By Libi Warren Santa Monica Fired up over mall decor Editor:
Please do stop referring to Bill Bauer as a writer. He is not. He is a pompous, priggish, paranoid, posturing rich-boy with PC.
Please advise him that having lived in one place (i.e. Santa Monica) for 25 years gives him no more rights than anyone who just moved here. Bauer, you ought to sell your ass-ets and go elsewhere if you don’t like contributing. Having money comes with responsibilities. In my opinion, as a former inhabitant of two of Santa Monica’s shelters striving to better my life, your words are inflammatory. I held a real estate license in this city for eight years, worked with architects, developers and investors. I did commercial acquisitions of apartment houses and office buildings in three southwestern states and sold many fine homes from the San Fernando Valley to Malibu. I do not speak from ignorance with regard to these subjects.
“Poison pill” sounds like a good description of you, Billy-boy. If I were to take an educated guess, I’d say you are a control-freak wanting to have your way about everything regarding the city where you have invested your money. What is wrong with affordable housing? When your family invested, it was affordable, wasn’t it? I’m an American white, 62-year-old lady of Semitic background whom Chabad told they had nothing for women and who couldn’t get a job in your fair city for more than $9 an hour even though I have five years of college, 36 years of work experience and four computer programs under my belt. So, affordable wasn’t even a possibility. And I am not alone. Everyone who is homeless in this town is not a drug addict.
“Compromise the character of the city”? Are you nuts? Or do you just like to push your pinkies around a keyboard? Stop looking at your daddy’s photos of what used to be here in Santa Monica. Wake up! This is almost 2003. What character? This is not Cape Cod and you were not among those who threw the tea in the Boston Harbor.
Hey Billy-boy, I hope they continue to build more and more affordable housing and a word to the wise for CCSM. Humans need pets. Scratch your rule against pet ownership in your apartments. It’s inhumane.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 23, 2002. Read the original PDF.