By When not prioritizing his own priorities, BILL BAUER act
OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS, THE hysteria about the fate of 23 “structurally compromised” ficus trees on Second and Fourth streets has consumed an inordinate amount of attention in the local press. The real issue is not the trees, it’s the city’s misguided priorities that created this tempest in a teapot in the first place.
The makeover of Second and Fourth streets between Wilshire Boulevard and Broadway was a priority, so the city found $8.2-million, most of it in grants, for the redo. Never mind that the real need for a makeover are the filthy and uninviting Second Street and Third Court alleys adjacent to the “world famous” Third Street Promenade. I guess there was no grant money available to clean them up and relocate reeking garbage bins. When it comes to real priorities, "dappled sunlight” and "attractive night lighting" holds sway over stink, human waste, garbage and filth.
After the disastrous Pico Streetscape, stupefying “transit mall” or the appalling “Civic Center Master Plan,” no wonder the Second and Fourth streets redo is now a rallying cry for “enough, already." Keep in mind those overseeing the downtown urban redesign plan were the usual City Hall insiders including Planning Commissioners, City Council persons and members of the Bayside District Corporation. We got what we usually get — and that’s screwed, again.
The City loves grants. It is constantly applying for funding for everything from Big Blue Bus subsidies to purchasing real estate. If the City can find someone to give it millions of dollars to pay for homeless services and road improvements, why not? In the case of the Second and Fourth streets urban redesign, millions of dollars from a variety of sources was available for the project just for the asking.
There are approximately 2,200 city employees or 1 employee for every 40 residents. This year, the City budget is close to half a billion dollars — and then there’s the grants worth millions more. You’d think we’d be swimming in city services, have low taxes, the greatest parks, streets free of congestion and be reaping the benefits of a city awash in greenbacks.
City Hall seems to find plenty of simoleons for things that don’t really benefit the 86,000 citizens who call Santa Monica home. Millions in tax and grant monies are spent annually on social engineering schemes at the detriment of residents. Federal, State and local grants goes for hundreds of units of low income housing here primarily for residents of Los Angeles. Typical is the 3.3 acre, 365 unit housing project in the Civic Center on land that was supposed to be a public park.
Millions are spent for homeless services that exclusively benefit those drawn here from far and wide who can’t take care of themselves. Millions more are spent to jam and gridlock traffic in a failed effort to get us on busses, bikes or our own two feet. How does any of this benefit residents?
When it comes to funding our needs, fuggetaboutit. For years, the City cut back on tree maintenance, especially in residential neighborhoods (where the tourists don’t often visit). The condition of the tree canopy, a lack of city support for our public schools which results in residents paying parcel taxes and our youth groups paying to use public athletic fields are all a result of an “agenda before residents” mindset in City Hall.
Our politicians won’t even cough up for its Police Department’s equestrian unit. Not one council person has stepped to the plate to appropriate a paltry 30 grand from council’s discretionary funds to support this important public safety component. It’s shameful. This is the same City Council that OK’d parking meters under the new library so that those using the facility don’t even get the same once-promised “two hour free” break as shoppers in Second and Fourth streets’ parking garages.
Instead, we get a bottomless pit social agenda, wacky priorities, tremendous waste and laws like the one that says 55-bed homeless shelters and mental health facilities can be built virtually anywhere in the city except for single-family neighborhoods.
So, while a few activists rant about “Saving the Trees,” major problems continue and worsen. Most depressing is the likelihood that next year, those responsible for the ficus fiasco and other misplaced priorities will be voted back into office. Nothing changes. Complaints will continue and continue to be ignored.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 15, 2007. Read the original PDF.