10 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY OCTOBER 1-7, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com With incumbent Seaside City Councilmember Alex Miller forfeiting his seat on council as he throws his hat in the ring for mayor, and incumbent Councilmember Rita Burks competing against five others to remain in one of two at-large seats up for reelection Nov. 3, the Seaside City Council may experience a shake-up. When the Weekly sat down to discuss the issues with Seaside City Council candidates, many cited the need for creative, multi-pronged strategies, including Lacey Raak. “Sixty to 65 percent of our community are renters and that’s an important demographic that we need to support,” Raak says. “We need more [housing] supply but supply alone is not going to solve the problem.” She points to affordable workforce housing units built on state-owned land like on the CSU Monterey Bay campus, co-op housing and microhousing as ways to provide affordable housing. Candidate Ken Fittro, a retired special education teacher, administrator and swim coach, believes that housing affordability can be addressed on the City Council by bolstering partnerships with nonprofits such as CHISPA. “They are nonprofits but they are also developers,” Fittro says. “I think that the job of a city councilperson is to develop those partnerships.” Burks, who works as the principal of the Dual Language Academy of the Monterey Peninsula, has served on the council since 2022. She says she would work toward building a mix of market-rate and affordable housing. “I’d also look at ways to reduce unnecessary development costs, streamlining the approval process for affordable housing and leveraging our city-owned land and partnerships to expand affordable housing opportunities,” Burks says. “At the same time, we must protect the character of our neighborhoods.” Karla Lobo, who previously served on the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, wrote in her candidate statement, “For more than 30 years, I’ve worked across the public, private and nonprofit sectors helping turn plans into completed projects.” To increase affordable housing supply, she says she would work to modify the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation to call for more below-market-rate units and explore streamlining the city’s permitting process. Candidate Annalisa Mitchell serves as the president of the Hamilton Ellis Martin Plaza Board, overseeing a 192unit affordable housing community, and as a board member of the Seaside Civic League. “People should not have to choose between paying their rent and putting food on the table,” she says. “We need more affordable and workforce housing, and we need to protect the affordable housing we already have,” Mitchell says. “Our children and grandchildren who leave for college should be able to come home, find a job, and afford to stay in the community they grew up in.” Candidate Dennis Volk did not respond to interview requests. Crowded Contest Six candidates vie for two at-large seats on the Seaside City Council. By Aric Sleeper Lacey Raak, a sustainability professional, was the founding chair of Seaside’s Environmental Commission and is now running for office for the first time. NEWS “The job of a city councilperson is to develop partnerships.” DANIEL DREIFUSS
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