By Justin Lee Gagnon Euclid Street oversight committee
Once again, the City Council proves its total disregard for public input. In what I consider a stunning dereliction of duty, all but two of Santa Monica City Council members, Bobby Shriver and Bob Holbrook, turned a deaf ear to the more than 20 Euclid street residents, members of the Euclid Street Neighborhood Watch Group, and the Euclid Street Oversight Committee. Also speaking out and being ignored were the handicapped residents of Euclid’s Hacienda del Mar. Along side of them were their concerned parents who had made special arrangements to come to Santa Monica to attend the meeting and speak on behalf of their concerns about the safety of their relatives, sons and daughters; and for what, so that their concerns could be referred to as “unwarranted” by councilman Ken Genser? So that they could be told by Councilman Kevin McKeown that they “would be given what they really needed, not what they were asking for.” Excuse me, Santa Monica City Council, just who do you think you are?
The residents of Euclid Street have worked hard together for 10 months trying to convince the city that the impact that the proposed “pocket park” will prove to put an unnecessary burden on a part of the community that is already challenged by crime, vagrancy and a host of other unpleasant issues that the city continues to ignore in their denial of their failure to deal with Santa Monica’s exploding epidemic of homelessness. We, the residents, organized, formed a neighborhood watch group, and held our meetings faithfully thinking that if we participated in the public process our voices would be heard and respected; and after months of hard work and commitment we were rewarded by our “representatives” with what is tantamount to spit in our faces.
Genser, McKeown and Richard Bloom all felt that our concerns about crime occuring in the park were unwarranted. They told us that Santa Monica Police Department had told them that we had nothing to worry about, and if things got out of hand, it would be handled accordingly.
Hmm... I wonder how the parents of Shevawn Geoghegan, who was murdered on the property where the park will be built, feel about this unwarranted concern that we all share? I wonder why the County of Los Angeles served the city of Santa Monica with a complaint citing that the murder of Shevawn Geoghegan was caused by the city’s “... failure to secure the facility at 1525 Euclid St. where their daughter was strangled to death in the basement on Feb. 24, 1998.” How did the city respond? The same way they did in council on Tuesday night, by denying they had done anything wrong. City Attorney Marsha Moutrie made sure that the city was given a green light to avoid any responsibility for their wrongdoings and negligence. I guess some things never change.
How many crimes must a community suffer at the hands of careless representatives before their voices are heard?
Council members have reached an all time low in my book as they sit in judgment of what they think we need as opposed to what we want. We will all remember this philosophy come next election. I for one would like to see a more effective council, one that pays attention to the people at council meetings, not just the free food and coffee that they sit endlessly munching on like a herd of lazy cattle grazing on the dais. Maybe council members should come to meetings on a full stomach, that way they might be able to concentrate on what the public has to say and be able to address their needs accordingly.
I’ve got a petition for a recall, signatures anyone?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 20, 2005. Read the original PDF.