(Published in Santa Monica Daily Press)
Dear Editor,
The REAL reason voters have two confusing Santa Monica Airport initiatives to decipher and contemplate is because of a bull-headed blunder on the part of four City Council members.
When Council members O’Connor, O’Day, Davis and Holbrook initially approved the Hines Project, they did so despite an avalanche of resident input urging them NOT to. These four Council members disregarded the hundreds of emails and the thoughtful testimony of countless residents at Council and Planning Commission meetings. They also approved Hines knowing full well that residents had formed Residocracy and had vowed to gather enough signatures to rescind the project if Council approved it. These four Council members essentially dared residents and Residocracy to defy them.
We all know what happened next… Residocracy gathered the signatures and the Council was FORCED to rescind Hines, which never should have been approved in the first place.
The big pro-airport money ($545,000 and growing) behind Measure D saw this as an opportunity and thought… “We’ve got a ton of money. We can do the same thing.” They paid people to gather signatures, got Measure D on the ballot, and the Council was forced to do SOMETHING and came up with Measure LC as an alternative.
Now we voters are left with two confusing airport choices because four City Council members went against the wishes of residents and tried to force Hines down our throats.
Oops.
Mayor O’Connor led the support for Hines. She also led the push to approve it, encouraged others to do likewise and went against the wishes of most residents in doing so. She bears most of the responsibility for this blunder.
Please remember it when you vote November 4th. Please also vote NO on D and Yes on LC.
Just because four Council members screwed up doesn’t mean you have to.
Thank you,
John C. Smith
Member, SM Democratic Club, Sierra Club, SMRR, and the Wilmont Executive Board
Dear Editor,
The REAL reason voters have two confusing Santa Monica Airport initiatives to decipher and contemplate is because of a bull-headed blunder on the part of four City Council members.
When Council members O’Connor, O’Day, Davis and Holbrook initially approved the Hines Project, they did so despite an avalanche of resident input urging them NOT to. These four Council members disregarded the hundreds of emails and the thoughtful testimony of countless residents at Council and Planning Commission meetings. They also approved Hines knowing full well that residents had formed Residocracy and had vowed to gather enough signatures to rescind the project if Council approved it. These four Council members essentially dared residents and Residocracy to defy them.
We all know what happened next… Residocracy gathered the signatures and the Council was FORCED to rescind Hines, which never should have been approved in the first place.
The big pro-airport money ($545,000 and growing) behind Measure D saw this as an opportunity and thought… “We’ve got a ton of money. We can do the same thing.” They paid people to gather signatures, got Measure D on the ballot, and the Council was forced to do SOMETHING and came up with Measure LC as an alternative.
Now we voters are left with two confusing airport choices because four City Council members went against the wishes of residents and tried to force Hines down our throats.
Oops.
Mayor O’Connor led the support for Hines. She also led the push to approve it, encouraged others to do likewise and went against the wishes of most residents in doing so. She bears most of the responsibility for this blunder.
Please remember it when you vote November 4th. Please also vote NO on D and Yes on LC.
Just because four Council members screwed up doesn’t mean you have to.
Thank you,
John C. Smith
Member, SM Democratic Club, Sierra Club, SMRR, and the Wilmont Executive Board
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