Santa Monica Police Chief Ramon Batista resigned two weeks ago and the shocking departure continues to generate more controversy and questions among residents than any previous staff departure in our memory.
The Chief was generally well liked. At the same time he oversaw vital upgrades to the department including massive investments in modern technology, staffing increases and provided stable leadership following the debacle that allowed the looting of Downtown.
So why would he leave? Well, the answer is actually quite simple: City Manager Oliver Chi is setting a standard for civic employment and whether for better or worse, we’re now on the Chi Train when it comes to the future of the city. City employees can either get on board or have their ticket punched.
More than most, we know the people who work for the city. Many of them are truly dedicated, hardworking civil servants who genuinely embody the notion of public good. However, those diamond individuals work in a building of fiefdoms, are often hamstrung by petty squabbles among managers and may find themselves working alongside folks that are more cubic zirconium or even some cut glass.
Chi wants the entire city to shine and while he has no control over the duller councilmembers, it's clear he’s willing to blast his way through city staff to find the vein.
Prior to Batista’s departure, City Attorney Doug Sloan and Director of Housing and Human Services Heather Averick left. In the days following, Arminé Chaparyan resigned after about seven months on the job.
The Chief may have been the most significant departure so far but we think there will be more cuts, voluntary or involuntary, before the train returns to the station and these efforts are actually vitally needed right now.
Whether through complacency or incompetence, the city’s trajectory has been derailed and Chi is doing precisely what we needed from a new City Manager. That said, the high profile conflict with the Chief was a big risk.
In Batista’s case, we don’t think this was a question of competence. For us, Batista was the best Chief the city has had in the past 25 years. His public presence was both appreciated and necessary. He had no controversies or scandals to speak of. The department handled itself with distinction in both day-to-day operations and during emergencies.
Batista accomplished this in the face of city leadership that at best didn’t consider public safety a top priority and at worst was actively opposed to enforcement.
But it’s possible to have a great gem that just doesn’t fit the setting.
We may never know precisely why the two couldn’t come to terms because Batista and Chi are both professionals who are choosing to maintain a professional stance but it’s worth noting that whatever their disagreement, the Council clearly backed Chi and that is perhaps the most interesting part of this story so far.
This council majority has spent years gaslighting residents over public safety. Whether directly or through their apologists they have denigrated residents who raised concerns, undermined organizations that have tried to address the problem and created a world where they stifle legible debate by accusing anyone that doesn’t want to import homelessness into the city of bigotry.
If Chi can see the crisis so clearly he had immediate conflict with the Chief and the Council immediately backed Chi, then were they incompetent in the past when dealing with the problem or were they just lying about the reality because it was politically expedient?
It’s worth noting that Mayor Lana Negrete has long talked about the city’s security problems and as the one outlier on the council, her support for the City Manager may have been a case of convergent evolution where the desire to shuck responsibility for the crisis and the desire to face it head on brought everyone to the same place.
The reality is that the train has already left the station and we are genuinely disappointed that Batista is departing. At the same time Chi deserves the chance to prove himself and we’re just as genuine in our hope that he is successful because residents need to feel like they are safe passengers, not victims tied to the tracks.