City Hall will spend “well under $20,000” for approximately 39,000 mailers asking residents to join or donate to neighborhood groups, according to officials.
The city recognizes and subsidizes five nonprofit neighborhood organizations: The Pico Neighborhood Association, The Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition (Wilmont), Friends of Sunset Park (FOSP), Ocean Park Association (OPA) and North of Montana Association (NOMA).
City Hall must think these groups are important because in addition to soliciting money and members for them, they provide financial grants to each of up to $4,000 per year, publicize them in city newsletters and on the city Web site, allow them gratis use of city facilities and to review new neighborhood construction projects. The word on the street is that some of them even have the ears of the City Council.
A total of $53,900 was allocated to subsidize these groups in this year’s city budget — more than $10,000 per organization. The question is, “Do most of these groups really represent neighborhood thinking?” I say “no.”
Most organizations have a few members with their own ideas about what they want for their neighborhoods. OPA has about 100 members out of 13,000 people in Ocean Park and Wilmont has about 100 members “representing” more than 10,000 residents. In most cases, a dozen or fewer people — mostly on boards of directors — are actively involved and call the shots. If they really truly represent neighborhood opinion and philosophy, it’s purely coincidental.
Columnist Frank Gruber, in his online surfsantamonica.com column a few weeks ago, suggested that OPA was a handful of “self-appointed” people whose agenda is not necessarily in tune with the neighborhood they imply they represent. OPA President Ted Winterer responded that they don’t “purport to speak for all the people in Ocean Park,” only themselves.
Other groups claim the same. Some organization’s Web sites are months or years out of date, which means current agendas, membership rosters, financial data and timely news of group activities are not available to their own members or to the public. Wilmont’s directors regularly meet and make decisions in a secured Ocean Avenue condo that’s not open to the public or handicapped accessible.
Two years ago, Wilmont was “too busy” to support 10 square blocks of my neighborhood in securing restricted permit parking for residents south of Montana Avenue’s business district.
Recently, they made the time to petition other neighborhood groups and ask City Hall to study diagonal parking on Wilshire/Montana north/south streets. Wilmont proposes converting our bidirectional streets to one way and single lanes so there would be space for nonparallel parking. Holy traffic jam, Batman.
Diagonal parking was omitted from Montana Avenue street improvements in the mid-1990s because of safety concerns. With most north/south, Wilshire/Montana streets so heavily traveled, surely gridlock, accidents and great inconvenience will result while doing little to solve long-term parking shortages.
To Wilmont’s credit, recent board of directors minutes indicate the group has not supported a number of proposed condominium projects in the neighborhood because “they will change the character and density of the community.”
Some organizations have been criticized for pushing their own or someone else’s political agenda.
Some Pico residents say the PNA is a clique that ignores the broad-based needs of the ethnically diverse neighborhood. PNA board members have been lobbying hard for increased funding and a strong Virginia Park presence for the private, nonprofit Pico Youth and Family Center (PYFC).
The PYFC received $297,156 from City Hall in 2005/2006. PNA co-chair Maria Loya recently married PYFC founder and director, Oscar de la Torre. And, at least one PNA board member is employed there and others volunteer. Neighbors claim some PNA leaders would profit from the additional PYFC funding, suggesting a conflict of interest.
FOSP seems to be the best of the groups at the moment, but Sunset Park residents I’ve talked to feel the group needs to be more active in dealing with neighborhood traffic and zoning issues.
NOMA was way out of touch with its neighbors when they opposed a failed homeowners’ landmark ordinance on the ballot a few years ago. A number of NOMA board members were on the city’s landmarks commission or local conservancies at the time.
It’s time for City Hall to stop handing out money to these organizations. If they’re viable, they’ll survive and prosper on their own. Continuing to prop up these organizations is akin to keeping Terry Schaivo on life support. (Bill Bauer is a longtime Santa Monica resident and a freelance writer.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 20, 2006. Read the original PDF.