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?
We must admit that most of Santa Monica‘s residents have moved here from somewhere else, whether they are housed or unhoused, and Santa Monica has been trying to push its poor residents out, for generations. Since 1970 the population of Santa Monica has grown by 2000, while, in that 54 years, the population of California has grown by 20 million. So, it would be more accurate to say that Santa Monica has had a disproportional impact on creating this housing crisis, this homelessness crisis(along with other affluent coastal communities), by not building enough affordable housing for its poor residents. There is no reason for only rich people to live next to… our public beaches.
It leads to segregation and works against a more inclusive democracy. We need to work toward solutions, and not try to criminalize our way out of this homelessness crisis. This summer the ultra conservative Supreme Court handed down a ruling in Grants Pass versus Johnson, giving states and cities the power to criminalize homelessness. In her dissent of this ruling, Justice Sotomayor said, to keep people from sleeping is cruel and unusual punishment and goes against the eighth amendment of our constitution. Phil Brock and Oscar de la Torre, and others on Santa Monica city Council, have followed Trump‘s ultra conservative Supreme Court by voting to criminalize sleeping bags and bed rolls for our unhoused human beings, without any alternative housing for this 1% of Santa Monica’s population.
Instead of complaining that this very wealthy city of Santa Monica has been overburdened by its homeless population, while it has been dragging its feet about building affordable housing, and pushing the homeless down the road through all kinds of programs and hoping that these human beings will just… Disappear. Santa Monica needs to work towards solutions, transitional housing, secure 24 hour public restrooms, more professionals to help connect these people with services… And build more affordable housing now. Housing is a Human Right.
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?
First, I would work with others towards making it easier for employees working in Santa Monica to live in Santa Monica by proposing to build more affordable housing, and putting forward more programs that would help those employees already working in Santa Monica to be able to live in Santa Monica. This would make workers' lives easier, by lessening their travel time and costs, and making for less traffic in and around Santa Monica and benefiting the environment. I would propose to use some of the Santa Monica airport land for affordable housing for employees of Santa Monica, as well as other city owned properties around Santa Monica.
Because, when we are talking about costs of doing business. We should be talking about the costs of those people working for the businesses to be able to survive and thrive. If you have good number of corporate headquarters in your city, and you have one percent of your population sleeping in the streets… You need to change your business model. We need to be more concerned with lifting up the poor and making sure that the people in the middle can have a decent life, living and working in Santa Monica. We have to stop blaming the poor for bad business.
The business owners on the third Street promenade have been operating under the misguided perception that the promenade is a private mall. The public promenade belongs to the people, and as I like to remind those on the promenade, "If you are homeless on this public promenade, you have the same rights as the richest person in the whole wide world." We need to find more ways to help businesses that believe in community and human rights, and the right for every one to have the basics in this richest, most powerful country in the world. And do whatever we can, as a city, to Raise Taxes on the Rich. The rich will be just fine. We have done a very good job of being kind to the greedy… We have to do a better job of being kind to the needy.
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?
I think we can all agree that the most important job of government is to protect its citizens from violence. And that means all of its citizens… Including those who are unhoused, living in the streets. Statistics show that it is much more likely for a homeless person to be the victim of violent crime than be a perpetrator of violent crime. But, some would like to criminalize homelessness, which has been brought on by generations of bad government. Santa Monica, led by Phil Brock and Oscar de la Torre, has criminalized sleeping bags and bed rolls for homeless human beings.
Oscar de la Torre told me that that law would not be enforced. I said, why would you vote for a law that you think would not be enforced? Are you just trying to appease, the hate mongers and fear mongers. If we believe in public safety and the rule of law, we need to stand up for the rights of everyone. So yes, If someone is committing a crime, we all need to speak up, and we need to help law-enforcement do their job to protect and serve. And, we have to stand up for the rights of all human beings here in Santa Monica.
