Town-gown conflicts have long been a staple of literature, and, more often than not, they are written by English professors and, more often than not, they portray the townspeople as villains, bumpkins, philistines who have an abiding fear of and disdain for books and the people who write read them.
The periodic conflicts between Santa Monica residents (town) and Santa Monica College (gown) are, at once, more mundane and more complicated, and rarely feature bumpkins or philistines.
They are based in an unalterable and uncomfortable fact: the college is a state institution, and so it is not subject to most local rules and regulations. For instance, the City must approve all proposed buildings, but the state architect has the last word on SMC projects.
In effect, then, SMC is a semi-autonomous town that was dropped into the heart of Santa Monica some time ago and has not only created three satellite campuses in other parts of its “host” town, but created problems for its neighbors in all four locations as it regularly outgrows itself.
These problems have been exacerbated by college officials’ occasional fits of arrogance that probably derive from the fact that their bosses are far away in Sacramento.
The town-gown skirmishes have been more frequent in recent years as college enrollment has exploded and increased traffic exponentially in areas that are already choking on traffic, while simultaneously usurping residents’ parking.
SMC has recently been on a building binge, adding new buildings to three of its four campuses -- including a theater arts building on the main campus, a performing arts center on the Madison campus and a glass tower at the Bundy campus. Now it’s about to begin work on a new quad on the main campus , hard by residential neighborhoods.
College officials are giving neighbors a look at the plans and an opportunity to comment on them – but not much of a look.
According to a notice on the SMCwebsute (www.smc.edu)
the “presentation of proposed student services replacement, bookstore odernization, and Pico improvements project” will take place on the Bundy campus, room 123, 3171 Bundy Drive, today,Thursday, January3, at 7 p.m.
The notice goes on to say that “ The Student Services building consolidates various student services currently scattered throughout the campus. The new building would provide an important connection between the Santa Monica community and its College.”
Pointing out that the SMC presentation was not only scheduled during a school break when many residents would be out of town, but conflicted with a Big Blue Bus community meeting at the Fairview library, residents asked College officials to delay their meeting until after the school break, but the officials rejected the request.
The deadline for residents’ written comments has been delayed from January 9 to January 16, but if they haven’t seen the plans, they won’t Have anything to comment on.
The only hard copies of the plans were locked away in the college administration building, 2714 Pico Blvd,, from December 22 until yesterday.
According to the plans, the three-story 83,000 square foot building is just across 20th Street from one and two-story homes and the only entrance/exit to the proposed 500-space underground parking garage will be located hard by the houses, resulting in a quantum leap in traffic.
That’s precisely the kind of “important connection” that residents have been battling for years.
Whenever anyone criticizes the college for anything. the officials immediately suggest that the critics are, yes, bumpkins and philistines who hate and fear the academic life. That’s nonsense, of course, Virtually everyone in Santa Monica is ardently interested in and fiercely devoted to education at all levels, and values the college, its teachers and students. It is the imperial posture of the officials and their apparent belief that they can do anything that they cannot abide.
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