By Bob Bowman Santa Monica
■ City council members who fritter away their time on “issues” like “toxic” henna tattoo artists, the humane disposition of “dangerous” ground squirrels, and now, “gas wasting” billboard trucks. ■ City council members who have the outrageous hypocrisy to condemn billboard trucks for “wasting gas and adding to congestion” after presiding over the construction of traffic calming medians and curb extensions specifically intended to make driving in this city as congested and miserable as possible. Backed-up, idling traffic wastes a lot of gas. ■ City council members who remain in a willful state of denial about the havoc their planning department bureaucrats wreak upon peoples’ lives.
In Saturday’s questionnaire, Bloom said the hedge height issue “was brought to us at the behest of numerous members of the community.” He left out one important detail — the whole controversy was set in motion by a fine-brandishing vendetta his planning department inflicted upon hedge-growing residents. One resident told the council he was speaking on behalf of his elderly mother who was afraid the planning department would threaten her about her hedge if she faced the council herself. ■ City council members who use phrases like “regional solutions to homelessness” as Santa Monicans For Renters Rights code for, “We’re not going to lean hard on the homeless right now and anger my very close personal friend John Maceri, who contributed to my campaign as payback for the $7 million city “loan” I spearheaded to build a shelter for his Ocean Park Community Center.”
Bloom presided over a multi-month delay in the enforcement of the doorway-sleeping ban and park-feeding ordinances so the homeless “community” could be “educated” about them. In contrast, the residents embroiled in “The Great Hedge Crusade” were ordered to trim them down by the end of Thanksgiving weekend or pay up.
If he succeeds in banning his latest pet peeve, would Bloom allow environmentally menacing billboard truck drivers a few months to get used to the idea? Or would he give them a long holiday weekend to get out of town or face the consequences?
I don’t want to find out. There’s one more thing I can do with my pet peeves — vote for Bobby Shriver, Kathryn Morea, Matt Dinolfo and Herb Katz.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 27, 2004. Read the original PDF.