> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Getting new perspectives is not admitting failure - URL: https://www.smdp.com/getting-new-perspectives-is-not-admitting-failure/ - Published: 2002-12-26T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T01:11:39.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Opinion, Promenade, #archive-import *By Michael J. Tittinger* A current of negativity has pervaded the project ever since Santa Monica officials announced the decision last summer to hire a New York consulting firm — an outside consulting firm — to best determine how the city can reimagine the Third Street Promenade. The primary point of contention with residents and vendors alike seems to have focused on the fact that the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) was given approximately $55,000 to assist the local Promenade Uses Task Force. Even worse, PPS hails from New York City, not Santa Monica, or even Los Angeles. Whether or not this backlash stems from the decision to reach out beyond the city limits for fresh ideas or the area’s underlying rivalry with New York to establish itself as the nation’s leader of innovation and cultural precedence is uncertain. I wonder if the reaction would be as heated if PPS called Enid, Oklahoma home or was headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Whatever the underlying reason, Project for Public Spaces is on board and it’s time to get over it. Asking for assistance from beyond our little world in sunny Southern California is neither a sign of weakness nor inadequacy. Since when did asking for a fresh perspective become a negative thing? “There’s nothing wrong with the design of the Promenade,” insists vendor Jerry Rubin. “It’s clean and well-maintained. What really needs to be redesigned are some of the City leaders’ attitudes.” Staring at anything for too long a time gives it a false sense of permanence. How many of us have moved any of our furniture since last New Year’s? The more comfortable one becomes, the less apt they are to take chances, akin to an elderly man growing so comfortable in a familiar environment that he fears the challenges change may bring. Maybe we naturally avoid change because it ultimately means more work adapting to new environs. As each of us grows older and struggles to remain independent, we will likely keep the things around us the same. In this unwavering world we can function. If the arrangement or governing rules were to be altered, we might need help to understand, thus in our own eyes, losing that valued independence. But what we may or may not realize is that the very refusal to adapt is really rendering us a dinosaur; a dinosaur similar to the ones standing guard along the Third Street Promenade. “Local residents have a set impression of what (the Promenade) should be and it'll be hard to shake that idea,” contends Daniel Franco, a 19-year-old English major at Santa Monica College. “I think outside ideas can be a good thing. It's necessary to get some new blood, shake things up a little.” Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength. It is not a sign of insecurity, but rather an indication of self-assuredness. Albert Einstein said, “the important thing is to not stop asking questions,” meaning that we shouldn’t simply settle for the answers we already have. Forward thinkers question themselves time and again. Those afraid of what another might say cannot feel too confident in themselves. The notion that one must live and work in the area to suggest enhancements to the Promenade is ludicrous. Ironically, we need only look at New York for an example on an undoubtedly grander scale. The city on Wednesday unveiled nine new designs for the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. Two of the seven design teams were from that city, five from elsewhere around the world (including the Los Angeles-based firm responsible for the J. Paul Getty Center). The Big Apple seems to be doing things right, culling ideas from the top architects and designers around the world, while also keeping its finger on the pulse of the populace. Six original designs unveiled in July were discarded after a huge contingent of New Yorkers deemed them uninspired and unimaginative. Rebuilding officials in New York indicated this week that incorporating ideas from each of the nine submissions remained a strong possibility, thus taking ideas from all over the world and making them distinctly their own. It makes me wonder what the reaction on the West Coast might be if New York had said all along that they could rebuild the site on their own, preferring to keep everything local, thus shutting out the rest of the nation who view the city’s infamous skyline as a symbol of freedom and capitalism. Under the circumstances, with all that city has been though over the past year and half, it would’ve been understandable if it were determined to feed into the local economy by tapping a New York City design firm. Stephen Davies, vice president of PPS, said that the Promenade district was in a strong position to become a more important “destination that can serve both Santa Monica residents and a regional audience.” Let’s not forget that tourism is a major driving force in the economy of Santa Monica. Why then would we balk at gathering ideas from them on what they’d like to experience? Mike Tittinger is a regular columnist who lives in Santa Monica. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 26, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122602.pdf?ref=smdp.com)