OBAMA: THE RIGHT MAN AT THE RIGHT TIME

America lost its way 40 years ago, when Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated, Richard Nixon became President, and the “world’s last best hope,” as Lincoln put it, became a caricature of itself – crude, greedy, in full retreat from its founding principles.

Tuesday’s election is historic because Barack Obama is the first African Amrtican to be the presidential nominee of a major party and because he is also the first candidate in four decades with a clear and brilliantly articulated vision of America’s promise, as well as its problems. He has called for change and inspired hope. He is the right man at the right time, He has our vote. He deserves yours.

CHANGING OF THE
GUARD AT CITY HALL

It’s an historic election in Santa Monica, too, because residents aim to do what they should have done years ago: restore the of, by and for the people principle that has been dormant in City Hall for too long, and take control of this iconic beach town’s destiny.

In the classic bureaucratic tradition, City Hall has run Santa Monica as a business in order to generate more revenue for itself. To that end, it went on a three-decade development binge, turned downtown Santa Monica into “a regional commercial hub,” spent millions of dollars on promotion, that included reducing this legendary town to a “brand.” City Hall’s revenue grew, but so did problems of every sort. As residents watched, aghast, City Hall turned paradise into a parking lot, as Joni Mitchell put it.

Today, the daily transient population of this town of 85,000 people is 300,000, congestion is chronic, and gridlock is frequent.

The bureaucrats and the uber bureaucrats, the ubiquitous consultants, were just doing what they do. But the City Council majority, the people we elected to represent us, betrayed us and the town by enthusiastically supporting the selling of Santa Monica.

A few residents caught on early to the sell-out, but the Council majority had a great cover. They were Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights’ (SMRR) designated hitters, and the SMRRs were radicals, progressives, politically ultra-correct, the good guys, they wouldn’t… sell out.

But, as happens, the SMRR Council members, with the notable exception of Kevin McJeown, had overdosed on their own hype. SMRRs Richard Bloom. Ken Genser and Pam O’Connor saw themselves not as public servants, but as savants, saviors bent on “improving” and “enhancing” this idiosyncratic beach town.

In the last couple of years, these self-made savants have moved to freeze the rabble (aka residents) out of the process, trimming public review of new projects, rejecting residents’ requests’ that the City declare a moratorium on new projects and not enter into development agreements until the long overdue revision of the land use and circulation elements of the General Plan (LUCE) is complete.

Those rejections were probably the genesis of Prop T, the ballot measure that City Hall, City employees the majority of the Council, their developer pals and the self-anointed “civic leaders” want so desperately to kill.

SMRRs have had two decades at the wheel, and, in their hands, the democratic process has suffered, and the beach town we love has been compromised, Clearly, their priorities are not our priorities. It’s time for SMRR Council members Richard Bloom and Ken Genser to go. A third incumbent, Herb Katz, should go with them, because, like them, he has
consistently failed to listen to residents or act on their behalf.

In contrast, the fourth Council incumbent Bobby Shriver, who’s seeking a second term, not only listens to residents, he seems to enjoy listening to them, and asks a lot of questions.

Indeed, Shriver behaves, thinks and acts more like a resident than a member of the ruling claque, which makes him a kind of City Hall heretic.

He is one of only two Council members (the other is McKeown) to support
the residents’ ballot measure, Prop T, and the only Council member to oppose the City’s own ballot measure, Prop SM, which would expand and extend the existing utility tax.

Unlike his colleagues, Shriver also initiates projects rather than waiting for them to turn up on the staff agenda.

He worked with City staff and regional and national officials to add programs and services for homeless people, with particular emphasis on housing them. Along the way, he did the undoable, and persuaded the Department of Veterans Affairs to designate three buildings on its West L.A. grounds as housing for homeless veterans.

In an unprecedented move, Shriver, with the willing support of Katz and Councilman Bob Holbrook and the “reluctant” support of Genser, did what the SMRRs on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District School Board had refused to do. He forced the District to undertake the long-overdue repair and reform of its thoroughly dysfunctional Special Education
program

Shriver is also one of two Council members to oppose the City’s proposed
mega-housing project, the “Village” in the Civic Center, and he has also opposed increasing height and density limits on new commercial development.

Most recently, he pushed City Hall to begin work immediately on the storm drain under the Santa Monica Pier that is the primary cause of that beach’s designation as “the dirtiest beach in the state.”

In sum, Shriver is independent, a heretic in the bureaucratic temple, who actually listens and acts. He’s also the only member of the current Council who doesn’t see this irreplaceable and iconic beach town as a product.

Ted Winterer has lived in Santa Monica for 16 years, is a Recreation and Parks Commissioner, president of the Ocean Park Association, a member of SMRR and Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City and co-author of Prop T. This is his first shot at elective office,

The things that are on his mind are the things that are on the minds of most residents now: preserving the character of this beach town, maintaining the ‘livability” of our neighborhoods, promoting “sustainable ways” to live and build, supporting neighborhood schools, protecting the “renter community,” and “managing the challenge of traffic.”

A writer, he has been endorsed by The L.A. County Democratic Party, the Sierra Club, the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City, Councilman McKeown, Planning Commissioner Jay Johnson, and Rent Control Board Chair Joel Koury.

Winterer has not been endorsed by SMRR, which, here and now, is to his credit

An employment law attorney, Susan Hartley has lived in Santa Monica for 13 years, as a renter and a homeowner. She’s on the board of the Friends of Sunset Park, Co-founder of Treesavers, A Board member of Veterans for Peace – Los Angeles, a member of the Emergency Volunteer Air Corps, and, until September, she was Vice-chair of the Santa Monica Airport Commission.

Her daughter, now 23, was educated at SMMUSD schools

Hartley has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, Santa Monica Treesavers, Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City, Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution, the Santa Monica Mirror and the National Women’s Political Caucus.

In a statement on her website, Hartley says, “I’ll fight to take back Santa Monica! I’ve had it with the current council and city staff. They don’t listen to residents. They are destroying the Santa Monica we love.”

, Hartley deplores the “disconnect” between City Hall and residents, and cites it as the cause of the City’s lengthening list of major mis-steps. Thus, in her view, the restoration of Santa Monica must begin with the restoration of the democratic process.

We agree. If voters reject Bloom, Genser and Katz on Tuesday. re-elect Shriver and elect Winterer and Hartley, the climate in City Hall will Instantly improve. Change is as vital in Santa Monica now as it is in America.

As life-long resident Jake Samuel has said, Santa Monica is at the “tipping point.” We cannot wait. We must act now to take Santa Monica back.

On Tuesday, vote to re-elect Councilman Bobby Shriver and elect Ted Winterer and Susan Hartley. They are not a “team” or a “ticket.” They are three longtime residents who have in common a fierce and abiding love for and understanding of this storied town. They are also smart, knowledgeable outspoken and fearless, and quite capable of subduing the bureaucrats. returning sweet reason to the town and power to the people.

Part II: The School Board and Local Ballot Measures