Crime, homelessness and security were prime concerns among residents who attended last week’s Council meeting with about 15 individuals speaking during public comment to condemn, cajole or critique the City over its response to the situation.
The night’s agenda had no specific item related to the subject meaning Council was prevented from addressing the speakers directly but the theme of the criticism was clear: patience is wearing thin when it comes to chronic homelessness and crime in the city.
Santa Monica resident Steven Shaw recounted several incidents he’s experienced including a man breaking into his garage, a second man peering into his windows after entering his back yard and shepherding his kids away from a naked man in the park.
"I consistently try to enjoy the parks as a father playing with my children but that’s becoming harder and harder to do with everything we experience, with the homeless in our parks," he said.
Jon Farzam Vice President of the Shore Hotel, Ocean View Hotel, Santa Monica Motel said previously effective measures, such as increased patrols in parks and tougher enforcement of crimes in public, seem to have ceased and the conditions are deteriorating along Ocean Avenue.
"This is why I appeared Tuesday night on behalf of several large hotel operators in Santa Monica to plead for your help in addressing what has become an untenable situation of homelessness, crime, harassment, and filthy conditions on Ocean Avenue and in Palisades Park. I appreciate that the City is working hard to address homelessness, but whatever is being done simply is not enough," he said in a letter to council after his live remarks.
"A person cannot buy a plastic straw in Santa Monica, but plastic needles now litter our parks, playgrounds, and beaches and eventually end up polluting our greatest natural resource - the ocean.
In closing, I would like to remind the Council of the unprecedented impacts on our community when tourism disappeared during Covid. What will we do when residents and tourists leave permanently because Santa Monica truly isn’t safe?"
Speaking on behalf of the Main Street Business Improvement Association, Hunter Hall said the City does its best to answer questions from businesses about their options for dealing with homelessness on their property but more should be done to prevent the situations from occurring in the first place.
"I would really like to ask for as many resources as possible for the police to do what they need to do in this regard," he said. "And I want to congratulate them, because I do think that they’ve been doing a great job, and they’re doing the best they can with what they have. And I’d like to ask for more assets and more resources for them to do more than they’ve been doing already."
Dr. Anna Rogers likened the situation to the conditions prior to the French Revolution.
"If you turn your nose up at residents, workers, business owners and tourists who are under attack day and night telling them it’s only their perception and referring to victims as fear mongers. If you haven’t learned by now, that looking the other way, there’s nothing to see here, will result in massive lawsuits. If you continue to exploit the dire circumstances of our men, women and children who are homeless, claiming that the so called housing is for them they know it’s not, it’s cruel. And if you disrespect our highly dedicated police officers by insisting they stand down, discourage taking reports, water down violent incidents, declare a state of emergency and then refuse to recruit and hire more desperately needed police officers. And if you have never lived a day in your life in Santa Monica, and you don’t know the difference between a fruit vendor and a cartel, get the hell off of our City Council and let those who can lead with compassion and courage and common sense lead the way."
Without a specific item on the agenda, Council couldn’t engage with speakers on the subject, however, Council will be discussing its budget at the upcoming June 27 meeting and issues around public safety will be part of that discussion.
