Congratulations, and Desperately Seeking Moderation from our new Santa Monica City Council

A majority of Santa Monicans voted against Gascon and for Hochman and Prop 36, unlike the Winning SMRR Slate

November 13, 2024 - Well, you win some and you lose some! Congratulations to new council members Raskin, Snell, Zernitskaya, and Hall for your victory. And to Santa Monica United and the Safer Santa Monica Slate-you put up a great campaign, gaining a lot of ground, and I see you as a strengthening movement that focuses on resident priorities. But the political campaign, which was bruising at times, is over. It's now time to clear the air, pull together as a city, draw the right conclusions, and face our many opportunities and challenges.

To our new council members, one conclusion you would be wise to draw is to not view this as a mandate. Curb your most glorious leftist impulses, and do not think, like former council member Denny Zane said: "Our priorities are what the voters' priorities are. And while they care about homelessness and crime, the fundamentals are, 'Can I afford to live here?"

So let's clear the air: This comment, like many in the SMRR mailers, is grounded in a lie disseminated through SMRR's effective and impenetrable email list. And that lie, which has kept a SMRR stranglehold on local politics, squeezing the life out of more moderate movements, is that the other side (no matter who they are) wants to dismantle rent control. You all campaigned on it, it was part of all your mailers, and it is part of your post election victory comments. One example is an editorial written by Gleam Davis, Jesse Zwick, and Caroline Torosis, and submitted by Barry Snell's campaign, where you went full throttle: "Rent control is on the ballot this November" said Caroline Torosis said, smearing the opposing slate as "the sellout slate" (https://smdp.com/2024/09/26/beware-of-the-sellout-slate/). This is a lie; all the candidates were for rent control. Not only is it not true, it has never been true, because as EVERYBODY paying attention well knows that rent control is in the City Charter.

Someday, a group will be able to effectively get that message out, but it's tough with the structural advantage direct email messaging to Rent Control residents provides-lying and crying fire every two years about "rent control being dismantled by right wingers." (Another lie, all the candidates were lifelong Democrats). A campaign based on lies is hard to respect, and this campaign was full of them.

Okay, just had to get that off my chest. Onward!

So, moving forward, what does the question: "can I afford to live here?" mean? Yes, it means rent control and affordable housing, of which we have plenty, with way to much more on the way, that will keep us the diverse community in which we all want to live. But what it also means is:

- Can I afford to open or run a store here, given the pressure of shoplifting?

- Can I open a restaurant given the foot traffic downtown is a fraction of what it used to be?

- Can I afford to live here without being robbed? (For me it was two electric bikes, our main form of transportation, stolen out of a locked garage. For others it is a catalytic converter, or an entire car).

- Can I afford, given the rapes and attempted rapes, the risk of my wife walking alone through the city at dusk?

- Can I afford to go to the beach or downtown without being randomly attacked? (Twice in two years by addicts in drug psychosis).

- And possibly, a developer might be asking, do I want to build here when the streets are unsafe, and rental rates are down 5% compared to Los Angeles? Turns out that young people, for whom all this housing is being built, want to live in bustling, safe, interesting, and artistic neighborhoods. That is not our downtown right now.

These are real questions of affordability you would be wise to consider because it seems the rest of the state definitely is. You were all pro Gascon and anti prop 36, but:

- Seventy percent of voters in California backed Prop 36, a measure undoing soft-on-crime measures.

- In Los County, voters elected Republican district attorney Hochman (and fired George Gascon by a huge margin).

- In Oakland, voters sent their far left DA and mayor (who faces criminal charges) packing. Oakland!

- In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed lost her reelection bid to moderate Dan Lurie.

Ah, but this is Santa Monica, I can hear you thinking, the place that Dan Hall, a 3-year resident, said after winning: "desperately wants progressivism." But does this mean a get-out-of-jail free card? No. Because a majority of liberal Santa Monicans also:

- Backed former Republican Hochman for DA (54%).

- Supported harsher criminal penalties by voting for Prop 36 (54%).

- And tellingly, even opposed the expansion of rent control by voting no on Prop 33 (54%).

Dan, this sounds more like Santa Monica is desperately seeking common sense and moderation!

So I suggest a bit of humility for the new SMRR controlled council-and a pivot. You all dutifully mentioned safety; show you mean it by working with our police as your partner and help them solve the issue. Go on a ride-along or two and talk to the incredibly diverse and dedicated men and women doing their best, (while being short on personnel). Praise our Chief as a moderate professional who is rebuilding a force devastated by the riots into professional, passionate, (and compassionate) servers of the public. Listen to his deep experience and expertise about what they need. And most importantly, take a hard look at any stories you are telling yourself about police abuse. We are not, and never were, Minneapolis-so you can stop fighting that fight. Because you know how many Police abuse cases have been brought to our Police Oversight commission? Zero. Truly, they are the Maytag repair people of oversight commissions.

Catch up to your fellow Californians and realize the police are not are not the problem, they are necessary part of the solution. And if you resoundingly solve the problem of safety, then you can widen your horizons to the positive, like maybe resuscitating the Olympics here, a hundred million dollar rebranding opportunity that could announce that Santa Monica is back, on the world stage. Think big!

Finally, I'd like to wish Gleam Davis all the best in her retirement. Gleam, we agree on nothing, but I personally like you and wish you well. And to Phil, Oscar, and Christine, thank you as well for your service. I know you have all put your heart and soul into Santa Monica for decades. Being on the council is a sacrifice, and I wish all of you, including our new members, well.