SANTA MONICA, CA — Derrick Townsend has taken an unusual route to becoming a candidate for Santa Monica City Council. The New Orleans native and LSU graduate has worked as an occupational therapist for more than 18 years, but his resume also includes stints as a bartender, bouncer, nightclub marketer, bar owner, model and member of the New Orleans Saints' entertainment staff.
Townsend came to Southern California after his father retired from the military, eventually taking a job with Kaiser Permanente in Santa Monica. He has lived in the city for seven years and shares his home with Frank, a rescue dog he describes as looking like a "mini Chewbacca."
His decision to run, however, has a deeply personal origin. Townsend said his younger brother died from a fentanyl overdose at 23, nearly 13 years ago and he promised his mother he would try to prevent other families from experiencing the same loss. That experience has shaped his views on homelessness, addiction and government accountability.
What is Santa Monica getting wrong about homelessness today, and what would you do differently?
We have to get rid of the Housing First approach. Harm reduction in theory is not bad. Giving people clean needles to make sure they don't spread disease, for example, but if you're not expecting accountability on top of harm reduction, you're just pushing the issue down the road.
People should have housing, but they should also have accountability and support with doctors, physicians and psychiatrists so that you can try to fix the problem. Just giving someone an apartment is not going to fix it.
There are also people who are genuinely homeless because of financial issues, maybe they got behind on rent or had medical bills. We have to separate financial homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction and treat each individually instead of treating them as one big group.
What measurable result would convince you that a city-funded homelessness program is working, and what result would cause you to stop funding it?
Most programs can't really tell you how many people have come in and then gone on to independence. They can tell you how many times somebody has cycled through.
Funding should be tied to success. Fund the basics and the staffing, but when somebody goes through a work program and goes on to live independently, then pay for that success.
If programs are failing, we should have clawbacks. If you have a 100 percent failure rate, we're taking some of that money back and we're ending your contract.
What should happen when someone living on the street repeatedly refuses an offer of shelter, treatment or services?
Jail. There are people I know personally who live in their vans. They don't cause harm to anyone. They're sober. They clean up after themselves and move their vehicles on street-sweeping days. Leave them be.
The people you have to approach are the ones who are obviously a danger to themselves or a danger to others. After so many attempts, you have to mandate care or treatment. If they continue to refuse treatment, there have to be consequences.
What's your default karaoke song?
A Chris Isaak track called "Wicked Game."
What song or band makes you crank up the volume in the car?
I love country music and Zach Bryan, but I also love old R&B, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Four Tops. That's what I grew up with, with my grandpa.
Santa Monica Airport is scheduled to close at the end of 2028. What, specifically, do you believe should replace it?
I believe it should be an airport. I believe it should be a hybrid aspect of an airport and maintain aviation functionality, while adding educational programs.
We should allow private and public partnerships with companies creating electric aviation and have our kids learn, from grade school through Santa Monica College, how to build and work on these things. Santa Monica needs an industry. That brings jobs here, it brings restaurants and it feeds the rest of the economy.
The airport site is roughly 192 acres and converting it will be enormously expensive. How much should Santa Monica taxpayers be expected to pay for the project and where should the rest of the money come from?
None. We don't have the money for it. I'm not against parks at all. I agree with having more green space, but we can create a hybrid use of the airport and allow private partnerships to help fund that. On top of the initial spending for a park, you have maintenance and increased expenditures without real income coming from it.
What's your guilty-pleasure TV show?
I stopped watching much TV, to be honest. The shows I do watch are comic-book shows. I'm a huge Marvel fan. I love Marvel movies and Marvel series.
When was the last time you took public transport and where was it to?
A few months ago. I took the train toward the Staples Center area, Crypto Arena now. I also take the train to San Diego.
What is the single most important thing City Hall can do in the next two years to bring businesses and residents back to Third Street Promenade?
Number one, safety. Outside of that, cut permit times. I know someone who had to wait six months for a permit while paying a lease on the Promenade, which isn't cheap. You have to create a business-friendly environment. For small businesses, offer incentives to get them up and going and fast-track the process. Thirty days. We don't need a six-month wait.
Not only do we have to get businesses in, we have to make sure we support them afterward. Businesses talk to each other. If someone asks, "You've had a business here for how long? Do they help you?" and the answer is no, they're not going to invest millions of dollars here. All of those things have to be mixed together, but safety is number one.
Is downtown Santa Monica fundamentally suffering from a public-safety problem, a business-model problem or a development problem, and what role should new housing play in its recovery?
It's all of the above. I had restaurants in New Orleans and your Monday-through-Friday traffic is really what keeps a restaurant afloat. You can rely on weekends and festivals and that helps get you through the year, but having people in your neighborhood with good-paying jobs and Monday-through-Friday traffic is what makes a business sustainable.
Housing helps, but we also need to bring industries and jobs back around downtown. The middle income has basically melted out of Santa Monica. It's getting those people back into Santa Monica who have money to spend.
Who would you most hate to be stuck in a lift with?
I don't know, I'm a pretty easygoing person. I don't have any hate in my heart for anyone.
What's your most irrational superstition or habit?
I'm a creature of habit. I watch the sunrise every day with my dog and I watch the sunset in the park with my dog. If I don't watch the sunset, it kind of throws my evening off.
Does Santa Monica have a revenue problem or a spending problem and if finances deteriorate, what specifically would you be prepared to cut or change?
It has both now. Without being able to look through all the books in detail, you have to cut nonessential spending. My approach to saving money, though, is that if you address homelessness on the street, you reduce the police calls, fire calls, overtime and sanitation costs associated with it while making the city more attractive to businesses and visitors.
I can't tell you specifically what programs I would cut without getting into the books. But we have to keep essential services, police, fire, schools, parks and sanitation.
Who was your childhood hero?
Robin Williams. And my grandpa.
What's the most recent book you gave up on, and why?
A collection of writings by Marcus Aurelius. I didn't really give up on it. It's not a storyline, so it's something I put down and pick up every now and then for philosophical motivation. I've also been reading a lot of books on Buddhism.
Has Santa Monica gone too far, not far enough, or roughly the right distance in redesigning streets around bicycles and pedestrians and would you support removing or substantially redesigning a project shown to create new safety or access problems?
I don't necessarily agree with these concrete protected bike lanes. I think they're poorly designed for people parking on the street and can decrease visibility because cars are in the way.
I'm not against bike lanes. I am against eliminating traffic lanes when it creates bottlenecks, including for emergency services. People deserve to have a safe access route. I just don't think it needs to be separated by concrete.
What's the worst job you've ever had?
One of my first therapy jobs. I quit in a week. I wasn't even oriented on how to use the computer or documentation system and they bombarded me with patients. I didn't even have a login. I'm a very organized person and don't like getting behind, so I turned in my two weeks' notice on my second day.
What completely different job would you secretly love to do?
I've had a lot of jobs. I owned a marketing firm in New Orleans after Katrina. I worked for the Saints for seven years. I've been a bouncer, bartender, nightclub marketing guy and bar owner. I'm a partner in a tequila company. I'm SAG-AFTRA. I've done film and runway modeling.
I love digging into why people think the things they think and trying to find middle ground, whether it's policy or ideology. Maybe a podcast.
Have you been in any movies people might have seen?
I was in the film "Focus." I got pickpocketed by Margot Robbie. That was pretty cool.
Santa Monica faces major decisions over the future of both the Civic Auditorium and Bergamot Station. What should happen to each, and how much should preserving their existing cultural uses influence those decisions?
I think Bergamot should stay an arts center. The Civic is hard. I understand the concept of maintaining it as it is, but redoing that would cost an astronomical amount. Maybe keep the facade but create some type of venue or convention center so we can have people come into Santa Monica, use our hotels and eat at our restaurants.
If you're able to rehab the building, it would be great to keep it. I don't know how financially feasible that is. But something needs to go there. Not housing.
When did you last do something for the very first time?
This year. Running for office.
Do you have any tattoos?
I do. I have the coordinates of New Orleans. I got that after Katrina. I have one of my dog on my leg. I also invested in a Santa Monica company involved in pharmaceutical-grade extraction and encapsulation of cannabinoids. After we sold the company, we all got a related tattoo, so I have one of the molecules on my wrist.
Should Santa Monica continue challenging state housing mandates, or accept that Sacramento has largely removed the city's discretion and concentrate on deciding where new housing goes?
We should fight it. We've seen Huntington Beach fight and lose, but that doesn't mean we should just sit and take it. The longer you wait, the more potential there is for laws to be reversed or modified or for the state to recognize infrastructure limitations.
I understand the need for housing. I also believe we have some of the most expensive real estate in the country, so affordable housing doesn't make sense in some places because of what you're paying for the land and construction.
One of my plans is called Forever Families. Instead of just building apartments, we should build modest condo buildings and townhomes. I want people who can afford to live here to have the opportunity to buy here, send their kids to our schools and feel rooted in the city.
I'm a renter. I'm on rent control. I have nothing against it. But we haven't really built much homeownership in a long time.
Does Santa Monica need substantially more housing, and if so, where should it be built? Would you concentrate most new development downtown even if that means substantially taller buildings, and what areas should be protected from additional density?
If you're going to build it, having it near Metro, especially on Broadway where we have a lot of empty commercial spaces, isn't a bad area. Having it near Metro serves a purpose.
I'm totally against removing R1 zoning. I think people who bought their homes and invested in their homes should maintain their sunlight and the integrity of their neighborhoods.
That's why I think we should have more condominiums and things like that. We don't need skyscrapers. Everything should be modest and have an architecturally appropriate design. That's more my lane.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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