Give the dogs their day Editor:
By Georja Umano Jones Unleash the Beach
As a business person in Santa Monica and an active member of the community, it troubles me to hear that there is once again talk about adding a “living wage” measure to the tune of $1.4 million this year’s budget. A moot point before last week’s City council meeting, it has been brought to the forefront again.
The fact is that the budget for next year is already projected to fall $4 million short. In last weeks council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown, talked about cutting parts of the proposed budget to make room for the living wage measure by taking the money from “somewhere else” in the budget. “It’s the biggest issue that confronts us.” Well, if this is the biggest issue facing Santa Monica, this is news indeed. Out of a $377 million budget, $1.4 million does not seem like a lot until you find out where it is coming from. That “somewhere else,” will it be our public school systems, our city street maintenance, our police force or our fire department?
As a community we have worked so hard to make Santa Monica a place where people want to live and work. Our crime rates have dropped significantly while state wide the rate has risen. Santa Monica’s public schools are finally getting the needed funding to hire more teachers needed for primary education and to keep our class sizes down. Now an unnecessary measure has been brought to the council again and by passing this measure it will only benefit some and hinder others. This is particularly troubling since the voters in Santa Monica have defeated the Living Wage twice already at the ballot box.
I do believe that we need to support our city employees and give them what they are due. However, the proposed Living Wage measure is not the answer. Currently we need to focus on balancing our budget and spending Santa Monica’s money where it benefits the community the most, and this is certainly not the proposed In response to the letter from Don Johnson of Venice Beach (SMDP, June 17, page 4), I would like to present the following information. Dog Beach Now, an alliance of responsible dog owners/guardians from PaliDog in the Palisades, FREEPLAY in Venice, and Unleash the Beach in Santa Monica, have undertaken an extensive research project to study all 57 dog beaches which currently exist in every county of California. The experience of these beaches conclusively demonstrates that there are no abnormal issues with water quality. The presence of dogs on a beach has absolutely no effect on bacteria levels — in fact, the water quality has actually improved at some dog beaches.
For instance, at Huntington Beach Dog Beach, the water is tested twice a week and has the lowest bacteria count in a 12-mile stretch. This extensive study shows that if you give pet owners a dog beach to call their own, they will make the best use of it and more importantly, be responsible. It becomes a problem when you don’t have designated areas because designated areas are regulated, monitored and cleaned up with the diligence of groups who work for and help maintain them.
Dogs don’t pollute the beach — it’s the storm runoff and sewage spills which cause the problems. No one with common sense would allow their children to eat the sand from any part of a beach since it generally contains germs, insects and microbes. Dog owners/guardians should be able to enjoy the same access to recreational opportunities as do volleyball players, joggers, bicyclists, hikers, surfers on the beach, as well as golfers, tennis players, soccer players and softball players. More than 5,000 tax-paying Santa Monicans have chosen to live near the beach and to have dogs, and we should have a right to the same recreational opportunities as other groups.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 28, 2004. Read the original PDF.