By Daily Press staff
Board members of the Bayside District Corp., a non-profit organization that manages the downtown in conjunction with the city, agreed Thursday to recommend allowing henna artists to return to downtown.
Henna art — a 5,000-year-old tradition of painting the body with non permanent ink — was popular downtown before it was banned by the Santa Monica City Council in 2001.
Though the city cannot constitutionally ban a form of art, it won’t issue business licenses to the artists to work publicly. Policy makers were concerned that henna artists monopolized performance spots and some artists were using a black ink that can cause severe allergic reactions, board members said.
In their recommendation, Bayside board members asked the council to resolve “issues regarding health, concentration (of artists) per block, and liability” before giving the artists the go ahead to perform downtown.
The decision followed a long debate and input from various members of the community.
Henna artist Luke Chanthadara, who has been jailed and fined for practicing henna after it was banned, pleaded with Bayside to bring henna back.
“Santa Monica is a city rich with Jeffersonian ideals,” Chanthadara said. “It’s important that we not just brush (henna) aside and say, ‘It’s a different culture, we don’t understand it.’”
“Santa Monica is a city rich with Jeffersonian ideals. It’s important that we not just brush (henna) aside and say, ‘It’s a different culture, we don’t understand it.’” — – LUKE CHANTHADARA Henna artist
The City Council is expected to discuss the henna ban in April.
Also at Thursday night’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to write a letter to the City Council voicing its support for increased spending on social services.
More money for social services will result in less homeless people on the street and a better business climate, board members said.
But with Santa Monica’s budget deficit growing, board members acknowledged they were facing a cash-strapped City Council.
Still, with private donations down and cuts in both federal and state funding, board members said Santa Monica’s social service agencies need local help.
“Even in hard times there are places you must increase the budget,” board member Patricia Hoffman said.
“Give ‘em the money,” added chairman John Warfel. “Cut the budget somewhere else.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 3, 2003. Read the original PDF.