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# Crack down on homeless services, smoking in public
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/crack-down-on-homeless-services-smoking-in-public-editor/
- Published: 2006-05-17T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:54:42.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*By Marilyn Brennan Santa Monica*

Regarding the editorial (SMDP, April 28, page 4). I applaud the sentiments expressed so well. I, too, want to see a broad-based process and hope that the city workers and social service providers who now profit immensely from the transient and homeless are not the only ones included in the study. The Urban Institute should, and I hope will, diversify those interviewed and not limit their study to those who have a vested interest in continuing the status quo.

The statu quo just doesn’t do anything but enable those who choose to continue their drug and alcohol dependency at our expense. The true homeless who are victims of abuse in the home or have lost employment due to outsourcing of jobs, or are mentally ill, deserve all we can do to help them reestablish their independence. And the drug addicted and alcohol addicted who want sobriety should be helped to attain this goal.

I recall one of the SMDP’s columnists wrote about a person who went undercover to one homeless agency and signed in, was given a box lunch and told to come back to see a counselor. He returned a half hour later, signed in again using the same name, was given a box lunch and told to come back and see a counselor. The third time that day, he signed in using the director of that facilty’s name, was given a third box of lunch and told to come back to see a counselor. This is just but one kind of waste and ineptitude that goes on.

I would like to see all agencies that currently enable the outrageous situation that exists in Santa Monica due to the transients — just read ‘Crime Watch” in the SMDP on Fridays — replaced with agencies that abide by the old adage “Give me a fish and I eat today, teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.”

Regarding the article “The Promenade’s last drag,” (SMDP, May 10, page 1). I hope the City Council does decide to expand its ban on smoking in public.

However, before voting this into law, I hope that this time they factor in implementing and enforcing this law. Unlike the law against smoking within 20 feet of the bus stops, where there are no signs and therefore are favorite spots for smokers to sit and blow their toxic fumes in our faces. Post signs by the bus stops.

I have seen mothers fanning their young ones to keep the second-hand smoke at bay. We breathe enough toxic fumes from the congested traffic. Also, another law not enforced is the leaf blower law. So we breathe even more toxic fumes right under our windows.

If the City Council doesn’t know how to implement the no smoking on the Promenade, if passed, they should consult a place like Disneyland. When someone lights up outside the designated area — and they do — a guard immediately appears.

And if the die-hard smokers start beefing about their rights and their freedoms, I’m sorry but they do not have the right to involve the rest of us in the ramifications of their addiction. I used to smoke but quit when I decided I didn’t have a death wish after all. I know it’s tough to quit, but it sure was nice finding real freedom from a life-threatening addiction.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 17, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/051706.pdf?ref=smdp.com)