October 17, 2024
Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, surely, we can agree that democracy means residents should have a say in decisions that directly affect their local communities.
But we wondered: do the candidates running for the Santa Monica City Council feel the same way?
So, we asked Phil Brock, Oscar de la Torre, Vivian Roknian, John Putnam, Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell, and Natalya Zernitskaya if they agreed with this basic concept of local democracy.
Only four did.
Please read what we asked. Then decide. Does a candidate who won't embrace this basic democratic idea deserve your vote?
“A myriad of bills passed in Sacramento disenfranchise Santa Monica residents by eliminating a city’s ability to influence local development decisions, replacing local zoning with a Statewide, one-size-fits-all approach.
These bills combine to make it impossible for residents, acting through their city government, to have input into huge neighborhood-busting developments such as the 550-unit behemoth currently planned for the Gelson’s site at Lincoln and Ocean Park Blvds; an intersection that is already one of the worst in Santa Monica.
A campaign has been launched at the state level to qualify an initiative for the California 2026 ballot to restore residents’ ability to have a say in their local communities by returning zoning and development decisions to city governments. Would you support such an initiative? Do you think Santa Monica should have the ability to influence development decisions within its borders?”
Only four candidates agreed with this effort to restore local democracy: Phil Brock, Oscar de la Torre, Vivian Roknian, and John Putnam.
Please circulate this to your friends and neighbors and ask them to join our mailing list at www.smclc.net for election updates.
