TED WINTERER, COUNCIL CANDIDATE

CO-AUTHOR OF PROP T

II’m one of the co-authors of Prop T, one of the three residents who signed their names to the initiative when it was filed with the City Clerk in January and one of five citizens to sign the ballot argument in favor of T.

Why? Because in the last two decades we have added 9 million square feet of commercial development while maintaining a stable resident population – we just don’t need a lot more commercial growth in a city of our size. Commercial development generates 3-5 times the traffic of residential projects and creates an imbalance of jobs to housing, so that workers and shoppers drive into our city in the morning and out in the evening in unprecedented numbers. And one doesn’t need an advanced degree in traffic engineering to understand that more and bigger buildings means more cars on our streets.

Prop T will reduce commercial growth in Santa Monica by a modest 25% from the historic levels of the last 10 years and 40% from City Hall’s projections for the next 20 years – that’s right, our Planning Department envisions more growth, not less. It slows the increase in future traffic congestion, addresses our worsening jobs to housing imbalance and allows us to implement circulation improvements while adding fewer new cars to our streets.

Some have fretted that in the future the initiative would diminish new revenues (clearly existing revenues would not be effected in any way). That argument has been made in the past against similar slow growth measures put forth by residents, such as the ballot initiatives to stop our Pier from being demolished in favor of luxury hotels and to prevent hotels from being built on the beach north of the Pier. History has proven that despite predictions of fiscal calamity, voters approved these measures and the local economy and tax base grew robustly.

What about the LUCE revisions, the ongoing update to our blueprint for growth for the next 20 years? Doesn’t Prop T affect that plan? Absolutely not. Instead, Prop T provides the complementary throttle to pace development which is missing from the LUCE update. The International City Management Association’s Green Book states that “local growth management is a conscious government program, intended to influence the rate, amount, type, location and/or quality of future development within a local jurisdiction.” I believe the LUCE revisions thus far are exemplary in their focus on improving the quality, type and location of new development in Santa Monica. However, I am unhappy with the amount of growth, as measured by heights and densities, prescribed by the approved LUCE Strategy Framework. And I am severely disappointed the LUCE revisions do not include any sort of controls on the rate of development, such as an annual limit on new water meters, a hard cap on no new net auto trips or limits on commercial development. That’s why we need Prop T – to slow growth to measured, sustainable levels.

Most importantly, Prop T gives voters the chance to weigh in on the future of their city. We get to decide whether we want new, large traffic generating projects or if we care instead to preserve our beach town character and scale.

And as I’ve been knocking on doors in all the neighborhoods throughout our town to let folks know about my run for City Council, I’ve learned that the vast majority of Santa Monicans are deeply disturbed by City Hall’s growth policies and troubled by the changing nature of our built environment and the ensuing traffic congestion. New faces on our City Council and Prop T are the answer to these concerns.

So don’t believe the negative scare tactics promulgated by a No on T campaign funded by those who would profit from development at the expense of our quality of life.

Vote Yes on Prop T on November 4th and save our city!