By Victor Fresco Santa Monica
Once again Greg Poirier repeats the falsehoods the “Yes on A” campaign has been saying for a year: (Santa Monica Daily Press, Feb. 13 ) That city bureaucrats want to dictate “whether you can add a room on your house, or even change the paint color.” So what if in Santa Monica’s Historic District only one remodel has been turned down out of 14 requests? So what if the Landmarks Commission does-n’t rule on paint colors. Mr. Poirier has a story and he’s sticking to it. And it’s a better story if the beleaguered homeowner on 18th Street who started this thing wasn’t a developer, even though the man builds and sells spec homes. Repeat the rhetoric enough times and you can work everyone into an anti-government frenzy. They’re coming for our paint, for crying out loud!
Oscar Niemeyer, the world famous Brazilian architect who designed the United Nations building and the capital of Brazil, designed one home in all of North America — here in Santa Monica. That home was recently purchased for demolition. Under Measure A we could not prevent, or even discuss, its destruction. Under our current Landmarks Ordinance, we can.
Should developers — excuse me, I guess we call them “homeowners” now — have the sole authority to decide what stays and what goes? Should property rights transcend community rights 100 percent of the time? In such a world, I could demolish my north of Montana home and replace it with a gas station or even a firing range. It’s my property, right? Only the most extreme property rights advocate would say someone should have 100 percent freedom to decide the fate of their property.
Occasionally, very occasionally, a community should have the right to intervene in the affairs of an individual property owner. Out of 6,500 Santa Monica homes, only 16 have been landmarked in 26 years. And the majority of those have been done through the homeowner’s initiation. Landmarking is something that happens EXTREMELY rarely. In fact, at the current rate, it would take over 100 years for even one percent of Santa Monica homes to be landmarked. In any given year, your chances of having your home landmarked are about one in 10,000.
Is the landmarking process perfect? Of course not. But like its proponent’s rhetoric, Measure A is too extreme in that it prohibits even the possibility of community input on something which may effect the community. It’s a bad law and should be rejected.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 18, 2003. Read the original PDF.