Honoring Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
   Courtesy Photo

SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

Georgia. Summer 1965.
 

There were 17 of us walking in an orderly line, as directed by the Deputy Sheriff of Baker County. I recognized some of the faces from church and some were new to me. No one was talking. We didn’t know what to expect. We were all nervous and all wanting to appear strong. 

 

Just a few moments earlier we had been on the sidewalk in front of the Baker County Georgia Courthouse walking carefully and singing freedom songs quietly. Some of us, I among them, had attempted to walk into the courthouse with the people who were going to try to register to vote.

I was a white, 18 year old college student from California working with the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee. I was there to give witness and to support the people trying to register to vote.

Newton GA, the capitol of Baker County, was a poor town. It’s red brick courthouse sat in the center of a small city block of unhappy grass, a telephone booth on the front lawn, and not much else.

We had been arrested for ‘disturbing the peace’ and ‘creating a public nuisance.’ The jail ahead of us was a concrete box with openings where the windows were meant to be. The cells were metal bars of walls, divided into four, inside the concrete block structure.

Typically for the time of year the day was hot, dusty, and without a breeze. I looked at the others, looking for clues as to how to act. And I looked at the Sheriffs, wondering what they were thinking and worrying that, as the only white person, I would get singled out for ‘special’ treatment, which might be worse than the others or it might be better, but in either case it would isolate me from the others and I didn’t want that.

We weren’t booked right away. Instead we were put directly into the cells. In the cell I was in people were curious about me. They all knew there was a white girl come to be a civil rights worker, but they didn’t all know me.

One woman, a very large and solidly strong black woman called AJ, was put in a cell by herself. She was known to the sheriffs and I thought they were afraid of her. I’d heard her speak in church and had heard her say she could paint a house in a day and pick cotton better than any man.

Our cell was crowded. We took turns lying down on the dirty, uncovered mattresses. June bugs, huge beetles, came in through the openings where the windows should have been and competed for room in the cell. The toilet was a hole in the corner. I thought not eating was a good idea and eagerly joined in when a hunger strike was called.

Each morning the Deputy Sheriff would come in with a plate for each of us with a large spoonful of grits, one slice of wonder bread and a tin cup of dark water he labeled ‘coffee.’ Each evening he again brought a plate for each of us. Beans replaced the grits in the evening meal. Everything else stayed the same. That made it real easy to stay on the hunger strike.

But not AJ, she ate the plate of food brought to her and then we passed our plates through the bars to her and she ate most of ours.

We sang, we tried to sleep, and we talked. It was the beginning of my conscious understanding that while we all lived in the same geographical world and at the same time in history, there are a multitude of cultural worlds in the United States.

At first I did more listening than talking. There was so much to see and to hear and to think about. It was all consuming.

On about the third day my hair, which I had put up on my head and tied a scarf around, came down. I had no brush, no way to put it back up.

The Deputy Sheriff came into the jail with our usual morning plates and practically dropped the plates when he saw me. “You're white!” he said.

I hadn’t realized he hadn’t known this already. It was an ‘aha moment’ for me as I realized his prejudiced belief system had interfered with his ability to see the person who was right in front of him.

“I don’t have another cell. What am I going to do?” he was genuinely concerned. I think for me, because from his point of view, how could I be okay with sharing a jail cell with ‘n…s.’ (The word all the sheriffs used when they talked to any of us.) And concerned for himself as he was sure to get into trouble with his boss, Sherriff L Warren Johnson.

L. Warren Johnson was a man so mean it was hard to believe. He used to boast that he’d killed 49 people. When he was younger he was part of a posse that had brutally tortured and then hanged a black man. That lynching trial went all the way to the Supreme Court in the notorious Screws Case.

I answered the Deputy’s worries and said I would stay in the cell with my friends but that he needed to bring us food we could eat. I asked for fresh water with ice, for apples and, still being a teenager, I asked for cookies.

Unbelievably, he started to bring better food and he brought the water, the apples and cookies. I talked to him and was as friendly as I could be and still be honest.

During the time I was in jail my parents were understandably terrified. My mother and her friends decided they would call the Congress in Washington every day. Their message was, “Susan is in Baker County GA in a jail cell because she is doing the work the American government should be doing. What are you doing to keep her safe?”

One Congressman set up a daily telephone call with me. At noon the Deputy Sheriff would take me out of the cell and walk me across the street to the lone telephone booth in front of the Courthouse. I would wait outside, in the noontime sun, for the phone to ring. The routine was the same every day. He would answer the phone and then he would get me and tell me to go into the phone booth and that I should tell the Congressman I was okay. He would then walk me back to the jail.

The news of these daily phone calls got out and I became a spectacle for some of the local, white men. They would wait for the Sheriff to bring me out and then they would say terrible things to me.

Like in fairy tales, they looked as evil as they were mean. One stringy elderly man had stained teeth and mouth from chewing tobacco. Brown spittle would drool down his face as he was jeering me. Another, father and son I think, both had huge bellies that hung over their belts, belts that were needed because they had no hips and spindly legs.

The jeers were usually sexual. In any case, that’s all they talked about to me. Following civil rights/non-violence training I kept silent and didn’t engage with them in any way.

Then there was a day when the talk became menacing and violent, “you are going to end up at the bottom of Flint River and no one will ever find you.”

When I went back to the jail cell I thought about what I might do. I decided to talk to them. I was not putting anyone but myself at risk.

I had the confidence of a young woman who had been respectfully treated all her life and I thought, that if I really talked to the small group of miserable looking men who had been taunting me for days, it might make a difference.

Something about all the hatred was so wrong. Not wrong in the moral sense, which, of course it was, but wrong in the sense of being ‘off.’

How could it be that people of color could be trusted to raise white babies, be the nannies to white children, cook and care for white families in sickness and health, be on such physically intimate terms and still not be ‘clean’ enough to share a public bathroom or drink at a public drinking fountain, or eat in a public restaurant.

The rules of Jim Crow were not only immoral they made no sense. To me it was a surreal world. I didn’t know most of the ‘rules’ and so was forever doing something ‘wrong.’

The next day at noon the taunting started again. I was ready to do something else that broke the surreal rules of the Jim Crow South.

“You’re hurting my feelings,” I said in a soft and sad voice.

“We are?” I had startled them. I had broken my silence. My voice was unhappy but not angry. In that moment I began to make myself a person to them.

They were curious about me, in a bad way. They began to ask personal questions about my life. Mostly mean questions.

I talked about going to college and how I loved reading. I talked about California and movies and museums and beaches and parks and restaurants – all things they didn’t have in Baker County.

I told them black people could register to vote in California without any problem of any kind. In fact everyone was encouraged to vote.

At that moment I realized that, yes I could teach people how to read and I could walk with them into the courthouse to register to vote, but my real value was I was able to show everyone in the South, black and white, the possibility of a different world.

I do know that, in 1965, not one person of color was registered to vote in Baker County GA. As much as we demonstrated and sang and called Washington and went to jail, we never could get anyone registered to vote in that summer of 1965.

I also know that, in 2008, half of the registered voters in Baker County GA were African-American and that Obama carried the County when he won the Presidential election.

What Say You: Marion Davies Celebration

Nicole DeSilva and Dylan Regalado
Photo courtesy Bart Bartholomew

SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist
Santa Monica Mirror


The Annenberg Community Beach House was a really fun place to be on Sunday, Jan. 6. About 300 people were there to celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of Marion Davies. It was a party but it was also serious. We were there to honor our City history, the buildings of Julia Morgan, the success of the new Beach House and the famous Santa Monica resident Marion Davies.

The Santa Monica Conservancy hosted the party. The Guest House, designed by the renowned California architect Julia Morgan, was filled with people in period costume listening to stories of Marion’s life.

As guests sat on comfortable sofas they looked out at the Pacific and listened to Ruthann Lehrer, the Chair of the Conservancy Program Committee. She portrayed Marion’s mother, Rose. Speaking as Rose she said, “Marion was a generous spirit who loved her family. She also loved pranks and could be very silly and she wasn’t interested in school. However she excelled at ballet and tap. With older sisters in vaudeville, Marion decided to do the same. Tall, blue eyed, slender, and vivacious she became a celebrated showgirl with the Ziegfeld Follies.

“William Randolph Hearst was 52 and married with five sons when he spotted Marion on stage,” she said. “She was 18 and dancing with the Ziegfeld Follies and he was smitten. He was to love Marion for his entire life.

“Marion was already an experienced actress when Hearst became interested in the movie business. He started a film company with Louis B. Mayer and Marion Davies became his leading lady.

“In 1924 he bought 750 feet of prime beach frontage, hired Julia Morgan to design the mansion, the guest house and the pool. He built a dream house and he gave it to Marion. He was always giving her fabulous gifts and some would say it was to make up for never being able to marry her.”

Charlie Chaplin met Marion Davies when she was a Floradora girl with the Ziegfeld Follies and starred in “The Floradora Girl.”  The talented Phyllis Bernard ably played Chaplin.

“I soon became her good friend,” said Bernard speaking as Chaplin. “We went to parties and dinners together. We made comedic home movies with our neighbor Harold Lloyd. Our friendship pleased Hearst but it also made him jealous. One time he hired a private detective to spy on us and Marion was so angry that Hearst and she nearly separated.

“Hearst was a conservative, a powerful conservative. One out of four Americans got their news from a Hearst source. Louis B. Mayer was a conservative.  I lived in America but I was a British citizen and I was a communist.  They would talk politics and Mayer would get mean but Hearst stayed polite.  Apparently it was okay to disagree politically but Hearst wouldn’t allow any other man to be romantically interested in Marion.

“And of course, many other men were interested. She was so pretty, so fun and so kind. We used to go to the Pier, ride the carousel and the roller coaster. She and Gable and I used to love to drive the bumper cars.”

Marion Davies also loved to dance and, in her honor, swing dance lessons were offered in the new beach house, designed by Fred Fisher to be both modern and yet refer back to the original Julia Morgan design.  All the partygoers got together in the new Beach House to toast Marion with champagne and to share birthday cake.

Marion Davies was a talented and beautiful woman. She was also a good businesswoman and a loyal friend. Throughout her life Davies was a generous philanthropist and would often give money without letting anyone know she was the donor.

Davies lived in a different era and her own times were not always kind to her. She was Hearst’s mistress and that was a scandal. He only published rave reviews of her work and she felt that diminished her as an actress. It contributed to her ending her acting career. Although by that time she had made 29 silent films and 16 talkies.

Carol Lemlein, the President of the Santa Monica Conservancy, said, “Marion Davies frequently gets a bad rap. Yet she was a wonderful person, generous to her family and friends and a great philanthropist.”

I say it’s time to rethink our view of the life of Marion Davies.

What Say You?

The Gift of Music: SMYO and Shab Fasa

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SUSAN CLOKE

SMYO Concert December 16, 2012 Virginia Avenue Park

Columnist
Santa Monica Mirror
January 4, 2013

The audience was hushed and proud with good reason.  They were the parents, family, friends and supporters of the student musicians playing the first Holiday Concert of the new Santa Monica Youth Orchestra. (SMYO)

All Santa Monica students are welcome to join the orchestra.   To be a member of SMYO you need to be a student at a Santa Monica public school, private school or live in Santa Monica and be home schooled.  The founder of SMYO, Shabnam (Shab) Fasa, said, “We don’t audition.  We take everyone.  We don’t ask anyone to pay.”

SMYO is based on El Sistema, a government sponsored program of music education in Venezuela.  Los Angeles Philharmonic’s beloved conductor Gustavo Dudamel is originally from Venezuela, had studied with El Sistema, and made starting a youth orchestra in Los Angeles a part of his contract with the LA Philharmonic.   El Sistema music education goals are to teach students to make and love music and to become members of the international community of music.  Fasa had the opportunity to work with Dudamel at the Youth Orchestra of LA and that gave her the confidence to start the SMYO.

Shab Fasa works as a Manager for Community Corp in Santa Monica.  She studied at SMC and then went on to get a degree in Ethnomusicology from UCLA.

She was born in Iran.  Her mother, who had studied at Berkeley, left Iran because of the revolution and brought her family to Denmark where they were granted political asylum. 

In Denmark, as part of her schooling, her mother gave her a choice, “Study the piano or study the violin.”  She chose the violin because she wanted to be able to carry her instrument and because she fell in love with the Brahms Violin Concerto.

“The cool thing about the symphony for kids is that they become part of a collaborative body of sound.  You are dependent on everyone else in the orchestra to be able to make a great sound.  It makes you humble and it makes you proud at the same time.” said Fasa.

“I felt part of the community in Denmark because I was a violinist.  The feelings of togetherness in an orchestra bring people together across boundaries.”

She and her family moved from Denmark to the US in 2002 and, after trying a few other places, landed in Santa Monica.   Fasa said, “I did my research and Santa Monica is where I wanted our family to live.”

In January of 2012 she and Julius Carlson and Damian Berdakin, the original music mentors of the SMYO, held their first rehearsal.  “We invited 400 kids and 9 kids showed up!”

There are now 49 student musicians in the SMYO.  Their conductor, Clarinetist Ryan Dedenbostel, recently came to Santa Monica from his job at New York's Manhattan School of Music.  Shab Fasa is the founder of SMYO, a violinist and the violin instructor.  Bassist, cellist and luthier Gabriel (Gabo) Golden mentors the cello students.  He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and at the USC Thornton School of Music and performs with Les Surprises Barogque and with Tessarae.  Musicologist and classical guitarist Julius Reder Carlson mentors the students and teaches the history of music.  He studied at the University of Chile and at UCLA and is the editor of UCLA's Ethnomusicology Review.

With their conductor in front of them and their mentors interspersed among them, the students began an almost 2 hour rehearsal.  It got off to a cacophonous start and I watched with admiration as Dudenbostel gently, carefully, charmingly and with demanding expectation brought the students together into an orchestra.

The concert opened with a holiday medley of Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Silent Night.  They then played “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Gustav Holst and closed the concert with selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. .

As a treat for the students and audience alike the conductor and the mentors brought out their own instruments and played a gorgeous interpretation of Rock of Ages.

The gift to the students is the gift of learning music.  Through music study they learn focus and concentration, learn about the music of their own and other cultures, and as Fasa thoughtfully said, “The students learn to access their own inner world and to have respect for their own imagination and for being able to be with each other.”

The people working to make all this possible are Board Members Dorothy Chapman, Deborah Bogen, Betsy Hiteshew, Melissa Sweeney and Irene Zivi, the Cultural Affairs Department of the City, the Boys and Girls Club and the families of the student musicians.

The afternoon was a gift of music for all of us in the filled to capacity Thelma Terry Center at Virginia Avenue Park.  It is a gift of generosity from the teachers and mentors and supporters.  It was a gift of inspiration to take with us into the New Year.

What Say You? The Downtown Specific Plan

SUSAN CLOKE

Clock Tower Building Downtown Santa Monica
Photo courtesy City of Santa Monica

Columnist
Santa Monica Mirror

“This is my city and...”  It’s what you hear at public meetings as person after person speaks on behalf of the city they love.  Their passion for the city is part of why I love Santa Monica.   Now they are helping to shape the future of the downtown.

The Santa Monica Downtown Specific Plan Workshop, held in the East Wing of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on December 5, 2012, was the 3^rd in a series of planning workshops. People were invited to:
 “learn about how the plan is shaping up and give feedback on unique experience, places and buildings that make downtown so special and (learn about) our deas for creating a walkable and complete downtown filled with great buildngs, public spaces, an exciting downtown for residents and visitors.”(http://www01.smgov.net/planning/DowntownSpecificPlan/upcoming.html)

Neal Payton, a principal in the architecture firm of Torti Gallas and Partners, told the 160 or so people in the audience that the LUCE is the “bible” for the development of the downtown.  He listed goals for the plan including creating: “a great walk” with wider sidewalks and great destinations; authenticity to be achieved by creating the right spaces for events and activities that could only be in Santa Monica; downtown neighborhood parks, the possible readaptive use of the post office building as a public space; and to “ensure that new buildings are of a quality that enhances and enriches downtown.” 

In his presentation of what makes a downtown great Neal Payton also talked about identifying “opportunity sites.”  Places where the City would consider exceeding height and other zoning requirements in exchange for community benefits.  “These opportunity sites would be sites, he said, for “iconic architecture.”

Danilo Bach, a long time Santa Monica resident, said of the idea that one cannot predict a building will become iconic.  “I think it’s a clumsy concept.  A building only becomes iconic over time and because of what it means to the community.”

Payton lost the audience when he started talking about the 275 feet high One Wilshire building.  He thought it had admirers in the City.  From the audience reaction, if there are admirers of the building, they weren’t in that room. 

Newly elected Council Member Ted Winterer would like to see the workshop more directly address people’s major concerns.  “Look at all these people here.  They want to talk about scale and height of the buildings.  They want to talk about traffic and how to solve the traffic problems of getting around downtown and through downtown to other parts of the City.  Instead we’re being asked to talk about gateways.  For 160 people to give up their Wednesday evening they want it to be meaningful.”
 

On September 27, 2011 the City Council voted to approve a contract with Torti Gallas and Partners for $655,500 (includes a 15% contingency) “to provide land use and urban design services, transportation planning, economic analysis, architectural and urban form studies, circulation and parking analysis, and community outreach services related to the preparation of the Downtown Specific Plan.”  (http://www.smgov.net/departments/council/agendas/2011/20110927/s2011092703-J.htm)
 

A successful downtown is essential to the well being of the City.  Most of the contract monies will go to the consultants doing data gathering, research and analysis.  Only a portion will go to Torti Gallas.  Whatever that portion is, to earn it, they need to convince us of their understanding of the city we love.   

Many good ideas were presented at the workshop.  Wider sidewalks, more parks, historic preservation, cultural activities and careful attention to building design are an important consideration for any Specific Plan.  What we need to know is that this plan will be specific to Santa Monica and will protect the scale and character of the City.

What Say You?

What Say You? Thought For Food. "Localicious"

What Say You?  Thought for Food. Localicious

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

The Santa Monica Annenberg Beach House glowed in the early evening dark.  ‘Localicious’, www.goodfoodfestivals.com/localicious a partnership of farmers and restaurateurs, created a menu of local and delicious tastes of California  seasonal foods for several hundred happy eaters. The event was a fundraiser in support of FamilyFarmed  www.familyfarmed.org

All the food was local, but the politics of the Good Food Movement are national and international.  Food is on the way to becoming a new force in politics.

Will Allen (yes, the former basketball star) is now an urban farmer, the founder of Growing Power www.growingpower.com and the author of “The Good Food Revolution.”  He writes about how good food can transform communities. 

“My vision,” Allen said, “is to have a world where everybody has access to good food.  Growing Power, Inc, is a non-profit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds and the environment in which they live by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food.  This mission is implemented by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.  Growing Power has farms located in Wisconsin and Illinois.  Some of our farms are in urban neighborhoods and other farms are in rural settings. “

Growing Power is part of the “good food movement,” dedicated to promoting locally and sustainably grown food.   It’s a big tent movement with farmers, communities, restaurateurs and community markets, health care providers, environmental organizations and health care organizations, all united by the idea that industrial food production is in need of reform.

Cheap food has long been a goal in the United States.  But it is no longer an uncontested one.  Cheap food is now being understood as having severe public health and environmental consequences.  Put simply, the real costs of cheap food are too high.  

Michelle Obama is the most prominent advocate of the good food movement.  Her work to end childhood obesity and to promote healthy eating has already had a profound effect on the new, national dialogue on food.  "In the end, as First Lady, this isn’t just a policy issue for me. This is a passion. This is my mission. I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids think about food and nutrition."

In fact every one is a participant in this dialogue because we all eat and that means we all make decisions about what we eat and where we get the food we eat.  As Will Allen said, “Food is the most important thing in our lives.  It is the very core of our being.  It puts all people on an equal level.”

Count yourself a member of this movement if you support schools providing healthier school lunches and snacks, if you buy food that has labels such as, organic or cage free or pesticide free, if you voted for the ballot measure to label genetically modified crops; if you buy produce at the Farmers Markets. 

A challenge the good food movement is taking on is the charge of elitism.  Activists for sustainable farming are tackling the related problem of hunger and poverty and working to come up with solutions.  In Pasadena, at the inner city John Muir High School, Mud Baron is teaching his students to be farmers.  Because of the farming they do, the students are able to bring food home to their families.  This brings them the double reward of being able to really help their own families and to grow their own self-esteem as they grow their crops.  Edgar Hercila, an Iraq War veteran, works with homeless vets to teach them sustainable farming in order to reintegrate them into a productive life. 

Environmental organizations, such as the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) have added their voice as they warn us that the current food system (the farming and the distribution of food) is not sustainable.  The food system in the United States uses about a fifth of the total American use of fossil fuel energy and emits more greenhouse gas than is sustainable.  We have to address food production and distribution if we are to address global warming and climate change

The most direct motivation for being part of this movement comes from wanting to be a healthy person.  We know that eating sugar and fat added processed foods greatly increases the probability of getting type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some types of cancer.  These diseases create personal suffering on a huge scale and add economy-threatening costs to our health care system. These are preventable diseases and linked to the standard post WWII American diet.

Oprah Winfrey has joined Will Allen in the good food movement.
In speaking about his appearance with Winfrey he said, "It is wonderful to see that this good food revolution has become so mainstream and so inclusive.  As the message spreads, the demand for better food grows. So when someone as popular and as influential with people’s lifestyle choices as Oprah Winfrey picks up the banner, we know we have come a long way.

“The thing I would want to add, though, is that we still have a lot of work to do. We have won over the hearts and minds of the public: all generations, all cultures and all classes. Now we have to win over the food industry and the government, to see that supplies of better food meet this growing demand. And we have to ensure that this occurs equitably, so that it is no longer just a lifestyle choice for some but a life necessity for all.”

What Say You?

Giving Politics A Good Name: Henry Waxman And Betsy Butler

Courtesy Photos

Left: Henry Waxman is running for the newly created 33rd Congressional District on Nov. 6, which includes Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Agoura Hills, Venice, Mar Vista, and the South Bay. Right: Betsy Butler is running for the newly created 50th Assembly District on Nov. 6 to represent Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Malibu, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Topanga, West Hollywood, and Westlake Village.

What Say You?  Giving Politics A Good Name.  Henry Waxman and Betsy Butler
Susan Cloke
Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror
October 27, 2012

Politics and politicians have a well deserved and hard-earned bad rap as being in for the power, the prestige, and for personal gain. I’m sure you know who they are. They are the ones wanting to “play with the big boys.” And there is a lot to worry about right now as we hold national elections. But there is also a political surge creating optimism. An optimism made possible, in part, through using new technology on the side of democracy. So take a deep breath and another look at the many political names, some venerable and some rising stars, across the country, who define themselves as public servants and patriotic defenders of democracy and are, everywhere, giving politics a good name as they throw the proverbial “hat into the ring.”

Henry Waxman and Betsy Butler give politics and politicians a good name. In this column I write to praise the work, the leadership, the skills, and the values of Henry Waxman and Betsy Butler.

When people talk about Congressman Henry Waxman (henrywaxmanfor congress.com) we hear words like, “relentless, effective, hard working, caring, dedicated, smart, and savvy.” His actions show that he is in the job to find solutions and, if you’ll allow the expression, “make the world a better place.” And he has an impressive list of endorsers, headed by President Barack Obama, President Bill Clinton, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, California NOW, California Democratic Party, and the LA County Federation of Labor.

Addressing the pressing economic conditions of today, Waxman worked successfully to pass a plan to cut taxes for small businesses, increase incentives for clean-energy jobs, and invest in infrastructure projects that directly create jobs. He is also a strong supporter of the Make it in America agenda which promotes domestic manufacturing and creates high-skill, high-wage jobs in the United States.

One of the chief sponsors of the Affordable Care Act, Congressman Waxman opposes repealing the Affordable Care Act for moral and economic reasons. He warns that repealing the law would “add significantly to our national debt, increase the number of uninsured Americans and raise costs on individuals and businesses.”

As a protector of the environment and public health he has worked successfully to strengthen the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, reducing toxic pollutions and improving air quality.
His focus on public health is broad and includes his leadership on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, the Ryan White CARE Act which provides care and treatment to people living with AIDS, and legislation which helped create the generic drug industry and has saved consumers billions on the cost of prescription drugs over the past decade.

He sees “Santa Monica as a dynamic and vibrant city that illustrates the importance of preserving our precious natural resources – that sound environmental and economic policies are not mutually exclusive.”

Henry Waxman sees the big picture and he sees the details of people’s lives.  Waxman will go up against independent Bill Bloomfield on Nov. 6 in the newly created 33rd Congressional District, which includes Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Agoura Hills, Venice, Mar Vista, and the South Bay.

Betsy Butler is another public service politician (betsybutler.com).  She is relatively new as an elected leader but she is not new to politics. In the California State Assembly she is a recognized environmental, public health, and social justice leader.

She worked as a field representative for Leo McCarthy; she served at the Department of Commerce as a Clinton Appointee. She came back to California to work at CLCV (California League of Conservation Voters).

As an Assembly Member, Butler worked to protect school funding in difficult economic times and is an advocate for the Education funding propositions on the ballot. “Funding will be contingent on the voters’ approval of the Governor’s proposed modest increase in temporary sales tax and an equally modest income tax increase on the wealthiest Californians. I am confident that every candidate will join with me in urging voters to approve that measure and secure this $6 billion in additional funding for our schools.”

Because of her environmental leadership work in Southern California she knows about Santa Monica’s work on sustainability. Butler says she congratulates Santa Monica on its focus on renewable sustainable water policy and planning. “As an Assembly Member, I intend to address water issues across the state and implement policies similar to Santa Monica and its reuse of water,” she says. “My work to ban toxics in products used by babies and my electric vehicle bill, both which were signed by Governor Brown in 2011, earned me the California League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club endorsements. This year, I have established my record as an early, strong and effective opponent of the unregulated practice of ‘fracking’ by oil companies. This process used in drilling threatens our underground aquifers and must be regulated. My record affirms my lifelong commitment to the environment.”

Butler also has a long track record when it comes to protecting communities from development pressures. “Like many people here I am disappointed in how some local and state officials allow themselves to be bullied or bought by development interests who cynically use the recession as justification for damaging our communities and the quality of our lives,” she says. “Every candidate promises to ‘stand up to the special interests.’ I have done so consistently.”

Butler has an enormous endorsement list which you can read on her website. Just a few are listed here: The Consumer Federation of California, Equality California, the United Farm Workers (UFW), the California League of Conservation Voters, the National Women’s Political Caucus, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, Assembly Member Julia Brownley, Assembly Member Karen Bass, Sierra Club California, Lily Ledbetter, the California Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel, Santa Monica Rent Control Board Member Todd Flora, Santa Monica City Councilmember Kevin McKeown, Santa Monica Former Mayor, Denny Zane, Women’s Political Committee, United Nurses of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC).

Her knowledge of the District, her record as a leader for the environment, education, jobs, technology, and social justice are clear.

Butler says of the 50th Assembly District, “It would be an honor and a privilege to serve this District. We are so blessed with the creativity and ingenuity of the people of the District and with our desire to be leaders on the many issues of our time. We need to invest in education, support new green technology, promote working families, meet the needs of our seniors. All politics are local.”

A new district, the 50th Assembly will represent Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Malibu, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Topanga, West Hollywood, and Westlake Village. She is up against Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom on Nov. 6 for the 50th Assembly District seat. In all, there are 80 assembly districts in California.

All politics are local and all politics are about people. We have so many reasons to vote in this election. Henry Waxman and Betsy Butler are two good reasons.

What Say You?

Hometown Heroes: The City Council Candidates Parts 2 and 3

Susan Cloke
Colunmist, Santa Monica Mirror
October 6,  2012

Imagine you are elected to the City Council and it is four years from now. How will you be remembered? On which issues will you lead the Council and the City?
That was my question for each of the 15 people running for one of the four City Council seats under consideration in this November 6 election.
Since the winning candidates will be responsible for deciding the future of the City, I thought they should tell us, in their own words, what they would want to accomplish as council members.
The candidates are, in ballot order, Terry O’Day, John Cyrus Smith, Bob Seldon, Ted Winterer, Shari Davis, Gleam Olivia Davis, Steve Duron, Tony Vasquez, Roberto Gomez, Frank Gruber, Richard McKinnon, Jonathan Mann, Armen Melkonians, Jerry Rubin, and Terence Later.
This is column two of two to allow everyone some ‘ink.’
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John Cyrus Smith, Teacher/Journalist/Producer  www.johnsmithsmcc.com
“Four years from now, more people than ever before will be supporting my reelection, because I’ve always kept my promises and put their interests ahead of everything else. I’ll be remembered as the Councilman with a common name who finally brought common sense to the Council... a political newcomer who started strong and always stood firm against the rampant pace of development, never took a dime from developers and fought against the many forces so willing to sell off the soul of our city, for profit.
Voters will say I was the one who finally got a real plan in place to bring a ‘subway to the sea’ to Third and Wilshire. They’ll also say I never shied away from taking on powerful interests and tough issues. Teachers and families will support me again because I vigorously support our schools. Seniors, parents and renters will say I have their backs and I never let them down, and that Santa Monica is a much better city because of my leadership.
Most of all, I hope to be remembered as a Councilman who promised to keep Santa Monica a special place for the people who live here and backed up that promise with fresh ideas and action. A person who found compassionate but firm answers to homelessness... a leader who found real traffic solutions on the streets and in neighborhoods... and a man who worked so kids have more parks and places to play. I’ll be remembered as the councilman who said finally said “No” to mega-developments that profit developers and not people who live here... a councilman who stuck by his word, made our city better and always puts people first.”

Bob Seldon, Attorney  seldon@speakeasy.net
“I will be remembered as a vocal part of a team of resident-focused candidates swept into office by voters who had had enough of the City Council’s cozy relationship with developers that had led to crushing overdevelopment and perpetual gridlock. I was a constant and leading voice for the residents, as the new majority on the Council turned the City away from developer-favoring policies detracting from the quality of life in Santa Monica.
I was a leading proponent and vocal supporter of:
• an immediate one year moratorium on new commercial and residential projects that increased on-site density, allowing the City to evaluate the effects of projects already approved before going forward with variances sought by those wishing to build projects that did not comply with the new zoning requirements;
• resident-friendly zoning codes that were enacted after the election over the objections of certain Council members favoring a different interpretation of LUCE;
• increasing the number of lanes in one direction on some of the city’s major streets with synchronized traffic lights and dedicated bus and bicycle lanes to facilitate the flow of traffic, while reducing the number of its lanes in the opposite direction to permit access to businesses and parking.
• closing Santa Monica Airport if possible or minimizing its flight operations, and meaningfully including the affected neighborhoods in planning its future as a low-impact, neighborhood-serving site;
• the inclusion of neighborhood leaders and neighborhood associations as a “kitchen cabinet” resource that brought residents into planning decisions in a meaningful way and functioned as a reality check.
I was the one who consistently asked the question “How will this enhance the quality of life of residents who already live in Santa Monica?”

Ted Winterer, Planning Commissioner  www.tedforcouncil.com
“As I write this I’m just back from a breakfast meeting at which the 2012 Sustainable City Report Card was released. Over the years the City has made great progress in many of the categories the report card measures such as Open Space/Land Use and Resource Conservation. However, it’s troubling that we are falling short of our goals for Environmental and Public Health and for Housing. I would hope if I’m elected that in four years I enabled improvement on these fronts by addressing the pollution from the Santa Monica Airport, doing more to heal our bay with Measure V funds and through other means, adopting more stringent green building standards, assuring new development provides housing for all incomes, and creating a new revenue stream for affordable housing production.
Traffic is an issue that impacts all Santa Monicans. It’s time we did more than pay lip service to the no new net pm trips policy of our Land Use and Circulation Element. We already know from environmental impact reports the number of new car trips to anticipate from projects which are approved but not yet built, so the Council should require regular reporting from staff about how those new trips are being offset by circulation improvement strategies. Our Transportation Management Ordinance, written in 1992 to reduce employee car trips, is out of date and needs to be revised. And just as neighboring cities have done for years, we should impose a Transportation Impact Fee on new development to fund tools to make traffic flow rather than clog our streets.
Finally, I hope that four years hence I will have provided the leadership and consensus building skills to assure that Santa Monica remains culturally and physically similar to what it is today while continuing to provide superior services and first rate public safety departments. Culturally, we’ve always been a socioeconomically diverse city with progressive values, a town that’s always looked to help those who are less fortunate than others. Physically, we’ve enjoyed a built environment that provides an intimate relationship with our ocean breezes, our mountain views and our Mediterranean light and that relationship should be preserved. Change is inevitable, but it must work to the benefit of our community rather than to the detriment.”

Shari Davis, Non-Profit Policy Advisor  www.sharidavis2012.com
“In four years from now, I hope I am known for my: balance, problem solving, innovation and collaboration. They’re my strengths now, and they’re what I believe Santa Monicans are looking for in their elected leaders.
I will have championed actions to implement and advance the “Cradle to Career” initiative, Santa Monica’s groundbreaking research-based collaborative approach to providing community services, lifelong learning, quality education and support for our community members from birth to our senior years. It is a long-term investment in people that accomplishes social justice goals and creates a healthy, non-violent, sustainable community. As one who has studied and dedicated countless volunteer hours on this issue, I will have provided leadership locally and regionally to address homelessness, through multi-faceted, housing-first, comprehensive programs, creating more housing for homeless vets at the VA and by pushing for more region-wide solutions.
Working with fellow Councilmembers, the Community Corporation of Santa Monica and other advocates, I will have found funding solutions for more affordable housing in the wake of the State’s dissolution of Redevelopment funding.
Along with tens of thousands of other, I will have celebrated the opening of the Expo Light Rail line in Santa Monica and left my car at home to travel eastbound and back, helping to alleviate congestion on our streets and freeways.
My attention to the City’s budget and expertise in municipal finance will have ensured that Santa Monica’s AAA credit rating is intact, and that we have transparency and accountability in our finances.
Providing leadership to bring disparate interests to work together, I will have approved development agreements that bring tangible benefits to our community as we carefully allow appropriate new projects, with an emphasis on housing, and I will have worked tirelessly to vote on zoning codes that align with the LUCE.
I will be proud to look back at the votes I have cast to enhance public safety, environmental protections, education and our wonderful way of life in Santa Monica.”

Gleam Olivia Davis, Councilmember  www.gleamdavis.com
“I hope to be remembered as a tireless advocate for working families, seniors and youth. My commitment to our local schools and lifelong learning will remain unmatched and I will have championed implementation of the City’s “Cradle to Career” initiative that helps local youth reach their full potential. I also will have spearheaded efforts to increase learning opportunities, activities and services for seniors. For example, we will have expanded door-to-door service that helps seniors and disabled persons get groceries and other items into their homes.
I also will be known for preserving our safe, wonderful neighborhoods and their diversity by protecting rent control and encouraging the building of more affordable housing, particularly for families and seniors. Residents will have expanded recreational and social opportunities because I will have fought to improve existing parks and found opportunities to create new public open spaces. Operations at the airport will be significantly reduced or it will be closed.
The City will have adopted a new zoning code and I will have helped to build consensus around ensuring that new development is properly scaled and has a positive impact on our residents. Water self-sufficiency and primary reliance on renewable energy sources will be on the near horizon. The City’s economy will remain diverse and robust because I will have worked with local business owners to encourage residents to “Buy Local” and we will have created a healthy climate for entrepreneurs and others that want to keep or bring good-paying, green jobs to Santa Monica. The Expo line will have opened and, with my leadership, the City will be providing local bus service and other transit options that make it easier for residents and visitors to get around without a car.
Most importantly, Santa Monica still will be a great place to live.”

Tony Vazquez, Local Business Owner  vazquezforcitycouncil2012@yahoo.com
“It is early 2016, Mayor Pro-Temp Tony Vazquez has made a major impact on the overall quality of life for our residents and is seeking re-election for city council after a successful four year term in office.
Tony led the fight to reduce the Santa Monica Airport foot print as it became a true “recreational” airport prohibiting corporate jets from the facility and in turn, increased neighborhood open space/parkland and greatly decreased the level of noise and air pollution.
He was a strong proponent of remaking downtown Santa Monica into the most transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly city in California and built park-once structures at the east end of the city where visitors and employees were encouraged to park their cars as they worked or shopped in the city.
He also was a leader on the “responsible” growth issue that put an end to over-development and put forth an ordinance that requires all new development to pay for important community projects like affordable housing.
Tony continued his almost 40 year support of the city’s partnership with the local school district and community college that eventually created the state of the art high school at Samohi.
Every time the state attempted to undermine local authority and negatively affect our destiny, Tony was there to stand up for our community in times of need. In short, he created a legacy for future generations to build on.”

Roberto Gomez, Community Volunteer  www.stopcitydestroyinghousing.com
“I will be remembered for the not having failed my constituents in the matters of trust and performance. That I dealt with the public with integrity and honesty in all City dealings as it related to them. But most importantly, bringing in the Federal Investigators to investigate the City for corruption.
I will bring in Federal Investigators concerning the questionable dealings the City have had with developers who have had projects approved against the wishes of the majority of the public. For example the Miramar Project is opposed by a huge number of residents. Yet the City Council pushes it through. When these very same residents ask for a hall to accommodate them the City Council denies their request. It can’t be about a lack of money because the City Attorney’s office spent $75,000 to $100,000 to defend an $86 dollar rent decrease by a City tenant at the City owned property where I live (Mountain View Mobile Home Park). In the end, the City was able to knock off $6.
I will lead on issues of overdevelopment, wasteful spending, homelessness, and the closing of the airport. The City Council should have nothing to do with the future of the Airport. They simply cannot be trusted. They have shown collectively where at least five out of the seven council members vote in blocks. How can five people think the same way most or all of the time? Check out their voting record which most times favors developers.
One would certainly agree that the issue of corruption is a very real possibility with the profit that can be had with help from strategically placed City allies. Huge money is at stake. When the Federal Investigation takes place in the City of Santa Monica, the City of Bell will pale in comparison.”

Richard McKinnon, Corporate Adviser  www.richardmckinnon.com
“In four years the Bike Plan will be completed (except the San Vicente path and Seventh Street bridge) and we will have started another as part of my “Bikes Everywhere” policy. We will have solar panels on 20 percent of the roofs in Santa Monica, be headed towards self sufficiency in water with zero waste; and we will have planted another 3000 street trees; all part of “Deep Green Santa Monica” environmental policy. We will have tackled traffic problems with different routes and bus sizes for Big Blue Bus, introduced tough Transport Demand Management measures on commercial and retail, and put priority on walkable streets. There will be an anti smoking in apartments ordinance; and the City and School District will work together to open new green space and playing fields for residents. The Airport will be smaller and headed towards closure.
The general view will be that I am an environmentally leader, bike advocate, tough on development and architecture councilor focused on resident needs.”

Jonathan Mann, Teacher  net_democracy@yahoo.com
“If I were elected I would be remembered for my persistence and determination in advocating for a Virtual Town Hall on the city website with moderated public forums on burning issues, and city wide free WiFi.
I would lead the Council and City by using this electronic interface to empower residents to have a voice in policy decisions that currently favor special interests domination over the present council.
A Virtual Town Hall would level the playing field so penniless/paperless candidates could overthrow the current political machine and represent the residents rather than special interests.
I would have the budget on line with a search function so residents could see for themselves how the city wastes money while our schools are deteriorating.
I would also work to “throw the bums out” and elect a new council that would support closing the airport in 2015, put a moratorium on development, and freeze wages for all city employees.”

Terence Later, Entertainment Consultant  www.votenowforlater.com
“Woke up this morning with a well managed city budget. Took my rescued pup to “Dogtown Dog Beach” for a leash free run and a dip in the pristine Pacific. Then off to run some errands pick up my shoes at Maya Shoe repair to wear to the Palisades Park holiday lighting ceremony tonight. Next stop Evett’s Model shop for some local shopping. From there breakfast at Marmalade the new addition looks marvelous all dressed up for the holidays. Some more local shopping on Montana. Pick up my vitamins at Montana Natural. Make reservations at the recently landmarked Chez Jay for dinner after the Menorah is lit and Nativity scenes taken in. I love parking in the free for Santa Monica citizens parking structure or at the meters with my SM gratis hangtag. The kids are rehearsing with SM Symphony for the show at the newly restored SM Civic Auditorium. After a great dinner party at Chez Jay off to tuck the kids in and knowing that there’s a Mountain Lion Mama somewhere up on SM ridge telling her cubs not to cross Sunset Blvd. Peace Through Victory.”
In these two columns this week and last you’ve read the candidates as they imagine the contributions their leadership will bring to the City.

To meet the candidates in person, come to the Hometown Forum, hosted by The Mirror, this Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Library at 601 Santa Monica Boulevard. Hope to see you there.

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John Cyrus Smith, Teacher/Journalist/Producer www.johnsmithsmcc.com

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Bob Seldon, Attorneyseldon@speakeasy.net

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Ted Winterer, Plannning Commissioner www.tedforcouncil.com

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Shari Davis, Non-Profit Policy Advisor www.sharidavis2012.com

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Gleam Olivia Davis, Councilmember www.gleamdavis.com

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Tony Vazquez, Local Business Owner vazquezforcitycouncil2012@yahoo.com

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Roberto Gomez, Community Volunteer www.stopcitydestroyinghousing.com

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Richard McKinnon, Corporate Adviser www.richardmckinnon.com

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Jonathan Mann, Teacher net_democracy@yahoo.com

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Terence Later, Entertainment Consultant www.votenowforlater.com