By Richard C. Wechsler Santa Monica
I have lived in Ocean Park for over 30 years and, quite frankly, had not even heard of Community Corp. until one evening, I heard multiple gunshots and called the police to voice my concern. I was told that the incident was related to a building owned by Community Corp. I later read a story about this building in the local paper concerning a young woman that had been raped at that same building. I called the Community Corp. and asked them about this building and other buildings — the attitude was, “we know what’s right for the city, take it or leave it.”
After reading other articles in our local paper, I was made aware of the building under construction at Main and Pacific streets. I have visited this project several times and feel it is way out of scale for the area. Why should this agency be allowed to build so many buildings and not have the same rules and regulations that a private builder would have to abide by? These projects are having a profound effect on our city in several ways — the school district will have to absorb the children at a great cost to the property owners and the crime rate will be altered by the demographics of these buildings.
As a homeowner, I would suggest that (City Hall) stop this low-income building frenzy, take a deep breath and think about the cost of this social engineering and how it will effect our city in the future. Why not think about the senior citizens that live in Santa Monica and not low-income individuals from outside of Santa Monica?
It is my belief that most residents of Santa Monica have no idea who or what Community Corp. is until they find a monster building going up next door... then, it’s too late.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 9, 2007. Read the original PDF.