George Carlin, who brought us the “Seven words you can never say on TV,” would love Santa Monica’s SMRR political tacticans’ use of language. First they made “Landlord” a dirty word. Now they are trying to make “Developer” a dirty word. I have received many mailings from the “No on Prop. A” camp that asserts that Prop. A was conceived, funded and being pushed by “developers” who want to gut our beautiful city and make tons of money building monster mansions. Clearly, “developer” is the new hot-buttom word in Santa Monica.
I understand some’s desire to legislate against bad taste but I’m not sure that “developers” are the problem. I could be wrong, and I invite the opposition to educate me if I am, but my guess is that many monster mansions are not built by developers, or ever spec-house builders, but by homeowners who build and live in their little castles by the sea... they want a bigger, newer, house and they, well, just get a little carried away (the combination of lots of money and bad taste is always a recipe for disaster). Those houses that are built by developers are, sadly, just filling the demand; so if you want to attack somebody, attack tasteless slobs who buy them.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am as concerned as anybody about over development and losing the small-town feel that I have come to enjoy in Ocean Park, but the vilification of the developers and sleazy name calling by the SMRR folks pisses me off. It is sad that this issue is so polarized. To be honest, I’m considering voting against Prop. A but when I see our City Council and SMRR line up against it, I have a hard time resisting the urge to run out and vote for it.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 3, 2003. Read the original PDF.