At Headspace within the Bergamot Station Arts Center Wednesday evening, Mayor Phil Brock hosted a community meeting alongside City Councilmembers Oscar de la Torre and Christine Parra, with Brock noting that "none of us" were going to attempt a speech, but rather attempt to respond to citizens’ concerns. Those concerns bubbled up before the meeting began, as a long line of confused locals stood in place for roughly 45 minutes as a lone Headspace tablet served as a dense sign-in sheet. Brock himself assured those fired up about the situation that he had nothing to do with the delayed meeting, with Headspace representatives stating they needed to "collect data" on attendees that they said would not "leave the building."
Once the meeting finally started, much of the questioning revolved around both housing and transportation issues, including Brock being asked if he was "happy" with the City needing to be compliant with its 2021-2029 Housing Element, which aims for 8,874 new housing units (69% of which must be at various affordable income levels). Brock noted that the City has "doubled" the amount of market-rate units they’ve been required to build already, and the Mayor attempted to temper his displeasure with the process.
Brock stated that rapid construction is "going to lose the character of our neighborhoods" and make Santa Monica "a different city," likening it to Santa Monica High School tearing down its History Building to modernize campus, where students "will have a new experience." Regardless if he likes the changes, he added, it wasn’t necessarily up to him.
"Look, do I want 24-story buildings on 6th and Colorado ... no, I don’t, [we’ve been] a beachside, low-rise community with ample open space ... we’re changing," Brock said. "It’s not our choice to change. It is the State of California’s choice that has done this ... so we hope for some part of local control to be restored to us, we want that, but at the same time, if something’s mandated ... we can’t fight Sacramento and win."
De la Torre agreed with his constituent’s statement, saying State mandates are the reason "why you’ve seen all these projects go up" that City Council has little control over.
"They’re getting the opportunity to build because the State is saying that we’re in a housing crisis as part of why we have a homelessness crisis, which I don’t know if you believe all that story ... but that’s kind of what’s going on," De la Torre said. "So you’re seeing a lot of these more high-rise apartment buildings, and the City Council has to approve, because what we are told by the City Attorney’s office [is] that if we don’t have a compliant housing element, the State can come in and ... make it worse."
Santa Monica Northeast Neighbors Association Chair Tricia Crane asked why the Council doesn’t take a formal position on SB 10, an option to authorize construction of multifamily buildings in single-family neighborhoods, adding that her association pleaded with Council to take a stance against the option. Parra responded by saying though her memory may be off, she spoke to city staff and the City Attorney about it and was told to believe that rejecting SB 10 "would jeopardize the housing element compliance," an assessment Brock agreed with.
The Mayor ultimately echoed what he said in his State of the City address earlier this year, that being that if these changes need to occur, he wants to push for more open spaces and forestry, as well as better communication alongside project developers.
"We can spend all our time bitching about what’s going on in the city with housing, but I think it’s better to say, let’s try and work with those developers to make sure the housing is comfortable not only for the people inside those apartments, but comfortable for our neighborhoods and comfortable for our cities," Brock added.
Other questions at the gathering were transportation safety-based, such as thoughts on adding more four-way stop sign intersections in the city, which Parra said was part of the City’s Safe Streets plan. She added that the City’s Department of Transportation was "working on that diligently" and the City is working on a potential ballot measure to bring money towards continuing that project.
Brock added that the City can take "quick action" on implementing a four-way stop if needed, such as the case after multiple incidents at 19th and Idaho, which was transformed into a four-way stop last November on short notice.
"The city does have a plan to make sure that we get to zero in terms of fatalities," de la Torre added. "And there have been some [problem] intersections and the city knows where the hotspots are, and there’s been some investments [in] some of the streets ... but if you raise the concern like, hey, this is a real hotspot, then that’s going to raise the importance of addressing it."
All three councilmembers are up for reelection this year although none have formally announced if they will run again.
