By Steven Brand Santa Monica
As a member of Santa Monica’s silent minority (homeowner, two working-parent family, property tax payer with two kids at Grant Elementary) it takes a lot to prod me into action. But the recent letters to the editor opposing the RIFT initiative based on potentially “lost” income to the city really pushed my buttons.
What will these people claim next, that a vote for RIFT will cause earthquakes, floods, or a plague of locusts? Based on their bizarre logic, if we don’t keep building bigger and higher then the city will soon see massive financial devastation. The last time that I checked, there weren’t that many vacant parcels of land within city limits. Santa Monica is already 100 percent developed. What they, and the City Council, desire is to over-develop the city. More, more and more is not always better and residents want it to stop!
I find it truly amazing that city government officials are so out of touch with the will of those that elected them, that the citizens of Santa Monica — those of us who actually live here, pay taxes here and send our children to school here — had to place the RIFT initiative on the ballot to force them to listen to us. The only silver lining in this situation is that this is the last straw. That they have finally motivated citizens like me to take action against their build at any cost agenda.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 6, 2008. Read the original PDF.