The 49-year-old local attorney looks forward to new challenges
Richard Bloom plans to approach his new job as mayor in a city known for its bickering much like he approaches his clients in divorce court: Try to reach a compromise each side can live with.
Bloom, a 49-year-old attorney who has been practicing family law for 25 years, was appointed as mayor in December by the City Council. He will remain in the city’s top post for two years when it’ll be time for someone else to do the honors.
“I wouldn’t be near the public servant I am if I hadn’t developed my skills as a family law attorney,” he said one recent morning over a bowl of oatmeal. “It’s the ability to learn how to problem solve from the most critical of issues to the most petty, but at least the two sides were listened to and it was a mediation approach.”
While he’s at the helm, Bloom plans to accomplish several goals with the most significant being helping to guide the local school district and the city out of a serious financial crunch. Both are facing multi-million dollar deficits. (See related story).
Bloom sees his position as mayor important not only to the community, but also personally. It’s a position he doesn’t take lightly and he feels there is a certain syncronisity to him being mayor now.
Not only has he owned a law practice in Santa Monica for the past 10 years, but he’s the only one on the council with any children still in the public school system. With tumultuous times ahead for both the local business climate and the school district, Bloom feels he can relate to the needs of the community better now than ever before.
“The council has been everything it can be to sustain the business community and school district,” he said. “The tendency in an economic downturn is for people to get upset. My main job is to going to be to address the needs of the community that’s fair minded and brings unity, which is the hallmark of Santa Monica politics.”
Bloom, a member of Santa Monicans For Renters Rights, which has been the ruling party in the city for decades, has along with the council, been blamed by critics — mainly business interests — for much of what is wrong here. Frequently, business interests like developers have a lot to gain and a lot to lose based on the council’s policies. As a result, the two sides routinely butt heads.
“There is a faction of the community that tends to be critical and we can address the criticisms,” Bloom added. “But for the most part it’s unwarranted.”
When the chamber of commerce announced last month that it will endorse and finance council candidates in an effort to get business-minded people elected, Bloom said the move would be divisive and would likely not happen.
“I don’t think the current chamber board reflects the chamber membership,” he said. “I think they are going in a direction that will catch up with them... controlling electoral politics with big money is not something the Santa Monica community I know will tolerate.
“The goal should be to bring some level of influence to bear to see if we can’t have the chamber regain its traditional, proactive role,” Bloom added. “We can’t allow narrow political agendas to derail us. We have to try to find the best and appropriate ways to work the best we can together.”
Bloom felt his time had come to serve in the mostly ceremonial post of mayor after he got comfortable on the dais as a council member for the past 3 1/2 years. After constituents — residents and business owners — asked him to consider vying for the position this year, he had to get the support of his family.
And although his new year’s resolution is to spend more time with his wife, Robbie, an occupational therapist; and two sons, Zac, 15, and Emmett, 13, Bloom’s new role as mayor will likely take him outside of their Sunset Park home and into the public spotlight more than they would prefer.
But Bloom thinks he’s up to the challenge. He has for many years successfully juggled a law practice and a family while staying involved in the community.
“I just remember what (Councilman Ken Genser) once said, ‘Sleep is really not everything that it’s cracked up to be,’” Bloom said.
When he finds free time, Bloom is an avid reader of magazines and catalogues, though his reading time is short. Bloom also reveals that he’s domestic around the house — he spends time in his garden planting flowers and vegetables, and baking in the kitchen.
“I like gardening and being outside... Robbie and I fight over what should be done. I dig the holes and she plants,” he said. “I like baking. People who know me well know that my true talents are cookies, brownies and cakes. I’m just getting pie crust down.”
Bloom said there is a public and private side to why he decided to become mayor.
“The public part of it is that people from the community asked me to do it and I felt I possess the leadership skills that are appropriate to the responsibilities of the mayor. Privately, I see it as a personal challenge. My kids are really proud of me and I want them to have that pride. As I get older, I think about my place in my children’s lives and I want to be part of their inspiration... This is an honorable thing to do and if I’m not willing to stand up and be that person, I can’t send that message so I have to suck it up and practice what I preach.”
Bloom’s philosophy on leading by example stems from his upbringing, he said. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and his parents moved from Philadelphia to Altadena, a suburb outside of Pasadena when he was 3. Bloom’s father worked at Sierra Aeronautical Engineering and was the inventor of the emergency oxygen masks that drop down from the ceiling on commercial airplanes.
“We have a lot of inspirational stories in my family,” he said. “Some people contribute in small ways which lead to quality of life. My dad always enjoyed developing new things and helping people.”
Bloom and Robbie moved from Hollywood and bought a “fixer upper” in the Sunset Park neighborhood in 1981.
What drew him to Santa Monica? The reasons are the same as they are for many others — the weather, the quality of life, the beach, its small town qualities and the political climate. Now Bloom vows to keep those qualities intact in an effort to uphold Santa Monicans’ values.
“Politics are alive and well here,” he said. “I would like to think that I have integrity and that I am a good person but I’ll leave it up to other people to assess my abilities in what I do.”
“Politics are alive and well here. I would like to think that I have integrity and that I am a good person but I’ll leave it up to other people to assess my abilities in what I do.” — — RICHARD BLOOM Santa Monica Mayor
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 2, 2003. Read the original PDF.