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# Vagrancy issue at the forefront of ‘Team’ effort to unseat council majority
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/vagrancy-issue-at-the-forefront-of-team-effort-to-unseat-council-majority/
- Published: 2004-08-11T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:48:20.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Government & Politics, Pico, #archive-import, Homeless

*SMRR leader not afraid of a little ‘Team’ work*

A group of outspoken local residents met on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday to announce a joint effort to unseat City Hall’s ruling party this November.

The “Team for Change” slate includes 33-year Santa Monica renter and former newspaper columnist Bill Bauer, an independent, and registered Republicans David Cole, a Mid-cities neighborhood leader, and Kathryn Morea, a Pico Neighborhood activist.

All three spoke at the morning press conference, criticizing current leaders for spending too much on homeless services, while overlooking traffic problems, schools and parks.

“It’s our money, it’s our city, it’s our quality of life — and that’s why I’ve decided to run,” said Cole.

Money may be an issue for the fledgling group, which will face a slate backed by Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, an established political group that has held a majority at City Hall for 19 of the past 26 years. SMRR spends tens of thousands of dollars on campaign mailers each election, and benefits from hundreds of volunteers who spread the group’s message.

Peter Tigler, a Pico neighborhood resident who dropped out of the race to become the campaign manager for “Team for Change,” said the new slate would employ every tactic to raise money. Already, the three candidates have collected a “few thousand dollars each,” he said.

“Obviously we’re not a machine the way the others are, but we’ve done this before... and we can do it again,” said Tigler, adding the group will use a Web site, advertising, banners hung around town, direct-mail pieces and door-to-door campaigning to get its message out.

“These three residents have teamed up to challenge the status quo and change City Hall,” Tigler told a group of supporters. “They are not social engineers, not beholden to any special interest group or outside union. They are not in anybody’s pocket.

“They are three independent thinkers with common sense and a commitment to the residents of this city,” added Tigler. “The real issue is one of priority and proportion, how city dollars are spent and where. A generous heart and helping hand does not mean our streets are bar rooms, bathrooms and bedrooms for lifestyle street drunks and vagrants.”

Tigler went on to address what the group sees as Santa Monica’s other most pressing problems: The lack of a long-range plan for managing growth and traffic; a misguided assisted-housing policy; neglect of the eastside Pico neighborhood; and an out-of-control bureaucracy.

Officials had mixed reactions to the new slate.

City Councilman Bob Holbrook said the slate threatens to overcrowd an already congested race with 19 contenders. Holbrook said the likelihood of defeating SMRR reduced with each added candidate, and pointed to other candidates he supports, including incumbent Herb Katz and local resident Bobby Shriver, a Kennedy-family descendant who many believe will win one of the four open seats.

“I wish people would wait,” Holbrook said.

SMRR officials, on the other hand, said the slate will be good for the community.

“I say, ‘welcome to the electoral process,’” said Denny Zane, a co-founder of SMRR and the group’s current co-chair. “It’s healthy for the debate... If democracy was as vital in every community as it is Santa Monica, it would be a much better country.”

> “I say, ‘welcome to the electoral process.’” — LETTERS, from page 1 DENNY ZANE Co-founder, SMRR

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/081104-01_01-7.jpg)

(Photo: Photo courtesy The)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 11, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/081104.pdf?ref=smdp.com)