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# Santa Monica Representative government?
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-representative-government-editor/
- Published: 2004-03-30T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:05:08.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*By Carmen Finestra*

I’m one of the many frustrated citizens of Santa Monica who thinks it’s laughable for our current City Hall to create a special task force for a sustainable city plan (SMDP, March 26, page 1), whose “bottom line is to preserve, protect and sustain Santa Monica.”

The present administration, which has been in power for some time, has done everything it can to destroy — not “preserve” what was once a beautiful and charming community. The only thing they “protect and sustain” is the status quo of their positions on the City Council through voting regulations that make representation outside their constituency nearly impossible.

They have turned Santa Monica into a mini-megalopolis, where congestion from rampant development chokes the streets. Perhaps they should sue themselves for contributing to global warming (SMDP, March 24, page 1).

I believe the chief reason they’ve encouraged commercial real estate prices and rents to skyrocket (and thus drive mom and pop businesses like Polly’s restaurant out of business) is to increase the tax base they need to continue their expensive social agenda. Meanwhile, the people they purport to protect under rent control, including the elderly, no longer have places to eat or shop that they can afford. Many no longer feel safe even walking in the city.

Santa Monica desperately needs a coalition government that represents the elderly, homeowners, renters and local business interests, so it can contain development, help the homeless (while controlling social behavior), monitor housing starts, so that our schools don’t continue to be overcrowded and under funded, and rein in a burgeoning budget that would be considered bloated for a city three times our size.

The principle job of our representatives is to make Santa Monica a livable environment, not to continue to come up with policies that bitterly divide us, just because they think “it’s the right thing to do.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 30, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/033004.pdf?ref=smdp.com)