CAPITOLA — Melinda Orbach had been feeling down about the state of American politics in recent years. She was tired of all the vitriol, the attacks, the division, and it had begun to evoke a feeling of exasperation and hopelessness when she thought about the future.
But she also knew there was a way to overcome these depressive feelings.
“I believe that action is the antidote to despair and that civil engagement is a form of self care,” Orbach said in a recent phone interview with the Sentinel. “That is why I felt compelled to do something locally and this is where I feel like I can have an impact.”
So earlier this summer, with the Nov. 5 election only a few months away and a candidate filing deadline looming, Orbach, a nearly eight-year resident of Capitola, decided that this year was the perfect opportunity to run for public office for the first time.
Orbach, 40, will compete alongside three others for two open seats on the five-member Capitola City Council and the top two-vote getters will each be seated to four-year terms. And while Orbach — a nurse practitioner with Sutter Health and mother of three young children — admits her first summer as a local candidate has been a whirlwind and learning experience, she believes her personal background and professional life outside the political arena is part of what will make her a good leader for the city.
This starts with her work as a family nurse practitioner of more than a decade, where she believes her holistic approach to care applies equally to patients and public policy.
“From housing to transportation to homelessness to economic vitality to our climate crisis — all of those things are very complex issues. There’s no one solution for them,” said Orbach. “Anyone who says we can solve it by X, Y and Z may not have the whole picture.”
Crucially, for Orbach, the complexity of these issues is best addressed by a diverse leadership with different socio-economic and even geographic backgrounds. Orbach pointed out that four of the five current city councilmembers live on the “east side” of the city, which she defines as everything east of Soquel Creek. Orbach suggested that this — consciously or not — influences the decision making of the council itself, as evidenced by the most recent Housing Element approved by the council that lasts through 2031. In the element, most of the new housing units — close to 90% by Orbach’s count — have been planned on the west side of the city, where she and her family reside.
“We’re the ones that are going to have to live with the impacts of that development, so we should be represented no matter how long we’ve lived here,” she said. Later, stressing the importance of “representative democracy,” Orbach added “I believe the west side of town … because we’re historically underrepresented, I feel like we need some representation.”
Orbach is a first-generation Chinese American born and raised in Oakland. While attending college at UC Berkeley, she volunteered with Asian Health Services and assisted Chinese immigrant women that faced cultural and linguistic barriers while receiving medical care.
Years later, after that experience had inspired her entry into nursing, Orbach moved to Capitola to start a family with her husband, Matt, who is now her campaign manager and worked for the city as a planner for more than two years before taking a role as principal planner for the city of Watsonville in 2021.
Key priorities for Orbach, should she win a seat, include workforce and mixed-use housing development, coastal resiliency, environmental sustainability and the completion of Segments 10 and 11 of the Coastal Rail Trail, including waiting to gather more cost benefit and feasibility information from the Regional Transportation Commission’s ongoing passenger rail study.
Orbach also brings a keen focus on the 41st Avenue corridor where many of her priorities intermingle. She stressed the need for public transportation and thinks a new Santa Cruz Metro station at or near the Capitola Mall site makes sense given how many units have been planned there in the housing element. She also wants to encourage the filling of empty commercial spaces along the busy corridor by removing some permitting hurdles and hiring a zoning administrator to streamline projects.
“Basically what that means is any project that comes through that is compliant with all the codes, compliant with all the ordinances, it just gets approved,” said Orbach. “It does not need to go through this long, arduous process through the planning commission.”
Similar to her opponents, Orbach is also enthusiastically in favor of the city’s proposed sales tax measure increase — Measure Y — which seeks to raise the city’s rate from 9% to 9.25%. In fact, she’s a member of the local committee supporting the measure’s passage.
And in keeping with her broader mission to bring more diversity to leadership positions in the city, Orbach also believes councilmember compensation should be increased to help “to encourage broader participation” and ensure that being on the council is not a financial “net negative.”
It’s a policy position that not only speaks to her own experience but also embodies a campaign ethos that has propelled her through a busy summer and prepared her for an exciting fall.
“I believe different lived experiences should be valued and heard,” said Orbach. “I believe that positive change happens when we create policies that are inclusive and represent the needs of a diverse group of people.”
Orbach will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot with competitors Gerry Jensen, Enrique Dolmo Jr. and incumbent Margaux Morgan.
Stay tuned for the Sentinel’s continued coverage of the Capitola City Council candidates.
