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# New blood on City Council needs to bleed leadership
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-blood-on-city-council-needs-to-bleed-leadership/
- Published: 2004-11-30T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:18:30.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*WHAT’S THE POINT?*

A week from today, the “new” City Council will convene and a new mayor will be appointed. One hopes that a new mayor will be put in place to deal with the crises of the city in a strong and effective manner. This is not to say that Richard Bloom has not done a fine job as mayor. He has been as effective as the council will let him be. But we need strong leadership and accountability.

While I hold out hope that with the election of Bobby Shriver there is a breath of fresh air coming to the council, but frankly, I am fairly certain that the feet of lead council will continue to do nothing about the real issues, and only continue to grab headlines with hot button, meaningless issues.

The sad result of the last election shows precisely how apathetic and uninformed the electorate is. New council member Shriver was elected with more than 20,000 votes, but everyone who I asked, who voted for him, could not tell me a single thing the man stood for, besides the hedge issue.

I have no opinion on whether or not Mr. Shriver will be a good council member. Time will tell. What bothers me is that with the groundswell of support for change on the council, only one new face is sent forth.

The far left in this city cried out for change, seeking to place a new council that would feed the hungry, house the homeless and stop nuclear proliferation on a global level.

The far right wants to see a council that will end the “welcome mat” politics towards the homeless, allow unfettered growth and development, and stop worrying about the proliferation of nuclear arms, and concentrate on important issues like cutting city overhead.

The moderates, as I like to think of myself, would like to see a City Council that will address the issues that homeowners like me need to have resolved. There needs to be accountability.

There is a need for accountability in the schools, in the budget and on the council. We have a school district that has untold students who do not belong in the district. The sneaky parents qualify their children with the grandparents’ or their cousins’ addresses. In a district that is chronically challenged for funding, this overpopulation in the student body allows for thousands of dollars each year to go for students who belong in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

An audit of the student body is not likely to show a tremendous amount of students who belong in another district. But the fact is that there are students whose parents are taking advantage of the benefits of our district while not financially contributing. The obvious counter argument is that the resident whose address is being used is paying taxes and he is contributing for the student.

The school district budget, like all budgets, requires income from sources that are not also costing it money. Additionally, some of the residents are renters, and they do not contribute to the city based on property tax assessments. Clearly the landlords have to pay, but they can only infrequently pass a small percentage of the assessments through to their tenants in increased rents — those rents which have been held down for years due to rent control.

When it comes to the City Council, its members need to take a deep, hard look at the way in which they do business. They should take the morally correct stand, and as a group, get behind a charter amendment that requires each district to be represented. It would be a great show of character for this council to bite the political bullet and allow the people a direct way to their council.

As it stands now, this council is completely unaccountable to any one district and the electorate in general. In reality, they are only beholden to the few voters who took the time to get to know the candidates, and extract promises in exchange for the mother’s milk of politics — money. It is appalling that as a homeowner I have so little representation on the council. Council members are supposed to represent all of the community, yet like all politicians, they seem to represent only those who give them money or political cover.

Accountability is desperately needed from this council. As is leadership. We are in an economic cycle that does not bode well for our future. The community budget is stretched to an extreme degree, and there have been no farsighted proposals put forth by anyone on this council. The public assets of this little burg are being used beyond their ability to compensate and the city leadership appoints another commission, or commissions another study, all the while doing nothing about the central problems.

For example, here is a proposal that will not be popular but would be fair. An annual two-tiered tax on tenants based on whether or not their tenancy is controlled by the rent control or rent stabilization. The tenants who are under the old rent control would pay $12 per year for each year or portion thereof that they have been in their apartments. The tenants who are newer, and presumably paying a higher market rate would pay $6 per year for each year, or portion thereof that they have been in their apartments.

The reason for the two tiers is that the older tenants are paying radically lower monthly rent, and have been benefiting based on the actions of the city. Therefore, they should contribute more to the city coffers, based on their lower cost of living. The newer tenants are paying a higher market rate, and therefore are contributing more to the local economy and should be taxed at a lower rate because they already contribute more.

This proposal will never see the light of day, mostly because there is no accountability on the council. That is fine with me because it was just an example of an idea for a revenue increase that the city desperately needs.

Hopefully the new mayor and the council with their one new member can come up with ideas that will actually see the light of day and help the city. (David Pisarra is a business development lawyer in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He).

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 30, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/113004.pdf?ref=smdp.com)