Dogged pursuit of surplus
CITY HALL — Foosball. Most consider table soccer a trivial game, oftentimes played out in the garage, but for Maurice Goose, foosball is a way to help disabled youth and those at risk find self-esteem... and stay out of trouble.
If Goose had his way, the City Council would spend some of its $2.5 million budget surplus on establishing a table soccer league in Santa Monica.
But Goose isn’t the only one with his hand out.
From creating a dog park at the beach to increased funding for the arts to the construction of more parking structures, residents from all walks of life politely asked the City Council for money on Tuesday.
The requests for funding — both in person and via letters and e-mails — come as the City Council sits on an estimated $5.5 million increase in revenue thanks to a thriving tourism industry, strong real estate sales and unexpected money from the state.
Some of the cash already is accounted for to cover employee salaries and restore services that were cut, but roughly $2.5 million will be left up to the City Council’s discretion to spend.
With six of the seven city council members present, residents had a chance to make their voices heard in hopes that some of the money will trickle down to them.
THOSE IN NEED The largest contingent was from Unleash the Beach, a coalition of dog owners who are lobbying the City Council to set aside a section of the beach for dogs to run free.
The state has jurisdiction over uses at the beach, but the organization is hoping that with some political pressure and help from state legislators, the City Council can move forward with creating a dog beach.
For Flavia Magiolo de Mello, the beach couldn’t come soon enough. After reading in a book on how to meet men, she learned that a full-proof method involved bringing pets to public places.
“Well, I have not found a boyfriend yet, or I wouldn’t be speaking at a City Council meeting on Valentine’s Day,” she said, filling the council chamber with laughter. “I have spent all of my free time and hard-earned teacher’s (salary) driving south to other cities and counties to take my dogs to dog-friendly beaches.
“Please allocate money in the budget for a dog park here so that (no one) has to spend another Valentine’s Day alone.”
THE ARTS Another issue which received plenty of support was the expansion of the arts.
In addition to requests from the city’s Public Art Committee, a handful of artists from the 18th Street Arts Center asked the City Council to help them in refinancing their debt, about $2 million, and use some of their equity, about $6 million, to expand their facility.
The center provides subsidized work space for artists, as well as workshops and other community-based programs.
“If we were to go through a regular lender we would have to pass on the debt restructuring to our tenants, who are being subsidized. And that is an unacceptable position for us,” said Cameron Whiteman, president of the center’s board of directors.
FOOD AND ENTERTAINMENT Having been forced from their home of over 30 years, Meals on Wheels West is asking the City Council to approve more than $48,000 in funding for meals, and another $24,800 to help pay for the renovation of a new facility.
“We deliver two nutritionally balanced meals a day, 365 days a year. We also deliver a newspaper and good old-fashioned companionship and today — Valentine’s Day flowers,” said Rosemary Regalbuto, the executive director of the program. “We have suffered a tremendous financial burden and need your help.”
Meals on Wheels West serves 500 meals a day to seniors and those with disabilities living in Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Topanga.
City Hall currently funds the program to a tune of $40,481. Regalbuto is asking for a 20-percent increase.
Nat “Mr. Santa Monica” Trives, chair of development for the Santa Monica Symphony, asked for the City Council to spend $30,000 on an outdoor concert to be held on the one-year anniversary of the new Main Library’s opening. The event would take place in the library’s courtyard.
“Music at times of tear and joy is good,” he said. “This would be wonderful for this town.”
YOUTH To continue with their work in keeping peace on the streets and young adults motivated in life, members of the Pico Youth & Family Center showed up in force, asking the City Council for money to expand their facility, create more parking and add educational programs.
Currently, youth at the center said they must share counseling space with the music program, and have had to hold events, such as the Malcolm X Festival, outside in their parking lot, which one youth described as being “disrespectful” to the civil rights icon.
“We need an extreme youth center makeover,” said Alejandro Rodriguez. “It’s hard to run programs with the space we have.”
With state funding for education still hovering near the lowest in the country, Shari Davis of the Coalition for Excellence in Public Schools asked the City Council to continue with their funding of programs for local schools.
IT’S PERSONAL Then there were the individual requests from residents and business owners.
Cindy Kerry, a business owner working near 17th Street and Olympic Boulevard, called on the City Council to spend money on new a parking structure at the Fisher Lumber site, and remove parking meters along Olympic and Colorado boulevards that cost her employees $11.25 a day, not to mention an average of $500 a year in parking tickets.
“The limited parking we are assigned is barely enough for our clients,” she said. “It’s unreasonable to ask employees who support this city through restaurants and retail to pump the meters.”
Russell Sidney of the Sustainable Transportation Club asked City Hall to purchase bikes and scooters to be shared by residents. He also called on the city to expand bike lanes to make them more like “bike boulevards” to handle mopeds and personalized scooters.
“We need real resources to make a difference in our community and make this a greener, more environmentally friendly city,” he said.
Zina Josephs, president of Friends of Sunset Park, had 11 categories that needed to be addressed by the City Council. The first was airport runway safety.
“Planes are currently landing and taking off 200 feet from homes,” she said.
Josephs also complained about traffic on Ocean Park Boulevard and asked for the City Council to assign parking enforcement officers to an intersection on Ocean Park Boulevard near John Adams Middle School where a student was struck in recent years. She also called for traffic management near Trader Joe’s on Pico Boulevard.
Bob Taylor, a resident of Ocean Park near Nielsen Way asked the City Council to add landscaping to protect homes from noise pollution. The area’s streets were widened, Taylor said, to accommodate hotel traffic, but the hotels were never built, leaving homes with only eight feet of space between their front doors and the street.
“It’s like the streets are pushed right into our living room,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 16, 2006. Read the original PDF.