five things clearly before a vote: original cost, total cost to date, what changed, whether it was competitively bid, and what measurable result residents should expect.<\/p>\n
Significant spending, major contract changes, or items drawing public concern should be discussed publicly, not simply passed on a consent calendar.<\/p>\n
Then close the loop. Put contracts, votes, reserve levels, street projects and major city commitments into a simple public dashboard and report whether promised results were actually delivered.<\/p>\n
I believe in this enough that I already built the Placentia Civic Vault (https:\/\/santoshsabnis.com\/vault\/civic\/placentia-city-council\/), using public records to make city decisions easier for residents to understand.<\/p>\n
My standard is simple: before the vote, show us the cost and expected outcome. After the vote, show us whether we got it. Residents should never have to become investigators to understand their own City Hall.<\/p>\n
In your opinion, what is the biggest need your city faces, and how would you address it? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)<\/p>\n
Placentia\u2019s biggest need is making City Hall work the way every household expects its own finances to work: plan ahead, live within our means, maintain what we own and fix problems before they become more expensive.<\/p>\n
Residents already pay for safe neighborhoods, good streets, maintained parks and reliable city services. They should not have to wait until a street fails, a service is cut or the budget gets tight before City Hall acts.<\/p>\n
I would start with a multi-year plan that tells residents what we are fixing, when we are fixing it and how we are paying for it. That means a street and infrastructure schedule, a plan to restore reserves to the city\u2019s 25% target, competitive review of major contracts, and fewer vacancies quietly turning into long-term consultant costs.<\/p>\n
Then I would publish the progress so residents can see whether we actually delivered.<\/p>\n
This is what I have spent my career doing: finding where money and operations are breaking down, fixing the process and measuring the outcome.<\/p>\n
My goal is simple: protect residents\u2019 investment in Placentia with safer neighborhoods, maintained streets and parks, stable services and fewer financial surprises.<\/p>\n
Why would you make a good leader, and how would you represent the diverse communities of your city? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)<\/p>\n
I think good leadership is pretty simple: listen, do the homework, make a decision and own the outcome. If it works, measure it and keep improving. If it doesn\u2019t, learn quickly, change course and make the next decision. The worst decision is often no decision at all.<\/p>\n
For more than 20 years, I\u2019ve led teams, managed large budgets and solved difficult operational problems. I learned that you don\u2019t solve problems from behind a desk. You talk to the people experiencing them, look at the facts and follow through.<\/p>\n
That is how I will represent Placentia. A senior worried about emergency response, a parent concerned about their children, a business owner frustrated with City Hall or a homeowner worried about their street may bring me very different problems. They should all know how to reach me, get a response and know what happened next.<\/p>\n
I already work this way. I read the city\u2019s budgets, contracts and records, ask questions publicly and built the Placentia Civic Vault so everyone can see the same information.<\/p>\n
No resident should need a connection at City Hall to be heard. Listen. Investigate. Decide. Act. Measure. Report back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of the November general election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1400,163,165,164,7,126915,204,205,100,13],"class_list":["post-486396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-2026-elections","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-candidate-questionnaire","tag-election","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}