Luke Kilpatrick

Thumbs up at 60 feet. I've been diving Monterey Bay and beyond for years. That time underwater is a big part of why protecting this coast matters to me.

Background

From the Holland Marsh to Silicon Valley to Sand City

I grew up in Southern Ontario in a region very similar to the Salinas Valley. I spent my summers as a teenager working for my father, who did industrial maintenance in the Holland Marsh, building HVAC systems, fixing equipment, and working with my hands. That work gave me a deep respect for the trades.

After graduating from Seneca College in 2001 with a degree in Computer Graphics and Digital Media Technical Production, I took a job in telescope manufacturing in Rockford, Illinois. From there I moved through several manufacturing companies, working in IT and technical writing, including building systems to help Kohler manage their engine plant and retail outlet construction.

In 2007 I came to California to find my fortune in Silicon Valley, working for tech companies building communities and helping management understand the needs of their users and workforce. That community-building work is what ultimately led me to seek office. I completed UC Santa Barbara's Engineering Leadership program in 2024, which deepened my skills in organizational leadership, budget management, and cross-functional collaboration. That's exactly what council work requires.

Today I serve as Marketing Director for Sanctuary Cruises in Moss Landing, where I use technology and storytelling to connect people to the marine environment we're all trying to protect. I've spent years running teams, managing real budgets, and getting projects across the finish line. I know how to read a dense document, ask the right questions, and work across departments that don't always agree. That's useful on a city council.

There's a thread running through all of this. When I want something built, I learn how and I build it. I taught myself the trades alongside my father. I taught myself the tech that carried me through Silicon Valley. I wrote the Mia Kingtide books myself and had the science checked by real researchers. I collaborated with local artists on the murals in the Ocean View BNB. I researched this campaign, designed it, built the website, and stood it up myself, the same way, no agency and no consultant. I am not pointing that out to impress anyone. I am pointing it out because it is exactly the trait the job needs. A council member's real work is reading the dense packet nobody else wants to read, asking the questions nobody else thought to ask, and doing the homework without being told to. That is just how I operate, and it is how I would operate for Sand City.

The through-line of my work has always been the same: get people who do not fully agree into the same room, find the shared interest, and turn it into something real. That's what I did organizing Sand City's short-term rental owners, and it's what council work demands.

Civic Engagement

Why I Keep Showing Up

I've been consistently active in council meetings, contributing on items such as building fees, short-term rentals, and our parks. This isn't a first-time observer running on good intentions. I know the agenda, I know the staff, and I know the decisions that are in front of us.

Sand City is in the middle of a real shift: from a historically industrial and commercial footprint into something more walkable, mixed-use, and creative, while still protecting what works and what pays the bills. I want to help make sure we keep approving the right projects, in the right way, with outcomes we can be proud of five and ten years from now. That's the Creative Town identity I believe in, and it's what I'm running to help build.