Maintaining diversity a priority for Pico neighborhood group
PICO NEIGHBORHOOD — Making real change in eastern Santa Monica will take more than putting gangsters behind bars; it will require building support for schools, while expanding the programs and jobs available to older youths.
That was the message delivered last week by Maria Loya, elected in January to co-chair the Pico Neighborhood Association, a group of area residents that meets monthly.
Loya, 33, said the organization’s top three goals over the next year will be increasing support for Pico youths, promoting a broader, community-based policing model and working to maintain diversity throughout Santa Monica.
“The issues and the needs of the Pico neighborhood are the issues that affect Santa Monica as a whole,” Loya said in a Friday interview. “These are the issues that affect all Santa Monicans, whether you live in the borders of the Pico neighborhood or not. We all need to be a part of the solutions.
“There isn’t one organization or one individual that’s going to make a difference,” Loya added. “This has to be a holistic approach, and it has to involve every sector.”
Loya and a group of like-minded residents took control of the PNA in the fall of 2003, shortly after a young Pico man was shot and killed half a block from his apartment. She said the old leaders of the PNA were out of touch with many of the neighborhood’s needs and didn’t reflect its diversity.
“There were different things that were going on,” Loya said. “The whole point was to increase representation in the neighborhood association in order to be able to address issues such as youth violence and address issues of affordable housing, but address it in a less reactionary way.
“Our goal was to continue to engage the residents in the community but also make sure that the residents in that neighborhood had the attention that they needed,” Loya continued. “Basically we felt that the past PNA really wasn’t working effectively with the city government or wasn’t working effectively with any other group in the city, so the result of that was that the residents were also being ignored and marginalized.”
To remedy the perceived shortcomings, the new PNA relied heavily on advocacy, speaking plainly and forcefully about Pico resident concerns at meetings of the local school board and City Council, and numerous other boards and commissions. The idea, Loya said, was to initiate discussion.
“Really present a human face, present the fact that there are families living there,” Loya added. “A lot of the people that hear about the Pico neighborhood only heard the negative. We wanted to talk about the needs and the issues, but we wanted it to come from a humanistic point.”
With City Hall’s recent commitment to focus time and money on reducing gang violence in Santa Monica, Loya said the opportunity is ripe for change in the Pico neighborhood. As to specifics, she said the emphasis should be on youths.
The PNA has created a $500 scholarship program for graduating high school students it hopes to expand, and Loya said the PNA will continue to meet with parents and students to gauge what issues they view as most important, while advocating for increased support of public schools.
Loya said the PNA also will push for expanded youth programs, particularly at the new Virginia Avenue Park, which is currently under construction. She said the programs need to serve older youths as well as junior high school students.
“This community has waited for more than 12 years for this park, and during these two years of construction, this community has been left without a park — but more importantly without services,” Loya said.
Creating more jobs for Pico youths and partnering with the city and local businesses to form training and apprentice programs also will be top goals of the PNA, Loya said.
“In particular for our older youth, we feel that there needs to be training,” Loya added, saying future developments could be built by local laborers. “There is no reason why those jobs cannot be provided to our residents. People can’t just walk off the street and begin work as an electrician or plumber.
“They need training.” Another top priority of the PNA, according to Loya, will be working collaboratively with police, school officials and other stake holders to develop a community-based policing model that more fully engages an array of residents.
Though the Santa Monica Police Department uses a model called “Neighborhood-Centered Policing,” which assigns high-ranking officers to specific portions of the city, some residents and elected leaders have criticized the police department for not more fully engaging all Santa Monica residents.
Loya said she hoped to address public safety in a “smart way,” meaning a heightened focus on intervention and prevention strategies to keep youths out of jail.
“We understand that the police cannot do it alone, and the community cannot do it alone either,” Loya said. “We want to work with the police department, along with the schools and other stake holders in the community to increase and enhance public safety. The community and... some of the people within the PNA have always realized and always recognized that we need to work with the police. Working with the police does not mean that we can’t hold our appointed officials accountable.”
A third priority for the PNA, Loya said, is to keep the eastside Pico neighborhood diverse.
Doing so will require playing an active role in a current process to update the city’s general plan, a document expected to govern development in Santa Monica for the next two decades. It also will require weighing in on any specific development projects in the Pico neighborhood, Loya said.
Finally, Loya said protecting rent control and promoting affordable home ownership for residents would be key to maintaining the character of the Pico neighborhood.
“Right now, our residents, we’re struggling for survival,” Loya said. “If we don’t do anything right now to establish safeguards, Santa Monica is going to look very different in the next five to 10 years, the Pico neighborhood is going to look very different. We want to preserve the diversity as much as possible.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 28, 2005. Read the original PDF.