A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKING me who’s going to run for City Council in November (as if I had a crystal ball). The fall election season starts in a few weeks.
Richard Bloom e-mailed “Yep." Ken Genser also e-mailed that he will run, too. Both Bloom and Genser will probably be endorsed by Santa Monica for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), again. Bloom’s been on council since 1999 when he filled the seat vacated by Asha Greenberg. Genser’s been on the dais 20 years and this is his fifth term.
Mayor Herb Katz was on council in 1984 and again in 2000 and 2004. He’s served three four year terms. Katz e-mailed me that he “hopes to run” for a fourth term. Bobby Shriver scored his first seat in 2004 and e-mailed me that he hasn’t decided whether he’ll run for a second term. Both are non-SMRRs.
Candidates will also pull papers for four school board seats, three Santa Monica/Malibu Community College District Board of Trustees seats and two rent control board seats.
I predict planning commissioner, Terry O’Day will run again, joining Katz on a non- SMRR slate. O’Day failed to win a council seat in 2006 as did Gleam Davis, now a plan-ning commissioner and who’ll probably jump in, again.
About 70 percent of Santa Monica’s voters are renters. Most of them haven’t figured out or don’t care that the powerful SMRR political machine is responsible for the city’s ills. Renters vote the SMRR line because they believe the hooey about SMRR protecting rent control and keeping their rents low.
Problem is that non-SMRR candidates advocate for most of the same issues, such as sustainability, public housing, traffic calming and services for the homeless, as SMRR candidates do. Then, they decline to support rent control and want more development. The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Board voted a few weeks ago to oppose the “Resident’s Initiative to Fight Traffic” (RIFT) ballot measure. This is no real alternative to SMRR-think.
Development is a major issue and the city is reluctant to slow it. Despite a lengthy public process used in updating the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) of the city’s general plan (that I say was manipulated to get the “more growth and more development” results city staff wanted), it’s not what most citizens want.
Despite continuing complaints about traffic, street capacity is reduced gridlocking more traffic. Despite new homeless housing initiatives, our streets and parks are still filled with parolees, drunks and the mentally challenged.
SMRR’s opposition — generally conservatives, the business community, hotel owners, developers and some Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce leadership — could-n’t connect to voters in previous elections. Two years ago, bolstered by hundreds of thousands of dollars in hotel money, they “Swift-boated” councilman, Kevin McKeown and handed him a solid win when voters reacted negatively to their nasty attack. They backed Bob Holbrook in 2006 and he won, but newcomer, Terry O’Day finished out of the money.
There’s the tree saver groups. With little general credibility and narrowly focused on trees and landscaping, they ignore real issues, so I doubt they’ll be a factor in the fall election or produce a viable candidate. It’s already looking like Genser, Bloom, Katz and Shriver will probably all run and all get reelected. Nothing changes.
There could be two ballot propositions — one to restrict commercial growth and another for $295-million in construction bonds for Santa Monica College.
My hat’s off to Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City for their work in submitting petitions to qualify RIFT for the November ballot. RIFT will help slow traffic growth by cutting commercial development in half: to 75,000 square feet annually. With twice as many signatures as needed to qualify, RIFT will be on the ballot. Let me be the first to predict RIFT will be approved by voters this fall.
Chances are, pending a board of trustees “OK” in July, Santa Monica College will float a $295-million construction bond this fall — their third bond proposition in six years. If on the ballot and approved by 55 percent of the voters, bond costs will be born by property owners and renters in the Santa Monica/Malibu Community College District. I’m predicting that in a down economy and with other taxes on the ballot this might have a tough time winning.
But first, the June 3 primary Lastly, in the upcoming June 3 primary, a “No” vote on Proposition 98 and “Yes” on 99 will save rent control and help protect the environment. You’ll also be able to vote for a number of judges and decide between former Assembly persons, Fran Pavley and my favorite, Lloyd Levine, who are running for the California Senate, 23rd District on the Democratic ticket. But, it’s the two propositions that are most important, so vote!
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 19, 2008. Read the original PDF.