Hometown Hero: Ted Winterer

“Ted Winterer is a visionary for the work he did to bring the 4^th of July parade to Santa Monica’s Main Street. The parade is a slice of the American Pie,” said Deputy Police Chief Phil Sanchez.

Ted, remembering the first parade, said, “We worked against a backdrop of not knowing if anyone would show up and worrying about what could go wrong. The first year was the most difficult because everything was new to us and we did everything we could to do everything right but we were worried that we’d forget something essential. Then the whole thing worked and it was a great rush.”

2010 will be the first time Ted, his wife, the designer Beck Taylor, their children, Eleanor and Steele, and their dogs will join the marchers. For the previous three years Ted was a parade producer and, on the day of the parade itself, a wrangler. Producing the parade came naturally to Ted as he had been working in production in the movie business for directors like David Ward (“The Sting”) and Mike Figgis (“Leaving Las Vegas”).

Ted’s first venture into local politics was after he became a father. He and his family lived in the historic Sunshine Court bungalows on 3^rd Street. He decided he had to do something about the speeding cars on the street. Ted got in touch with OPCO (Ocean Park Community Organization) to ask for help and, suddenly, he was the Chair of the Traffic Committee of OPCO.

Ted became known in the neighborhood and was asked to join the newly formed OPA (Ocean Park Association). By 2006 he was OPA’s president and worked on citywide issues of traffic and congestion, bicycle safety and environmental protection of the beach.

When Beck was asked if she would apply for an open position on the Recreation and Parks Commission, she suggested that her husband Ted apply. Ted was interested, motivated by being a father, having always been interested in sports – having played soccer and softball at school and now playing soccer with the 30 and over league at Paul Revere.

“Being on the Recreation and Parks Commission was congruent with all my interests. I applied and was appointed. I was getting great experience in City government and all the public issues of the City.”

Ken Genser then encouraged Ted to seek an appointment to the Planning Commission. He took Ken’s advice and was appointed to the Planning Commission. Ted characterizes the Planning Commission as “a lot of work and a steep learning curve. We have thought provoking but collegial disagreements and I’ve had fun and feel I’ve contributed to the City.

“On the Commission I’ve been an advocate, in the LUCE and in individual projects, of making bicycling safer, easier and more fun.” It is a continuation of the work Ted did at OPA starting the Sunday bike valet at the Main Street Farmer’s Market. He supports bringing the B-Line bike system to Santa Monica and he has made sure that the LUCE supports bicycle ridership.

Strongly against putting the recently introduced increases to height limits in the LUCE, Ted said, “It was an 11^th hour vote, by the Planning Commission, to increase heights. The fact that it had not been vetted in the public process was very troubling to me. As a City we have been through years of public workshops and meetings where we had committed to support the widespread community sentiment to preserve the scale and character of Santa Monica.”

Ted grew up in that most urban environment, New York City. “While I was raised in an urban environment, I was also raised in the outdoors, camping and backpacking with my family. Santa Monica has all the virtues of an urban lifestyle and still preserves an intimate connection to nature. I make a point of seeing the ocean every day. Living in Santa Monica means that I can get to Mt. Baldy to ski in less than two hours, if I leave at 6:30 in the morning, and still be home it time to have dinner with my family at a great restaurant.”

If you’re looking for Ted Winterer, you can find him, early almost every morning at the beach in Ocean Park. He loves the “historic vibe, the quality of the light, and the feel of the ocean in the breeze.” Ted thinks Ocean Park is a ‘hip’ neighborhood but says about himself, “It’s not that I’m hip, but I do like living in a hip community.”

Ted is a dedicated husband and father, dedicated community servant and advocate for Santa Monica; the 4^th of July parade is an event that epitomizes his values. Talking about the parade he said, “It’s a unifying event. It brings people together to celebrate their shared patriotism in a homespun, volunteer way. You see your friends and neighbors cheering and waving you cheer and wave back and you know you really are part of a small town. I cherish that feeling.”

To do your own waving and cheering, come to the parade! For more information go to http://www.opa-sm.org/parade

What Say You: Palisades Park June 13 Tour

Great parks are physical expressions of our history and our aspirations. They tell the story of the people, past and present, who have claimed the parkland as their own, intertwined with the story told by nature, geology, wind and water.

Palisades Park, given to the City by Sra. Arcadia Bandini, Colonel Baker and Senator Jones, is a great park. Made great by the ocean and the palisades, its place as a connector between the City and sea, by its history and by all the forces, natural and human, that have created this public space.

I had the chance to meet with the Santa Monica Conservancy docents who will be at the Park on June 13, 2010 to welcome people to a tour of the park and to talk about the history, the landscape, and the events that make Palisades Park what it is today. www.smconservancy.org

Walking the length of Palisades Park from north to south was, as always, wonderful. But walking with the Conservancy docents and hearing their stories, I was also in the company of the Tongva/Gabrieleno Indians who lived for centuries on the coast we now call home. They truly lived lightly on the land and so there are few physical traces of the as many as 5000 Tongva who lived, in small villages, on the Southern California coast.

The plants have changed as well as the people, from the natives of the time of the Tongva to imports such as the Dragon Trees from the Canary Islands. Pink Melaleucas, twisted trees with ground-hugging branches, pink blossoms and whitish flaking bark and Australian Tea Trees with dark furrowed bark and small white flowers are signature trees in the Park and favorite climbing spots for small children. Eucalyptus trees, from Australia, were brought in by Abbot Kinney of Venice Canal fame. He hoped Eucalyptus would prove to be useful for construction. He grew them at an experimental nursery built on land also donated by Arcadia Bandini.

Iconic colonnades of Mexican Fan and Canary Island Palms echo the shape and form of the linear park, their image recognizable far beyond Santa Monica. Italian Stone Pines repeat linear patterns, each new planting design overlaying the past with the aesthetic of its own time. Now, again, working to save the palisades from erosion, we have returned to the native plants that express our commitment as a city to the principles of environmental sustainability.

The park is continuously reinvented. The Senior Center was originally the location of the North Beach Station of the Pacific Electric Railway. The new building, constructed in 1955 by architect Weldon J. Fulton, was given to the City by philanthropist Marcellus L. Joslyn, in memory of his wife.

The funicular that once spanned from the park to the beach is long gone, but the desire to re-create a way to get from the park to the beach is getting a new look by the City.

Along the recently created natural paths are a timeline of monuments that celebrate our history. The totem pole anchoring the northern edge of the park honors the Native Americans of our Country. Walking south through the park we come to the stone marker dedicated to George Washington by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Our walk takes us past the sculpture of Arcadia Bandini, surrounded by a formal rose garden; the Montana ridge, a ceramic bench designed to look like the rocks; the Craftsman Idaho gates with the emblematic Batchelder tiles; and, of course, the Pergola. At the south end of the park we relearn the ironies of history when we come to the monument dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Chichen. Unfortunately, their achievements have been lost to memory.

Everyone seems to agree the weather is perfect for playing in the park. Not too hot, not too cold, not too bright. The park is filled with people. Bicyclists in cycling outfits, joggers and walkers, grandparents and grandchildren, hand-holding couples, people and their dogs, photographers, people practicing yoga, people exercising with their trainers, chess players, and picnickers mix comfortably together. It was a pleasure to see the way each person made the park his/her own. It was also a pleasure to know that this has been a special place for generations, and, if we do our job as good stewards, it will continue to be a special place for the generations to come.

Knowledgeable and welcoming Conservancy docents will be in Palisades Park on Sunday, June 13 to share their stories with you. I, for one, raise my glass in a toast of gratitude to Arcadia Bandini. Her gifts to our City have not been well recognized. She was the daughter of one of the original Ranchero Families of Southern California, known as a good businesswoman, a gracious hostess and a generous philanthropist. I say, muchisimos gracias Arcadia Bandini. What say you?