Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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My open letter to SM City Council and School Board on the quarter billion $+ plan to acquire the Civic Auditorium: Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, Santa Monica City Council, Mayor Gleam Davis Dear Members of the SMMUSD Board of Education, City Council, and Mayor Gleam Davis, I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of Santa Monica and a parent of two school children in the SMMUSD. The proposed plan to purchase and repurpose the Santa Monica...
For quite some time---maybe, even, years---I've been working out in my head a piece dealing with a curse that arrived in Santa Monica at 9:49 AM on May 20, 2016. At that moment---cheered on by people who had had a hand in its gestation and birth, including (now convicted felon) Mark Ridley-Thomas, the now conveniently exiled hapless Eric Garcetti, and last but not least, the now blessedly-disappeared Pam O'Connor, Sheila Kuehl, and Kevin McKeown---the first train from downtown...
August 9, 2023 - The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health appears to have given up on getting addicted residents off of drugs. In a recent press release warning of the potential presence of the veterinary anesthetic xylazine in illicit drugs, the Department included one sentence in a 700-word press release that advised people not to use illicit drugs. The next six paragraphs described ways to "minimize the risk." Nowhere in the press release did the Department list p...
Under the current postmaster general the cost of stamps keeps going up, service keeps going down, the post office is drowning. Louis de Joy has, in 4 years, never missed an opportunity to perpetrate the dismantling of the United States Postal Service. Meanwhile, the critical federal government battle to contain inflation can not count on postmaster general de Joy's help in this national initiative to avoid recession. The soaring cost of living is not imagined, prices for...
Diane Feinstein will resign no later than August 15th, an inside source close to her children reports. The 90 year old Senator from California doesn't seem able to follow the proceedings in the Senate. She is in a wheelchair. An inside source, someone close to the Feinstein family, tells me that the Senator from California is no longer capable of performing her duties at the US Senate. There are serious concerns about her health. Cal. Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he will...
Since its inception, the Two Sides North America Anti-greenwashing Campaign has eliminated literally billions of instances of paper-related greenwashing in the United States and Canada, and its engagement with large utilities, banks, insurers and other organizations during the first half of 2023 has added to this success. During the first six months of 2023, 21 additional companies representing approximately 90 million customers have removed greenwashing messages such as "Go...
Letter to the Editor: City Attorney Sloan has broken his ethical obligations to all residents, the Council, and the State Bar by falsely claiming in the Observer that the Brown Act will not be violated Tuesday when Council meets in Closed Session to discuss and make decisions on all aspects of proposed sales of the Civic Auditorium without any open meeting on the issue. He is also causing all Council members , the City Manager and other senior staff members to be put in...
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...
I wasn't going to write an email, because I didn't think it would do any good. Upon reconsidering, it will do ME good to convey my anger and sadness at what my city has become. I never go out alone. I drive to work with mace in my lap. I shutter when someone pounds on my door and screams crazy obscenities at 3am. I read the crime reports on social media, because YOU refuse to tell us or warn us about anything. I don't wear my wedding ring or any jewelry anymore, and rarely...
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...
