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# Incumbents look for their edge in hedge debacle
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/incumbents-look-for-their-edge-in-hedge-debacle/
- Published: 2004-09-14T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:03:06.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Two similar proposals on agenda*

CITY HALL — With seven weeks until the election, three incumbents vying for local political seats want to reverse course on City Hall’s policy of criminalizing people because their hedges are too high — a tactic that was met this summer with a vengeance by residents throughout the city.

Two proposals that toss out a 56-year-old law that governs hedges in Santa Monica will be floated by elected officials tonight — one from Mayor Richard Bloom and Councilman Ken Genser, and the other from Councilman Mike Feinstein.

The new proposals are viewed by some as a way to diffuse the severe public relations problem City Hall has experienced since inspectors from the building and safety department mailed letters to alleged hedge-law violators that indicated they could be fined up to $25,000 a day if they didn’t trim their hedges.

It appears that the councilmen are acting separately. Genser and Bloom have proposed what’s been referred to as the “hedge pledge,” which is a revision of the current law and created in part by a group of homeowners this past summer. The proposal is scheduled to be discussed at tonight’s City Council meeting.

Feinstein put his own proposal on the council’s agenda before Genser and Bloom did. The proposal is similar to that of his colleagues, but asks that an interim ordinance be adopted in October.

The proposed revisions come on the heels of months of controversy over how City Hall handled people whose hedges were too tall. Late last year and this past spring, hundreds of letters were sent by City Hall that threatened criminal proceedings and a maximum of $500,000 in fines.

The crime? The residents were apparently violating a 1948 ordinance that dictates local hedges be kept at or below 42 inches in front yards. More recent updates set the limit to eight feet in side yards and back yards.

One of the so-called criminals was Bobby Shriver, the brother-in-law of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and nephew of Sen. Ted Kennedy. An inspector had photographed Shriver’s hedges in front of his house on Adelaide Drive at 6 a.m. two days before Thanksgiving and sent a letter warning that if he didn’t correct the violation by the following Monday, he would face fines.

“It was just mean,” Shriver said. “I think in good faith, Richard and Ken came up with a good proposal, and it makes the point they are not unreasonable and mean.”

City Hall’s handling of the situation incensed Shriver enough to run for one of the four City Council seats open this November. Before announcing his candidacy, he mobilized a group of homeowners and met with City Council members, as well as city planning officials.

The councilmen’s proposal is built upon months of work done between themselves, Shriver and a committee made up of residents after the hedge issue reached its peak this summer. The goal of the committee was to persuade elected officials to agree to a new law. But those discussions ended with no resolution.

That’s why Genser and Bloom have introduced the proposal now. They maintain it’s not an election issue. However, many speculate that it is and are worried that Shriver could win the election. Feinstein said his proposal is a gesture of goodwill by moving forward.

“The idea was to come up with a new policy, the ‘hedge pledge,’ that everyone can sign on to,” Genser said. “This wasn’t because of Shriver’s candidacy.”

In the meantime, City Hall has stopped enforcing the hedge ordinance until it is rewritten, which could be up to 10 months from now.

But Feinstein wants to settle the issue by creating a new law with the public’s input and adopt it before the Nov. 2 election. The law would put a height limit on hedges according to what’s reasonable to the public.

“I don’t see the point in waiting until after the election,” he said, adding the letters were a “diplomatic blunder.” “People are waiting to see what their government is going to do to them.

“We created an uncertainty and the mistrust for handling it inappropriately,” Feinstein added. “People are organized now, and I don’t think we should have this hanging over their heads.”

Genser and Bloom’s proposal is to have city staff make revisions to the law by incorporating the “hedge pledge” and then bring a draft ordinance to the public for comment. Unlike Feinstein’s proposal, there is no set time for the ordinance to be introduced to the public.

The two proposals are similar in that they both suggest property owners with hedges taller than what the 1948 law allows be grandparented in, as long as they don’t impede public safety or create negative effects for neighbors.

Genser and Bloom’s proposal also asks for the City Council to agree that “the criminal process should never be used in the first communication between the city and residents.”

During his interview on Friday with the chamber of commerce’s political action committee — which will announce its endorsements next week — Shriver said he still hasn’t been able to get anyone in City Hall to tell him who made the decision to approach enforcement on hedges in a criminal manner.

Andy Agle, the assistant director of City Hall’s planning and community development department, didn’t answer that question when asked by a reporter on Friday. But he did say code compliance officers are now making initial contact with residents via a letter informing them of the law, the alleged violation and how to correct it. An inspector will visit the property only after the “educational” letter has been sent.

“Education and enforcement go in tandem,” Agle said, adding letters such as the one sent to Shriver are meant to get people’s attention. “I think it’s fair to recognize that those letters are pretty educational.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 14, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091404.pdf?ref=smdp.com)