City asks residents to foot the $50,000 bill
The City Council on Tuesday asked residents and businesses to pick up the tab for a Fourth of July celebration in Santa Monica.
“Celebrate America,” which for the last 20 years has been held at Santa Monica College, was canceled earlier this month because of the school’s dire financial state.
School officials said it didn’t seem right to stage the $50,000 celebration at a time when teachers are losing their jobs and entire departments are being eliminated.
But Santa Monica City Council members said the bad financial news shouldn’t spell the end for the festivities.
“I think we’re all painfully aware of the multiple budget crises that effect the college, the school district and the community,” Mayor Richard Bloom said. “But I don’t see how that kind of pain translates into a need to forego happy occasions and celebrations.”
“I think we’re all painfully aware of the multiple budget crises that effect the college, the school district and the community. But I don’t see how that kind of pain translates into a need to forego happy occasions and celebrations.” — — RICHARD BLOOM Mayor of Santa Monica
More than 20,000 people attended last year’s event.
SMC’s event, which is held annually at Corsair Stadium, has been the sole Independence Day celebration in Santa Monica for more than a decade.
The city canceled its popular Fourth of July celebration in 1991, citing liability concerns. Controlling the hundreds of thousands of revelers that converged each year on Palisades Park and the beaches below became too difficult, officials said.
“It just got out of hand,” Councilman Herb Katz said.
Council members on Tuesday directed city staff to begin working with the college on how to resuscitate this year’s festivities. In the meantime, they are asking community members to pitch in to raise the cash needed to put it on.
“It would really mean something great if the bigger corporations and the residents in our town really pulled together and kicked in,” said Katz, adding that donations can be mailed to the city or to SMC. “It wouldn’t be that difficult to raise $50,000 or $60,000.”
While city officials figure out how to collect donations, interested donors can call City Hall or SMC to find out where to send their checks.
Bruce Smith, a spokesman for SMC, said the college is working with the city, which in the past has kicked in $15,000 towards the event, on ways to bring back the celebration. The city has allocated funds for this year, but a lot is still needed.
Smith said the school will consider staging the event — despite its concerns over celebrating in the face of the cutbacks — but only if the city raises the lion’s share of the expenses.
Some money is likely to be available from longtime SMC donors, Smith added. Beyond that, Smith said SMC needs to focus on financial concerns of its own.
The SMC Board of Trustees is expected to vote today on whether to finalize a March proposal to eliminate 10 academic programs, lay-off 13 full-time teachers and reassign about 13 administrators to the classroom.
About 2,000 students would be effected by the proposed cuts.
SMC cut $13 million from its budget and 7.5 percent of its classes in the 2002- 2003 school year. It faces an additional $15 million in cuts and a 30 percent reduction in classes for 2003-2004, Smith said.
SMC’s entire budget is about $115 million and 85 percent of it is state funded, he added.
Celebrations in neighboring communities are expected to go an as scheduled. Last year, several cities, including Marina del Rey, sponsored events that featured fireworks.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 15, 2003. Read the original PDF.