By Evelyn Jerome
■ The chips have fallen in Washington and Sacramento, and here on Main Street. And as our new lawmakers are being sworn in, I’ve compiled a wish list of the things I hope to see from them in the next two years.
Here in Santa Monica, I hope that our City Council will find some common ground with the local Chamber of Commerce, and promote our local businesses year round. Each December, city officials adorn their cars and the light poles of our major thoroughfares with signs that say “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays,” thinking that these signs will encourage us to shop in our own city. It would be nice to see the City Council take real policy steps to improve the business climate in Santa Monica, and to recognize that businesses provide stability to our city’s financial base.
I also hope that the next time nearly 10,000 Santa Monica voters sign a petition, such as the one against historic districts, our City Council will honor their wishes. If 10,000 renters had signed a petition, the City Council wouldn’t blink before passing an ordinance. Instead, the City Council will waste more than $100,000 — that’s our tax dollars at work — holding an election. Let’s see how representative and responsive our government can be to all constituents in the coming year.
At the state level, I hope that despite the enormous power of the public employee unions, nothing will be considered “off the table” as our legislators consider the $30 billion budget shortfall. It’s time to take a long, hard look at the services that our state government provides, as well as increase efficiency and cut waste. No campaign contributions or all-expenses-paid-junkets should cloud our legislators’ thinking as they determine how best to spend our taxpayer dollars.
And finally, I’d like to see President Bush follow through on just one of the promises he made two years ago. He promised to change the tone of Washington, D.C., to reduce the partisan rhetoric and bickering. Of all the election reforms that Congress could put into place, demonstrating that Democrats and Republicans can really work together to improve our country would go a long way towards restoring voters’ trust in the system. Maybe we would see turnout in the next election that we wouldn’t have to describe as “paltry” or “pathetic.”
I haven’t seen that partisan tone change, but I’m looking forward to it.
Evelyn Jerome is a past president of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats, and a member of the New Democrat Network. To respond or to reach Jerome,
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 17, 2002. Read the original PDF.