By Ken Gale Santa Monica
Bill Bauer’s “Cabal rules the roost,” Aug. 25, page 4, didn’t raise my hackles as much as it revealed to me what a rich mixture of experience and expertise inhabits that cabal. They have taken our city far beyond the “Welcome to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Santa Monica” sign on the apartment building at the corner of San Vicente and Ocean in the early days of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.
Bauer castigates the closed-door political endorsements of the “secretive” SMRR, but then he proceeds to lay out in detail the very impressive resumes of 13 political “cronies” who run the cabal.
They are active as leaders with such insidious backgrounds as chairs of the Santa-Malibu Unified School District, the Committee on Child Care Development and the Parcel Tax Committee. Many are former City Council members, two were mayors, another is a political science professor at Santa Monica College. One is a board member of both the Bayside Corp. and Heal the Bay. There’s a woman who is “active” with the Pico Neighborhood Board of Directors. Some are even attorneys. A “local activist” is — Holy Mother Theresa — the girlfriend of a city councilman. All are members of the SMRR cabal.
And here’s their agenda, according to Bauer: Protect rent control, build and expand affordable (rental) housing and support sustainable development, education, workers rights/social justice/living wage, housing and services for the homeless, and local historical preservation. Whew! Personally, I find some of it irksome at times, but as a community slacker, I’m impressed.
I don’t know the figures, but the combined experience in governance and community service of Bauer’s 13 cabalists surely adds up to many decades of dedication in trying to work out what’s best for Santa Monica. I’ve lived here for 19 years and as a long-time president of my condominium HOA, I know how hard it can be just to get seven people to agree on what flowers to plant in our landscape. From that perspective I believe the cabalists have managed to balance the diverse needs of the city with the financial realities of commerce and budget quite well.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 28, 2008. Read the original PDF.