Hometown Hero: 4th of July Main Street Parade and Lori Nafshun

First OPA Main Street Parade July 4 2007
photo credit Susan Cloke

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

“Main Street meets Doo Dah,” described Lori Nafshun, the Ocean Park Association (OPA) force behind the Main Street 4^th of July Parade.  “It’s a parade for everyone, for our political leaders and for the fun loving and the wacky.  It’s very Santa Monica and it’s special.”

The theme of this year’s parade is HEROES.  ”We honor the heroes who were the founders of the United States and express our patriotism and our allegiance to the principles of our democracy.  We also honor our own local heroes.  And everyone has their own personal hero,” said Nafshun.  “Heroes come in many shapes and sizes.  OPA invites everyone to come to the parade and let us know who your hero is.”

The Grand Marshall and Santa Monica Hero is Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks.  Embracing the theme of the Parade she stated, “Just as those who fought for this country's independence were the heroes of their time, those who fight for the safety of our community on a daily basis are today's heroes.  I am fiercely proud to represent today's heroes, the men and women of the Santa Monica Police Department.  I am privileged to be able to celebrate our heroes past and present not only as our parade's Grand Marshal but also as this community's Police Chief and I'm loving it."

Along with Chief Seabrooks, the Santa Monica Girl Scout Color Guard will be in the lead.  Local dignitaries including City Council Members O’Connor, Day, Gleam, Holbrook, McKeown, Vasquez and Winterer, former Santa Monica Mayors and Assemblyman Bloom will all participate. 

Keeping the faith with sustainability all dignitaries will ride in electric cars. Vintage cars are the exception to the green rule.  And the low riders will be back again this year! 

Parade music will be as eclectic as Santa Monica and will feature everything from the SAMOHI Marching Band, The Mariachi Conservatory, the SantaMonica Youth Symphony, the Americans, the FU Dogs and more.

Bike groups Bike Attack and the Freedom Riders and lots of neighborhood kids on decorated bikes will be in the parade.  As Nafshun says, “cyclists are heroes too – showing us how to change our ideas about transportation.”

What’s a parade without music and school kids, local dignitaries and local groups and horses!  The Santa Monica Mounted Police and a public group called the Santa Monica Mounted Posse will be showing off their beautiful horses and their horsemanship.

Local groups the Running of the Grunion and the Euclideans as well as local schools SMASH, the Edison Language Academy the Growing Place and Mount Olive PreSchool will all be strutting their stuff.

And lots more.  To register to march in the parade go to www.opa-sm.org/parade by July 1, 2013.  Registration is free.  Nafshun encourages everyone to follow the green theme and bring your own multi-use water bottle.

Santa Monica resident and former OPA president, Joel Brand remembers the beginnings of the Main Street 4^th of July Parade. “The parade was started in 2007 by a handful of people at OPA but it was really Lori who had the vision and the tenacity to make it happen.  Santa Monica didn’t have a 4^th of July parade.  It didn’t have a community celebration on the 4^th.  OPA believed Santa Monica would be a better place with a small town Independence Day parade where everyone could participate.  We have a fantastic community here in Santa Monica and we can’t do enough of these community events that help to bind us together. 

“It took a lot of conversation and cooperation between OPA and the City Staff and the Council for everyone to understand why it was so important to Santa Monicans and to the City to have the parade.  The late Council Member Ken Genser was especially supportive and helpful,” said Brand.

“It is people like Lori that make our City a great City.  She does this work because she loves Santa Monica and this parade is truly Santa Monica.”

Another former OPA President, Council Member Ted Winterer said “When Lori suggested the idea for the 4^th of July parade we all thought she was nuts. It seemed such an enormous undertaking.  Finally OPA decided we had to go for it.  After endless meetings and overcoming obstacle after obstacle we knew we were going to be able to pull it off but it wasn’t until the finish of the first parade when we realized it had succeeded beyond our expectations that it was easy to look at doing it again and again.  We were elated.”

The OPA Main Street 4^th of July Parade has, in seven short years, become a beloved institution in Santa Monica.  This Independence Day Parade is one with parades in cities across the United States in lauding and honoring the heroes of our nation’s founding.  We are particularly Santa Monica when we laud and honor our own local heroes. 

So we appreciate this time of joining together in expressing our patriotism and our gratitude for the freedoms of our country.  We thank OPA and all the volunteers and sponsors and supporters of the parade.  In our daily safety and in our sorrow at the recent tragedy at SMC we are grateful for our Chief of Police Jacqueline Seabrooks, the Grand Marshall of the Parade. 

We especially thank all the Santa Monicans who make Santa Monica a great place to call home. 

And we thank our Hometown Hero Lori Nafshun for her vision, her tenacity and her commitment to building community in Santa Monica.

Happy 4^th of July to all!  See you at the Parade!

Santa Monica Mourns and Heals

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist

“California Dreaming” could have been written for a day such as Friday, June 7, 2013.  It was a postcard day of sunshine, light breezes and ocean waves.  President Obama was in Santa Monica and the biggest problem of the day was avoiding the motorcade when driving through town.

Suddenly, the dream was shattered.  A shooter was killing people at Santa Monica College (SMC).  The news was, instantly, everywhere.  The City responded.  Santa Monica Police and Campus police teamed up.  Schools across the City were put on lockdown.  Streets were closed and traffic rerouted.  SMC campus was evacuated and the City held its collective breath.

The first call came in at 11:52 am.  Shots were heard.  Two men were killed.  A house went up in flames.  The shooter went on to hijack a car and terrorize the woman who owned the car into driving him to Pico Blvd where he shot into a car and a Big Blue Bus.  He then forced the driver to take him to SMC.

The shooter headed for the library.  The students who could fled the campus, dropping their backpacks as they ran.  In the library students barricaded themselves into what they hoped were safe places.

At 12:O5 pm it was over.  Wounded in a shoot out with two Santa Monica City Police Officers and one Santa Monica College Police Officer the shooter was moved to the sidewalk where he died.

All around town parents were waiting outside elementary schools for news and for the decision to be made that it was safe for the children to leave their schools.  While the parents talked and worried, the children were safe.  At John Adams they watched a movie and had cookies.  They came out to their parents happy and relaxed.

City Manager Rod Gould had, as usual, biked to work that day.  He told of being in a police car with Police Captain Ken Semko when, at 11:52 am, word came over the radio of shots being fired, a house in flames.  The Captain turned on the lights and sirens and they listened to the dispatcher giving information to the first responders.

“When you hear automatic gunfire everything in your DNA says run away,” said Gould.  “Our people were running toward the gunfire.

“We got to Pearl Street and went toward the library.  A man, dressed all in the black of the police uniform, was down and our first impression was that one of ours had fallen.  Then we realized it was the assailant.”

“13 minutes,” said Gould, “11:52 to 12:05.  It was over.  It was chaotic, it was frightening, but everyone pulled together and I’m fiercely proud of all our officers, our teachers, our bus drivers, and our public and community service employees.

“We have a mutual aid pact with other law enforcement agencies that we will help each other in emergencies.  We don’t bill each other; we just go when we’re needed.  A small army of SMPD, SMFD, BHPD, CCPD, LAPD, FBI and ATF were at the Command Center.  They formed teams to search the campus.  They needed to make sure there were no more victims needing help.  They needed to make sure no other assailants were hiding on campus.”

On Friday the gunman was still “the shooter.”  A terrifying man with an assault rifle, a gun, 1300 rounds of ammunition and he was killing people.  We learned later that his name was John Zawarhi.  He had gone to school in Santa Monica and people knew that he had mental and emotional problems as far back as middle school.

The first people he killed on that Friday were his father, Samir Zawahri, and his older brother, Chris Zawahri.  At the college he shot and killed the well-known and well-liked grounds keeper, Carlos Navarro Franco.  Marcela Dia Franco, Mr. Franco’s daughter, was at the college with her father that day to get her books for school.  She and Margarita Gomez were both shot during the mayhem on campus and were taken to a trauma center. Neither victim survived.  Six deaths.  Five victims.  One gunman.

Grief hit hard.  People got ready to deal with it.  To heal by helping each other.  To work to restore a sense of order and confidence.    Santa Monica had learned from other cities that had suffered from similar violence.  People talked of Boston, of Sandy Hook, of Columbine.  Santa Monica also shares with these other communities qualities of resilience and kindness and empathy in the presence of anguish.

On Saturday Santa Monica’s famous Paddleboard Races were dedicated to the memory of the victims of the SMC tragedy and spectators and competitors observed a moment of silence.

By Sunday, the parks were full of children playing soccer, families were at the beach, and people riding bicycles were everywhere.  It looked like a normal day in Santa Monica.  But at the SMC Bundy Campus many students, staff and faculty gathered for grief counseling.  Volunteers from the American Red Cross, the Clergy and from the college were there to help anyone who asked.  Local businesses donated food and while many people were upstairs in counseling sessions other people were gathering in the courtyard to eat and talk and be together.

The first of many memorial services was held on Sunday at St. Anne’s, just blocks away from SMC.  The Franco and Gomez families were there.  The Mayor was there, the State Assemblyman was there; neighbors and friends were there.  The outdoor sanctuary was beautiful.  Chui Tsang, SMC President said, “On Friday the tranquility of our campus was broken by violence.  Our deepest condolences go to the families of Carlos and Marcela Franco and Margarita Gomez.  I promise to you that this violent act will not take us away from our mission.”

On Monday, June 10 over 1000 people came to together at SMC Corsair Field to mourn.  People who didn’t know each other hugged each other.  The victims were remembered and families of the victims were honored.  Speakers called for people to come together in the spirit of the school and the community.

Ramona Franco, wife of Navarro and mother of Marcela, teaches at the St. Johns Child Studies Center.  At St. Johns a fund was set up for employees who wanted to contribute their PDO time (paid days off) to Mrs. Franco.  At the college memorial funds were being established for both the Franco and the Gomez families.

Sister Maureen Craig of St. Johns said, “This is the time when people put aside their problems and come to the aid of the person hurting grievously.”

Americans have shown they feel the same way as Sister Maureen.  In every tragedy people demonstrate great unselfishness and bravery as people come together to help and to heal.

Violence, senseless violence has become a fear we all live with.  All of us, it seems, but not all our Senators and Congressional Members. With 90% of Americans supporting strict background checks for gun owners they still didn’t vote for gun control.  Why not support the ban on automatic weapons?  Do they not share the anguish we all feel?  Do they feel immune?

The privilege of being an elected official should not be in the perks of the job, it properly is in the opportunity the job creates for doing good and for making life better for the people one serves.

To protect ourselves, our families and our communities we shall have to use the power of the vote and political and financial support to insist that gun control laws be enacted.  If we succeed in protecting even one child from the senseless and random violence of a madman it is worth doing.