Council Race Picks Up Speed

Hannah Heineman
Mirror staff writer

   The November race for the three open Santa Monica City Council seats has begun to pick up some speed, with five candidates signing on for the race.
   The five include two of the three incumbent Council members, a person who is running for the second time and two brand new candidates.
   Abby Arnold, an 18-year Santa Monica resident, is making her first bid for a Council seat because she “wants to bring a perspective of a longtime resident, progressive activist and parent to the City.” She sees the City budget as a key issue. If elected, she would work to reorganize the budget in order to increase the City’s contribution to the schools on an ongoing basis.
   Another issue of significance to Arnold is “building community between those who provide City services and the community that receives them.” She believes that forging a stronger relationship between the two would assist the City to be more in tune with the community and result in improved City services.
   Arnold favors affordable housing and would like “to create more opportunities for people who work here to live here,” which she sees as a way to maintain Santa Monica’s diversity, reduce commuter air pollution and increase workers’ commitment to their jobs.
   Saying she “believes in justice,” Arnold supports the Living wage for coastal zone workers and opposes the VERITAS initiative, which calls for Council members to be elected by specified districts and direct election of the Mayor who would have veto power, and imposes term limits. She believes that dividing the City into districts would “create barriers to people thinking as a community” and she opposes giving the mayor more power as it’s “not working well in other cities.”
   Arnold, a freelance grant writer and former Director of the City’s Neighborhood Support Center, will seek Santa Monicans For Renters Rights’ (SMRR) endorsement.
   Incumbent Council member Kevin McKeown says he “had an enormously effective first term” but added that “very little gets finished in four years.” If re-elected he will continue to work for more affordable housing for the middle class and will work to streamline the City’s permit process to make it easier to build such housing.
   McKeown backs the School District’s current Strategic Planning efforts and is a proponent of increasing the parcel tax. He also spoke of “empowering the youth of our community in a meaningful way,” which he sees as a means of “developing new leadership in the community.”
   Also important to McKeown are offering tenants more protection from harassment and increasing public participation in the City planning review process. The Green Party member wants to implement the new Sustainable City guidelines in the next four years, and would like to “balance the need for parking with accessibility.” Ultimately, McKeown wants to make Santa Monica a “more livable, bikeable, walkable community.” He favors aiding the homeless, while “protecting the residents as well” with law enforcement working regionally.
   McKeown supports the Living Wage and opposes the VERITAS initiative, as he prefers having seven Council members representing each resident, and believes giving the Mayor veto power “is a way to counter voter will.”
   McKeown is a computer consultant for the School District and he is supported by SMRR.
   Incumbent Council member Pam O’Connor said she believes that “after two terms I still could help the City move forward in other areas.” One such area is mobility. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board member, she plans to continue “to work on making sure the Westside gets the resources we need to solve mobility challenges.”
   O’Connor says she brings “experience in these challenging times” to the budget process, supports the City-School District partnership, and describes herself as an advocate for “people who are living in rental housing,” as well as maintenance of the City’s parks and open spaces.
   As a member of the Task Force on the Third Street Promenade Uses she is working to find ways to “keep a sustainable downtown for all Santa Monicans.”
   Based on her previous experience, O’Connor told the Mirror that Council campaigns don’t begin in earnest until July 1, “campaign issues formulate themselves,” and she will “be responsive to the electorate’s issues.”
   She supports the living wage because she believes it is “the right thing to do as a society,” and that people who “do a day’s work should be paid fairly.” She opposes VERITAS because Santa Monica is a small city and breaking it up into districts would “run the risk of making the city too parochial,” direct election of the Mayor would make the position more “political” and the proposed mayoral veto would prevent legislation from moving forward.
   A historic preservationist by vocation, O’Connor is supported by SMRR.
   Peace activist Jerry Rubin made his first run for the Council in 2000. Saddened that the “state has weakened rent control,” he says he will do whatever he can “to support renters.” He also favors the development of City policies to prevent all businesses in Santa Monica from becoming “chain stores.”
   Devising solutions for homelessness is “one of the most difficult issues” the City faces, Rubin says. He supports “positive, workable, compassionate, responsible solutions” and believes the City should appoint “another homeless task force” to help develop new policies.
   Rubin sees Santa Monica College’s proposed Madison Theater as a “great opportunity to provide education in the form of theater, art, music and performance for young people” and, if elected, he will encourage the College to be sensitive to the surrounding neighbors’ concerns.
   Support of city youth through increased funding of local schools is high on his list of priorities, as is the creation of a Youth Commission to “allow young people who are not yet old enough to vote to have ongoing input to the City Council.” He also supports the development of more open space for the City and providing aides to Council members.
   Rubin backs the Living Wage, as he believes it will relieve the social service rolls and give workers “more buying power,” and opposes VERITAS because he prefers that “all Council members to have equal power,” and doesn’t want a Mayor to have the authority “to veto a democratically-decided upon decision.”
   Rubin will not accept campaign donations, but will seek endorsements by groups and volunteers.
   Pro Se, the other newcomer to the Council race, was motivated by “outrage from September 11,” which made him want to do more for the community. He hopes to “inspire others to be more patriotic as an elected official.” If elected, he will see that “Santa Monica residents, businesses and schools come first no matter what the issue.”
   Se supports “the rights of property owners,” wants to ensure that laws pertaining to people with disabilities are properly enforced and wants the City to develop an emergency registry for people with disabilities.
   A supporter of affordable housing, Se believes Santa Monica residents who lost their homes due to the Ellis act, toxic mold or the 1994 Northridge earthquake should be given priority on new affordable units. He believes that the homeless should be called the “unhoused,” and that “those who want to be housed should be housed” and assisted with long-term maintenance programs.
Se said, “our City (should) become a no kill City,” by forbidding the killing of unwanted pets. He would back building code “measures to prevent the growth of toxic molds,” and, believing “public safety should have precedence over the environment,” wants the City to “rethink its environmental concerns.”
   He backs on-going support for the schools and the Living Wage, and “feels it is in the best interest of the community to have it on the ballot.” He also backs the VERITAS initiative because he believes districting will help “areas of the City that are presently under represented be represented.”