Public safety is a concern on the Promenade mall
Local police are looking for a man that may be linked to two armed robberies in the past four days.
A black man, between the ages of 18- 22, 5’10”, and 170 pounds with black hair styled in corn rows, has been described as a possible suspect in armed robberies at Ladd’s Liquor Store on 10th Street and Broadway, and at The Slice on Ninth Street and Wilshire Boulevard.
At about 8:15 p.m. on Monday, two black males went into Ladd’s Liquor, held the owner at gunpoint and demanded money from the cash register. They took $200 and fled east on Broadway before ducking into a nearby alley. A third suspect was waiting in a vehicle, described as a dark-colored early 1990s Nissan.
On Saturday at about 8:32 p.m., two men came into The Slice, looked at the pizza shop’s menu before holding the store’s owner, Matt Aminoff, at gunpoint. They made off with an unknown amount of cash and fled east on Wilshire, before ducking into an alley.
“Detectives are looking at these two incidents to determine if the suspects are the same,” said Santa Monica Police Lt. Frank Fabrega. “We are looking at the possibility.”
Aminoff said armed robberies seem to be on the rise in Santa Monica. He has taken measures to prevent such a disturbing experience from happening again.
“We have implemented new policies in here and strategies on how to avoid this in the future,” he said. “It’s a community problem and I’m not sure the people in Santa Monica know this is going on. This happens much more often than people think — whether that’s a business owner or the man on the street.
“The police are doing a great job to enforce the laws and capture these people,” Aminoff said. “They were here almost immediately and they really have done everything to find these people.”
Police in surrounding cities have been alerted to the suspects’ descriptions, Fabrega said.
Anyone with information about either incident should call SMPD’s robbery/hom-cide division at (310) 458-8451. laws prohibiting specific groups from gathering.
However, a law could be passed banning all ball play on the Promenade. Already roller-skating, roller-blading, skateboarding and bicycle riding are prohibited.
“The only thing I saw was that they were playing a game,” said Moutrie, “though it appears it’s not dangerous, it could be problematic when the Promenade is crowded.”
Mayor Mike Feinstein and McKeown understand the safety concerns, but they don’t support an ordinance banning the game.
“I appreciate the concerns that people have about unsocial and potentially intimidating behavior by small minorities of people on the Promenade,” Feinstein said. “I don’t, however, feel that banning hacky sack, a non-violent playful activity, is the appropriate way to address people’s concerns.”
Feinstein said people playing hacky sack on the Promenade need to be considerate. However, he described people who play hacky sack as “mellow.” He added that the game is about sharing the ball and keeping the group together instead of beating an opponent.
“It’s not my primary sport,” he said, “but I’ve been known to kick around the sack.”
Yesterday afternoon a group of six young men took turns with the hacky sack, passing the small ball to each other only by using their feet or other body parts.
Sometimes the ball was kicked beyond the center court, and one member of the group would run through a small crowd of pedestrians to chase it down.
Only once did the ball come close to hitting somebody, and there was a conscience effort to keep the ball in the center court.
“I’ve never heard anybody complain, and I’ve never seen a pedestrian get hit,” said “Dave,” a hacky sack player who wouldn’t give his last name. “This little bean bag is harmless, even little kids do this.”
A few employees of businesses said the sport is not the real issue.
“The hacky sack has never bothered me,” said Marie Scott, manager of Art One. “It’s the aggressive panhandling and all the screaming of profanities at each other that gets to me.”
One employee said what some business owners see as bad characteristics of the Promenade may actually be drawing people to the street.
“It’s all part of the Santa Monica culture,” said Daisy Chen, a Hype store employee. “People come here to see everything from the homeless to people playing hacky sack.”
“It’s all part of the Santa Monica culture. People come here to see everything from the homeless to people playing hacky sack.” — — DAISY CHEN Hype store employee
Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce President Ann Greenspun, who also is a public safety committee member, said the group isn’t trying to crack down on hacky sack specifically, but rather behavioral issues that may discourage people from shopping on the Promenade.
“There seem to be so many efforts to protect the rights of kids on the Promenade, but there doesn’t seem to be the same level for business owners, who give back to the community,” she said. “Overall, (the committee) is trying to address issues of behavior or crime because we want to make people believe this is a safe place to come, and that perception is very important.”
The committee will meet Thursday to discuss its safety recommendations, including hacky sack. Those recommendations will then go before the full Bayside board for a vote.
If the full board approves the committee’s recommendations they would be passed on to the city council, which is the only body that can prohibit activities on the Promenade — or anywhere else in the city.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 17, 2002. Read the original PDF.