Environmental guardians Sierra Club has announced its endorsements for four seats on the Santa Monica City Council.
They are City Councilman Terry O'Day, Planning Commissioners Richard McKinnon and Ted Winterer, and journalist John C. Smith.
The club released the endorsements late Monday night "after an exhaustive and complete process," according to a press release.
"Out of the 15 candidates and after interviewing nine of those who completed questionnaires for consideration for endorsement, we believe these candidates best reflect the ideals of Sierra Club that John Muir would be proud of and who can lead the city of Santa Monica in its next stage of being a truly green city," said Darrell Clarke, a former Santa Monica planning commissioner who is also a former chair of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter and is currently co-chair of the national Sierra Club's "Beyond Oil" campaign.
Pollution and health concerns caused by Santa Monica Airport, overdevelopment and traffic issues, regional wildlife protection (including Santa Monica's continuing partnership with Sierra Club on protection of the Ballona Wetlands), leading-edge sustainability, energy and water conservation, and tree-protection in the city were some of the significant issues the candidates discussed with Sierra Club leaders and which appear to have emerged as some of the central issues in the election campaigns, said Marcia Hanscom, a former member of Sierra Club's national Board of Directors and a member of the club's Political Committee for the Angeles Chapter.
"We are heartened to see that important environmental issues are being discussed throughout the city, and we are confident that some of Santa Monica's serious overdevelopment issues, Ballona Wetlands wildlife protection and pollution concerns related to the Santa Monica Airport will be addressed properly by the Santa Monica City Council if our chosen endorsed candidates are elected," Hanscom said.
Smith had a slight advantage in the selection process, having been a leader in the organization in the 1990s in the effort to protect the Ballona Wetlands from being displaced.
