By Marilyn Korade Santa Monica
A person who knew about Santa Monica only from the opinion pages of the Santa Monica Daily Press would acquire a view into a very interesting alternative reality. In that imaginary place, thoughtful and energetic citizens, city officials and elected public servants never come together to grapple with a daunting set of social problems that afflict the entire country.
In this dreamland presented in SMDP editorials and columns, and in many other letters the paper publishes, the City Council majority is portrayed as somehow deliberately creating all the ills that beset us, from traffic to parking to over-development to the public with no place to live other than the public spaces they share with residents and visitors.
According to this fantasy, certain elected officials and their supporters deliberately lure folks, down on their luck, and often besieged by substance-abuse and mental problems, to come to Santa Monica to be pampered at the expense of residents and those who visit and work here. Why they would want to do this is not explained, but the accusation is repeated so often that some people seem to actually believe it. There has been a recent extension of this fantasy that claims that certain coun-cilmembers are taking a different tack, and are finally getting something done about the homeless (or traffic or parking, take your pick.) But the truth is different. The legions of people who cannot manage to house themselves are certainly real. We see them every day on our streets, our alleys, our parks and our beaches right here in Santa Monica. But, they are here as the tragic result of years of mean-spirited national policies that have neglected the poorest and weakest among us while favoring the interests of a privileged few.
Contrary to the fantasy, council votes on homeless issues are most often unanimous. And they have been for years.
This concerted effort has emerged out of a growing recognition that the underlying problems, from the fundamentals of a changing economy to the skyrocketing costs of housing to the scarcity of services for the most vulnerable citizens, are national and regional in origin.
They can only be solved on a larger scale than that of a single city alone. And guess what? Things are looking up, because Councilmember Richard Bloom and his fellow SMRR colleagues on the council, later joined by Councilmember Bobby Shriver, and also with the help of County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavasky, helped persuade neighboring cities and the county of Los Angeles to take a larger role in addressing homelessness on a regional basis.
There is nothing to be gained by politicizing this, unless there are political agendas being pursued. And it would certainly seem that are.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 12, 2006. Read the original PDF.