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# Officials accept plan with little comment
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/officials-accept-plan-with-little-comment/
- Published: 2003-10-30T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:08:44.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness

*Councilman Genser pushes for stronger policing of laws*

Though there was little discussion between elected officials before the annual report on homelessness was approved Tuesday night, council members asked pointed questions that reflect their individual positions on the divisive issue.

Only five of seven council COUNCIL, from page 1 members were present for the report. One of the absent council members, Herb Katz, is on vacation. The other, Councilman Bob Holbrook, left in the middle of the hearing.

Holbrook was the first to ask questions after Julie Rusk, City Hall’s director of human services, made her annual presentation to the City Council. He asked Rusk whether the amount of money spent on the homeless — or the number of homeless people in Santa Monica — has been reduced significantly in recent years.

Rusk conceded that neither had, but said homelessness has increased throughout the country and pointed to the high number of people being helped locally.

Holbrook later said that was all he needed to hear.

“I’m fed up with it,” Holbrook said. “There wasn’t any point in staying after that. It’s nine years now and no reduction in the homeless population in Santa Monica. It’s not an issue of people not doing their best... The purpose of the city spending millions of dollars over the years was to get the homeless people off the streets in Santa Monica.”

Immediately after Holbrook walked off the dais, City Councilman Kevin McKeown, who called City Hall’s programs a “phenomenal success,” asked Rusk to reiterate, for emphasis, that 460 homeless people were placed in permanent housing last year.

About 15 people addressed the council during the public hearing, which didn’t begin until after 11 p.m. Everyone from business leaders to social service group representatives to homeless people gave their opinions on the issue.

During public testimony, McKeown asked Chamber of Commerce representatives if they had looked into pressuring liquor stores to stop selling alcohol to people who are intoxicated. He said tackling homelessness should be a group effort and any pressure the chamber can apply would help.

“Much effort’s been focused on the feeding programs,” McKeown later said. “But the complaints we hear don’t have to do with people who’ve had too much to eat. They’re mostly about people who’ve had too much to drink.”

Mayor Richard Bloom, who sits on a regional board of leaders formed to end homelessness in Los Angeles in the next 10 years, asked whether or not the chamber belongs to the nonprofit Westside Hunger and Shelter Coalition. Kathy Dodson, the chamber’s executive director, said she didn’t know they were eligible for membership and would look into it.

City Councilman Ken Genser said the homeless problem isn’t caused by the programs but rather by the anti-social behavior of some.

Genser asked City Attorney Marsha Moutrie and Santa Monica Police Department Chief James T. Butts what the obstacles to policing the current laws are, such as keeping people from urinating and defecating in public. Butts said the SMPD does a thorough job of patrolling the streets for violators, but that particular law is difficult to enforce because people don’t tend to break it in front of officers.

Neither City Councilman Mike Feinstein nor City Councilwoman Pam O’Connor made many comments during the public hearing.

In the end, the council voted 5-0 to accept the homeless plan and directed city staff to look into ways of educating the public about available resources.

Bloom said Santa Monica’s services are an important component of a regional approach to ending homelessness.

“This is a shame on our country, on our state, on our community,” he said. “It’s something we have to address seriously.”

> “This is a shame on our country, on our state, on our community. It’s something we have to address seriously.” — — MAYOR RICHARD BLOOM

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 30, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/103003.pdf?ref=smdp.com)