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# City Hall customer service plan needs some tweaking
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-customer-service-plan-needs-some-tweaking-editor/
- Published: 2006-09-04T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T21:22:18.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Bill Worden Santa Monica*

With regard to the article “A new era of service at City Hall,” (SMDP, Aug. 30, page 1) while any effort to erode the insularity of city staff is both laudable and welcome, an illiterate slogan makes a questionable start. “We do the right thing right” does not give one confidence. This sounds like a fast food slogan. The addition of a comma and a question mark makes for better grammar:“We do the right thing, right?”but lacks conviction. The seven “standards” could use some work too. I’ll wager that not a single city staffer could recite them from memory. The first standard is typical: “Maintain the highest level of ethical standards.” The first standard is to maintain more standards? Rubbish. It might read “Maintain the highest levels of ethical behavior.” Although that may imply more accountability than City Hall desires. I, for one, find the commercial jargon used in these guidelines repellent. We’re not “customers.”We’re citizens. If this business model must be used, then we are “shareholders” in our civic enterprise. Progress is being made, certainly. The amelioration of the dog waste bag dispenser debacle is a hopeful sign. It should-n’t have happened in the first place, but at least the wrong-headedness was corrected. There is much to do and it is heartening to see that the new city manager is determined to narrow the gulf between city administration and those it serves. The proof will be in the doing, not in the slogans, PC and PR.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 4, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)