By EYE ON THE CITY BY ELIZABETH RIEL
Sometimes City Hall acts like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On one day, our city’s leaders take an unprecedented stand on behalf of our families and kids at the expense of developers. On another day, City Hall stonewalls our residents and shuts the community out in favor of developers.
Residents had a good day last week when the City Council unanimously voted to require developers to pay fees to fund early childhood education, child care and public art projects.
Under the proposal, developers, retailers and hotels would pay a fee per square foot for early childhood education and child care needs for Santa Monica’s children. Retailers and hotels would pay less than developers. To fund public art projects, developers would pay a very small percentage of their permit fee.
At first glance, it may seem odd to ask developers and business to participate in the welfare of Santa Monica’s kids. But if people want to do business in Santa Monica and reap the benefits of our community, then it makes sense to have them contribute to the future well-being of our city. And there’s no better investment than quality early childhood education and child care, which recent studies show have positive long-term impacts for children.
Although these types of fees are certainly not unprecedented, Santa Monica’s would be the highest in the state. That’s why I’m somewhat shocked that they received the unanimous backing of the City Council, especially by those coun-cilmembers who tend to back developers over residents). Of course, the fees have not yet been finalized, and there was grumbling from some councilmembers about how it would drive business away.
Developers and businesses complain that it’s too expensive here but they make a pretty good buck off our high land values and strong visitor and tourism industry. The number of visitors to Santa Monica has only increased over the years — from 3.8 million in 2000 to almost 4.8 million in 2004. And let’s not forget that our city has something that most surrounding cities don’t — a beautiful ocean and beach that will always keep land values high and attract visitors.
Let’s just hope that councilmembers will demonstrate the same kind of backbone and prudence in a few weeks when the fee structure for early childhood education and public art will be finalized. For those coun-cilmembers who have doubts about the fee or try to lower it, let’s hope they remember that they are elected to serve the residents of Santa Monica, not the developers.
On the flip side, City Hall showed its dark side when it turned on residents and refused to be forthcoming and open about Macerich’s plans to redevelop Santa Monica Place.
Last year, the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC) had to sue City Hall in order to gain access to a significant number of public documents regarding the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place. Those documents included e-mails between city officials and the developer; traffic studies and other environmental impacts; unadulterated results of telephone surveys; names and addresses of residents who attended the city workshops — even though the city had already released these to the developer — and lease information for Macy’s and Robinson’s May.
After almost a year of litigation, the City Council recently voted to settle the case, release the remaining documents, and pay SMCLC’s attorney’s fees, totaling about $36,000.
The stonewalling occurred primarily from the City Attorney’s office, even after at least one councilmember tried to intervene and shake the documents loose. It wasn’t until a last-resort lawsuit by SMCLC that the city started to cooperate.
Why shouldn’t residents have the right to know what’s going on with development in our own city? Why does it take a citizens’ group and a lawsuit to ensure transparency in our government? This is a classic example of how our city is essentially run by unelected staff who make key decisions on a daily basis. Perhaps charter reform is in order?
That really ought to bring out the Mr. Hydes in City Hall. (Elizabeth Riel is a Santa Monica resident. Write her at)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 20, 2006. Read the original PDF.