Editor: I’ve just read the article about the chamber of commerce’s criticism of the size of the Santa Monica city government (SMDP, Aug. 8, page 1). The statement by the chamber president, Dr. Mike Gruning, is laughable. He complains that Santa Monica has more employees than other cities of similar size.
My husband and I moved to Santa Monica a little over a year ago from the City of Alhambra. By coincidence, Alhambra is just about the same size as Santa Monica. Both cities have about 89,000 residents. I don’t know how many employees either city has, but it would make a lot of sense that Santa Monica would have many, many more.
Alhambra didn’t have a beach, so Alhambra doesn’t need the lifeguards, parking attendants and cleaning crews that Santa Monica needs. Alhambra doesn’t have an airport, so it doesn’t need the people to run one, but Santa Monica does. Alhambra doesn’t have a bus line, but Santa Monica does, and needs drivers and mechanics to run it. Alhambra doesn’t have big hotels, office buildings and the Third Street Promenade that bring thousands of people to it every day, but Santa Monica does. That means more police to direct traffic and keep people safe (and it means more people to patronize the members of the chamber of commerce.) When my husband’s job required us to move to the westside, we chose to move to Santa Monica because of many of these aspects, and we’re glad we decided to live here. We have generally found a high level of service from the city and we are happy that it has the staff to provide it. My property taxes aren’t any higher in Santa Monica (in proportion to value) than they were Alhambra and the few extra bucks I spend on utility taxes each month are a small price to pay to live here.
If Dr. Gruning wants to be in a city with fewer employees, perhaps he should move his business to one. But, as a resident, I am happy to live in a city with good city services and more things to do. And somehow, in spite of the protests of the chamber of commerce, it is apparent that many more businesses want to be here, too.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 13, 2003. Read the original PDF.