There is no question that many of the city’s policies are based on some kind of fuzzy think, pro-Utopian, let’s-change-society mindset.
Santa Monica is going to solve the world’s social problems and show the rest of the world “how it’s done.” If you disagree with the way things are done, City Hall knows how to deal with you.
City Hall’s vision of Santa Monica is a friendly, sustainable city that’s here to serve humanity — maybe not us, but definitely everyone else. Traffic management discourages use of the family car for light rail, bus and bicycle modes of transportation.
When it comes to development, more housing is imperative. Mixed-use projects — a combination of both affordable and market rate housing with small retail — are desirable.
Sprawl is bad so extra height and added density is desirable, as long as a project is pedestrian or street friendly. And because we don’t want to encourage private cars, less on-site parking is de rigueour.
You’ll notice City Hall doesn’t seem to mind that these policies add more people, increase traffic and exacerbate crowding in an already dense city.
Unfortunately everything City Hall tries to “social manage,” fails. Take the homeless problem. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the last quarter century for homeless services, and we have more vagrants than ever.
Affordable housing encouraged and built by City Hall has, for the most part, gone to non-residents and foreign nationals. Some of these projects also have well-earned reputations for illegal activity, ranging from drug dealing to gang activities.
When City Hall doesn’t want the pesky public to get in the way, politicians and city staff employ all kinds of games to make sure that their agenda goes forward.
Just recently, Lincoln Boulevard merchants complained they weren’t informed of a City Council meeting wherein City Hall was planning to remove their parking lanes for bus and bicycle lanes. Failing to publicize controversial issues is one way they try to keep us in the dark. Then, they can “sneak something by” and hope we don’t notice.
Only one posting is required to meet the public notice requirement. Here in Santa Monica that one “official posting place” is on a clipboard hanging in the lobby of the new public safety facility.
I can think of a dozen issues when public notice was suspect. But nothing beats the back-room dealing between city officials and Macerich Co. about the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place. That took a court order filed by a citizen’s group to force City Hall to surrender public documents related to the massive project.
How about the meetings held to get public input on matters? Having attended dozens of them, they’re almost always used by city staff and interested council persons to propagandize their position and sell us on how wonderful their project is.
Public task force members are made up of political cronies and politicians. Whether it be the Civic Center Task Force or the recent Downtown Parking Task Force — it’s always a couple of council persons, a couple of planning commissioners and a few representatives from vested interests. Believe me, they don’t want to hear from the average citizen, either.
And when a controversial issue finally gets before the City Council, special interest buddies are recruited to show up and praise the project. When an unpopular project is approved, they say, “Everybody was for it” and if you complain, they say, “You’ll get used to it and learn to like it.”
A much maligned proposed community park on the 1500 block of Euclid Street was almost universally despised by neighbors. It was still forced through a few months ago by an arrogant City Council and smug staff who knew best for the neighborhood.
New city-wide design standards and updated street and zoning codes are in the works for the revised city general plan. Watch for secret deals, back room bargaining and more lack of public disclosure.
There are big bucks at stake. And, the new general plan will define the cityscape 20 to 40 years into the future. Keep your eyes open, watch out for the wool and be ready to speak your mind, or you might get stuck with something you don’t want to live with for the rest of your life. (Bill Bauer, a Santa Monica resident, is a volunteer for the Santa Monica chapter of the American Red Cross and is currently deployed in the Gulf region.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 3, 2005. Read the original PDF.