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# Letter: Santa Monica should market its homeless problem as a tourist draw
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/bum-city-editor/
- Published: 2004-09-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:10:15.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*By John Linfesty Santa Monica*

City without an identity? (SMDP, Sept. 20, page 1). What happened to the “People’s Republic?” Our city leaders should embrace our heritage of socialism they have created over the past 20 odd years. However, let’s keep up with the times, embrace a new identity, use our resources, the one thing that Santa Monica is known nationwide for... our bums. Let’s use them as a marketing tool, create T-shirts, hats, little shopping carts on a keychain, it will be terrific. We’ll bring tourists in from far away to see our bums: Watch them take over the parks, watch them get drunk and urinate in public, curse at you when you walk down the street, and that’s before lunch. Let our visitors live a day in the life, as we residents do here in “Bum City.” There you go City Council, take it and run with it. Make us taxpayers proud.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 24, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092404.pdf?ref=smdp.com)