SMC president defends controversial Bond S
SMC — Santa Monica City Hall is lagging in its negotiations with local college officials on how to best spend a $135 million bond that goes before voters on Nov. 2, officials said this week.
Talks between City Hall and Santa Monica College — two institutions that, for years, have suffered from strained relations — have been tabled until after the election. Meanwhile, the city of Malibu already has approved a joint legal agreement with the college related to the proposed bond.
“Where we are with Malibu is 10 steps ahead,” said SMC President Dr. Piedad F. Robertson, in an interview at her office on 27th Street this week. “It’s a marriage. It’s how it should be between two entities that are interested in offering services to the community.”
If passed by 55 percent of voters, the $135 million college bond would be used for a variety of building projects at SMC, and possibly to purchase or develop properties in Santa Monica and Malibu. By law, all of the bond money must be spent towards educational purposes.
SANTA MONICA’S SLICE Officials have targeted two possible projects in Santa Monica for which a portion of the bond money could be earmarked. The first is to develop an early childhood development school which could both serve the city’s childcare needs and be used by SMC as a laboratory. No site has been picked for the estimated $7 million project, though officials are currently looking at the Civic Center area next to The other possible project would be to develop several athletic fields that would serve residents primarily in the afternoons, evenings and weekends, and SMC sports programs in the mornings. Like Santa Monica, SMC is severely short of field space and has appropriated $37 million for the project.
“We don’t have that many projects with Measure S,” Robertson said. “If we have two (with City Hall), that’d be good.”
Robertson said discussions with City Hall had been moving ahead with promise before city officials tabled them in September. Both college faculty and city workers responsible for open space and cultural services had apparently agreed on much of the proposal’s details, and made some headway on a possible development agreement between the two institutions. Those talks are expected to resume after the election, that is, if the bond is approved by voters.
A Sept. 28 memo to elected leaders from Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson said there was a clear opportunity to partner with the college on an early childhood facility, but added “it is not as clear, however, that a partnership on joint play field acquisition, site determination and improvement is achievable. It does appear that a partnership for joint use of play fields is feasible in terms of scheduling and hours of demand.”
City Manager Susan McCarthy said Tuesday it would be up to the City Council on how to proceed. At its Sept. 28 meeting, the council decided to table the college bond discussions until a later meeting.
“We really don’t have anything new to report,” McCarthy said. “If partnerships emerge, they’ll be at a later juncture. There’s certainly still potential, but there’s nothing to find at this time.”
Also on the $135 million bond’s “to do” list are a variety of SMC projects, including the $24 million Madison Theater for performing arts, a $20 million career center, a $20 million fitness building and $2 million worth of upgrades intended to promote energy savings within existing facilities.
College officials have set aside another $25 million to purchase land in Malibu, which could then be used as athletic fields and for other purposes, including a new, advanced water treatment facility for the city that would be studied by SMC students.
The bond proposal has run up against two major criticisms within the community. First, it was pushed forward by the college at the last minute, and minimally discussed before being placed on the ballot. Secondly, it’s been titled Measure S, the same moniker taken by a parcel tax passed last year to benefit cash-strapped local K-12 schools.
College officials said they were forced to wait on announcing the bond proposal until late in the political process because they were wary of flooding the ballot with too many school funding measures. Up until May it was unclear if a group of school parents were going to force a controversial charter amendment to a vote. That effort died after City Hall agreed to give the local school district $6 million annually for the next five years.
SMC faced additional criticisms over an emergency meeting of its board, called days after the board rejected the original bond proposal for $175 million. Robertson shaved off many of the longer-term projects and called the second meeting with minimal notice. Don Girard, Robertson’s executive assistant, defended that decision this week.
“It’s not unprecedented for the city of Santa Monica to act in a speedy fashion when it benefits them,” said Girard, refer-ring to a meeting concerning downtown parking garages that was called by city officials at the last minute and held in the library basement without television or radio coverage. “Please don’t tell me it’s unprecedented to act on 24 hours notice.”
As to the naming of Measure S, Girard said “S” was picked because it stands for “Santa Monica” and “student success,” and not to piggy back on last year’s successful school funding measure.
“We thought it had been a sufficient duration that there wouldn’t be confusion,” Girard said. “It’s neither helpful nor harmful.”
All controversy aside, it appears likely the bond will pass. A phone survey of 400 residents conducted by SMC in July found 69 percent approved of the bond. Recent door-to-door polling of more than 10,000 residents shows approval of the bond even higher, at 72 percent, Girard said. What’s more, opposition to Measure S is minimal and underfunded, as most of the city’s major education and political groups back the proposed bond. As of Sept. 30, supporters had raised more than $160,000.
Still, college officials don’t plan to let up. “We’ll be campaigning on Nov. 3,” Girard joked.
“You never stop until it’s over,” Robertson added.
In the meantime, SMC is still spending proceeds from Measure U, which passed in 2002 and authorized $160 million in college facility upgrades. Girard said about $28 million of that bond has been spent and another $20 million is in the process of being spent. He added that the money coming from Measure U must be doled out over 10 years.
Projects funded by Measure U proceeds include building renovations, parking at the Bundy campus, and the new Emeritus, liberal arts and main stage buildings, according to officials.
That leaves $112 million in remaining college bonds and, if Measure S passes, another $135 million, for a total of $247 million. Though it’s needed, spending that money can be difficult, Robertson said.
“We still have classes going, so we can’t have everything going at once or we’ll drive everyone crazy,” she added. “We’ll do one at a time because, again, we can’t drive ourselves crazy. We’re close to that already.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 20, 2004. Read the original PDF.