Editor:
By Evelyn Elliot Santa Monica
I moved to Santa Monica in October 2004. I was glad to be able to move to such a nice little town. It is cooler than up close by Glendale, and my children thought that it was safer, too. I am also living closer to my son and daughter-in-law, and that is a plus should I get ill or need them for any reason.
I thought that I would be able to take nice walks without any problems, but I had-n’t visited Santa Monica and walked around for sometime. Imagine my consternation when I took my first walk down from Sixth Street on Arizona Avenue to Third Street, and over to and up Wilshire Boulevard. When I came to an empty store, some man unzipped his pants probably to urinate. I quickly walked away, up Wilshire to Sixth Street. I realize that some of these people are sick, and those we should take care of, but the drunks and druggies are something else.
I am handicapped by health problems and have to rest many times when I walk and always feel a little reluctant to sit on the benches and chairs provided on the Promenade but I do it. I thought I’d seen everything in my 78 years, but one day while sitting resting, a homeless man walked up behind a couple of chairs in front of the bench I was sitting on, unzipped his pants and started pleasuring himself. The two ladies sitting on the chairs went on talking to each other. The people sitting at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf watched. It seemed like forever before a young man came and told the man to stop what he was doing and move on, and he did but not without a string of profanity. How can things like that happen in a civilized society? Are these the things that your children must witness? I’m hoping that somehow all this is going to change.
I can’t believe that there is even talk about building three towers at Santa Monica Place. I know that I’m not the only one to drive here, but if the traffic is so bad in the winter, what is it like when summer comes and the people flock in to go to the beach? Like I say, it had been a long, long time since I had spent any time in Santa Monica and I don’t like what I am seeing and hearing.
I have no intention of moving because I think that the town can be saved for the good people that I have met and respect so much. I only wish that I was able to be a more positive influence but I think that at this point, my vote is the only weapon that I have to fight the things I don’t like.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 2, 2005. Read the original PDF.