The Pico Neighborhood Association offers the following plan to address the problem of gun violence in the neighborhood. It asks the City Council, police department and residents to take responsibility, make a commitment and play an active part in solving this on-going problem.
There are five main areas of focus: Police presence, tenancy consequences when violent crimes are committed, physical improvement of the neighborhood, public housing and a resident awakening and vigilance. 1. Police presence. The reactive policy of “response/increased presence/withdrawal” by our police must be replaced with a policy that emphasizes a continuum of involvement. By working together, the neighborhood and the SMPD can build an effective deployment but the attitude of defensiveness and denial by both police and residents must stop. Department resources must be allocated to establish a Pico plan that builds cooper-ation, and a commitment must be made to breaking the recurring cycle of violence. 2. Tenancy consequences when violent crimes are committed. The City Council should implement an ordinance or charter amendment that allows for eviction for tenants committing a violent crime or illegally discharging a weapon within the city. This effort in “tenant protection” is consistent with existing policy, as it will help protect the safety of law-abiding tenants. By assisting the landlord when an eviction is needed, this policy would have a positive budgetary impact by reducing the cost of law enforcement resulting from dangerous chronic violators. 3. Physical improvement of the neighborhood. The concept of environmental improvement as outlined in the “broken window” theory of James Q. Wilson and George Kelling needs to be implemented in the Pico neighborhood. The Pico neighborhood saw little of the recent years’ efforts at civic improvement. Street planting and maintenance, utility placement, graffiti abatement, large object trash collection, traffic control and code enforcement in the neighborhood should all be given resources for improvement that are at least equal to the rest of the city. 4. Public housing. Santa Monica's public housing policy needs revision. Criminal background checks must be conducted for prospective tenants of public housing. The over concentration of low-and very low-income only deed restricted rental properties in the neighborhood must stop. Mixed income and ownership-assisted housing is needed to restore a proper housing mix. Political biases should be set aside and public review brought back into the process of our public housing department. 5. A resident awakening and vigilance. All residents of Santa Monica, particularly Pico residents, must be vocal about solving the problem of on-going violence. Pico residents must awaken to the need for civic involvement and commit to improving the quality of community life.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 16, 2003. Read the original PDF.