Homelessness No. 4 on councilman’s priorities
(Editor’s note: This is the second article in a weekly series examining the priorities of four residents elected on Nov. 2 to serve on the Santa Monica City Council.) As he prepares for a record fifth term on the City Council, local plan-ning consultant Ken Genser said his top priority is to reduce gang violence in Santa Monica and bridge a perceived disconnect between residents and the police department.
Creating more parking also ranks high on Genser’s agenda, as does ensuring the public weighs in on the development of Santa Monica, he said.
Genser on Nov. 2 was one of four residents elected to four-year terms on the council, to begin Dec. 7. Incumbents Richard Bloom and Herb Katz also were re-elected, alongside challenger Bobby Shriver. They will join City Councilwoman Pam O’Connor, and Councilmen Bob Holbrook and Kevin McKeown, whose terms expire in 2006.
Ongoing gang violence in Santa Monica resurfaced as a major political issue this fall after an alleged gang member fired 14 rounds in broad daylight at a bicyclist in front of the Edison Language Academy in the eastside Pico neighborhood. Nobody was critically hurt in the shooting, though several young children and teachers witnessed it.
For Genser, the problem has two distinct components. First is the ongoing violence. Second are what Genser and some other elected leaders see as strained relations between police and residents of the city’s poorest neighborhood.
“I don’t know that I have solutions,” Genser said. “I think we have to create the framework and environment where we all — City Council, city staff and the police department and representatives of the community — seek solutions together.”
Specifically, Genser suggested a workshop or series of workshops be held where residents and community leaders break into groups to discuss the violence problem and possible solutions, before presenting their findings to a larger group.
“One of the concerns I have... is if we just schedule a public hearing, people are going to posture, and I’m not just saying people in the community,” Genser said. “I think people on both sides will posture and try to find blame, and I don’t think that’s particularly productive. I think we have to look forward and see how we can make things better and I think that means people sitting in small groups and seeing how they can solve problems together.”
As to the issues involved in addressing gang violence, Genser said he wouldn’t know what’s most critical until the workshops are held. Still, he said at a minimum officials need to consider adding more after-school programs for youths in middle and high school. As to mending relations between some residents and the police department, Genser suggested residents be asked to weigh in on the SMPD’s neighborhood centered policing model.
“I think the community needs to have a bigger role in structuring our community policing efforts and I think we need to build trust in both directions to allow that to occur,” he said. “We have to make it comfortable and safe for members of the community to report issues, report situations where they see laws being broken. Because we need to intervene when that happens too. I think right now there is resistance from members of the community to discuss these issues with our police department — or even our social service agencies.”
Genser said a second priority during his fifth term on the City Council will be to focus on parking issues throughout Santa Monica, particularly downtown.
“We’ve adopted an important plan for improving parking in the downtown,” he said. “We just adopted a generalized plan for improving parking on east-west corridors. One of the things I think my role is is to try and make sure we move towards implementing those plans.”
Specifically, Genser said he would like to act quickly to buy land downtown that could be used for parking structures, before the land is bought and used for other purposes. Secondly, Genser said he would like city staffers to evaluate the size of red zones and parking spaces throughout Santa Monica, with the idea that many spots could be created by redrawing boundaries on city streets. Finally, Genser said he’d like to explore the possibility of creating new parking districts, where nearby merchants pay into a fund to build more structures.
As a third priority, Genser said he is looking forward to overseeing an update to City Hall’s land use element, a document that governs development throughout the city. The land use element was last updated 20 years ago. Of specific importance to Genser is that the public be heavily involved, in all different varieties of forums.
“I don’t have any preconceived notions... but I do want to make sure that we have a very meaningful public outreach process,” he said. “I think we have to look for other vehicles to get that input... It might be through things such as reaching out to existing various neighborhood groups and other kinds of groups. If we only rely on formal public hearings we will just get the same people and it’s essential to involve people in the process where they have the opportunity to really work on them (draft documents) and give serious input.”
Finally, Genser said he would like to dedicate time towards ongoing problems with the homeless population, a frequent topic of campaign discussions. Though Genser said the council has done a good job of addressing the problem, he acknowledged dissatisfaction in the community and said officials should maintain a watchful eye.
“I think we have to ensure enforcement of our laws or the enaction of new laws regarding public behavior,” Genser said. “Clearly, there are many members of our community that are disturbed by behavior of some people in our public places...
“I think the council has adopted sensible priorities,” he added. “For some reason, they’re not translating into results. I don’t know the answer, if we need to amend policies or devote more resources or somehow refocus our resources and be a little more strategic about how we enforce (the laws).”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 23, 2004. Read the original PDF.