By Katherine Marie Anderson Santa Monica
I’m probably not the only one who views various members of the Santa Monica City Council as squirrelly (SMDP June 18, page 1). And they certainly are coming across as especially squirrelly in their debate over the destructive squirrels in Palisades Park.
If I understand it, the City of Santa Monica has been ordered by a government agency, the County of Los Angeles, to eliminate the ground squirrel population, a rodent problem that makes the city, and Palisades Park in particular, dangerous.
City councilmen Genser and McKeown seem to think Santa Monica should just ignore the law and the county’s order. Their decision to do this is both squirrelly and sadly ironic, since both Genser and McKeown are among those who feel it is appropriate to send out Santa Monica government inspectors to issue orders to business owners to remove business signs or face substantial fines, or issue orders to homeowners to cut down their hedges or face substantial fines. These two councilmen also support the smoking police, the watering police, the business permit police. These two councilmen seem to support everything but the homeless police.
I can’t take my two children to the city’s parks or beaches because of the homeless problem. With all this frivolous and ridiculous enforcement occurring in Santa Monica, I now have to wonder that if my children decide to open a little lemonade stand in front of our home, simply because they can’t use the city’s parks or beaches, these two misguided and squirrelly councilmen will send the Lemonade Stand police to persecute them for not having a property business permit or license.
If you think I’m joking, remember Santa Monica is the city that persecuted that little boy because of his playhouse. However, if the Lemonade Stand police do happen to show up I will instruct my children to obey the law, unlike councilmen Genser and McKeown who seem to believe that laws and their enforcement only apply to others and not them.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 19, 2004. Read the original PDF.