They need to be replaced by candidates who only serve the interests of the residents, not Developers, City Staff, etc. I have been advocating for a Virtual Town Town Hall on the city Home Page for close to a quarter century because the elected City Council represent special interests over residents. For such a grass roots tool to be effective it must have a user base in the thousands if it hopes
to compete with the powerful developer lobby that currently owns at four of the seven city council members outright. The three other council members are in the pocket of the equally powerful city employee associations, with their massive pension and benefit packages approved by the city council, who must find more ways to increase revenues and raise more taxes to cover future budgets, if they want to be re-elected. This wealthy city, with a biennial budget of over a BILLION dollars, rewards city workers very well for their enthusiastic endorsements and generous financial support of its elected officials, putting grass roots candidates like myself at an insurmountable disadvantage. Most city residents are unaware of the short work weeks that allow SMFD and SMPD employees to pick up massive overtime. I thought the idea of a three day work week was so our public servants would come to work rested and fully prepared to defend the lives and property of the local citizenry? The local media need to do in depth investigative journalism, exposing cronyism, incompetence, conflict of interest, (especially between city council, staff, SMRR, and developers), golden parachutes and outrageous salaries being paid to various city administrators, (many of whom are pulling down salaries of $200,000 and above), continuing mismanagement of city revenues, and malfeasance of public officials. One such example is the pension grab of Oscar de la Torre, who was forced to resign as director of the Pico Youth and Family Center, although he is still on the payroll. De la Torre is also on the Board of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, which is also an egregious conflict of interest. No one in the local media has reported on the $200,000+ salary, (with perks), that popular council member Kevin McKeown collects annually from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. Before he was elected to the City Council McKeown was a paid consultant earning in the low five figure range (correct me if I'm wrong, Kevin)...
Long before developer interests took over our city, it was the 200 members of SMRR, its powerful 13 member Steering Committee, (many of whom are also feeding at the public trough), and its alliance with city employee associations, who controlled City Hall in opposition to developer interests. This coalition is no longer opposed to development and has entered into a tacit alliance with developers. I would like to know how many city employees and grant money recipients are members of Santa Monica Renters Rights, and who on the SMRR Steering Committee, past and present public officials, are receiving consultant fees? It's long past time for a voter revolution. Defeating Holbrook and O'Connor in the 2014 election will open the door to turning this city over to the residents, but that is not enough. Whoever replaces the incumbents must truly represent the interests of the resident, especially those neighborhoods, most impacted by development, which is the entire city. Now, the most effective way to truly give the citizenry a voice over special interests is to create online public forums on the City Website with free city wide WiFi, AND require public officials to respond online to questions, comments and suggestions (reached by consensus through the free exchange of ideas), telling City Hall what is relevant and important to We, the People! THAT is how to hold our public officials accountable and implement transparency in government. If City Hall does not listen to residents, it only takes a few thousand voters to elect someone who will not only listen, but implement policies that impact positively on the citizenry! Jonathan Mann
Santa Monica
310 218-6279
http://www.smartvoter.org/2012/11/06/ca/la/vote/mann_j/
