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?
I support humane investments to address the current homelessness crisis, while also investing in housing to fix homelessness in the long-term.
Coordinated Mental Health and Drug Addiction Services: I believe in coordinated efforts across government jurisdictions, police, fire, and county health departments. I support working with County leaders — not against them — to expand behavioral health services and find the correct drug addiction solutions for Santa Monica.
State Legislation on Mental Health Treatment: I support state legislation that would enable treatment of unhoused individuals facing severe mental health issues.
Pro-Measure GS: In 2022, I organized for Measure GS, which established millions in funds for homelessness prevention and affordable housing.
Protecting our most vulnerable renters: I believe homelessness is a housing problem. In LA County, more people fall into homelessness than we can bring off of the street every day. We have to stem this crisis at the source by protecting our most vulnerable renters like seniors on fixed incomes, young workers and students, and low-income families with the strongest tenant protections.
Humane solutions: Banning blankets and bedrolls — which my opponents voted to do — will not magically erase folks living on our streets. Instead, we must build temporary and permanent supportive housing - which my opponents voted against - which are data-backed solutions that get people into shelter and off of our streets.
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?
We must revitalize our downtown, which currently has vacant storefronts due to exceedingly high rents maintained by property owners. Building configurations are for an era of retail commerce long gone; we must plan for the Santa Monica of 2090 and not look back to the Santa Monica of 1990.
Retail Vacancy Tax: Establishing a retail vacancy tax can incentivize these storefronts to be filled, and a city fund should be established from such revenues to help enterprising businesses convert spaces from big box retail into restaurants, bars, clubs, and entertainment-oriented businesses.
Arts & Entertainment District: I support the Promenade 3.0 Plan which would establish the Promenade as an arts and entertainment district.
Housing: I support concentrating a greater density of housing in downtown near jobs and transit to increase foot traffic for local businesses.
Streamlining business permitting: Every business owner and Business Improvement District I have spoken with on the campaign trail has complained about permitting and inspection timelines. As a Council we must hold staff accountable to realistic timelines and standards.
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 believe that every Santa Monican deserves the right to feel safe. As a veteran, I deeply respect the work of our law enforcement, firefighters, code enforcement, and our entire public safety staff who sacrifice so much to keep our community safe.
Pier Safety: As a Pier Board Member, I supported the Direct Action Response Team to address vendor violence and safety at the Pier.
State Legislation: I supported state legislation authored by our Assemblymember, Rick Chavez Zbur, that allows for stricter sentencing of repeat smash-and-grab offenders while simultaneously investing in diversion programs that we know work.
Funded Police Department: I support a fully-staffed and fully equipped Police Department balanced in priority with other safety investments. We should not lower the bar on the quality of recruits for our law enforcement staff; we deserve the best. As hiring catches up to funded headcount, I support deploying funds towards solutions we can implement now.
Smarter Spending on Tech: I believe in smarter, efficient spending on technology like our drone program and real-time crime center, that will scale our law enforcement programs and professionals in a safe and effective manner.
