Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000407 EndHTML:0000011206 StartFragment:0000002599 EndFragment:0000011170 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/peggyclifford/Documents/Though%20there%20are%20seven%20candidates%20for%20%20vacant%20seat%20on%20the%20%20City%20Council%20ar%20ib%20rge%20City%20Councilcabdifates%20xavr%20rgecavaavct%20on%20the%20City%20Council%20romlu%20yjtrr%20of%20thrm%20are%20apt%20yo%20idates

Though there are seven candidates for  the vacant seat on the Santa Monica City Council, only three of the seven are apt to  make the cut Tuesday night when the  Council is scheduled to choose the  late Ken Genser’s successor.

The three are Oscar de la Torre, Terry O’Day and Ted Winterer.

De la Torre founded and heads the Pico Family and  Youth Center, is a member and former President of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, and a leader of the new campaign to  end gang violence in Santa Monica (see “White Paper” below). A dedicated community leader, de la Torre would be a fine City Council member.

But  this community needs him to remain where he is – resolving the School District’s financial crisis   without depriving our children of the education they need and deserve, offering  young people the means to determine their own destinies, and  continuing his vital role as  spokesperson and advocate for  unrepresented residents, and unpopular causes.

O’Day’s trajectory has been quite  different. He was appointed to the Planning Commission, served as  Chair for a while, but resigned before his term was up. He next surfaced as a  City Council candidate, but finished out of the money.

In his next incarnation, O’Day co-charted, with Judy Abdo, “Save Our City.” Its sole  reason for being was to kill a residents’ ballot measure

(RIFT)_ that would limit annual commercial growth.

The group collected $800,000 from developers and mounted an elaborate campaign that was based on an utterly false and ominous premise: that limiting commercial growth would  put our schools in jeopardy.

The measure lost. Santa Monica lost. , O’Day, Abdo and the developers won.t

Ted Winterer co-wrote the ballot  measure and made limiting commercial growth the centerpiece of his campaign fot a Council seat in 2008.

Winterer worked with Santa Monicans for a Livable City, which spearheaded  the limited growth measure, has been president of  the  Ocean Park Association and a Parks and Rec Commissioner.

He ran fifth in the 2008 election, directly behind the four incumbents. When Herb Katz died a month after  being re-elected, it was widely thought that, given his strong showing in the election, Winterer  should fill the  vacancy.

He was nominated, as were the co-chairs if Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR).

SMRR Co-chair and Planning  Commissioner Gleam Davis won the requisite four votes on the seventh ballot, and the seat, giving SMRR a 5-2 majority.

When Davis resigned from the  Planning Commission, the Council

appointed Winterer to replace her..

Ironically, Winterer and his colleagues are now in the midst of reviewing nearly two million square  feet of proposed commercial projects clustered in the southeast section of  the city. Residents appear at every meeting to  criticize the projects’ size, designs, number and location.

Clearly, more voters should have ignored O’Day and company’s scare tactics and approved Winterer’s  measure and elected him to the  Council in 2008. The Council

can finally do the right thing Tuesday night and appoint Winterer to

the Council. å

If the six members fail to agree on  one person, they are required to set a special election, which would be held in June.