The Santa Monica Daily Press provided candidates with three opportunities to address readers this year. Candidates were asked to fill out a short form survey, provide responses to written questions and invited into the Daily Press office for a one on-one interview about their candidacy. Candidates were given three questions and allowed to answer any or all of them as they saw fit.
The vast majority of Santa Monica’s homeless population were made homeless somewhere else and traveled to Santa Monica. What is the city’s role and responsibility in addressing homelessness, given the regional nature of the problem and the disproportional impact the crisis has on Santa Monica?
Santa Monica has been a beacon of generosity and compassion for our unhoused population. While the County and our neighboring cities have failed, our city has stepped in and carried more than our fair share.
I love this city, I love the residents, and I am humbled that I have raised my family in a city filled with such compassion. Too much has been asked of our residents, yet our city continues to fill holes in the broken dam that is our homelessness crisis.
As your City Councilmember, I will work to increase County funding for our homeless efforts, including:
- Multidisciplinary Teams. I will work to increase our funding to increase our teams and provide direct aid.
- Conservatorship Program. I will work with LA County to get the severely mentally unwell off our streets and into care. We cannot keep abandoning those too unwell to die on our streets. We need to establish conservatorships to save lives and help heal those who can no longer save themselves.
- Build Regional Housing. Our neighbors need to do their fair share, and I will work with neighboring cities and county and state leaders to ensure that our neighbors build shelters and affordable housing.
- Greater Accountability for Our Non-Profit Partners. I am a CPA, and I want to see data and results. If you use Santa Monica tax dollars, I will demand real results.
Santa Monica cannot solve homelessness alone, yet our city will not turn our back on those who are suffering. We will continue to lead with compassion and force our neighbors to help solve homelessness.
The city's economy continues to lag, and a recent study said Santa Monica was among the most expensive places to operate a business. What will you do to address the City’s economic challenges and increase local revenues?
Santa Monica is caught in the death spiral of retail, and our Mayor, Phil Brock, and Councilmember Oscar de la Torre have failed to save our city. We need to jump-start the economy by realizing the Nordstroms, Macy’s, and retail giants of the past have gone virtual and embrace the reality that Santa Monica is a tech/tourism city.
We need to reimagine the promenade as an event space with restaurants, mixed-use commercial retail, and housing surrounded by some of the best hotels in the world. We need tax incentives for new companies making their headquarters in Santa Monica and continue to work with groups like the Los Angeles Tech Incubator to showcase new and exciting technologies within Santa Monica.
We need to drastically cut red tape and fees for starting and opening a business in Santa Monica and create a concierge service dedicated to attracting businesses to our city, making the process as smooth as possible.
Most importantly, we need to make housing more affordable. Companies will not want to move here or start a company in Santa Monica if their employees need to live in Santa Clarita. We must build mixed-use housing along Olympic, Wilshire, and Santa Monica to increase foot traffic, help small businesses thrive, and maintain our community’s character.
Every candidate who spoke to the Daily Press brought up Public Safety as a top priority. What has driven this subject to the forefront of local politics, and what are you going to do to make residents feel safe in their public spaces?
The city must address the reality that people feel unsafe in our parks, at the beach, or on the promenade. For the past four years, our City Council has failed to restore our community's sense of security and safety. We have safety slogans, safety mailers, and a lot of tough talk, but for four years, Mayor Brock and Councilmember de la Torre have failed this community.
As your Councilmember, I will work with our Police Department to fully staff our department and get Police Officers out from behind desks and on our streets. I will fully fund and expand our SMPD drone units to provide real-time intelligence and increase the department's automated license plate recognition cameras.
Our residents need to see our police on the ground, walking through our parks, but most importantly, we need to work with LA County to get the severely mentally unwell off our streets and into care. It is inhumane to abandon our fell brothers and sisters to die on our streets. This is a human rights crisis; we need to establish conservatorships to save lives and help heal those who can no longer save themselves.
Finally, let me address the needle exchange program in Reed Park. This is another failure of our Council majority, which would rather spread fear than effectively govern. Needle exchanges save lives. They exponentially increase participation in drug treatment, significantly reduce the spread of hepatitis and HIV, and save lives from overdoses (12 lives saved each month in Santa Monica). The current program operates one hour per week, out of mobile vans.
However, I strongly object to a needle exchange in our parks. As your Councilmember, I will meet with LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and work with the County to move this highly effective program to a more appropriate nearby location. Government is about finding common ground, not just complaining loudly. If we work with our county partners, we can find a solution that saves lives and restores safety.
