Editor:
The amount of ‘lip service’ the progressive City of Santa Monica gives to minority causes is incredible. We supported the recent demonstration in town to honor the life and protest the death of George Floyd in Minn. We go to special efforts to provide housing for low-income residents, we feed the homeless, we provide special programs for low-income minority kids through the schools and PAL from parks and recreation, I could go on. Yet the obvious paradox with our city “progressives” in charge, is the extent to which they will go to deprive minority voters from electing their own representative to be on the city council. Tens of millions of precious dollars are currently going down a ‘rat hole’ to fight this needless lawsuit against them and continue to ignore the obvious by appealing the judgment against them.
In light of recent racial despair in our country, one would think that wisdom on the current city council would prevail and actually embrace a more diverse point of view to represent our city, it might even give the SMPD an insight to the age-old struggles of the Pico neighborhood that brought the lawsuit against the city in the first place.
Most SM residents don’t know that many years ago, the Pico neighborhood was the only location in Santa Monica that Black and Latino citizens were allowed to own property or a house. It’s time for a change.
Steve Lancaster, Santa Monica
