A Rise of Civic Engagement in Santa Monica

Dear Residents of Santa Monica,

When the train finished in 2016, our lives near 9th and Wilshire changed completely. For almost a decade I've written about the decline of the downtown area, being attacked by addicts, cleaning human feces out of our condo's carports, and witnessing a skid row reality take over my local Reed Park. I've become a crank to myself, trying to sound the alarm about a disintegrating city right before my eyes. Before my work responsibilities buried that impulse, I even ran for council because SMRR was so apathetic to the suffering individuals zombie-walking through our neighborhood, a never-ending tide of need, mental illness, and addiction, who were endlessly victimizing residents. All enabled by a council that was downright hostile to the idea of enforcement.

As anybody who lives in the neighborhoods ringing downtown well knows, we have been under siege for years, and ignored by a council that would either gaslight, stonewall, or call us heartless. Gleam Davis, former mayor, told me to my face we couldn't have police on the promenade because it would make "some of our constituents" uncomfortable (really, like criminals?). Mayor Sue had the same anti-enforcement ideology. And our new mayor, Caroline Torosis, the same: she decided that after we were mercilessly looted, and our police were told to stand down, that she needed to create a "police oversight committee." Yeah, our police were too brutal in watching our city get destroyed. She too (with Hall, Zwick, et all) thinks that all we need is more housing to tackle this problem, when actually we need involuntary holds of the drug addicted, and institutionalization for the severely mentally ill who couldn't manage an apartment if they were given one. And non-stop arrests for public disorder, drug use, and other "minor" crimes affecting our quality of life, which snag wanted felons daily. Sure, as a society we owe people help, but we don't owe them an ocean view. And "housing first" for the chronically homeless, while sounding good, has been declared a failure from coast to coast. Wake up LA County. And wake up Santa Monica if they don't.

But this is old news. Because honestly, the residents are as responsible as the people they've elected. It's understandable human nature, but you too have ignored it because it didn't affect your every day life. You could go to Montana Ave, undergoing a bustling renaissance. Or Abbott Kinney, which is everything the promenade is not: local, cool, filled with restaurants and community. We all went to Palisades Village before it burned, or the Grove, or even Century City, all somehow miraculously "recovered from covid." (Funny, everybody else is recovered from Covid, while all that we've done is cement our reputation for the looting destruction, and now disorder and crime, without acknowledging that's the problem). This is unfair, of course, seeing reality through a straw, but if you witness what I witness every day, that straw is a firehose. Yesterday, walking down Wilshire Blvd at dusk I had to dodge 5 screaming and thrashing street people in either the throes of madness or addiction. All screamed and made threatening gestures. It was a gauntlet.

So I'm hopeful by the reaction of the neighborhood adjacent to the only functioning and (relatively) addict-free Palisades park when it was suddenly threatened by two open door shelters for extremely sick people. Suddenly, the relatively insulated residents of NOMO were awakened to the threat of disorder and danger that we've been living with for a decade, and they roared awake with NOMA meetings, lawsuit threats, and well-placed calls to those in power in the county, (which seems to have it in for Santa Monica, shoving every failed policy, like free needles, down our throats). I watched the entire NOMA meeting with the county officials pushing this plan and residents were rightly FURIOUS and gave it to them good. Well done! I welcome you to the party!

There has also been a huge outcry about the Civic Center. AS THERE SHOULD BE. Northeast Neighbors grilled Oliver Chi about it during their recent meeting, with the indomitable Tricia Crane presiding.

What I'm seeing is the awakening of the silent majority in this town that just wants clean, safe, streets, and the ability to use their parks. They want a governance that has common sense, is honest (talking to you Mayor Torosis), is resident-focused, and not trying to solve every problem LA has. Or single-handedly trying to solve the national housing crisis while destroying what makes Santa Monica special. I'll say it again: we are one of the densest cities in LA County. We have defacto affordable housing because 70% of are residents are renters, and half of them are protected by rent control. SOLVE THE PROBLEMS WE DO HAVE, which is a train that mainlines sick people to our town, and a shelter that embeds them in our tourism district. Our model for a council member should be Lana Negrete or Phil Brock-passionate advocates for SANTA MONICA who are uninterested in virtue signaling to the far left ideology that funds endless homeless industrial complex boondoggles. But are very interested in Santa Monica. District elections will help, if that comes to pass.

To be fair, there are signs of hope. The council hired Oliver Chi, who seems like he gets it. Credit where credit is due, as Oliver is at least vocalizing the number one issue residents have been talking about for years. Oliver seems to understand that the disorder and mayhem downtown has got to be reversed OR WE WILL NEVER RETURN TO OUR PAST GLORY. Because what business is going to invest in a scary ghost town? Oliver's not only put cops downtown, but is building a police substation on the promenade (sorry Gleam). He also seems to understand that saving the Civic should be a priority, and that a thriving city filled with creatives needs these outlets. He's promising to move SamoShel. We are litigating the remaining pedo lawsuits.

Whether Oliver is just another tool for developers wrapped in new language, or whether the council has truly and finally woken up to reality, remains to be seen. I will be a believer when the shelter is shut down, but I am, despite my experience, optimistic. It will require focusing all our energies on saving Santa Monica. Because we are drowning.

Finally, as far as I can see, the alcohol on the promenade gambit has been a flop–I'm there all the time and nobody is walking around with a drink in their hands. And it hasn't helped the crowds. And the wrap-around, time square digital advertising is a desperate and TERRIBLE idea. Ubiquitous digital advertising is NOT our brand, and should be shut down immediately because that's not WHY people come here. Council, please show us that you understand what makes us special, because nobody wants Santa Monica to compete with Times Square. And everybody needs a break from their screens and advertising overload. Show us you know people want to go to the beach, eat at a restaurant, get away from hot and crowded city living, all without seeing a person with their pants around their ankles while coming and going.

If all this seems like obvious common sense, history shows it won't arrive by magic. It will take all of us leaning in, putting the oxygen mask on ourselves first, and reversing the doom spiral to restore our once bustling and thriving city. Get involved. Stay involved. And put pressure on this council to continue their turn to reality. Because, no Gleam, the people coming to Santa Monica to grift, do drugs, predate on our community are not "residents." And no, SMRR, housing first isn't the answer.

summer is coming. And so will the homeless addicts and mentally ill. We need to take out every welcome mat, and have an aggressive broken windows policy toward people that want to bring skid row with them.