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# Bill Bauer: Council majority shows no urgency on Santa Monica's transient problem
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/my-write-20030606/
- Published: 2003-06-06T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:17:31.000Z
- Author: Bill Bauer
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*Dealing with the vagrant problem not a high priority*

The Santa Monicans for Renter’s Rights majority on the City Council doesn’t seem to want our transient problem to go away. The two non-SMRR council members seem indifferent on the issue. Maybe none of them think there’s a problem.

The city now estimates there are probably close to 1,400 homeless in Santa Monica in any given 24-hour period. Two-thirds of this population suffers from some kind of mental or physical impairment.

Transients contribute substantially to Santa Monica’s crime statistics: ■“Although constituting 1 percent of the population, transients generate one-third of the calls for service to the police department,” SMPD Chief James T. Butts told the City Council last fall. ■In one media report, Butts was quoted as saying that a “significant number of Santa Monica’s homeless are straight-out criminals.” ■A report compiled by the police department, quoted in the Daily Press last fall stated, “Since 1997, 38 percent of those arrested for violation of parole were transients” and “67 percent of the sex offenders arrested for failing to register themselves were transients. Currently, 22 percent of the city’s registered sex offenders are transients.”

Mayor Richard Bloom, responding to reports that Delta Airlines might cancel a hotel contract because Delta employees were upset about the high number of vagrants in the city, told the Daily Press, (Friday, May 23, 2003) “They need to hear the truth about Santa Monica. We’re a very safe city.”

Bloom’s assertions seem to fly in the face of the facts. But this is Santa Monica where politicians usually deny the obvious.

Because of complaints from conven-tioneers about vagrants, The American Film Mart also has threatened to leave town, taking tens of millions of dollars out of our local economy.

It’s gotten so bad that concierges at the better hotels now advise guests, “It might not be safe on the streets after 10 p.m. Call a cab.”

It’s just a matter of time before another senior citizen or child is maimed or murdered by a transient.

The Bayside District Corp., a city-funded non-profit organization that manages downtown, recently approved $30,000 for a survey to find out why people stay away from downtown Santa Monica. Hey, guys — save the $30,000 and just read the constant flow of letters to the editor in the local media if you want to find out why people stay away.

The real question is why is the city reluctant to take any firm and meaningful action to contain and reduce the community’s overly large and dangerous transient population?

The answer is that the ultraliberals on the City Council put their compassion before our safety. They confuse the mantra of “it’s no crime to be poor” with “there are so many here that criminal activity is the only option for survival.”

They irresponsibly ignore the connection between large numbers of transients and excessive criminal activity, which puts all of us at risk.

The heads of the largest homeless service providers routinely work the politicians and business community for “good will.” The Ocean Park Community Center, Step Up on Second and their cheerleaders first turn to the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and then to the Bayside District Corp. for support.

The problem is that millions of dollars annually in city, state and county resources, as well as generous support from the business community, have resulted in an ever increasing number of vagrants looking for handouts who are increasingly service resistant and potentially violent.

A proposed ordinance before the City Council a few weeks ago will make it illegal to trespass on the Palisades Bluffs. The cliffs are riddled with hobo encampments.

Between the human waste dumped on the hillside, instability of the geology and cooking fires, serious health and safety hazards exist. But, our two Green Party councilmen, Kevin McKeown and Michael Feinstein, did not support the ordinance. It passed anyway.

After years of inaction — and just weeks before the fall 2002 election — Councilwoman Pam O’Connor (who sought re-election) and then Councilman Bloom proposed ordinances to restrict sleeping in doorways downtown and con-trolling the four dozen or more weekly public feedings in city parks. These ordinances have been passed but enforcement is either sporadic or nonexistent.

As long as Santa Monicans For Renter’s Rights politicians are determined that Santa Monica must, should and will carry the entire region’s homeless burden, nothing will change. And that, my friends, must change. (Bill Bauer is a longtime Santa Monica resident and a freelance writer.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 6, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060603.pdf?ref=smdp.com)