Sorted by date Results 26 - 32 of 32
Letter to the editor: I am appalled by the City's "Police Reform Commission" that voted 6-4 against allowing our police to make pretextual stops because they think the Santa Monica police are making traffic stops based on race. You have gamed the statistics and revealed yourselves as out of touch with reality. This will soon come up as a vote by the city council. Residents will be watching. Because yet again Santa Monica, held hostage by a tiny group of people with an...
Dear Council, This article reporting on the Rand conference on "homelessness" is revealing. Round-and-round we go, as criminals prey on us, threaten us when we step out to walk the dogs, trespass, and senselessly steal anything and everything (below, this addict, holding either a weapon or a butane lighter for his drugs, steals our dog's ball in broad daylight. Why, my dog Bonnie asks? Because he's here. Sorry, Bonnie!). Not as bad as breaking into our garage and stealing...
I just read this piece about the needle exchange at that ongoing dumpster fire that is the 7-11 parking lot. So it goes like this for our unending stream of new unhoused "residents": 1. Drift into town via the end of the line train (or bus). 2. Wander to where the "action" is (my neighborhood). 3. Buy booze at the liquor store on 10th and stagger over to Reed Park. 4. Buy drugs at Reed Park and wash down with said alcohol. 5. Sleep it off all day in Reed Park, making it...
Dear City Council, Happy New Year and a hearty welcome to the new council members. After the acrimonious election I hope we can all come together and address the challenges our city faces by taking a cold, hard look at what is working and what isn't. It is time for new ideas and a fresh approach, which will take putting aside ideologies that prevent us from seeing reality. In December, a controversial sign was put up on the promenade and, when I saw it, my initial response...
It was with sadness that I read this in a recent story in The Santa Monica Current: “The One Thing you need to know is that SMPD responded to a call at Palisades Park last night for two unresponsive men behind a restroom. One man was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was taken to a local hospital. There were no signs of foul play but officers did find drug paraphernalia nearby.” Sadness, but not surprise. Because this is a photo I took recently of the area at the top...
Open Letter to Sue Himmelrich and husband Michael Soloff: It was with dismay that I watched both your orchestrated attacks on councilman Phil Brock's alternate tax transfer measure at the July 12 City Council meeting (http://santamonica.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2). It was the definition of bad faith. Michael Soloff, in your labored straw man argument, you called Councilman Brock's measure a "poison pill." You used every cliche in the canon to push for endless...
Dear Councilwoman Himmelrich, I just received your "Standing Firm For Santa Monica" flyer, which I understand is yours alone. I don't have a financial dog in this fight, as the condo I own doesn't approach 8 million dollars. My problem is what you want to do with the money. It all sounds so great! Who wouldn't want better schools and help for the homeless? Our Santa Monica schools are excellent, but if you want to give them more money, I'm fine with that. Although I am...