By Ron Di Costanzo Santa Monica
Like, wow. After years of complaining about traffic, homelessness, overbuilding, the difficulty of working with and the frequent lack of accountability of city staff, the total homogenization of the promenade, the failure to get much of a (or any) reaction when trying to contact councilors, and on and on (Kevin McKeown excepted on almost all counts), the Santa Monica voters again went for the good ol’ standbys. Those with name recognition and, of course, money to send out glossy mailers... many glossy mailers... very glossy (But these are good people all; let that truly be said).Yet we have returned to office some of those who allowed significant deteriorations in the quality of life to occur.
After 16 years, for example, of doing little, Holbrook wants one more year to deal with homelessness. He also believes he can preserve this “old beach town” (a favorite phrase, too, of the publisher of the Mirror), not admitting that it is long gone in no small part due to what he and his colleagues have and have not done. As for SMRR: While insisting they have done nothing but good, they have, in fact, held control of the council during the quarter-century the city has diminished. So let’s see. Who will take bets that 24 months from now Bloom, Genser and Katz will also win re-election, as will Shriver, should he find another hedge issue to stir the blood? Come on, fellow citizens. This is still a terrific place to live. Let’s stop the losses. We can’t complain and then continue to return the same people to office year after year. OK, I guess we can. But the challenge is in the moment. And that moment is in our hands.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 22, 2006. Read the original PDF.