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# City Council faces Sophie’s choice for homeless
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-council-faces-sophies-choice-for-homeless/
- Published: 2003-10-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:05:27.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Promenade, #archive-import, Homeless

*INCITES*

*By Ed Silverstein*

On Wilshire Boulevard, though it was only 7 a.m., the dozen or so regulars on the corner of Lincoln Boulevard, with their stolen shopping carts overflowing with greasy rags and trash, litter surrounded filthy blankets, were already drinking. Soon they will be vomiting, urinating and defecating in the once pleasant park where, ironically, residents are not even allowed to smoke.

A block away a planter, which is mandated by the city, had been ripped apart, the flowers strewn violently into the street. But we are fortunate because the casualty of this brutal episode wasn’t a child, or a grandmother, or one of us. This time it was a bunch of flowers and a small business owner who is obligated by the city to replace them.

Coming the other way was a Charles Manson poseur, complete with a forehead tattoo and a low life, Squeaky From-like girlfriend. They were taunting and insulting mostly elderly pedestrians whose only crime was to take a walk in their own neighborhood. These seniors were visibly frightened and though I stared the pair down, I too was uncomfortably aware that one of these miscreants could pull a gun or a knife and turn me into a statistic.

At the Promenade, a bench warmer took aim and fired. Fortunately the rifle was imaginary, though his rage and intent were not. And my attempt to eat breakfast at an outdoor café was brought to an abrupt end when one of the off-med schizophrenics that haunts the open mall came up behind me and started shrieking and wouldn’t, or couldn’t, stop. And parents walking their children to school were recently treated to two transients beating a third bloody.

This is in addition to the normal ranting, threats, aggressive panhandling, graf-fiti, litter, cursing, public intoxication, drug dealing and a host of other antisocial behavior that has become an everyday fixture of Santa Monica that has turned our streets into an open air asylum.

Recently, my wife and I were in line to purchase movie tickets. A homeless man, who was trying to keep upright by leaning against the wall, suddenly toppled sideways. Either he had blacked out or was so highly intoxicated that he no longer possessed the basic survival instincts to arrest his fall. His head bounced off the concrete. He lay still for a few moments, then began to convulse with delirium tremors. As we called 911, a man tried to shove a few bills into vagrant’s hand. I couldn’t believe it. This drunk had nearly died before our eyes and here was this man giving him the means to buy the very thing that was killing him.

And it is with the same surfeit of good intentions and deficit of common sense that the Santa Monica City Council deals with the homeless. They continue to pursue failed policies by adding more shelters and services without any sort of accountability or assurance of success. The net effect is a program that is about half as effective as Gov. Gray Davis’ handling of the energy crisis.

It is time to take a hard look at the harsh realities. The homeless population has swelled to nearly 3 percent of the total population of Santa Monica. Many of the homeless are chronic with little or no chance of recovery without massive intervention. They are suffering from acute alcoholism, drug addiction and severe mental disabilities. The vast majority of these transients are criminals who shoplift, mug, burglarize your home, molest children and are capable of committing rape, violence and even murder. They have decimated the quality of life, destroyed businesses and impacted tourism.

The Santa Monica City Council needs to recognize that its primary responsibility is to the people who live in Santa Monica, not those who camp out on its streets. They must adopt harsher policies that will stop attracting and severely reduce the homeless population that even the care providers admit is out of control.

And this is not selfish thinking. In fact, it is the council, with its overt and ineffective display of compassion, who are truly selfish. These street people are in desperate need of far more than a hot meal and a 12-step program. The acute substance abusers must be compelled into medical detox programs. The mentally and emotionally disabled need qualified psychiatric care, medication, out-patient and, in extreme cases, in-patient commitment. With the current homeless population, none of this is possible.

The city must reduce its homeless population by two thirds. This will free up police to ensure our safety. It will reduce the demands on the fire department’s EMS units. It will allow the elderly to walk the streets without fear. It will reduce, or eliminate our budget deficit and free up more money for schools. And we can focus more complex social services on the people who can actually be helped, possibly save some lives rather than just giving them the means to destroy them.

The Santa Monica City Council is faced with a Sophie’s choice. They must choose between saving the Santa Monica community or pandering to an unmanageable homeless population. To do nothing will condemn them both. (Ed Silverstein is a freelance writer in Santa Monica. Please send all your homeless to Michael Feinstein, care of Santa Monica City Hall and your comments to).

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 8, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)