By Bradley Meyers
Why do poor people deserve to live near the beach? Community Corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM) could use their money to buy less expensive land and build more affordable units in less expensive neighborhoods, like the Pico Neighborhood. The Pico Neighborhood needs the investment more than Ocean Park anyway.
So CCSM chose to add density to one of the most dense parts of SM rather than making the only remaining depressed part of SM better by investing its money in the Pico Neighborhood. Meanwhile, there is no longer an incentive for the people living in this new building to ever achieve beyond subsidized housing. They live two blocks from the beach and pay half the rent that other people pay next door. Why would any of these people want to earn more money? They might have to move to the Pico Neighborhood if they did.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 6, 2007. Read the original PDF.