By Pablo Miguel Flores Santa Monica
As a member of the Pico neighborhood, I wish to respond to Mr. Lloyd Garver’s concerns about the U.S. Supreme Court knockdown of eminent domain laws protecting property owners (SMDP, July 16, page 4).
I am filled with joy that this knockdown of property rights protections will enable the city of Santa Monica and the community corporation for housing to bust the north Wilshire barriers that families in the Pico neighborhood face, and once and for all.
I researched the “protected” north end of Santa Monica and challenge the city of Santa Monica to actively and forcibly acquire apartment building properties and land along San Vicente Boulevard. I use 220 San Vicente Blvd. as a prototype of what can be built along this wonderful street.
Even though 220 San Vicente Blvd. is regarded as a non-conforming building and an exception to what can be built along this street by the city of Santa Monica, we regard this building as a precedent for low-income housing development. San Vicente Boulevard can handle many buildings six or eight stories high to absorb many of us who wish to live up there. We look at the housing potential of many 220 San Vicente Blvd. as a socially and morally just benefit of the U.S. Supreme Court removal of property-right protections.
Why should we in the Pico neighborhood be kept from living on the street by outrageous rents and outrageous broker fees? The build-up of San Vicente of affordable housing using 220 San Vicente Blvd., a pre-existing building whose certificate of occupancy shows that these heights and number of stories have been approved before and can be approved again. It is up to the City Council and Planning Commission to jointly make this possible with aggressive ordinances and aggressive revamping of building codes.
If the Calthorp School, as city records show, can tear down an apartment building for a soccer field on San Vicente Boulevard, the city of Santa Monica can exercise eminent domain to replenish and enlarge housing stock on San Vicente Boulevard. Many of us in the Pico neighborhood expect to enjoy life on San Vicente through forceful policy changes and we set 2008 for the first move-ins.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 25, 2005. Read the original PDF.