> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # City at forefront of great new American enterprise - URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-at-forefront-of-great-new-american-enterprise/ - Published: 2003-06-19T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T02:22:32.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness *By Michael J. Tittinger* “So what is the meaning of life … to you?” a friend asked recently. Exhausted and talked out and just plain brain fatigued after a long, deep conversation, I went with the first word that popped into my mind. “Sharing.” It was a knee-jerk response, a quick retort run up the flag pole in an effort to avoid another long, drawn-out discussion as much as anything else. I was tired. My fluffed bed pillows were calling. Conan O’Brien was morphing pictures of celebrities together and proposing “What if they had a baby?” Yet it’s the one point made during that lengthy, philosophical conversation with a friend back East that I keep revisiting time and again. Sharing. It is no longer something I’m simply taking stock of in my own life but watching for it in others as well. It can be world altering. It can be something as grandiose as a nation’s $1 billion pledge to fight AIDS in Africa, or something as simple as holding a Sourdough Jack sandwich up to the mouth of someone driving you home. Sharing is selfless. It is taking an interest. It is love. Disciples of Ayn Rand might argue that sharing is actually the most selfish of acts because the feeling one gets through sharing with another is unmatched. It fills the void inside. It lifts the spirit. It’s securing happiness without anything material in exchange, and, therefore, key to attaining the ultimate moral value. Santa Monica is a city uniquely given to sharing, even to a fault as its critics might attest, because it can only bring about more problems for the average resident, such as the proliferation of the homeless population. The recent approval of Measure S saw voters and homeowners voluntarily give of themselves (and their paychecks) to the tune of more than $6 million to give local schools a much-needed shot in the arm. Yes, more funding is needed to maintain present program and staffing levels, but what a start! City residents have collectively declared loud and clear that they are willing to help, and not solely rely on government to take care of all of their needs. Then, of course, there’s Santa Monica’s renowned homeless situation — a direct result of its willingness to take problems head-on and not settle for simply offering transients a one-way ticket to the city’s limits. Santa Monica currently spends roughly $2 million a year on services for the homeless. But even as it does so, it remains at the forefront of the push for a solution, not pawning them off on the next coastal town like other cities were suspected of doing to Santa Monica in the past. That’s only shifting the problem, not solving it. We should be proud to live in a city that doesn’t settle for such short-term solutions to society’s ills, a city that thinks globally and isn’t blinded by its borders. Make no mistake, however, as the city distributes Band-Aids while it searches for the cure, a cure does indeed need to be found. It must be a priority and now appears to be an opportune time to make it so. President George W. Bush has issued a challenge to the country and its leaders to end homelessness within 10 years, which may or may not sound preposterous and naïve. Still, it shows a willingness of the government to seriously address a problem that has continually fallen through the cracks over the years, taking a back seat to a continual string of more pressing problems. Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom will join Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, assorted politicians and community leaders in forming a committee — “Bring L.A. Home” — to begin organizing efforts to tackle homelessness over the next 12 months. The group will first meet in the summer, then smaller meetings will be staged throughout Los Angeles to gather community input. Everyone and anyone with an opinion, a plan, a vision will be welcomed. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy stood before Congress and issued a similar challenge to the country — to put a man on the moon and return him to earth by the end of the decade. “Now is the time for a great new American enterprise,” he said. Well, in the wake of 9-11, an unpopular war played out on network television and a growing PR nightmare regarding “the ugly American” throughout the world, the time seems ripe for another “great new American enterprise.” This just might be a chance to show the world by example, and not brute force, what our nation is capable of. President Kennedy’s challenge more than 40 years ago was no more plausible than President Bush’s, but it inspired a nation to dream and work towards realizing those dreams. And while eradicating the streets of the growing homeless population may not appear as glorious or awe-inspiring as landing on the moon, it is no less worthy a cause. Kennedy said the quest for a lunar landing would prove to be “impressive to mankind.” Taking our brothers off the streets and sharing the wealth … that will be impressive for mankind. (Mike Tittinger is a freelance writer living in Santa Monica.) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 19, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061903.pdf?ref=smdp.com)