by Peggy Clifford

Santa Monica is one of those legendary places that’s been on the world’s radar for decades. It’s
an original, not a copy. It’s been here, on the storied Southern California coast for 135 years, and it’s been an icon for longer than most of us have been alive.
It’s very small, intricately made. The ocean is the main thing. It’s in the light, the air, the soil, and the souls of its most fervent residents.
But it’s been under attack for a while, and the principal assailants are the so-called public servants –
elected and appointed, who see this glorious beach town as merchandise– to be “improved and enhanced,” packaged and sold.
In the last three decades, 9 million square feet of new commercial projects have demeaned the townscape.
In the 2008 election, a residents’ ballot measure to limit commercial development was subjected to an unprecedented assault by City leaders, who spent nearly $800,000 (contributed by developers) to convince us that if commercial growth were limited, our schools would be destroyed. It wasn’t true, of course. If commercial growth were limited, the primary losers would be the developers and
the Council members they give money to — Pam O’Connor, Terry O’Day, Gleam Davis and Richard
Bloom.
Since the City and Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) savaged the residents’ limited growth measure in 2008, two million square feet of new commercial development is in the works.
In the last decade, though the town’s population has hovered at about 87,000 for decades, City Hall’s “population” has doubled, and the City budget now tops $500,000,000, but residents’ quality
of life has deteriorated. Traffic congestion is chronic — in neighborhoods, as well as on the boulevards. The daily transient population (those who come here for work or play) tops 300,000. Local businesses have been squeezed out by chain stores.
The City’s Economic Development wizards spend over $3 million annually to promote the “regional
commercial hub” that they want to impose on this legendary beach town.
SMRR was founded by idealists, but in the decades they have ruled, the leaders have become more interested in increasing their power than in preserving this gloriously idiosyncratic beach town and serving its gloriously eccentric residents.
The current campaign has repeated and enlarged on the lies of 2008: if we don’t
vote for Prop Y, our schools will collapse, AND vital services will be curtailed. It’s
not true. Please read NO ON Y (see below).
Nor is it true that O’Connor “protects the environment and quality of life” in Santa
Monica, or “pumped tens of millions of dollars into our schools,” or “put the brakes on over-development”…or “reduced traffic congestion,” — all claims she’s made on her recent mailer to residents.  On her watch, the environment and quality of life have
been diminished by surging traffic congestion and over-development. She doesn’t just take money from developers, she asks for it.
And she resisted giving the schools any money and called the parents who asked the City for an annual grant “schoolyard bullies.”
Terry O’Day and Gleam Davis are not real Council members. Both were appointed to fill vacancies.
Neither has added anything to the mix. O’Day rarely says anything. Davis talks a lot, but initiates
little. Their mailers are laden with extravagant claims, but neither has actually done anything to earn
an actual term on the Council.
In 1992, Denny Zane, SMRR’s Godfather, said in his farewell address, “In ten years, we have made
this a wonderful city.” It was breathtaking. Hubris run amuck. Four generations of Santa Monicans, a glorious location, circumstance, Waldo Waterman and his flying car, Shirley Temple and Bertoldt Brecht were all mere prelude to…SMRR.
Now, 18 years later, SMRR takes credit for making Santa Monica “a special community” and orders
us to “vote to keep it that way.”
NO. We don’t want Zane’s “wonderful city” or “special community.” We want Santa Monica — historic, healthy, whole, intact — ever becoming, never developed…