By Ken Llewllyn Santa Monica
Yes, maybe in recent weeks the city has started to clean up the streets and finally started to enforce its laws against panhandling, camping, squatting on the streets, and a whole lot of etc. (SMDP, Oct. 14-15, “The fine blue line”). But that is just around the Third Street, Montana Avenue and Main Street districts. It’s not that way in the rest of the city. The rest of the city is not benefiting from this increased enforcement. In fact, it’s worse than ever. This is clearly a ploy by the incumbent city council members who are up for re-election to quickly make up for the situation they have let get out of control on their watch. It is the council majority who have turned the streets of SM into a giant Skid Row. Even downtown LA is afraid they might get like SM.
We have had council persons who are more concerned with merely appearing responsive to the residents while in reality totally ignoring the everyday local problems of keeping this city functioning. We have an incumbent who was more concerned with making sure every new construction project in the city has a wheelchair ramp — residences included — whether or not a handicapped person lived there or not. We have another who thinks it’s really OK to allow people to camp on the streets and our alleys because they have no other place to go, and that the residents should all just pay for taking care of them.
If you think SM has serious problems regarding everyday issues like keeping the city clean and safe, and preventing ever-increasing density and traffic, then we all need to show it by voting for those who have tried to solve these problems and replace the incumbents who have been ruining this city the last eight years.
Let’s put some new faces on the council and try to turn things around.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 18, 2006. Read the original PDF.