Tuesday’s City Council meeting is mostly about administrative items, with one notable exception, a discussion about John Alle’s provocative and controversial sign on the Third Street Promenade.
However, while this will invariably wake anyone up who might have dozed off watching at home, or heaven forbid, in chambers, it means that to get to this discussion that’s worthy of a fresh bowl of popcorn, Council will have had to clear quite a long list of otherwise less interesting housekeeping items.
The item has been raised by Mayor Phil Brock, Vice Mayor Lana Negrete and Councilmember Gleam Davis. According to the agenda, they are requesting that the City Council direct the City Attorney Doug Sloane to "prepare a resolution for Council consideration that recites that, while the City of Santa Monica is respectful of everyone’s First Amendment rights to free speech, in some instances harm can come from expression that is false and/or counter to the public interest."
The staff report goes on to say that, "The resolution should reflect the Council’s disapproval of signs placed upon a building along the 3rd Street Promenade that falsely state that the City Manager approves of the County’s "free needle and meth pipe" program, as in fact the program is implemented by a contractor of Los Angeles County pursuant to state law and the City Council and City Manager play no role in authorizing the program," it says.
"Further, to the extent that there is City policy on the program, the City Council is the source of any such City policy on the subject, not the City Manager. Finally, the signs also may be counter-productive to the community’s stated goal of economic recovery as they may deter people from visiting and shopping in Santa Monica at a time when the City’s retail, travel and entertainment businesses are still recovering from the pandemic."
The Santa Monica Coalition, a group overseen by Alle, sent an email saying the effort was an assault on free speech and that there is evidence to support their claims.
"The City Council’s refusal to address this issue and pay attention to the collaboration between Santa Monica City Manager David White and Barbara Ferrer’s Department of Public Health team contributed to the growing number of transient addicts 24-7 in the parks and in our City, decline of business and tourism, and rise in retail theft and violent crime in Downtown Santa Monica and all areas of the City," said the email.
The sign itself has gone through a number of iterations since it first appeared in 2022. Currently, it reads, "Santa Methica is not safe. SM City Manager supports free needle & meth pipe distribution program in our parks and public spaces." It hangs on a vacant building owned by John Alle at 1335 Third Street.
This isn’t the first time an attempt has been made recently to address this controversial issue. During the February 22, 2024, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. board meeting, board member Barry Snell attempted to raise a motion to bring the subject to the table for discussion.
"I think it’s important that we get an understanding from the city as to the legality of it [the sign], so I’d like to have someone from the city discuss what that is and then I’d like for us as a board to discuss some of the possibilities as to how we address it," Snell said, adding, "At a minimum, I think a letter form our board … because that sign is hurting our downtown."
That motion was seconded by Ericka Lesley. However, it brought uneasy tension to the room as few were prepared to actually commit to the idea.
Eric Sedman, Chair of the board said, "I understand where you’re coming from, but I’m not in favor of agendizing this item. I think it’s a road that’s a loser for us to go down, I think if the city took a position that the sign should come down … they should act on it," adding, "It’s really isn’t in our purview and I think for us to go down that road and end up with a result that is nothing more than a PR negative on us, I think is a loser."
"It’s already a negative on us," retorted Snell. "We’ve heard from many of our stakeholders that they do not like this sign and it’s hurting their businesses … It’s our duty as a board to protect our downtown. I don’t know whether it’s illegal, but I do think that a discussion about the sign is [warranted] and if we don’t do anything about it, no matter where the city is positioned … then we as a board are being ineffective."
Out of the 11 board members present that evening, only board member Susan Cline voted in favor, along with Snell and Lesley as board member Lucian Tudor changed his vote from ‘yes’ to ‘no’ and consequently it failed.
"I’m in between a rock and a hard place," said board member Luke Cain.
The other agenda items we have to get through on Tuesday evening to get this particular one, Item 16B, include the operating budget for the housing authority and approval of a ballot measure for November to raise the parking tax in private lots.
Mayor Brock has also asked for a discussion of a new parcel tax to fund police and homeless services.