> ## 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. # New mayor discusses new year, old issues - URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-mayor-discusses-new-year-old-issues/ - Published: 2006-01-02T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T17:01:05.000Z - Author: Ryan Hyatt - Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness *Help for the homeless on its way, mayor says* The new mayor of Santa Monica hopes his ceremonial post will one day be strengthened by the power of voters. City Councilman Bob Holbrook replaced City Councilwoman Pam O’Connor as the mayor of Santa Monica last month. Sitting at a downtown deli, Holbrook — wearing a USC Polo shirt and casually sipping coffee — discussed what’s changed about City Hall since the last time he served as mayor in 1998. He also discussed what he feels still needs to change. Issues such as homelessness, traffic and parking — high priorities for Santa Monicans in a recent survey — are slowly being addressed at City Hall, Holbrook said. With an elected mayor, City Hall may be more responsive to public concerns, he added. Santa Monica has a strong City Manager form of government, meaning that the city’s seven councilmembers, who are elected into office, appoint a mayor and are charged mostly with helping City Hall shape its policies, according to officials. As Santa Monica’s mayor, Holbrook will typically represent the city as a figurehead at government and other public events. He’ll also set the agenda for City Council meetings along with the City Manager. Otherwise, his role is little different from other councilmembers. In spite of bi-partisan political progress he feels has been made in Santa Monica since his last term as mayor, Holbrook said there are issues City Hall is struggling to deal with. A stronger mayoral form of government would allow City Hall’s priorities to better reflect the will of the citizenry, if the public could express their concerns more directly to a top official who’d campaign for their vote. “An elected mayor would be able to talk about issues residents are interested in, but that City Hall has been slow to act on over the years,” Holbrook said. “If the mayor were an elected position, with elected responsibilities, there might be more action on homeless, traffic and parking issues, for example.” Holbrook pointed out, for example, that he feels Santa Monica is in great need of a major retailer that could serve a variety of basic consumer needs, such as a Target. Holbrook said he’s even had a few ideas where a major retailer might be located. Currently, the only sites that have seemed plausible would require a zoning adjustment. To do that would require agreement among the City Council and city staff that such an adjustment would be desirable, and to achieve that might take more than a mayor who has a “feeling” about a city need, he said. It may require a mayor in office with an elected official’s responsibilities. That way, Holbrook or someone else who’s campaigned successfully on the “feeling” that a major retailer is needed, may legally have more leverage to take action at City Hall. Santa Monica’s mayor would be a position which, theoretically, would serve as a better conduit to the public, since the public would vote the city’s top elected official into office. It’s not a new idea. A stronger mayoral form of government, as well as districting, was proposed to voters a few years back and failed. However, Holbrook feels the progress has been slow enough on key public issues that he may again propose that Santa Monica embrace a strong mayoral form of government. NEW CITY LEADERSHIP ON THE HORIZON Holbrook, a semi-retired pharmacist who works in downtown Los Angeles, is married and has three grown children. As opposed to his previous term as mayor, when he was still working full time, Holbrook hopes he can represent Santa Monica more often at events than he has been able to in the past. He’s also looking forward to 2006, noting opportunities opening up for the city from last year. City Hall has hired a new City Manager, Lamont Ewell, who Holbrook is looking forward to working with. The effort to find Ewell was one that Holbrook helped lead. Holbrook said he is confident Ewell will make a fine replacement for City Manager Susan McCarthy, who retired in December. Ewell is coming from San Diego, where he served as the City Manager. That city is currently embroiled in financial scandal and federal scrutiny involving an encumbered city pension plan. However, Holbrook said that scandal has nothing to do with Ewell and Santa Monicans will soon find out for themselves the quality of the person hired. “No doubt about it, people are going to like Lamont,” Holbrook said. Holbrook discussed the selection process for the new City Manager, most of which occurred behind closed doors, as authorized in the city charter. Holbrook relayed a tale about Ewell’s tenure as the City Manager for Durham, North Carolina. Durham has a large black population. At some point, Ewell needed to find a new police chief for the city. Ewell relayed to the City Council during the course of his interviews how leaders of Durham’s black constituency approached him and suggested Ewell hire a black police chief. Members of Durham’s City Council, many of whom were white, approached Ewell and said that they assumed he was going to hire a black police chief, and if so, that he be sure to make sure it’s the best black police chief available. Ewell conducted interviews and decided to hire a female police chief. Subsequently. Ewell’s decision upset many of the city’s black and whites, but Ewell stuck to his choice, confident it was the right one. He felt the woman hired was the most qualified for the position and that time would prove it. Within months, Holbrook said the people of Durham expressed their gratitude in Ewell’s choice. “He doesn’t look at anything but a person’s qualifications and character,” Holbrook said. “That’s what matters to him, and that’s what I liked about him.” Holbrook called officials in Durham to corroborate information in Ewell’s application. Representatives there told him they wish he had never left. “Lamont is said to have excellent management skills and have a natural talent for finding the right people for the job,” Holbrook said. In addition, Ewell apparently arranged Durham’s municipal system so city departments worked better to clean up its streets. Holbrook anticipates that Ewell will work well with the new president of Santa Monica College, Dr. Chui Tsang, soon to begin his tenure, and Edmund Edelman, the city’s new homeless czar, set for a one-year appointment. Ewell also will help determine who will be the next city planning director. HOLBROOK POINTS TO A YEAR OF POSSIBILITY Holbrook said new city leadership presents an opportunity to make headway on issues that stem from 2005. In particular, Holbrook said City Hall is gearing up to tackle the city’s homeless problem on an unprecedented scale, and he credits the success of that effort to the work of City Councilman Bobby Shriver. “Bobby’s been working very hard to bring the homeless issue to the forefront,” Holbrook said. “And he’s doing an amazing job.” Holbrook — who has been hesitant to invest too heavily on homeless services in the past— said he has been rethinking that approach, in part because of the sense of energy and resourcefulness Shriver has brought to the City Council. Holbrook said he welcomes new homeless program-ming that may be on the horizon, as long as it proves to be an efficient and effective use of tax dollars to address the citywide problem. One new program he believes is encouraging is simple but may prove very helpful, Holbrook said. City Hall will soon be making contact with homeless individuals and screening them to see if there’s a support system from their hometowns which may enable them get back on their feet. “Basically, there will be contact with the homeless, and for those who seem to have family or friends who can take them and get a fresh start, we will be able to provide a ticket to get them where they need to go,” Holbrook said. “This program may do a lot to reduce Santa Monica’s homeless population in coming years, and not cost (a lot). “It would also take the burden off of us to solve the homeless problem on our own, and make other cities become aware of the part they have to play.” Holbrook suggested the program wasn’t based on wishful thinking. He said service providers would ensure the homeless individuals involved in the program would have a home or support system to return to. “We want this program to be a legitimate way for these people to get back where they belong, and get back on their feet,” Holbrook said. Holbrook said he attends regional government events and meetings. There, officials often tell him that their municipalities don’t offer the social service network Santa Monica has available. Instead, those municipalities simply have a no-tolerance policy toward homelessness. The down and out are often urged to go to Santa Monica. “A lot of (these cities) still refer to us as the People’s Republic of Santa Monica,” Holbrook said. “It’s unbelievable, but it’s true. “Homelessness is simply not a problem we can solve on our own.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 2, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010206.pdf?ref=smdp.com)