> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Neighborhood groups oppose Proposition A - URL: https://www.smdp.com/neighborhood-groups-oppose-proposition-a/ - Published: 2003-02-11T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T01:32:13.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Community, Montana, #archive-import *Critics say groups are out of touch with their membership* *By Daily Press staff* A battle among property owners appears to be breaking out over a proposal to weaken the city’s ability to designate historic homes. The proposal, Proposition A, would give owners of single-family homes the final say on whether their properties could be designated historic. The ballot proposition’s latest opponents are four Santa Monica neighborhood groups, each claiming to represent owners and tenants, and all claiming to oppose the “Homeowners Freedom of Choice Initiative.” The latest allies of “Save Our Neighborhood,” the community organization formed to defeat Prop. A, are the Friends of Sunset Park, North of Montana Association, Ocean Park Community Organization and Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition. The groups are Santa Monica neighborhood organizations that say they represent property owners and tenants of both single and multi-family units throughout the city. Opponents of the measure say that since Prop. A claims to be the “Homeowners Freedom to Choose” initiative, it’s significant that the two largest community organizations representing Santa Monica homeowners have endorsed the “No on A” position. The neighborhood organizations, which represent a variety of demographic groups in Santa Monica, have joined the opposition in coalition with national, state, and local preservation organizations which have denounced Prop. A. Those organizations include the local Santa Monica and Los Angeles Conservancies, the California Preservation Foundation, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which oversees historic sites from coast to coast. However, Prop. A supporters say the neighborhood groups are out of touch with the residents they claim to represent. They say members of the neighborhood groups were never asked if they wanted to endorse the proposition. That decision was made solely by the groups’ boards of directors, many of whom are allied with members of the city’s Landmarks Commission, Prop. A supporters said. “To say (North of Montana Association) is against this is a total farce,” said local land use attorney Tom Larmore, an author of the proposition and a North of Montana homeowner. “And I think that’s true of Friends of Sunset Park as well. I don’t think they held a forum or asked their members what they think. “I think NOMA is kind of a disgrace the way it’s positioning itself as if it speaks for North of Montana residents when obviously it doesn’t,” he added “All you have to do is drive around North of Montana and you’ll see the neighbors are speaking for themselves” with yard signs. > “All you have to do is drive around North of Montana and you’ll see the neighbors are speaking for themselves.” — — TOM LARMORE Proposition A supporter At stake in the upcoming election is whether developers and other property owners can be halted from knocking down architecturally, culturally, or historically significant homes in Santa Monica, proposition opponents say. Proposition supporters say the issue is property rights. They assert that homeowners should have the final say whether the city can prevent them from remodeling their homes or building entirely new ones. The city’s Landmarks Commission, operating under a 26-year-old Landmarks ordinance, is charged with the responsibility to ensure that important buildings and neighborhoods in Santa Monica are preserved for the future. Over the past several years, preservationists say the trend in Santa Monica has been for developers to purchase older homes and commercial buildings, knock them down, construct larger buildings in their place and sell them. The current Landmarks ordinance allows the Landmarks Commission to prevent or delay demolition or character-altering remodels of buildings considered worth preserving based on their architectural style, cultural significance, or historic importance to the city. The Landmarks ordinance is an obstacle for developers and Proposition Ais designed to eliminate it, preservationists say. “The property rights arguments made by developers and other supporters of Proposition A are hostile to any spirit of community,” says Bea Nemlaha, spokesperson for Save Our Neighborhoods. “They insist that the community cannot protect its own history if doing so infringes on owners’rights to do whatever they want, even if it causes irreparable damage to important original homes and mature landscaping in their neighborhoods. “But this extreme position means that property owners who want to maintain the uniqueness and scale of their community end up with no rights,” she added. For the first time in the city’s history, the election is taking place entirely through the mail. Ballots will be sent out to registered Santa Monica residents beginning Feb. 20, and residents will have until March 21 to return them to the City Clerk’s office. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 11, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/021103.pdf?ref=smdp.com)