Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Subject: An Alternative Perspective on Addressing Homelessness in Santa Monica Dear Editors, The Santa Monica City Council's recent discussions around resolving the city's homelessness and related crime crises have given rise to a proposition that seems both unfeasible and impractical. This proposal suggests constructing housing units for the homeless in Santa Monica, which, while well-intentioned, raises significant concerns regarding the fiscal burden on our city, the...
Dear Mayor Davis & Honorable Santa Monica City Councilmembers, I hope you're all having a good start to your summer. I never thought I would have to escape Southern CA to experience some warmth but just returned from 11 days in Florida. Upon returning, I was shocked to hear the news that Santa Monica is declaring a continued Level 2 Water Shortage. Despite the drought being declared long over due to obvious severe rainstorms that have forced us to dump fresh water into the...
Venice Blvd was designed to be a working street. It looks like a freeway, or used to. People drive 70 miles an hour on it's 4 lanes of grandeur and utility, that also angle from Southwest to Northeast. It was a quick route between downtown LA and Venice. Venice High School and the former Helms Bakery are some of the sites on its 12 mile length, down to sunny Venice Beach. So what was the problem? The problem is working class Venice Blvd travels mostly through minority...
June 1, 2023 - For as long as he's been our governor, Gavin Newsom has advocated for stronger gun laws. On the national level, he has condemned lax enforcement in Florida, Texas, and Missouri, where gun laws are far less stringent than in California. On the state level, he has passed regulations to combat gun violence. Every prosecutor would agree that gun violence is an American epidemic. We see it, up close and personal, almost every day. And we fervently believe, like the...
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...
April 12th, 2023 marked seven years since the Pico Neighborhood Association and I filed a lawsuit challenging Santa Monica's at-large city council elections for violating the California Voting Rights Act. By then, the at-large election system had worked for 70 years to largely prevent Black & Latino candidates supported by voters of color and allies to win a seat on the Santa Monica City Council. For all that time, the Pico Neighborhood, where Santa Monica's Latino community...
May 3, 2023 - The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, already one of the most progressive in the nation, appears determined to head even further into the depths of Critical Race Theory. An email was sent out to SMMUSD families asking for participation in focus groups in mid-May to "ascertain honest and open perspectives and experiences regarding the current culture as it applies to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) concepts." In no possible version of reality is...
Washington DC, May 5 -- On April 27, Congressman Daniel Webster (R-FL-11) introduced the Helping Everyone Access Long Term Healthcare (HEALTH) Act (H.R. 2986). This bill offers a new solution to provide healthcare services to low-income families and has the potential to help Medicaid and CHIP programs save on costs. Medicaid-insured patients often struggle to find primary care doctors able to accept them as new patients. In many cases, this leaves emergency care as the only...
May 2, 2023 - The Santa Monica Coalition released a YouTube video this week outlining four city-owned properties that could be used for what they term "short and near term safe sleeping sites" for the over 800 homeless last counted on the city's streets. An email sent out with the video claims that there are no overnight shelters in Santa Monica or within an hour's drive that will accept the homeless for refuge between 5 pm and 8 am. "So they remain on our streets, in our...
Los Angeles, April 26, 2023 – The Association of Deputy District Attorneys ("ADDA") today thanked the victim advocates, legal experts, and community groups that have filed "friend of the court" briefs with the California Supreme Court supporting the organization's landmark lawsuit against Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. "On behalf of our members, we want to thank those who have filed briefs in support of our position: that no one – not even George Gasc...
Does the ASPCA put money ahead of animals? The evidence is piling up. The ASPCA raised $351 million in contributions in 2021 and has $500 million in assets. It paid CEO Matt Bershadker $990,000 in salary and compensation. Over 250 employees made compensation exceeding $100,000. Meanwhile, the ASPCA only runs one pet adoption center. All of those local SPCAs and pet shelters are unaffiliated with the ASPCA and generally don't see a dime. The ASPCA spends more money on employee...
Good morning Police Chief Batista and Fire Chief Alvarez: I wanted to call your attention to an illegal encampment on the Palisades Park bluffs (just south of Montana near the 500 block of Ocean Avenue) on the precipice of the existing walls facing PCH. The president of the Pacific Palisades Homeless Outreach alerted me on April 6th. I drove by on PCH, then walked down partially from Palisades Park. There were two people inside; one stepped out smoking. I called 911 and the...
The below was an email sent by Northeast Neighbors community group advocate Tricia Crane to the group members regarding a recent presentation: Dear Northeast Neighbors and friends, Monday's meeting was one of our most informative and provocative. It was also the first time we have dedicated the entire two hours to one speaker and topic: Transit expert Thomas Rubin on "What to Expect with Proposed Parking Changes." Despite its modest title, Rubin's brilliant presentation...
The United States Postal Service is in desperate shape . And, with his 3 years of destructive leadership the USPS Postmaster General Louis de Joy , is generally responsible . This postmaster is the one person most culpable in the relentless dismantling of our national treasure . Mr de Joy did not start the demise of our magnificent post office , that started 5 decades ago under President Nixon, plus continuing political mischief on capitol hill, and the cynical neglect by...
March 9, 2023 - In an email to the Library Board, Santa Monica business and property owner John Alle included dozens of sobering photos and video clips illustrating the unsafe and unclean conditions at the main library and downtown generally. "GOOD GUARD SECURITY is the new security guard firm the City hired to replace ALLIED UNIVERSAL SECURITY. Good Guard Security is doing a lousy job, worse than Allied Universal Security," Alle wrote. Alle had attended the Library Board's...
Dear Mayor Davis & Honorable Santa Monica City Councilmembers, ....... I know that I have been writing to you quite a few times in the last few weeks, but I am deeply concerned regarding some of the policy proposals that have been put forth by all of you and feel obliged to write to you given the urgency and irreversibly damaging nature of these measures. Today, I am writing to urge you NOT to move forward with a plan to issue a mandate banning all gas appliances within the...
Dear Mayor Davis and Honorable Santa Monica City Councilmembers, As you know, Measure GS, the Himmelrich-financed 5.6% transfer tax on properties $8+ million sold in Santa Monica, takes effect tomorrow, March 1, 2023. As I predicted to you earlier, the impact of GS is already being seen. In the last 2 days, we have seen rapid real estate closures of at least three homes in N of Montana valued at $33,941,000, depriving the city of over $1,900,000 in Himmelrich tax for you to...
Dear Mayor Davis & Santa Monica City Council, I join thousands of my neighbors and fellow Santa Monica citizens and residents to say that I am absolutely outraged by the proposal to change the zoning on Montana Avenue and other quiet, beautiful, pedestrian-friendly avenues in our iconic, seaside city, to allow five and six-story buildings. While some of you may view this as a magic solution to homelessness or housing affordability in Santa Monica, or one way to meet the...
Back in September 2005 I was walking down the main drag of Auckland, New Zealand, when I spotted a travel agency's breathless window ad for a dream package trip to "glamorous" Los Angeles-Hollywood-Santa Monica (!!!). The ad featured a composite photo of both the Hollywood sign and SM Ferris wheel. I chuckled, feeling smug. This little window sign served to confirm my growing confidence that the 1996 timing of my departure from Marin County/San Francisco, in favor of sunny...
15 -- The San Francisco Police Department today released the police body camera footage from David Depape's October 28, 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi. People want to know if I'm ready to retract my controversial article proposing an alternative theory that the two men knew each other. I'm doubling down, because it still doesn't add up. Here is my analysis from a trained psychologist, the one who tipped me off that perhaps Depape and Pelosi were acquaintances. "Most people...
January 25, 2023 - Citing a budget that is heavy on salaries and failed programs, incompetent leadership, and the economically and physically depressed state of the Third Street Promenade, property owner and business leader John Alle is calling for the disbanding of Downtown Santa Monica Inc (DTSM). DTSM is a "private" non-profit organization that is supposed to work with the City government to manage services and operations in downtown Santa Monica. The 13-member board of...
Dear Esteemed members of the Santa Monica City Council & Honorable City Manager, I am aware that tonight, you will be discussing how the City, which represents taxpaying citizens of Santa Monica, will respond to at least one legal challenge to the recently-passed but highly flawed Measure GS. I kindly ask you to read my entire email, as long as it is, because it is based on fact, apolitical, and intended to help both your reputations and our beloved city. Note that while I am...
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...
I write tonight, an hour after observing more only-in-Santa Monica depravity. On New Years Night, I was near the end of a downtown walk. While approaching the McDonalds on Colorado, I heard something of a commotion. A packed-together crowd all had their cell phones out, looking in the same direction, up at the southwest corner of the parking garage across from McDonalds. When I looked up, I saw what was attracting all the attention: a bare-chested white man, muscular, with...
The Los Angeles Times seems to be suffering from serious cognitive dissonance. In a recent editorial, the Times dismissed the hundreds of California parents who ran for school board this year as having "mostly lost," while at the same time warning readers that the "parents first" movement is a major threat to the state's education establishment. The Times writes: "Considering there are nearly 5,000 school board seats in California, the scattered victories of 'parents first'...