While supporting the educational mission of Santa Monica College, the Board of Directors of Friends of Sunset Park has voted to oppose Measure AA. This is the first time we’ve ever opposed an education-related ballot measure. Here’s why:

1. Senior exemption? Tax increases will be significant for seniors on fixed incomes, and there will be no senior exemption.

2. Haven’t we done this before? This is the 3rd SMC facilities bond measure in the last six years (Measure U for $160 million in 2002, Measure S for $135 million in 2004, and now Measure AA for $295 million). There is still over $100 million unspent from Measure U and Measure S.

3.SMC needs vs. SMMUSD needs – 80% of SMMUSD students live locally.

15% of SMC students live locally. In the last 10 years, the Santa onica-Malibu
Unified School District has put only one facilities bond measure on the ballot — Measure R in February 2008. The 16 SMMUSD campuses still have classroom buildings dating from the 30s and 40s.

For example, the Grant School administration building, cafeteria, and two classroom buildings are from the 30s; the auditorium is from the 40s.

Most of the Will Rogers buildings date from 1948 and 1950. Some JAMS buildings date from the 30s, and the auditorium was built in 1940. The Samohi gyms, four classroom buildings, and Barnum Hall date from the 30s.

Meanwhile, Santa Monica College plans to demolish its 1500-seat Amphitheater, constructed in 1967, and its Concert Hall, constructed in 1979. It’s also planning a new Math/Science building, even though the current Science building was just completed in 1999.

4. How much will Measure AA cost us? If Measure AA passes, the total of the 3 latest SMC bond measures will be $590 million. This means that approximately 100,000 residents of Santa Monica and Malibu will have to pay out over $1 billion, including interest, or an average of over $10,000 per person.

5. How much are the Measure AA proponents planning to spend to get it passed? $450,000

6. Where is the $450,000 coming from? Some of it will come from the SMC Associated Students. The Associated Students fee is supposedly “optional” but is automatically added to tuition bills.

7. Earthquake repairs in 2008? SMC officials state that Measure AA bond is needed for earthquake repairs/replacement, even though voters passed both Measure U and Measure S since the 1994 earthquake.

Corsair Stadium, which has seen plenty of use since the 1994 earthquake, is now evidently considered unsafe and must to be replaced.

The Rose Bowl, built in 1922, is still used by the UCLA Bruins.

The L.A. Memorial Coliseum, built in 1923, is still used by the USC Trojans.

But SMC’s Corsair Stadium, first used in 1952, and considered a good starting place for the 1984 Olympics marathon, is evidently too old and must be replaced.

The Measure AA projects list includes replacing the P.E./Fitness building, even though that was already listed on the 2004 Measure S projects list.

8. Last in a series? – Denny Zane recently told the Santa Monica Democratic Club that Measure AA is “the last in a series of 3 bond measures.” But when a college official was asked whether it will pay for replacing the gray “temporary” bungalow classrooms that have faced Pearl St. since the 1994 earthquake, the answer was “No.”

So it appears that another college facilities bond measure will be placed before the voters in the not-too-distant future. (In 2002, SMC’s Don Girard told the FOSP Board that if Measure U passed, SMC wouldn’t need another bond measure “for decades.” Two years later, a $135 million SMC bond measure was on the ballot. Four years after that, a third one.)

9. Community colleges – Only about 15% of currently enrolled SMC students live in either Santa Monica or Malibu. 85% come from Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, other states, and other countries.

Measure AA proponents claim that students from Los Angeles need to come to SMC to get an education, evidently forgetting the 9 campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District:

East L.A. College, L.A. City College, Harbor College, Mission College, Pierce College, Southwest College, Trade Tech, Valley ollege, West L.A. College, and the Instructional TV Center.

In addition, there’s El Camino College in Torrance, Glendale Community College, and Pasadena City College. Claiming that students need to travel from miles around to Santa Monica in order to attend a community college doesn’t make sense.

10. Recruitment and tuition: SMC spends over $1 million per year on
recruiting students from other cities, other states, and other countries.

There are currently about 3,000 students from over 100 foreign countries enrolled at SMC. The financial advantage for SMC of recruiting foreign students is that they have to pay $2500 per year in tuition, as opposed to $20 per unit for local students.

11. Out of proportion?

- Los Angeles has a population of about 4,000,000. – The nine Los Angeles Community Colleges have a combined enrollment of about 115,000 students. (35:1)
- Santa Monica and Malibu have a combined population of about 100,000.
- Santa Monica College has an enrollment of about 30,000 students. (3:1)

Community colleges receive the majority of their funding from the state legislature, based on enrollment, so there’s a financial advantage to SMC when it recruits students from the L.A. Community College District.

12. Limiting enrollment according to infrastructure limitations:

West L.A College – 70-acre campus – ca. 8,000 students.
(114 students per acre)
El Camino College – 126-acre campus – ca. 25,000 students.
( 198 students per acre)
Santa Monica College – 40-acre Main Campus – ca. 30,000 students.
(750 students per acre)

Rather than limit its enrollment to fit its campus, SMC has purchased property all over Santa Monica and is currently trying to purchase property in Malibu.

In Santa Monica we have:

-the Main Campus on Pico between 16th and 20th,
-the Administration Building at Pico & 27th,
-the Airport Arts Campus on Airport Avenue,
-the Bundy Campus on Bundy,
-the Emeritus College on 2nd St.,
-the Academy of Entertainment and Technology on Stewart/28th,
-the Performing Arts Center on Santa Monica Blvd. & 11th, and
-the vacant lot at Pico & 14th, next to the YWCA, used for parking
construction equipment.

SMC also uses classrooms at John Adams Middle School and Santa Monica High School.

The college claims that some of the campuses are “self-contained” and that shuttle buses carry students between the various campuses. But we see many students driving back and forth, increasing traffic congestion in residential neighborhoods.

13. Are more SMC students riding the bus lately? Yes, but the college designed 3 additional Big Blue Bus routes that, rather than stay on Pico and Ocean Park Blvd., all run on 20th St. in Sunset Park,
a narrow residential street with homes as close as 4 feet from the sidewalk. From one bus every half hour in August 2007, we now have ca. 126 noisy buses passing daily through the intersection of 20th and Pearl, causing the walls of homes to vibrate, waking up sleeping babies, worsening air pollution, and making life miserable for residents who now have dozens of SMC students waiting for buses a few feet from their homes.

This year, another special line SMC/UCLA Commuter route has been added which travels on 16th St., even though the #8 Big Blue Bus route on Ocean Park Blvd. (one block from SMC) ends at UCLA.

13. Is Santa Monica a “college town”? The SMC Board of Trustees have begun calling Santa Monica a “college town” and describing SMC as a “regional education center.”

Are we now an international tourist destination, a regional recreation center (the beach and the bike path), a regional entertainment center (the movie theaters and the Pier), a regional shopping destination (the Promenade, Santa Monica Place, Montana Avenue, and Main Street), a regional center for fine dining (Chinois on Main, Melisse, etc.), a regional business center (the Special Office District), a regional medical center (St. John’s and UCLA/Santa Monica Medical Center), AND a regional education center? How many people can realistically fit within our 8 square miles?

According to Wikipedia, the “college towns” in California include Berkeley, Claremont, Davis, Palo Alto, and Santa Cruz. Santa Monica is not on the list.

14. Transfer rates – A flyer left on residents’ doorsteps on Oct. 10th
touts that SMC is #1 in transfers to the UC and Cal State systems.

While SMC is first in transfers to UC, in 2006-07, it was 9th in California Community Colleges transfers to the CSU system, behind Fullerton College, Orange Coast College, Pasadena City College, Mt. San Antonio College, De Anza College, City College of San Francisco, Fresno City College, and El Camino College.

#1 in numbers of students is not necessarily #1 in percentage of students transferring. 1,121 SMC students transferring to CSU, out of 31,318 total students in 2006-07, is 3.6%.

981 SMC students transferring to UC, out of 31,318 total students
in 2006-07, is about 3.1%.

In contrast, 5.8% of Orange Coast College, 5.7% of Diablo Valley College students, 5% of De Anza College students, and 4.5% of Pasadena City College students transferred to the CSU system in 2006-07.

3.3% of Santa Barbara City College students transferred to UC.

CSU data — www.cpec.ca.gov/OnlineData/TransferTotalsbyCCC.asp?Seg=B
UC data — www.cpec.ca.gov/OnlineData/TransferTotalsbyCCC.asp?Seg=A

15. Who’s opposing Measure AA? SMC instructors, classified staff, students, and alumni, as well as the residents in the neighborhood most negatively affected by SMC-generated traffic congestion, parking problems, trash and litter, and construction noise and dust.
See www.BondFatigue.com