By Jan Tousignant Santa Monica
The best Christmas present and cheer for the new year came in the form of your front page story, Dec. 19. This was when the SMDP reported that the chamber of commerce is entering Santa Monica’s political arena. It was almost like heralding an antidote for the plague. In this case, a political plague that has consumed Santa Monica and its former quiet, unobtrusive character, replacing it with a trendy, cold progressive agenda.
From the days of my youth, I remember small business and residents joining together to create a city for the people living here. City councils came and went. Some of their leadership was creative, and some was short-sighted. But whatever flavor the council was, at any given time, change usually replaced what fell out of favor with the residents. This shuffling of the guard acted as healthy checks and balances for Santa Monica, helping it to maintain its quaint, quiet seaside lifestyle.
Such a lifestyle is no more. The political deck has been stacked and stagnated for decades by one political machine. And, as genius as Santa Monica for Renters Rights political strategies might be, they have pretty much erased almost everything but the memory of how great Santa Monica used to be.
Polarization of business and City Hall, rampant over-development to subsidize growing social services, homelessness, degrading of our educational institutions is only a partial listing of what residents say is wrong with the Santa Monica of today.
But these concerns have fallen on the deaf ears of leaders who already have preset policies filling their heads. It has been an uneven playing field for years, hogged by a virtually unstoppable political powerhouse, until maybe now.
News of the chamber’s future active involvement in our city’s politics is a substantial catalyst that could produce changes that are so desperately needed — new ideas, new personalities, fair oversight on policy making. For instance, a level-headed City Council would have honored the Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation petition to enact their moderated version — a non-adversarial approach to historical preservation. But, our current majority prefers a costly election process, because the homeowners’ view contrasts their own ideological one of the world. An election would give SMRR time to put the screws to the homeowners, distort their initiative and hopefully keep all the toys in their own sandbox via a well-orchestrated election — in other words legislatively thwart any independent thinking outside of their own.
The chamber offers hope of turning the bias around. With its reasoned and organized influence, it can showcase candidates and issues without agendas, only visions of what would be positive for ALL Santa Monicans. This alone should encourage our support for the chamber and their bold endeavor to become a part of the solution by addressing the problems of Santa Monica — more fair representation in our municipal government.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 6, 2003. Read the original PDF.