Enough Is
   enough

   To the editor:
   This afternoon Monday, September 23, I had the opportunity to witness a situation that has become all too frequent in our community. A homeless man outside Star Liquor, the corner of Main and Bay Street, starts hurling death threats at tourists and residents walking by, attacking those in his vicinity. Eventually, he is subdued after trying to kick and bite five policemen. Support is provided by the Fire Department, two fire trucks and an ambulance.
   All paid for by our city tax dollars.
   Recently, the City Council has considered adding section 4.08.097 to the Santa Monica Municipal Code which will prohibit sitting or lying in doorways in the downtown area (3rd Street Promenade i.e. area bounded by east side of Ocean, north side of Wilshire, east side of Lincoln and up to the south side of Pico) between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
   The proposed ordinance states that this behavior leads to:
   … “Significant public health hazards”
   … “Degrades the appearance of the downtown area”
   … “Diminishes the quality of life of employees and residents who work and live there”
   … “Poses safety risks”
   The ordinance continues to state that during the last year there have been a number of very violent crimes committed by homeless people in the downtown areas. This ordinance limits the “downtown” to the community within the boundaries of Wilshire, Lincoln, Ocean and Pico i.e. the Promenade. So what this ordinance does is allow communities outside this very small area to become the receptacle of the aforementioned homeless and vagrants who by their activity have created safety risks, diminished the quality of life and committed a number of very violent crimes.
   As a longtime resident and taxpayer in the city of Santa Monica, I am tired of being held hostage by the very people our City Council purports to help.
   The Ocean Park neighborhood I live in continues to be under a state of siege with aggressive panhandling, defecating in public and individuals in various stages of intoxication sleeping or passed out in the doorways of our businesses and residences. I have watched neighbors sell their homes and move away because the homeless have made it unsafe for their children to play in their own yards. The elderly cannot go out without being accosted and every day is punctuated by some act of violence perpetrated by an individual “overserved” by our neighborhood liquor store.
   As an eighteen year veteran of the non-profit community, I am well acquainted with the homeless issue, however, I am curious why the City of Santa Monica continues to allow 22 different groups from as far away as West Covina to come to Santa Monica and feed homeless people and vagrants in our city parks. I am also curious why these groups don’t run these programs in their own communities. I, along with many others continue to watch the homeless population grow, negatively impacting businesses and residents on an ongoing basis.
   After many years, I am finally at the stage where all the efforts of the city seem to be for naught. And, I want to know how long the businesses, parents, children and community of Santa Monica will have to put up with a City Council that seems to care more about the homeless then it does about those who put them in office. Contact your elected City Council and tell them...Enough is enough.
   Anne E. Biege-Pearson
   Santa Monica

   Time to
   wake up

   To the editor:
   As a teacher, I am appalled that we cannot seem to find the resources to properly educate our youth but always can find billions to bomb people worldwide. I am saddened that our leaders are absorbed in playing corporate politics rather than providing compassionate programs to serve the people’s most basic needs and protect and preserve our Earth’s environmental balance. I am stunned that we seem unwilling to acknowledge the interconnectedness of all life as we simultaneously attempt to over-consume the world’s resources and dominate global economy to benefit the elitist one or two percent of our planet’s population.
   How can we continue to ignore the need to change the way we live, conduct business, consume energy and play politics in the face of global warming? How can we refuse to acknowledge the danger of mass annihilation with the stockpile of depraved weaponry that exists on our planet, which anyone with an airplane seems to be able to access? In the midst of these conditions how can we dare to escalate world violence indiscriminately? Have we learned nothing from Gandhi, nothing from King? As Albert Einstein said, “You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.” Yet politicians indebted to corporate campaign donors endorse wars that benefit only the oil companies and the U.S. military industrial complex, which gets rich supplying arms to all parties, profiting from conflict.
   When will the American people wake up and stop supporting this racket of ruination with our own complicity that lets it all pass with, “that’s the way it is...” Cheney and leaders of corporations like Halliburton get fat off government contracts, the CIA goes in and trains their minions from South America, to Afghanistan, to the Philippines, and then bought-off politicians decree these former patrons of corporate buddies the embodiment of evil that must be swept off the face of the earth. We invite grave karma upon ourselves by refusing to acknowledge this heinous habit we are all a party to: “you’re either a part of the solution or a part of the problem.” We have not and will not go unreciprocated for our ignorance or arrogance. I long to see the great revolutionary spirit of our nation rise up to cast out the moneychangers.
   Our country is shamefully considering pre-emptive war. People ask me, “Wouldn’t you have stopped Hitler if you could have?” The world long knew what Hitler was up to, indeed great-grandfather Bush made excessive wealth through his involvement with the Nazi economy. How little things change. No one rallied to Hitler’s first strikes of aggression because Jews were commonly demonized at that time. Now it is the Muslim world that is being vilified. Yet where is the proof of Iraq’s danger to our country? Haven’t we destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure and starved their children to death ever since Bush Sr. went into the Gulf for his oil buddies? The Bush Dynasty seemed more than willing to stoop to thievery to acquire the first election for “W.” Will we tolerate this war as his attempt to secure a warmongering Republican legislature and his reelection in 2004? God Help Us!
   Kennon B. Raines
   Hollywood

   Building
   A framework

   To the editor:
   It seems that the City of Santa Monica has begun to engage in a soul-searching discussion regarding the homeless in our community. Much of the discussion has centered on the “public feedings” held in downtown parks and largely sponsored by out-of-town groups. When faced with the issue of homelessness, most communities prefer to ignore the problem or take a hostile approach. Santa Monica’s focus on debating the best course of action for our community and attempting to assist the homeless is a testament to the good of our City’s residents and elected representatives.
   The large number of homeless currently residing within Santa Monica is not healthy for our community. There are sanitary as well as safety concerns for the community at large. In some rare cases, seriously mentally ill homeless individuals may be hidden from proper care until they exhibit threatening or destructive behavior. In almost all cases, homelessness fundamentally poses significant hazards to the homeless individuals themselves — there is danger from the elements and of violence, theft, hunger, and illness. These base conditions affect all of us, as we are all members of the same society.
   Like many Santa Monica residents, I believe we all have a humanitarian commitment to one another. This being said, how do we best assist the homeless men and women within our city? There are those who are able and eager to get off the streets permanently. For them, the solution may be services such as temporary shelter, food, and job aid, to help them get back on their feet. Some two-thirds of the over 1,000 homeless individuals in our community, however, are considered to have mental health problems, substance abuse problems or both. These individuals require more assistance than an occasional place to sleep and daily “public feedings.” Our community simply cannot bear the burden of assisting all the homeless who currently reside within our city limits, nor likely will it ever. The solution is not simply providing food without the added call for some responsibility, but the offer of help beyond mere sustenance.
   The vast majority of outdoor stand-alone food aid in Santa Monica is being distributed by out-of-town groups. While these groups’ compassion is greatly welcomed, we need more serious aid to achieve real gains. There are better ways individuals or groups could use their resources than by setting up a food line in Palisades Park and then returning home to Malibu or Manhattan Beach. There needs to be more contribution to, and improvement on, our continuum of care — as well as contributions to neighboring communities to address this regional problem. Only when aid groups actively coordinate with each other can we begin to address this serious issue.
   Santa Monica should now focus on building a framework that would enable public and private groups, from within and outside our city, to work together to accomplish more than they ever could alone. We need to take measures to move away from temporary quick fixes such as food lines, and strongly concentrate on coordinated attempts at long-term solutions.
   Brian Andrews
   Santa Monica
   Brian Andrews is a member of the Santa Monica  Social Services Commission

   People
   oppose war

   To the editor:
   I am glad that the president has evidently agreed to respect the Constitution and seek approval from Congress before deciding to go to war. There is good reason for that Constitutional requirement: we cannot successfully fight a war that we don’t want to fight. Congress represents the will of the people and will, I believe, oppose a war with Iraq because the people of the United States of America oppose it.
   Most Americans agree that Iraq’s longtime dictator, Saddam Hussein, is a bully and a murderer, but that does not distinguish him from many other dictators, many of whom this country supported when it was in our best interests to do so.
   At this moment American veterans with varying degrees of disability cannot even draw their military pensions and VA disability at the same time, without waiving their rights to one or the other. We do not want to see our country add additional veterans to the already overcrowded facilities.
   Invading Iraq would not lessen the threat of terrorism against the United States; doing so would undoubtedly actually increase it. No compelling evidence has been produced that links Iraq to the September 11 attacks, and a U.S. war against Iraq could incite stronger support for Al Qaeda across the Arab and Muslim worlds.
   I look forward to a resounding rejection by Congress of any effort to take us into a war with Iraq.
   Frances Dean Smith
   Santa Monica