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| Black Cormorant Santa Monica Beach July 2014 photo credit Susan Cloke |
Santa Monica summer at the beach. Surfers, children splashing in the
waves, junior lifeguards in training, long distance ocean swimmers, runners.
Beach walks at sunrise and sunset. Dolphin sightings, sandpipers poking in
the sand for their breakfast, pelicans flying low across the water and then
diving for fish, the choreographed dance of the Black Cormorant.
The glory of summer in Santa Monica makes it
even harder to get one’s mind around the fact that the local election season is
now open.
The early start is an indicator of the
controversies swirling around town.
Key issues will be the scale and urban character of new development and
the existing and continuing increase in traffic.
Look to the defeat of the Hines Project. Add to that the ongoing opposition to the height and
scale and character of the proposed development at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel
and to other developments in the application queue. Development is the main argument.
The Hines defeat is particularly telling. A major new community organization in
town, Residocracy.org, flexed considerable muscle and brought about the defeat
of the Hines project. SMCLC (Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City) had
previously opposed the Hines project and was ready with a lawsuit. In a show of unanimity all the Santa
Monica Neighborhood Organizations, OPA, NOMA, PNA, MidCity Neighbors, NENeighbors, Wilmont and Friends of Sunset Park joined together in asking the
City Council to reject the Hines project.
The organization that brought Rent Control to
Santa Monica in the late 1970’s SMRR (Santa Monicans for Renters Rights)
publicly opposed the Hines project and key SMRR leaders spoke against the
project at the Council hearing.
There was a split in the SMRR-endorsed Council
Members. On the SMRR website,
Sonya Fox Sultan, SMRR Steering Committee, wrote of the SMRR opposition to the
Hines project, concluding with “SMRR endorsed Council members Kevin McKeown,
Tony Vasquez, and Ted Winterer voted NO.”
She did not write that SMRR endorsed Council Members Pam O’Connor,
Gleam Davis and Terry O’Day voted YES.
Is the split in SMRR endorsed Council Members
an indicator of conflict at the upcoming August 3, 2014 SMRR Convention. Does the division of SMRR votes on the
Council reflect a division within SMRR?
How will it effect SMRR endorsements? What does it mean for the election and the next Council?
14 candidates have pulled papers to begin the
process of getting the necessary 100 Santa Monica voter signatures on a
candidate petition to qualify for the ballot. The candidates are: currently serving Council Members KevinMcKeown and Pam O’Connor and former Council Member Michael Feinstein; Planning Commissioners
Sue Himmelrich, Jennifer Kennedy, Richard McKinnon and former Planning
Commissioner Frank Gruber; Recreation and Parks Commissioner Phil Brock;
community activist Jerry Rubin; and community members Nick Boles, TerenceLater, Jon Mann, Ken Robin and Whitney Scott Bain. Still unknown is whether or not Council Member Bob Holbrook,
whose term is up, will run again. (note: campaign websites are per the City Clerk's office and as of press time.) Election day, November 4, is almost 4 months
away but campaigning is full on.
Current Mayor Pam O’Connor, a five time SMRR-endorsed
candidate is not expected to receive another SMRR endorsement nor the campaign
and financial support that goes with the SMRR endorsement.
O’Connor is expected to run a vigorous
campaign. Early endorsements
include LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and LA City Council Member Mike
Bonin. O’Connor has worked with
both of them on regional transportation issues and bringing the Expo Line to
Santa Monica. Other early
endorsements come from State Assembly Member Richard Bloom and Santa Monica
Council Members Gleam Davis, Terry O’Day and Bob Holbrook.
The community organization SMCLC (Santa Monica
Coalition for a Livable City) moved quickly to endorse Kevin McKeown, Sue
Himmelrich and Richard McKinnon, saying:
“Santa Monica faces a historic election…when residents will have a
chance to fundamentally change the current council, from one where the majority
largely rubber stamps a steady onslaught of high-density, traffic-clogging
overdevelopment – to one that will act for residents, not developers. The scale, character and livability of
our City is at stake.”
NOMA Chair Danilo Bach and Landmarks
Commissioner Margaret Bach are also supporting Richard McKinnon and opened
their home this past week for a neighborhood ‘meet and greet.’ McKinnon spoke about good governance,
development issues, social services, sustainability, the airport and
transportation.
McKinnon said, “Santa Monica is a great city. However the community is fractured at the moment and residents have lost trust in their elected officials. The whole world wants to come to Santa Monica, to our low-scale city of beaches and parks and sunlight and trees. I understand that there will be development but I want it to be sympathetic to the City.”
McKinnon said, “Santa Monica is a great city. However the community is fractured at the moment and residents have lost trust in their elected officials. The whole world wants to come to Santa Monica, to our low-scale city of beaches and parks and sunlight and trees. I understand that there will be development but I want it to be sympathetic to the City.”
Sue Himmelrich invited supporters to her house
over the weekend for speeches and tacos from a Taco Truck. (An ink stamp on the back of your hand from the campaign was what you showed at
the taco truck). Kevin McKeown and Tony Vazquez, current SMRR Council
Members, and Denny Zane, an early SMRR leader and former Council Member, were
there to support Himmelrich. Zane
told the group of about 70 people, “We need to be allies for a community that
has a human scale and we do not need to be a world class destination, we need
to be a city of residents.”
Himmelrich, an attorney with the Western Center
on Law and Poverty, promised “a transparent Santa Monica government.” She called the Hines project “just
wrong” and said that she had given both money and legal advice to support the
referendum that defeated the project.
“People are above corporations and our City is the right scale now and we
need to keep it that way.”
Michael Feinstein’s community meet and greet
this week was at the destination surf shop, Zuma Jay’s on Main Street. Former Los Angeles City Council Member
Bill Rosendahl introduced Feinstein saying, “He has a passion for the issues which
are important to all of us. The
bay, the ocean, shutting down the airport, and making good development
decisions.”
Feinstein spoke about his work with the Green
Party, his concerns about climate change, closing the airport, capping the
freeway, building new parks throughout the city, creating a public solar
utility, protecting and expanding Bergamot. Feinstein said, “I see the big picture. I talk with everyone. I think government should be open. And I believe anything is possible.”
Frank Gruber, former Planning Commissioner,
entertainment attorney, writer and blogger at http://thehealthycitylcoal.com will
hold his first campaign event Friday July 25. For more information email choosefrank2014@gmail.com. Gruber said, “I’m running to
continue the tradition of more than 30 years of progressive government in Santa
Monica.”
Phil Brock, Recreation and Parks Commissioner
and Chair, talks about Santa Monica and why he is running. “I stayed in the city I was born in…
It’s the openness of Santa Monica that we like. It’s that magical combination of great schools, superb green
space, the ocean, the cool breezes and the notion that a city could be more
humane, more livable and more unique….”
Even at this early date there are front-runners,
contenders and candidates the public hasn’t yet met. All Candidates are invited to participate at the City
Council Candidates Forum held by Residocracy.org
and the City Neighborhood
Groups. Open to the public. Monday July 28. Santa Monica Main Library. Martin Luther King Auditorium. Doors open at 6pm. Event 6:30 to 9pm.
I start my day with an early morning beach
walk. With the wonderful feeling
of my feet in the sand and in the water. I think about how we elect leaders and
the money we spend. I wonder why
campaigns are volatile and issues urgent.
Then I remember that politics cares about us even if we don’t want to be
bothered. That the decisions made
by our elected leaders impact the quality of each Santa Monican and that it is only by
caring about politics that we take care of ourselves and of future generations of Santa Monicans.
What Say You?
