Written Comments — Santa Monica City Council, February 22, 2022

1 Vernice Hankins
From: Grayson Peters <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 5:20 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13(G): OPPOSE (2/22/22)

EXTERNAL
Dear Councilmembers,
I write in strong opposition to Item 13(G) ‐‐ the possible removal of Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission ‐‐ on your agenda for February 22nd.

Leonora is a committed and experienced housing advocate, and Santa Monica is lucky to have her voice on the Commission. Santa Monica has a rent burden of around 50%. Removing a proponent of zoning reform and housing development will not make this problem go away. It will make the problem worse.

I would strongly advise you to instead focus on making your City's Housing Element comply with state law.

Sincerely,
Grayson Peters
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jose Trinidad Castaneda <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 5:52 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Re: Stop the Housing Commission Removal of Commissioner Camner

EXTERNAL
Dear Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council,
I am disheartened to hear regarding the Santa Monica Housing Commission's intent to remove Commissioner Leonora Camner from the board regarding her position in favor of housing projects. As a former Planning Commissioner, I have never heard of such malcontempt from commissioners that would go out of their way to remove a colleague based on their own biases.

Please put a stop to this.

Thank you,
Jose Trinidad Castaneda
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Theo Marshall <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 5:51 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Hello,
Thank you for your time and service.

As a voting member of this community I would like to know the reasons for removing Leonora Camner from the housing commission. This is a terrible look and something that deserves explanation to the community.

Do you plan on only having Landlords on your housing committee. This smells scandalous.

I look forward to your response.

Thank you,
Theo Marshall
Sent from my iPhone
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3 Vernice Hankins
From: Tyler Koke <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 5:48 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Removal of Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica City Council,
I recently heard about a request to remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner. Leonora has done nothing wrong and is one of the most passionate housing advocates in all of Santa Monica, if not all of Los Angeles county. She doesn’t deserve this treatment. Constituents need and respect her voice. This is ridiculous.

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4 Vernice Hankins
From: Mike <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 5:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Do not silence Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Leonora Camner has done nothing wrong. If you don't like her, don't vote for her next time she's up for reappointment.

But to kick her off during the middle of her term is an egregious abuse of power.

Brock, de la Torre, and Parra have made a mockery of local government. This is deeply shameful, and deeply embarrassing for Santa Monica.

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5 Vernice Hankins
From: Brian Kohan <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 5:25 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Strongly disapprove of the firing of Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Most every social and environmental problem our state faces has its roots in the shortage of available housing in the areas where it's needed. That the council would be so short sighted and mean spirited to dismiss one of the most dedicated advocates for real solutions to this problem is unacceptable.

Please stop being part of the problem.

Brian Kohan
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jacob Pierce <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 7:00 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13g: Allow Leonora Camner to Continue to Serve on the Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Hello,
My name is Jacob, and I'm a government analyst and a native resident of LA County.

I wanted to thank Leonora Camner, a tireless voice for affordability in our region, for her leadership on the Housing Commission. I know that some elected officials may not always agree with Ms. Camner, but she is a voice for equity in a community with 900+ people experiencing homelessness and where two‐bedroom apartments routinely go for $3,000.

She does this, despite getting bullied by members of the community.

A month ago, Leonora was called a misogynistic slur at a Housing Commission meeting by someone in attendance. I hope that you won't give in to that kind of bullying, but rather that you stand up to it.

Please vote no on Item 13G and allow her to continue Leonora service to the city of Santa Monica.

Thank you,
Jacob Pierce
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Sidharth Kapur <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 6:44 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Please keep Leonora on the Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Hi,
I'm an Oakland resident and volunteer with the statewide Campaign for Fair Housing Elements.

Please allow Leonora Camner to continue serving on the Santa Monica Housing Commission. As executive director of Abundant Housing Los Angeles, Leonora has done amazing work to advocate for equitable housing policy and hold cities accountable throughout the Los Angeles region.

If you were not aware, Santa Monica is out of compliance with state housing element law. If you would like to avoid paying massive fines to the state, you should do everything possible to elevate commissioners who are experienced in housing element law and who would support policies that would bring the city into compliance. The proposed item does the opposite.

Thank you,
Sidharth Kapur
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3 Vernice Hankins
From: Ryan Olson <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 6:26 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: I strongly oppose Leonora Camner's removal from the Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
I'm writing today in strong opposition to motion 13G, a motion to remove Leonora Camner from Santa Monica's housing commission. I believe that the housing crisis is the single most important issue facing us. Leonora is a powerful voice in support of action to address the housing crisis, and I strongly oppose her removal from the housing commission. I urge the council to reject 13G.

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4 Vernice Hankins
From: Greg Chasen <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 6:20 PM
To: councilmtgitems

EXTERNAL
Keep Leonora camber on the housing commission. Sm resident here ‐ We need more housing and less cars! Item 13.G
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5 Vernice Hankins
From: DiaryofTieira Ryder <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 6:12 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Housing Elements@HCD; [email protected]
Subject: Opposing item 13G

EXTERNAL
Hello,
I’m writing today to oppose item 13G on the council agenda dated 02/22/22; the removal of Leonora Cramer from her current position on the housing commission.

Leonora is a wonderful progressive housing advocate and we need more people like her holding positions on city councils and commissions. The attempt to remove Leonora is a coordinated NIMBY attack to remove progressive housing advocates from positions they hold, so that NIMBYs that have been illegally segregating as it relates to race & class, can maintain a position of power and authority over the current housing market! The NIMBYs are the biggest reason for the housing crisis that we see today!
In this current moment, the attention and focus for Santa Monica City officials should be on the state housing element that was just rejected for non‐compliance. Instead of removing Leonora from her position, the council should be asking her & other advocates how they can help bring the housing element into compliance! Removing Leonora from her position is unjust to the Democracy that we are all supposed to be committed to! To HCD and the state Attorney General Rob Bonta, please step in and help advocates capture public land in Santa Monica & other parts of LA, so that we can build the housing that was needed over 10 years ago. The city that has been upholding illegal segregation as it relates to race and class, is now attempting to remove a progressive housing advocate from their position on the planning commission and that cannot be allowed! 911*********IT’S AN EMERGENCYᦙᦚᦛᦜ ᎘᎙᎚!
Best,
Tieira
https://htwws.org/santamonicaairport/
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jessica Bues <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 7:27 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Bring Back Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Hello,
I live and work in Santa Monica and writing to ask you to reinstate Leonora Camner to her role on the housing commission.

The city needs pro‐growth advocates and purging people like Leonora in order to satisfy a small, privileged, and vocal few is deeply undemocratic and serves to fuel further climate degradation and racial injustice.

Have you no shame?
‐‐
Jessica Bues
323‐422‐5747
jessicabues.com
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Tucker Forbes <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 7:21 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Rehire Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Hello,
I am a Santa Monica resident (1113 Bay St) writing to express my deep frustration and anger that you have dismissed Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission.

The city needs pro‐growth housing advocates that represent the needs of residents who live, work, and pay taxes in this great city.

Please reinstate her.

Thank you.,
Tucker Forbes
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3 Vernice Hankins
From: Jacob Sloop <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 1:37 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Lenora Cranmer

EXTERNAL
Dear Council,
Please do not remove Lenora, that would be disgraceful and insane. We need housing and fighting her is not the solution.

Jack
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4 Vernice Hankins
From: Robert Gonzalez <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 10:12 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: We Need Housing

EXTERNAL
Hello,
I strongly oppose the effort to kick off Leonora Camner off of the Housing Commission.

Thank you
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5 Vernice Hankins
From: Jesse Zwick <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 8:53 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
I’m writing to express my shock and disappointment at the Santa Monica city council’s dismissal of Leonora Camner as a housing commissioner.

She is a principled advocate for housing affordability in a city that desperately lacks affordable housing options.

While this action is cruel and unusual it is sadly not at all unexpected from a council that has thus far deliberately shirked their duty to adequately plan for affordable housing in Santa Monica and turned in housing element so pathetically cynical and substandard so as to be immediately rejected by the state.

Jesse Zwick
Santa Monica resident
Sent from my iPhone
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6 Vernice Hankins
From: Salim Damerdji <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 8:12 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Housing Commissioner

EXTERNAL
Hi,
Removing a pro‐housing planning commissioner like Leonora will make it much harder for your housing element to be approved.

Regards,
Salim
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7 Vernice Hankins
From: Brandon Chamberlin <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 8:06 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Don’t fire Leonora

EXTERNAL
Sent from my iPhone
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 7:47 AM
To: councilmtgitems

EXTERNAL
What are you doing kicking out an elected representative with no say from the voters?! Item 13.G
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Brian Henry <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 9:09 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Housing

EXTERNAL
More housing please.

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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Adam Buchbinder <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 3:08 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Public Comment, February 22, 2020, Item 13.G.

EXTERNAL
I urge the City Council to retain Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner, rather than removing her from the Housing Commission.

This appears to be an act of retaliation: Santa Monica's Housing Element was recently rejected by the state, and Ms.

Camner is the Executive Director of Abundant Housing LA, which commented on that Housing Element. This would produce a problematic chilling effect: I'm a lead with my local pro‐housing group and I'm on my local Planning Commission. Does the Santa Monica City Council believe that to be disqualifying? Is the intent to discourage anyone with pro‐housing beliefs from getting involved?
This is not only petty and craven, it misses the point. Ms. Camner is not the cause of Santa Monica's woes. Indeed, she's put a great deal of time and effort into addressing those problems. She's telling you that Santa Monica has done a very poor job on housing, and trying to improve matters. Firing her is shooting the messenger.

If the City Council is unhappy about HCD's ruling, they have only their own decisions to blame. I understand that this year's Housing Element is particularly rigorous‐‐my own city is going through the same process. I understand the desire to blame the people who pointed out your shortcomings. But if the city is going to succeed, it must focus its attention on its actual problems, not the people pointing out those problems.

Ms. Camner has done nothing wrong. She has done everything she can to help the people and the city of Santa Monica.

Please vote against this item. Thank you for your time.

Adam Buchbinder
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Graham Rigby <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2022 12:43 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13(G): OPPOSE (2/22/22)

EXTERNAL
Dear members of the City Council,
I am writing to strongly urge a no vote on Item 13(G) on your agenda for this Tuesday, February 22nd.

Leonora Camner is an extraordinarily dedicated and talented member of the Housing Commission who knows these issues inside and out. She is literally an affordable housing advocate. She is one of the strongest voices that renters like myself have on the commission. Removing her from the Housing Commission would be a surefire way to make this city's housing affordability crisis worse than it already is.

I can only conclude that this is a wrongheaded political hatchet‐job being perpetrated by a few Councilmembers who are strongly opposed to making housing in our city affordable, but won't admit it in public.

Please vote no on Item 13(G).

Thank you,
~Graham
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Susan Shaughnessy <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 12:58 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: RE: Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Dear Council members,
It’s seems very wrong to be kicked off the housing commission for advocating housing for those in need. Isn’t that what a housing commission is for? I would hope you would reconsider this action and reinstate Leonora Camner. Her voice is vital and needed.

Thank you,
Susan Shaughnessy
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Danielle Charney <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 12:27 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; Kristin McCowan
Cc: Clerk Mailbox; David White
Subject: Item 13-G..Remove Leonora Camner from Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Ms. Camner needs to be removed ..she should never have been appointed. She has serious conflict of interest, is the executive director and a lobbyist for Abundant Housing. She has worked, along with those who intended to destroy this state, Scott Weiner for one..to increase our SCAG allotment from 5000 units to 9000. She has no information or care for our problems with infrastructure, water or traffic.

We need to research who people really are before we appoint them to positions where they intend only to promote their own agenda with no regard for any of the issues our city faces..Don't let Scott Wiener or any of this crowd do any more damage to our City by installing their voices to key positions.

Please remove her.

Thank you,
Danielle Charney
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Elizabeth Lerer <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 2:22 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: David White; Attorney Mailbox
Subject: Item 13-G Support Removing Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,
Please vote to remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner.

As a matter of policy, good governance, and of principle, lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. If Leonora Camner is paid for her work at Abundant Housing, serving on a commission is a clear conflict of interest.

Paid lobbyists have no business serving on city commissions. With the corrosive role of money in American politics, the deck is already stacked enough against the residents.

Please vote to remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner.

Thank you,
Elizabeth Lerer
Resident of Santa Monica
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 6:44 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Christine Parra; Gleam Davis; Kristin McCowan; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Sue Himmelrich; David White; [email protected]; Susan Cline; Anuj Gupta Cc: [email protected]
Subject: City Council 2/22/22 item 3-G: Remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission - Do not reward attempted intimidation of Council members

EXTERNAL
February 21, 2022

From: Zina Josephs
To: Mayor Himmelrich and City Council members
RE: 2/22/22 agenda item 3-G

G. Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least five affirmative votes), and to thank her for her previous service to the Santa Monica Housing Commission. With the removal, authorize the City Clerk to publish the vacancy.

I support the removal of Leonora Camner from the city's Housing Commission.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on our Boards and Commissions, whether or not they're registered as lobbyists with the City of Santa Monica.

I also question the tactics of some of Ms. Camner's supporters in trying to bully Council members into keeping her on the Commission (see below).

Opinion: “The Martyrdom of Leonora Camner” – John Mirisch 2/20/22 – City Watch.
https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/guest-words/23883-the-martyrdom-of-leonora-camner

“From WIMBY elected officials in other cities to urban supremacist UC professors, WIMBY Twitterers expressed shock and outrage, while issuing a call to action: their comrades and coreligionists should raise holy hell, by calling and sending emails to the obnoxious Nimby councilmembers who were looking to depose Camner at their next council meeting on Tuesday, February 22, just because she “advocates for housing.” Aaron Green, the president of the Afriat lobbying firm, which has built its business on getting cities to hand out massive quantities of FSD (Free Shit for Developers) sent out a Twitter SOS: “Attention readers! Please flood Santa Monica’s council inbox with your dissatisfaction.”

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2 Another supporter seemed to make a threat straight from the Trumpian playbook of vengeance and retribution:
“It’d be a shame if some very bad and compromising information were to surface on those trying to oust you….”
Camner’s supporters undoubtedly know that she is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group with the name “Abundant Housing LA,” whose funding is shady, but whose goal is clearly to force density and growth upon cities, to eliminate single-family homes, and to make single-family neighborhoods themselves illegal….

And yet if Camner really were an advocate for housing – housing for people, that is, rather than housing as an investment vehicle for private equity, investment funds, global capital, Wall St. and money launderers -- she would support and actively advocate for robust anti-speculation housing policies, policies that put people over profits. It should hardly be surprising that Abundant Housing LA’s efforts all fit squarely into the mainstream neoliberal WIMBY orthodoxy that has forced density and forced growth as its core articles of faith.

In other words, Camner could not possibly advocate for the decommodification of housing or housing policy within the context of the steady state economy without alienating her growth-addict funders. Here St. Leonora is at odds with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Greta once famously remarked: “Our environment is being sacrificed for the opportunity for a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money….We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth.” For all the moral outrage of Camner’s growth-junkie supporters, as well as the martyrdom she seems intent upon staging, the Santa Monica City Council, if they can withstand the onslaught from the WIMBY mob, would be completely justified in removing her from the commission. In fact, they would be correcting a mistake that never should have happened in the first place.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. The disqualification should be automatic, obvious, and non-negotiable for anyone who cares about ethics and who, notwithstanding SCOTUS, wants to create a level playing field…. Removing a paid lobbyist from a city commission is a matter of ethics, transparency, good government, and sensible policy.

As the paid Executive Director of an Urban Growth Machine funded advocacy group attempting to influence city policy, Leonora Camner never had any business serving on a city commission, any commission, let alone one whose function was and is to recommend policies that benefit the entire Santa Monica community, not just the organization she is paid by. It is a clear and complete conflict of interest….

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3 Neither has Camner ever publicly revealed her own compensation as the Executive Director of a lobbying group nor the funding sources of “Abundant Housing,” beyond the sketchy and opaque forms required by the federal government.

Aside from the ethical problems with paid lobbyists serving as city commissioners, we need stronger disclosure laws about those being paid to influence public policy. Groups like Abundant Housing LA should have to reveal their funding sources in a detailed and direct fashion. Disclosure shouldn’t require people to be experts at peeling onions. And Leonora Camner should, commissioner or not, disclose her compensation if she ever attempts to influence Santa Monica’s public policy in her capacity as a paid executive of a lobbying organization.

Clearly, she already has attempted to influence Santa Monica’s policy so there are two key questions that remain to be answered:

What is Leonora Camner’s compensation as the Executive Director of “Abundant Housing”? What are the detailed, individual funding sources of “Abundant Housing,” which at one point had over a million dollars in the bank? If they come from other organizations, then just who and where do those funds come from? If, for whatever reason, the Santa Monica City Council fails to correct an ethical mistake that should have never happened in the first place, and Leonora Camner, despite her unresolvable conflict of interest, is allowed to remain on the commission, one is going to have to wonder if the mafia methods suggested by her Twitter goon supporters may have actually worked….”
(John Mirisch has served on the Beverly Hills City Council since 2009, including three terms as mayor. During his first term as mayor, he created the city’s Sunshine Task Force to increase transparency and public participation in local government. He is currently a garden-variety councilmember.) Item 13.G
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Sherry Martini <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 8:21 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Christine Parra
Subject: Re: Saw this on Facebook. Don't know John Mirisch, but thought it was a good counter read to all the boilerplate emails I understand you've been receiving.

EXTERNAL
And here's the email text from action network after signing Leonora letter. Boy do I miss good old fashioned letter writing.

Sherry ,
Thanks for writing a letter. Now, can you spread the word to keep up our momentum? Click here to share this letter campaign on Facebook.

Click here to share this letter campaign on Twitter.

Or you can send your friends this link: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/send-an-email-insupport-of-housing-commissioner-leonora-camner?source=direct_link& Or copy and paste the email below.

Thanks!
Housing Action Coalition
Copy and paste this email to friends to spread the word:

Subject: Send a letter: Send an email in support of Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner Body:

Friend,
I wrote a letter for the Action Network letter campaign: Send an email in support of Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner.

On Tuesday, February 22th, the Santa Monica City Council will vote on a retaliation item: to remove housing advocate Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission. The City of Santa Monica has already had their Housing Element rejected by the California Item 13.G
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2 Department of Housing and Community Development and the unprecedented move by Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre is another strong statement from an increasingly anti-housing beach city. Ms. Camner is a housing advocate who works for Abundant Housing Los Angeles and her advocacy experience is needed on the Santa Monica Housing Commission. On the next page, you can send an email to the Santa Monica City Council to tell them to reject this blatant political move and vote no on the anti-housing power grab.

Can you join me and write a letter? Click here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/send-an-emailin-support-of-housing-commissioner-leonora-camner?source=email& Thanks!
On Monday, February 21, 2022, 08:18:12 PM PST, Sherry Martini <[email protected]> wrote:

So I signed up for action network just to see how the boilerplate letter for Leonra is sent. You type in your name, zip code and email. Then you go to next page and pre-written letter pops up. I clicked send. Not sure what email will show up for me to Councilmembers (I signed up from both my emails -- a yahoo account and an aol account). I did not receive a copy in my inbox.

Here's the link if you are curious:

Send an email in support of Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner Send an email in support of Housing Commissioner
Leonora Camner
Action Network
On Tuesday, February 22th, the Santa Monica City Council will vote on a retaliation item: to remove housing advo...

On Monday, February 21, 2022, 07:58:19 PM PST, Sherry Martini <[email protected]> wrote:

Saw this on Facebook. Don't know John Mirisch, but thought it was a good counter read to all the boilerplate emails I understand you've been receiving. I DO NOT support asking Leonora Camner to leave ‐‐ I'd just like her to answer some questions about funding from Abundant Housing, for which she is Executive Director (specifically the questions about funding from tech related companies or funding by organizations that are supported by tech), and why she believes building more and more Item 13.G
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3 luxury "market rate" housing in specifically Santa Monica will cure the housing crisis. We've seen massive amounts of luxury "market rate" go up since she worked on the No on LV campaign, and things have become far, far worse here. I'd just like her to speak to these issues.

As to Mr. Mirisch's comments, I think they are powerful. I saw on Twitter folks who can't possibly know anything about Santa Monica City Council Members, save for what they've read posted by others, post really hateful things and no one was looking for facts. It reminded me of how so many signatures were gathered to demand the ouster of our Police Chief ‐‐ mostly signed by folks who don't live here and did know have the full story. It's cancel culture. That's why I don't support ousting Leonora. I've tried to ask hard questions, because the fate of our fair city and it's unhoused and those who are barely staying housed is at stake. And I'd just like some fact based, non dogmatic, answers. I'm willing to try to listen, but I hope she will also listen.

JOHN MIRISCH 20 FEBRUARY 2022
COMMENTARY - On Friday, February 18, Santa Monica city housing commissioner, Leonora Camner, ruefully announced on Twitter: “Getting kicked off the housing commission because I advocate for housing.” This unleashed a veritable shitstorm of sympathy, support, and rage from the Twitterverse’s WIMBY clerisy towards her antagonists.

From WIMBY elected officials in other cities to urban supremacist UC professors, WIMBY Twitterers expressed shock and outrage, while issuing a call to action: their comrades and coreligionists should raise holy hell, by calling and sending emails to the obnoxious Nimby councilmembers who were looking to depose Camner at their next council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 22, just because she “advocates for housing.” Aaron Green, the president of the Afriat lobbying firm, which has built its business on getting cities to hand out massive quantities of FSD (Free Shit for Developers) sent out a Twitter SOS: “Attention readers! Please flood Santa Monica’s council inbox with your dissatisfaction.” Another supporter seemed to make a threat straight from the Trumpian playbook of vengeance and retribution: “It’d be a shame if some very bad and compromising information were to surface on those trying to oust you.” Imagine that! A housing commissioner getting the boot because she “advocates for housing.” The injustice, indignity, and unfairness of it all. And the dozens upon dozens in the WIMBY choir who responded to Leonora Camner’s call for martyrdom were nothing, if not proof that the evil Santa Monica councilmembers were intent upon removing this indomitable force for housing from Santa Monica’s housing commission.

Camner’s supporters undoubtedly know that she is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group with the name “Abundant Housing LA,” whose funding is shady, but whose goal is clearly to force density and growth upon cities, to eliminate single-family homes, and to make single-family neighborhoods themselves illegal.

With all the usual false WIMBY narratives, which craftily invoke the language of affordability, equity, and the environment in an effort to promote perpetual growth, Abundant Housing LA employs all the same, tired false narratives we are regularly served up WIMBY groups such as “Up for Growth” (one of Leonora Camner’s avid Twitter followers).

Here St. Leonora is at odds with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

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4 Greta once famously remarked: “Our environment is being sacrificed for the opportunity for a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money.” No, Greta wasn’t talking about people from all walks of life who like living in a home with a garden in a neighborhood of homes with gardens. She was talking about the major WIMBY funders and the corporate interests behind groups like “Up for Growth,” as she made clear in her searing indictment in front of the UN:
“We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”
For all the moral outrage of Camner’s growth-junkie supporters, as well as the martyrdom she seems intent upon staging, the Santa Monica City Council, if they can withstand the onslaught from the WIMBY mob, would be completely justified in removing her from the commission. In fact, they would be correcting a mistake that never should have happened in the first place.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. The disqualification should be automatic, obvious, and non-negotiable for anyone who cares about ethics and who, notwithstanding SCOTUS, wants to create a level playing field. Especially in a country in which money is speech and corporations are people. Especially in a country in which money is not only the “mother’s milk of politics,” it is also the antidemocratic toxin that has completely corrupted our system and turned us into a plutocracy, which, if we are not careful, will morph into a dystopian neofeudal future in which corporations and oligarchs will do all they can to perpetuate the illusion of democracy, long after it has vanished from the real world.

Removing a paid lobbyist from a city commission is a matter of ethics, transparency, good government, and sensible policy.

Even in full knowledge of all of these facts, it hardly surprises me that the WIMBY Twitterverse couldn’t give a hoot about such niceties as ethics or transparency. As their behavior demonstrates time and time again, these values aren’t exactly high on the WIMBY Maslow scale, which is all about growth, upzoning, build baby build, and a list of grievances, many of which likely originate in unhappy childhoods in suburbia.

For all her whining, it seems that Camner herself is not really a huge fan of transparency or public participation, at least if the public participation allows anyone to be critical of her pro-developer, anti-resident agenda. At Thursday’s housing commission meeting, Camner blocked public comment at the beginning of the meeting, forcing those members of the public seeking to give input to wait two and a half hours until the end of the meeting. (For the record, there should always be at least a reasonable amount of public comment at the beginning of every meeting – yes, that goes for the Council, as well).

Neither has Camner ever publicly revealed her own compensation as the Executive Director of a lobbying group nor the funding sources of “Abundant Housing,” beyond the sketchy and opaque forms required by the federal government.

What is Leonora Camner’s compensation as the Executive Director of “Abundant Housing”? Item 13.G
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5 What are the detailed, individual funding sources of “Abundant Housing,” which at one point had over a million dollars in the bank? If they come from other organizations, then just who and where do those funds come from?
If, for whatever reason, the Santa Monica City Council fails to correct an ethical mistake that should have never happened in the first place, and Leonora Camner, despite her unresolvable conflict of interest, is allowed to remain on the commission, one is going to have to wonder if the mafia methods suggested by her Twitter goon supporters may have actually worked.

It just is another example that proves there are seemingly no lengths to which the Urban Growth Machine won’t go in their efforts to commodify our communities in the pursuit of eternal economic growth and developer profits.

The good news is that there may still be a place in the sanctified pantheon for Camner. It seems St. Joseph is already considered to be the patron saint of Real Estate. Move on over St. Joe, here comes Saint Leonora, the newly minted patron saint of the Urban Growth Machine, the financialization of housing, and developer profiteering.
(John Mirisch has served on the Beverly Hills City Council since 2009, including three terms as mayor. During his first term as mayor, he created the city’s Sunshine Task Force to increase transparency and public participation in local government. He is currently a garden‐variety councilmember.) Item 13.G
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6 Vernice Hankins
From: Sherry Martini <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 8:18 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Christine Parra
Subject: Re: Saw this on Facebook. Don't know John Mirisch, but thought it was a good counter read to all the boilerplate emails I understand you've been receiving.

EXTERNAL
So I signed up for action network just to see how the boilerplate letter for Leonra is sent. You type in your name, zip code and email. Then you go to next page and pre-written letter pops up. I clicked send. Not sure what email will show up for me to Councilmembers (I signed up from both my emails -- a yahoo account and an aol account). I did not receive a copy in my inbox.

Here's the link if you are curious:

On Monday, February 21, 2022, 07:58:19 PM PST, Sherry Martini <[email protected]> wrote:

Saw this on Facebook. Don't know John Mirisch, but thought it was a good counter read to all the boilerplate emails I understand you've been receiving. I DO NOT support asking Leonora Camner to leave ‐‐ I'd just like her to answer some questions about funding from Abundant Housing, for which she is Executive Director (specifically the questions about funding from tech related companies or funding by organizations that are supported by tech), and why she believes building more and more luxury "market rate" housing in specifically Santa Monica will cure the housing crisis. We've seen massive amounts of luxury "market rate" go up since she worked on the No on LV campaign, and things have become far, far worse here. I'd just like her to speak to these issues.

As to Mr. Mirisch's comments, I think they are powerful. I saw on Twitter folks who can't possibly know anything about Santa Monica City Council Members, save for what they've read posted by others, post really hateful things and no one was looking for facts. It reminded me of how so many signatures were gathered to demand the ouster of our Police Chief ‐‐ mostly signed by folks who don't live here and did know have the full story. It's cancel culture. That's why I don't support ousting Leonora. I've tried to ask hard questions, because the fate of our fair city and it's unhoused and those who are Item 13.G
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7 barely staying housed is at stake. And I'd just like some fact based, non dogmatic, answers. I'm willing to try to listen, but I hope she will also listen.

Here St. Leonora is at odds with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Greta once famously remarked: “Our environment is being sacrificed for the opportunity for a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money.” No, Greta wasn’t talking about people from all walks of life who like living in a home with a garden in a neighborhood of homes with gardens. She was talking about the major WIMBY funders and the corporate interests behind groups like “Up for Growth,” as she made clear in her searing indictment in front of the UN:
“We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”
For all the moral outrage of Camner’s growth-junkie supporters, as well as the martyrdom she seems intent upon staging, the Santa Monica City Council, if they can withstand the onslaught from the WIMBY mob, would Item 13.G
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8 be completely justified in removing her from the commission. In fact, they would be correcting a mistake that never should have happened in the first place.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. The disqualification should be automatic, obvious, and non-negotiable for anyone who cares about ethics and who, notwithstanding SCOTUS, wants to create a level playing field. Especially in a country in which money is speech and corporations are people. Especially in a country in which money is not only the “mother’s milk of politics,” it is also the antidemocratic toxin that has completely corrupted our system and turned us into a plutocracy, which, if we are not careful, will morph into a dystopian neofeudal future in which corporations and oligarchs will do all they can to perpetuate the illusion of democracy, long after it has vanished from the real world.

Removing a paid lobbyist from a city commission is a matter of ethics, transparency, good government, and sensible policy.

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9 The good news is that there may still be a place in the sanctified pantheon for Camner. It seems St. Joseph is already considered to be the patron saint of Real Estate. Move on over St. Joe, here comes Saint Leonora, the newly minted patron saint of the Urban Growth Machine, the financialization of housing, and developer profiteering.
(John Mirisch has served on the Beverly Hills City Council since 2009, including three terms as mayor. During his first term as mayor, he created the city’s Sunshine Task Force to increase transparency and public participation in local government. He is currently a garden‐variety councilmember.) Item 13.G
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10 Vernice Hankins
From: Sherry Martini <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 7:58 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Saw this on Facebook. Don't know John Mirisch, but thought it was a good counter read to all the boilerplate emails I understand you've been receiving.

EXTERNAL
Saw this on Facebook. Don't know John Mirisch, but thought it was a good counter read to all the boilerplate emails I understand you've been receiving. I DO NOT support asking Leonora Camner to leave ‐‐ I'd just like her to answer some questions about funding from Abundant Housing, for which she is Executive Director (specifically the questions about funding from tech related companies or funding by organizations that are supported by tech), and why she believes building more and more luxury "market rate" housing in specifically Santa Monica will cure the housing crisis. We've seen massive amounts of luxury "market rate" go up since she worked on the No on LV campaign, and things have become far, far worse here. I'd just like her to speak to these issues.

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11 Camner’s supporters undoubtedly know that she is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group with the name “Abundant Housing LA,” whose funding is shady, but whose goal is clearly to force density and growth upon cities, to eliminate single-family homes, and to make single-family neighborhoods themselves illegal.

Here St. Leonora is at odds with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Greta once famously remarked: “Our environment is being sacrificed for the opportunity for a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money.” No, Greta wasn’t talking about people from all walks of life who like living in a home with a garden in a neighborhood of homes with gardens. She was talking about the major WIMBY funders and the corporate interests behind groups like “Up for Growth,” as she made clear in her searing indictment in front of the UN:
“We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”
For all the moral outrage of Camner’s growth-junkie supporters, as well as the martyrdom she seems intent upon staging, the Santa Monica City Council, if they can withstand the onslaught from the WIMBY mob, would be completely justified in removing her from the commission. In fact, they would be correcting a mistake that never should have happened in the first place.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. The disqualification should be automatic, obvious, and non-negotiable for anyone who cares about ethics and who, notwithstanding SCOTUS, wants to create a level playing field. Especially in a country in which money is speech and corporations are people. Especially in a country in which money is not only the “mother’s milk of politics,” it is also the antidemocratic toxin that has completely corrupted our system and turned us into a plutocracy, which, if we are not careful, will morph into a dystopian neofeudal future in which corporations and oligarchs will do all they can to perpetuate the illusion of democracy, long after it has vanished from the real world.

Removing a paid lobbyist from a city commission is a matter of ethics, transparency, good government, and sensible policy.

For all her whining, it seems that Camner herself is not really a huge fan of transparency or public participation, at least if the public participation allows anyone to be critical of her pro-developer, anti-resident agenda. At Thursday’s housing commission meeting, Camner blocked public comment at the beginning of the Item 13.G
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12 meeting, forcing those members of the public seeking to give input to wait two and a half hours until the end of the meeting. (For the record, there should always be at least a reasonable amount of public comment at the beginning of every meeting – yes, that goes for the Council, as well).

The good news is that there may still be a place in the sanctified pantheon for Camner. It seems St. Joseph is already considered to be the patron saint of Real Estate. Move on over St. Joe, here comes Saint Leonora, the newly minted patron saint of the Urban Growth Machine, the financialization of housing, and developer profiteering.
(John Mirisch has served on the Beverly Hills City Council since 2009, including three terms as mayor. During his first term as mayor, he created the city’s Sunshine Task Force to increase transparency and public participation in local government. He is currently a garden‐variety councilmember.) Item 13.G
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13 Vernice Hankins
From: Ann Hoover <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 7:56 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox
Cc: David White; Susan Cline
Subject: February 22, 2022 City Council Meeting - Item 13.G. - Removal of Leonora Camner from Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Himmelrich and Esteemed Councilmembers --
This says it all: https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/guest-words/23883-the-martyrdom-of-leonora-camner Please remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission. As we've all known for months & months, she is a paid lobbyist for an organization with non-transparent funding. As such, she is unconscionably conflicted and never should have been appointed to the Commission in the first place.

Thank you -
Ann Hoover
Santa Monica resident, 26 years
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From: Tricia Crane <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 9:08 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; [email protected]; Santa Monica City Manager's Office Subject: Fwd: Support for the Removal of Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission - Agenda Item 13.G, Feb. 22, 2022

EXTERNAL
From: Tricia Crane
To: Santa Monica City Council
Re: Agenda Item 13.G - Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least five affirmative votes), and to thank her for her previous service to the Santa Monica Housing Commission. With the removal, authorize the City Clerk to publish the vacancy.

Feb. 22, 2022
Dear City Council,
Leonora Camner should be removed from the Santa Monica Housing Commission.

I have attended meetings of Abundant Housing L.A. and the Santa Monica Housing Commission and it has become clear to me that Leonora Camner is not acting in the interest of Santa Monica and she should be removed from the Housing Commission as proposed in Agenda Item 13.G.

Camner is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group (AHLA). She commonly bullies fellow Housing commissioners and insults community members speaking in Public Comment and exhibits the kind of behavior described in the Citywatch article “The Martyrdom of Leonora Camner” by Beverly Hills Council member John Mirisch.

Camner’s goal has long been, as Mirisch puts it: “to force density and growth upon cities, to eliminate single-family homes, and to make single-family neighborhoods themselves illegal.” I thank the Council members who have proposed the removal of Camner and urge a unanimous vote in support of 13.G. Camner's abuse of power is clear and a call for her removal is long overdue.

Tricia Crane
Opinion: “The Martyrdom of Leonora Camner” – John Mirisch 2/20/22 – City Watch.
https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/guest-words/23883-the-martyrdom-of-leonora-camner Item 13.G
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2 “From WIMBY elected officials in other cities to urban supremacist UC professors, WIMBY Twitterers expressed shock and outrage, while issuing a call to action: their comrades and coreligionists should raise holy hell, by calling and sending emails to the obnoxious Nimby councilmembers who were looking to depose Camner at their next council meeting on Tuesday, February 22, just because she “advocates for housing.”
Aaron Green, the president of the Afriat lobbying firm, which has built its business on getting cities to hand out massive quantities of FSD (Free Shit for Developers) sent out a Twitter SOS: “Attention readers! Please flood Santa Monica’s council inbox with your dissatisfaction.” Another supporter seemed to make a threat straight from the Trumpian playbook of vengeance and retribution: “It’d be a shame if some very bad and compromising information were to surface on those trying to oust you….”
Camner’s supporters undoubtedly know that she is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group with the name “Abundant Housing LA,” whose funding is shady, but whose goal is clearly to force density and growth upon cities, to eliminate single-family homes, and to make single-family neighborhoods themselves illegal….

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. The disqualification should be automatic, obvious, and non-negotiable for anyone who cares about ethics and who, notwithstanding SCOTUS, wants to create a level playing field…. Removing a paid lobbyist from a city commission is a matter of ethics, transparency, good government, and sensible policy.

As the paid Executive Director of an Urban Growth Machine funded advocacy group attempting to influence city policy, Leonora Camner never had any business serving on a city commission, any commission, let alone one whose function was and is to recommend Item 13.G
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3 policies that benefit the entire Santa Monica community, not just the organization she is paid by. It is a clear and complete conflict of interest….

Clearly, she already has attempted to influence Santa Monica’s policy so there are two key questions that remain to be answered:

What is Leonora Camner’s compensation as the Executive Director of “Abundant Housing”? What are the detailed, individual funding sources of “Abundant Housing,” which at one point had over a million dollars in the bank? If they come from other organizations, then just who and where do those funds come from?
If, for whatever reason, the Santa Monica City Council fails to correct an ethical mistake that should have never happened in the first place, and Leonora Camner, despite her unresolvable conflict of interest, is allowed to remain on the commission, one is going to have to wonder if the mafia methods suggested by her Twitter goon supporters may have actually worked….” (John Mirisch has served on the Beverly Hills City Council since 2009, including three terms as mayor. During his first term as mayor, he created the city’s Sunshine Task Force to increase transparency and public participation in local government. He is currently a garden-variety councilmember.)
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From: Toby Muresianu <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 9:06 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Please keep Leonara Camner as Housing Commissioner

EXTERNAL
Hello,
I was dismayed to hear about the motion to remove Leonara as housing commissioner.

I have worked in Santa Monica on and off for years and have family there. My wife is a doctor at Santa Monica hospital.

We are currently looking for a home on the Westside to raise our child and it is simply no longer possible in Santa Monica.

People who have worked and served the community deserve to have a voice advocating to allow more families to live in Santa Monica. Steadily turning it into a zone exclusively for the ever‐more wealthy or well connected, while forcing workers to clog up highways and pollute the air to enter the community, is not right. That it is done in the name of preserving low density sprawl development in the heart of the second largest urban area in America is deeply silly and unsustainable.

Leonara is an incredibly thoughtful, polite and kind person. Santa Monica is lucky to have her in this position, and families and people who need housing deserve to have a voice speaking up for them. Please allow her to continue serving in her role.

Thank you,
Toby Muresianu
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From: T GROSSMAN <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 10:39 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox
Cc: Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Kristin McCowan; Sue Himmelrich; Gleam Davis
Subject: Re: Agenda Item 13.G - Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least five affirmative votes), and to...

EXTERNAL
Feb. 22, 2022
Dear City Council,
Leonora Camner should be removed from the Santa Monica Housing Commission.

Camner is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group (AHLA) and as such, she should not be on the Santa Monica Housing Commission. The ethical problems with paid lobbyists serving as city commissioners cannot be ignored, especially by council members who insist on investigation of other public interest matters (like violations of the Brown Act).

The perception of the city is under the microscope. The voters of Santa Monica are growing increasingly dissatisfied with our city's failure to serve and protect. All council members will be judged by their actions to rid or avoid conflicts of interest and unethical behavior.

I urge a unanimous vote in support of 13.G. The call for Camner removal is long overdue.

Thank you
Tina Grossman
90405
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From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 11:09 PM
To: councilmtgitems; councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Oscar de la Torre
Subject: 2/22/2022 city council meeting items 8A and 13G

EXTERNAL
Councilmembers,
The number one issue on Councilmember Brock's campaign website is "the Santa Monica City Council owes you an apology!" I could not agree with Councilmember Brock more: three‐sevenths of the Santa Monica City Council absolutely owes the residents an apology for dragging our city's reputation through the mud.

At the most recent city council meeting on February 8, Councilmember Davis placed an item on the council agenda to investigate how information repeatedly leaked out of closed session. As was repeatedly mentioned during this session, we KNOW FOR A FACT that the law was broken because the information about the selection of the city manager and city attorney could not have leaked without someone violating the law. Yet when presented with the unambiguous fact of the commission of a crime, Councilmembers Brock, de la Torre, and Parra responded by voting in favor of lawlessness and against finding out how the law was broken. What's more, watching the session, it was absolutely incredible to see Councilmembers Brock and de la Torre apparently not seem to understand that their preemptive Trumpian cries of WITCH HUNT! made it impossible as a resident and a voter to conclude anything other than that they were desperately trying to cover up their own violations of the law, and that Councilmember Parra was joining them in voting for the coverup.

As was also discussed in the February 8 meeting, the sadly not‐unearned perception of the Santa Monica city government as a lawless clown show has already resulted in us losing the consideration of multiple qualified would‐be candidates who rightly did not want to tarnish their own reputations by shackling their reputation to that of the Santa Monica city government. And now, the same three candidates who voted to protect this new culture of lawlessness surrounding the selection of city employees have presented an agenda item which, ironically, sure looks like the start of their own witch hunt against anyone in the Santa Monica city government who commits the high crime of having policy disagreements with them, starting with Commissioner Camner. From our hired city staff to our volunteer city commissioners, these three councilmembers are clearly hellbent on creating a Santa Monica city government that consists solely of their handpicked sycophants.

Councilmembers Brock, de la Torre, and Parra have now made a pattern of disgracing both themselves and the city. If they're interested in reversing course on this pattern and doing right by the city and its residents, a great place to start would be voting for agenda item 8A, which, again, is about investigating not WHETHER a crime occurred but the specifics of a crime that 100% incontrovertibly DID occur, and pulling their agenda item 13G, which if passed would only further chill the ability of the city to find qualified employees and commissioners. If we don't get a lid on this lawlessness now with a 7‐0 vote in favor of 8A and the retraction of 13G, the city council and the city as a whole cannot and will never have the unity that Councilmembers Brock and de la Torre kept insisting they so strongly desire.

Thank you for your time,
Jason Mastbaum
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From: Ann Maggio <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:21 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Clerk Mailbox
Subject: Re: Agenda Item 13.G - Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least five affirmative votes), and to...

EXTERNAL
Dear City Council,
Please remove Camner and anyone else on the Housing Commission with a conflict of interest. Santa Monica must stand for residents and housing - not dark money private equity interests who use well paid shills stealing our city to create a housing monarchy.

Thank you,
Ann Maggio Thanawalla
"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." ‐ Albert Einstein Item 13.G
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From: oz <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 1:57 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Christine Parra; Phil Brock; Oscar de la Torre; Lana Negrete; Kristin McCowan; Sue Himmelrich; Gleam Davis; David White; Joseph Lawrence
Subject: 13G – will WIMBY goons intimidate Council? LET’S SEE!

EXTERNAL
The community can’t wait to see who votes how on this item.

It is in fact a vote that will show us where each of you stands on ETHICS.

There will be great political consequences of this vote for each of you.

Who supports continuing the corruption that the city has been steeped in, and who doesn’t? Let’s see how each of you votes!
Who needs to be recalled, reported to the FPPC, Attorney General, or simply be ignored by the voters at election time? Let’s see how each of you votes!
This item will tell us how the politics of this city will shape in the nearest future. And your political careers too.

Let’s see how each of you votes!
WE ARE WATCHING.

Regards,
Olga Zurawska
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From: girltunes <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 1:51 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; [email protected]; Santa Monica City Manager's Office Subject: Fwd: Northeast Neighbors Supports Agenda item 13.G - Lobbyist Leonora Camner should be removed from the Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
To: Mayor Himmelrich and City Council members
I stand with the Northeast Neighbors in support of Agenda item 13.G ‐ Any paid lobbyist should be removed from the Housing Commission, especially with such an egregious conflict of interest.

It is tragic that people fail to serve in good faith in our city government. The residents of Santa Monica are suffering the effects of an ongoing crushing aggressive push to overdevelop every last square foot of space in Santa Monica.

On my street alone, there has been an overdevelopment of what was once a charming vintage home into a monolith of condos. I have cracked ceilings from the construction, not to mention the other inconveniences of noise, dust , heavy equipment for years on end, and other pollution. I look at the single family homes and parking lots in the area and can't help but wonder when those are going to be bulldozed and turned into megacomplexes. Furthermore, I cannot even fathom what is to become of the corner of Ocean Park & Lincoln.

There is no longer peace of mind living in this community. We have to solve our water shortage issues, traffic gridlock, lack of pedestrian and bicycle safety, overcrowding and other issues before we mindlessly overbuild. The laws such as SB 9 & SB 10 fail to represent residents ‐‐ another name for this is Taxation Without Representation.

The fact that we have city positions being filled by people with an agenda counter to the residents -- in this case, an Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group with the name “Abundant Housing LA” who has not disclosed compensation and has failed to give detailed sources of that group’s funding is unacceptable. As stated in the letter I am forwarding: Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions.

Sincerely,
Ferris Gluck
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Forwarded message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
From: Tricia Crane <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 10:56 AM
Subject: Northeast Neighbors Supports Agenda item 13.G ‐ Lobbyist Leonora Camner should be removed from the Housing Commission
To: Tricia Crane <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, Sue Himmelrich <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, Item 13.G
02/22/22
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2 <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, Phil Brock <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> From: The Board of Northeast Neighbors of Santa Monica
To: Mayor Himmelrich and City Council members
RE: Agenda item 13.G, Council meeting of Feb. 22, 2022
Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least five affirmative votes), and to thank her for her previous service to the Santa Monica Housing Commission. With the removal, authorize the City Clerk to publish the vacancy.

Dear Mayor Himmelrich and City Council,
The Board of Northeast Neighbors requests that the Council vote to remove Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission (Agenda Item 13.G) because of her conflict of interest as the chief executive of a special interest group.

Ms. Camner is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group with the name “Abundant Housing LA” and should be required to disclose her compensation and the detailed sources of her group’s funding.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions.

Thank you.

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From: Elizabeth Van Denburgh <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 1:46 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; [email protected]; Santa Monica City Manager's Office Subject: City Cnl. Mtg. 2/22/22 - Item 13.6 - I support the Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least fiv...

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Himmelrich and City Council,
I support City Council's Item 13.6 tonight that requests that the Council vote to remove Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission because of her conflict of interest as the executive director of Abundant Housing LA which is a registered lobbyist organization and special interest group.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. For Housing Commission members, they should support this commission's mission statement and responsibilities, jurisdiction, and authority as reported on the Housing Commission's website and outlined below:

Mission Statement
The mission of the City of Santa Monica Housing Commission is to improve the quality of life of residents and the City by supporting and helping to guide the production and preservation of affordable housing. We advise and assist the City Council and City Staff on the housing policies, programs, and projects they implement, and work to enhance the social, economic, and cultural vitality of our community. Commission encourages the full participation of the community in shaping its future and is committed to fairness, social justice, and democracy.

Responsibilities, Jurisdiction, and Authority
The Commission is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the existing Section 8 Program. The commission will review and develop recommendations to the Housing Authority and City Council on a variety of housing programs and policies including the Fair Housing Program, the Community Development Block Grant Program and the Comprehensive Housing Authority Strategy (CHAS). The Commission also reviews housing development projects including tenant selection policies and designs.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Van Denburgh
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From: Santa Monica City Manager's Office
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 1:26 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Agenda Item 13.G, Council Meeting of February 22, 2022 From: George Ferrell <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 1:25 PM
To: councilmtgitems <[email protected]>; Gleam Davis <[email protected]>; Oscar de la Torre <[email protected]>; Sue Himmelrich <[email protected]>; Kristin McCowan <[email protected]>; Lana Negrete <[email protected]>; Christine Parra <[email protected]>; Phil Brock <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Santa Monica City Manager's Office <[email protected]> Subject: Agenda Item 13.G, Council Meeting of February 22, 2022

EXTERNAL
We urge the removal of Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission. Her membership on the Commission is a conflict of interest because she is a paid housing lobbyist.

Thank you,
P. S. Ferrell
George Ferrell
338 15th Street
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From: George Ferrell <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 1:25 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; [email protected]; Santa Monica City Manager's Office Subject: Agenda Item 13.G, Council Meeting of February 22, 2022

EXTERNAL
We urge the removal of Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission. Her membership on the Commission is a conflict of interest because she is a paid housing lobbyist.

Thank you,
P. S. Ferrell
George Ferrell
338 15th Street
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From: Kathy Knight <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:55 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Oscar de la Torre Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Agenda Item 13.G

EXTERNAL
February 22, 2022
To Santa Monica City Council Members:

I am asking you to please remove Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission.

She is the Executive Director of a pro‐density lobbying group called called “Abundant Housing LA” (AHLA). She commonly bullies fellow Housing commissioners and insults community members who speak in Public Comment.

According to an article in Citywatch by Beverly Hills Council member John Mirisch, Camner’s goal has long been “to force density and growth upon cities, to eliminate single‐family homes, and to make single‐family neighborhoods themselves illegal.” She is paid to work for AHLA but has not disclosed her compensation.

Also we do not know the funding sources of AHLA.

Our City of Santa Monica is being taken over by rich developers and the enjoyment of living here is disappearing. Already Santa Monica is one of the most densely populated cities in LA County.

We need to PRESERVE our quality of life.

Our resident input is being trashed. A proposed development at Lincoln and Ocean Park Blvd. of 550 apartments up to 5 stories high will destroy our popular Gelsons shopping center with wonderful local businesses there. And they can do it without even having a Planning Commission hearing! Only administrative approval.

And I have heard that there are already 4,000 market rate apartments that are vacant.

We do NOT need Commissioners like Leonora Camner. We need Commissioners that support affordable housing but NOT OVERDEVELOPMENT that RUINS our residential neighborhoods and quality of life in our City.

Thank you for listening,
Kathy Knight, Sunset Park Resident for 35 years [email protected] (310) 613‐1175
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From: Kellan <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:48 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Oppose 13G

EXTERNAL
Dear council members,
Please stop the games and take a better approach to this matter. Removing a housing commissioner because you don’t like their (smart and moral) views is not how you show that you’re a world class city. Do better. SM needs more housing ASAP. RHNA and housing element issues are showing you that more must be done. Thank you.

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From: Bill Parent <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:16 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Sue Himmelrich; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Kristin McCowan; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete
Subject: Item 13 G

EXTERNAL
22 February, 2022
Dear Councilmembers:

When I was vice chair and chair of the Social Services Commission (SSC), the same party who first complained of Lenora Camner being on the Housing Commission repeatedly called for my resignation from the SSC, often in nasty, accusatory, and inaccurate terms during public comments at SSC meetings and in a local broadside.

The “conflict of interest” complaint then against me was that I was close friends with the executive director of The People Concern and therefore too conflicted to serve on the Social Services Commission. The evidence for this was that the ED of the People Concern and I had been appointed, along with the ED of Downtown Santa Monica, to co-chair a steering committee on homelessness. Our connection was professional, built on a shared desire to do something about homelessness.

In fact, the accusing party had been on a long campaign against the People Concern, charging them with everything from murder to mold. (Accusations I first took seriously, studied, and concluded were specious at best and driven by a blinding personal vendetta against the organization). When it was clear that I did not support the vendetta, the individual shifted to the Social Services Commission itself. The ensuing harassment of city staff, the city attorney, and the City Council ultimately, I believe, contributed to the unfortunate dilution of the City’s service-minded commissions enacted by the City Council last year.

Now it’s Lenora Camner’s turn. I have come to know Ms. Camner only during the past year. I have learned a lot from her, even though we don’t always fully agree. She is dedicated, informed, professional, fair, and articulate. She is open about her beliefs. If she is predictable in commission positions, it is similar in my experience to passions that have drawn people who prioritize mental health support, or who have faced discrimination and prejudice, or who live with disabilities, or who are upset about homeless people in the library, to join boards and commissions.

I have read the social media attacks, the public bullying, against Ms. Camner. I have read her defenses against the accusations. I have found the accusations to be essentially personal and scurrilous at their core, aimed at silencing an effective voice on a contentious issue, just as the aim was to silence me on the Social Services Commission because of my support of The People Concern.

In the appointment process, the City Council can judge that an applicant to a commission brings too much potential or appearance of conflict of interest to the role and choose another individual. In my opinion, The Council should not, for example, appoint an ED of a social services nonprofit seeking city funding. The Council should, however, encourage and welcome well-informed nonprofit clients, board members or staff, even heads of advocacy organizations, to commissions provided they are willing to abide by the regulations and Item 13.G
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2 norms of recusal from discussions and votes directly affecting their organizations. In our time, government and civil society -- the nonprofit sector -- have to work very closely together in order to make progress on our most pressing local challenges. We have to be able to navigate appearances and accusations of conflict of interest without literally alienating people who are well informed, passionate, and willing to advance their positions in the fair civic dialog that commissions provide.

I strongly urge the Council not to join in the public bullying and retain Ms Camner on the Housing Commission through her term. But if you do remove Ms. Camner, I would urge you to amend the motion and remove the part about thanking her for her service. After what you will have done to her, a thank you would seem a selfrighteously gratuitous and cynical act on your part, affirming the most divisive and cynical voices in our community, and leaving a cloud over her service as if you have judged her for doing something wrong by being on the Housing Commission.

Bill Parent
1011 Euclid St. D

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From: Danielle Charney <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:16 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; Kristin McCowan
Subject: Re: Item 13-G..Remove Leonora Camner from Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Sorry Item 3‐G
On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 12:27 PM Danielle Charney <[email protected]> wrote:

Ms. Camner needs to be removed ..she should never have been appointed. She has serious conflict of interest, is the executive director and a lobbyist for Abundant Housing. She has worked, along with those who intended to destroy this state, Scott Weiner for one..to increase our SCAG allotment from 5000 units to 9000. She has no information or care for our problems with infrastructure, water or traffic.

Please remove her.

Thank you,
Danielle Charney
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From: Henry Fung <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:02 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Comment on Item 13G

EXTERNAL
Dear members of the Santa Monica City Council,
As someone who also sites on an appointed body for another jurisdiction, I believe that prematurely ending someone's term should only be done when some sort of malfeasance, incompetence, non‐attendance, or other offense is committed. Ms. Leonora Camner has done none of those things. Rather, she has an opinion that certain other members of the city council disagree with, but her pro‐housing opinions are far from out of the mainstream or disruptive, but urgently needed to resolve the tremendous shortage of affordable housing and large population of people experiencing homelessness today. Her lived experience as a single mother trying to make ends meet in one of the most expensive cities in the country provides a useful perspective which is often missing from city commissions, that of working families.

I strongly oppose the city council removing her term prematurely from the Housing Commission.

Sincerely,
Henry Fung
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From: Santa Monica City Manager's Office
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:00 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Leonora Camner
From: Marc Abraham <m.abraham@strike‐ent.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 11:59 AM
To: Gleam Davis <[email protected]>; Oscar de la Torre <[email protected]>; Phil Brock <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Sue Himmelrich <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Santa Monica City Manager's Office <[email protected]> Subject: Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
Dear City Council,
I strongly support the removal of Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission (Agenda Item 13.G) because of her conflict of interest as the paid chief executive of a special interest group. Ms. Camner should be required to disclose her compensation and the detailed sources of her group’s funding.

We obviously have enough problems in Santa Monica as it is, without having paid lobbyists on our Boards and Commissions.

This is the epitome of corruption and among many other problems, it undermines the confidence in the city’s leadership.

Sincerely,
Marc Abraham
40 year resident of the city
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From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 11:48 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Removal of Leonora Camner
‐‐‐‐‐Original Message‐‐‐‐‐
From: Karen Croner <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 7:34 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Subject: Removal of Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
I am writing to support the removal of Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission.

Or any board position. She clearly has conflicts of interest, may be a paid lobbyist and seems beholden to developer rather than resident interests. Thank you, Karen Croner Item 13.G
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From: Santa Monica City Manager's Office
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 7:34 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: CC - Agenda Item 13.G -2/22/22 - Remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner From: Taffy Patton <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 7:20 AM
To: Phil Brock <[email protected]>; Gleam Davis <[email protected]>; Oscar de la Torre <[email protected]>; Sue Himmelrich <[email protected]>; Kristin McCowan <[email protected]>; Lana Negrete <[email protected]>; Christine Parra <[email protected]>; Santa Monica City Manager's Office <[email protected]> Cc: Home <[email protected]>
Subject: CC ‐ Agenda Item 13.G ‐2/22/22 ‐ Remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner

EXTERNAL
2/22/22
Dear City Council, Mayor and City Manager,
It is highly inappropriate for ANY lobbyist, much less the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group, to serve on our Housing Commission.

Commissioner Camner’s position is a clear conflict of interest that must be resolved.

Please support transparent government practices by unanimously voting to support Agenda Item 13.G.

Thank you,
Taffy Patton
Santa Monica
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From: Brian O'Neil <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 10:11 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Christine Parra; Gleam Davis; Kristin McCowan; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Sue Himmelrich; David White; [email protected]; Susan Cline; Anuj Gupta Cc: Brian ONeil
Subject: City Council 2/22/22 item 3-G: Remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission - Act on a Clear Case of Conflict of Interest

EXTERNAL
From: Brian O’Neil
To: Mayor Himmelrich and City Council members
RE: 2/22/22 agenda item 3-G
G. Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least five affirmative votes), and to thank her for her previous service to the Santa Monica Housing Commission. With the removal, authorize the City Clerk to publish the vacancy.

I support the removal of Leonora Camner from the city's Housing Commission.

Leonora Camner’s role as a current Housing Commissioner is a CLEAR CASE OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST, pure and simple.

Paid lobbyists should NOT serve on our Boards and Commissions, whether or not they're registered as lobbyists with the City of Santa Monica.

Removing Camner from the Housing Commission is not a case of her “advocating housing” – as her supporters would have you believe – but rather a case of her being an advocate lobbyist.

This obvious conflict of interest should be clear to all Santa Monica City Councilmemebers.

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2 Don't give in to the bullying tactics of Camner’s supporters outlined below:

Opinion: “The Martyrdom of Leonora Camner” – John Mirisch 2/20/22 – City Watch.
https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/guest-words/23883-the-martyrdom-of-leonora-camner “From WIMBY elected officials in other cities to urban supremacist UC professors, WIMBY Twitterers expressed shock and outrage, while issuing a call to action: their comrades and coreligionists should raise holy hell, by calling and sending emails to the obnoxious Nimby councilmembers who were looking to depose Camner at their next council meeting on Tuesday, February 22, just because she “advocates for housing.” Aaron Green, the president of the Afriat lobbying firm, which has built its business on getting cities to hand out massive quantities of FSD (Free Shit for Developers) sent out a Twitter SOS: “Attention readers! Please flood Santa Monica’s council inbox with your dissatisfaction.” Another supporter seemed to make a threat straight from the Trumpian playbook of vengeance and retribution:
“It’d be a shame if some very bad and compromising information were to surface on those trying to oust you….”
Camner’s supporters undoubtedly know that she is the Executive Director of a pro-density lobbying group with the name “Abundant Housing LA,” whose funding is shady, but whose goal is clearly to force density and growth upon cities, to eliminate single-family homes, and to make single-family neighborhoods themselves illegal….

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3 Center for the Advancement of the Steady State
Economy
The steady state economy is the sustainable alternative to the ravages of growth in the 21st century. Help get u...

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions. The disqualification should be automatic, obvious, and non-negotiable for anyone who cares about ethics and who, notwithstanding SCOTUS, wants to create a level playing field…. Removing a paid lobbyist from a city commission is a matter of ethics, transparency, good government, and sensible policy.

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4 Neither has Camner ever publicly revealed her own compensation as the Executive Director of a lobbying group nor the funding sources of “Abundant Housing,” beyond the sketchy and opaque forms required by the federal government.

Clearly, she already has attempted to influence Santa Monica’s policy so there are two key questions that remain to be answered:

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From: Tricia Crane <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 10:51 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; [email protected]; Santa Monica City Manager's Office Subject: Northeast Neighbors Supports Agenda item 13.G - Lobbyist Leonora Camner should be removed from the Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
From: The Board of Northeast Neighbors of Santa Monica
To: Mayor Himmelrich and City Council members
RE: Agenda item 13.G:

Request of Councilmembers Brock, Parra and de la Torre that the City Council remove Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner pursuant to City Charter Article 1002 (requiring a motion adopted by at least five affirmative votes), and to thank her for her previous service to the Santa Monica Housing Commission. With the removal, authorize the City Clerk to publish the vacancy.

Paid lobbyists should not serve on city commissions.

Thank you.

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From: Peter DiChellis <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 10:31 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13G Housing Commissioner

EXTERNAL
Summary: Favor firing her fast.

I was reluctant to comment on this Item until I learned more about it, which I did. I learned this individual is a paid lobbyist who torpedoed the City’s housing plan by leveraging her lobbyist position to rabble‐rouse her followers, and who is now attempting to “flood” the Council with so‐called support for her position, including a substantial amount of organized messaging from social media vigilantes from outside Santa Monica.

In doing all this, she has convincingly illustrated the meaning of “conflict of interest.” Dump her.

Peter DiChellis, unaffiliated moderate
Santa Monica ‐ 90403
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From: Burt Goldstein <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 10:11 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox
Subject: Agenda Item 13.G

EXTERNAL
Dear S.M. City Council Members,
I urge your support for the removal of Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica Housing Commission, on the grounds that her behavior is not consistent with her job description - she is not acting in the interests of the City of Santa Monica and she is unprofessional and hostile to those city members who speak out against her positions.

In addition, I have owned a home in Santa Monica since 1994 and I have seen the adverse effects of over -development on the stated City aims of ‘sustainability’ and ‘equity’ and ‘livability’, Sincerely,
Burt Goldstein
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From: Bradley Ewing <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 11:02 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan Subject: 13G - Oppose

EXTERNAL
Council,
I am urging you all to vote down this blatantly political item.

Commissioner Camner is a dedicated public servant whose "transgression" is pursuing holistic solutions to our housing crisis. She goes out of her way to have respectful dialogue with residents on the issue, even with those that have rudely disagreed with her. She is not a registered lobbyist, nor is Abundant Housing LA, and has been cleared by the city of conflict as having no conflict of interest.

If we want to talk about a "conflict of interest," why not start with the three proponents voting to obstruct an investigation into a Brown Act violation with unambiguous proof that it occured? Or that Councilmembers Brock and de la Torre, landlords and real estate speculators, never saw it fit to recuse themselves from council items on the housing element, zoning or tenant rights that could impact their investments? Or de la Torre refusing to recuse and voting in favor of his cousin Gina DeBaca for a seat on this very commission? It is clear this is a relationation item against Camner in the wake of HCD rejecting Santa Monica's non‐compliant; Council must reject.

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From: Geneva Vogelheim <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 11:20 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Leonora Camner's Dismissal from the Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Hi Santa Monica City Council,
I'm writing to express my disappointment that Leonora Camner was removed from the housing commission. I consider her a champion of pro‐housing policies, and her perspective is increasingly important as we work together to tackle the housing crisis. I'm not sure how the appointments work, but please reconsider the implications of this decision.

Thanks,
‐‐
Geneva Vogelheim (she, her, hers)
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
MPH Student | Health Policy & Management | 2022
Mobile: (415) 342‐7591
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From: Sherry Martini <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 11:34 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Christine Parra; [email protected] Subject: Re: Santa Monica City Council hearing tonight

EXTERNAL
Call to more action from. Sfhac.org to support Leonira. Just for transparency sake. Expect lines to be full. Is this a San Francisco org?
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
On Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 11:31 AM, Corey Smith <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey there,
Thank you for your support of Leonora Camner ahead of tonight's Santa Monica City Council hearing.

Here is a link to the agenda for tonight's meeting, with instructions on how to call in and give public comment. In addition to the item regarding Ms. Camner's (13G), there is another item regarding a potential investigation and Brown Act violation (item 8A). Some have made the accusation that Council broke the rules in their attempt to oust Ms. Camner.

For item 13G ‐ it's very, very difficult to predict what time it will begin. Once it does begin, calling in right away and getting in line to speak is very important.

Re public comment: Keep things positive, don't berate the Councilmembers, and it's fair to focus on how this action is blatantly political (and ugly politics at that). At the end of public comment, don't forget to make the clear ask "vote no on the request to remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission."
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Thanks,
Corey
‐‐
Corey Smith 陈锐 | Pronouns: He/Him
Deputy Director | Housing Action Coalition
95 Brady Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Office: (415) 541‐9001 | Cell: (925) 360‐5290
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2 To help protect your priv acy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.

Email: [email protected] | Web: sfhac.org
To opt out of all HAC emails, respond to this email with "unsubscribe all".

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February 22, 2022
Re: City Council Agenda Item 13.G.

Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tem McCowan, and City Councilmembers, The League of Women Voters of Santa Monica is deeply concerned with Item 13.G. on your February 22, 2022 agenda - the proposed action to remove Ms. Leonora Camner from her role as a commissioner on Santa Monica’s Housing Commission just four months before the end of her term as a Commissioner.

We understand that the City Council has the right to remove a sitting commissioner at any time with the approval of a super-majority of councilmembers, as allowed by City Charter Article 1002. However, we believe that (1) Article 1002 is too broadly stated and (2) reasons that give cause for this kind of dismissal should be more specifically defined. Current language leaves the Council open to charges of making decisions based on retaliation for speech or action you disagree with.

While we do hold certain overlapping views on the topics of housing and land use with the opinions expressed by Ms. Camner, our concerns with Agenda Item 13.G. are not about her specific positions on housing or land use.

We believe in the individual liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, including the right to free speech, and we believe that having diverse viewpoints represented at all levels of government is essential to a healthy and wellfunctioning democracy.

In light of Ms. Camner’s work to hold the City accountable and ensure that we are in compliance with applicable state housing laws, this attempt to remove her from the Housing Commission less than two weeks after HCD declined to certify Santa Monica’s Housing Element for 2021-2029 could be perceived as retaliation for exercising both her right to freedom of expression and her deliberative responsibility as a City Council appointed member of the Commission
Additionally, the removal of a commissioner in the absence of legally defined and fairly applied cause sends a harmful message to your constituents and may put the City at risk of potential litigation should this action be interpreted as an infringement of Ms. Camner’s First Amendment rights.

It could also be interpreted as a rejection of the City’s own Civility policy that was adopted in 2011 and intended to safeguard participatory democracy in Santa Monica by promoting civil discourse and participation during public meetings by enhancing the people’s right to speak and allowing all present to express their opinions without the fear of retaliation or verbal attacks. The policy supports embracing respectful

OFFICERS
President
Natalya Zernitskaya
Vice President, Program
Barbara Inatsugu
Secretary
Sharon Hart
Treasurer
Karen Carrey

DIRECTORS
Cathie Gentile
Jason Islas
Angela D. Scott
Ann Williams
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disagreement and dissent as democratic rights –inherent components of an inclusive public process and tools for forging sound decisions.

At a time when the City seeks to diversify its boards and commissions to meet its equity goals, will individuals who hold differing viewpoints interpret this action as a declaration that they need not apply to serve our City because expressions of their opinions would disqualify them from being able to serve on a board or commission? Will young women in this City interpret this action to mean that their voices do not matter or that they should not speak out on issues that are important to them for fear of retribution?
Each councilmember sitting at the dais has spoken about your commitment to accountability, transparency, fairness, diversity of ideas, racial and ethnic diversity, inclusivity and equity as fundamental to the work you do on behalf of the people of this City. This work is governance. That is what you were elected to do, and we appreciate your willingness to step forward and take on this role.

In conclusion, we reiterate that our opposition to the proposed action in agenda Item

13.G. is not based on our support or opposition of any specific individuals or any particular policy decisions. We support good governance principles and this action does not appear to have a basis in any principles of good governance. We therefore request that you not remove Housing Commissioner Camner four months before the end of her term.

We appreciate your consideration of our concerns in this matter.

Sincerely,
Barbara Inatsugu
Vice President, Program
Submitted on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Santa Monica

OFFICERS
President
Natalya Zernitskaya
Vice President, Program
Barbara Inatsugu
Secretary
Sharon Hart
Treasurer
Karen Carrey

DIRECTORS
Cathie Gentile
Jason Islas
Angela D. Scott
Ann Williams
Item 13.G
02/22/22
76 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 11:09 PM
To: councilmtgitems; councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Oscar de la Torre
Subject: 2/22/2022 city council meeting items 8A and 13G

Thank you for your time,
Jason Mastbaum
Item 13.G
02/22/22
77 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: lmarreola <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:03 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: ITEM 13-G @ Tonights CC Mtg.

EXTERNAL
Please don't approve of Commissioners that have a conflict of interest be on city commissions.

Carol and Larry Arreola
Sunset Park Residents
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone Item 13.G
02/22/22
78 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:24 PM
To: councilmtgitems; councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Oscar de la Torre
Subject: Re: 2/22/2022 city council meeting items 8A and 13G

EXTERNAL
To add to my comment from last night, Councilmember Brock appeared at a session held by Commissioner Camner in Tongva Park this afternoon claiming to be seeking to participate in a civil dialog. When I asked him why his starting point was placing item 13G on tonight's agenda if he was interested in having a civil dialog with Commissioner Camner, he would not respond beyond saying the agenda item wasn't necessarily his idea. I already thought he was lying to my face considering his name is listed first on the list of councilmembers placing the item on tonight's agenda, and a Santa Monica Observer article on this confirms it: "Tonight the Santa Monica City Council will meet and consider a request from Councilmember Phil Brock to remove Leonora Camner from the Santa Monica City Housing Commission, on account of her employment by Abundant Housing Los Angeles." https://www.smobserved.com/story/2022/02/23/news/housing‐commissioner‐leonora‐camner‐stands‐her‐ground‐ insists‐theres‐no‐conflict‐of‐interest/6482.html
What kind of councilmember casually lies to their constituents like this? What else has Councilmember Brock been lying about, both to the public and to other councilmembers?
On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 11:09 PM Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]> wrote:

Councilmembers,
The number one issue on Councilmember Brock's campaign website is "the Santa Monica City Council owes you an apology!" I could not agree with Councilmember Brock more: three‐sevenths of the Santa Monica City Council absolutely owes the residents an apology for dragging our city's reputation through the mud.

As was also discussed in the February 8 meeting, the sadly not‐unearned perception of the Santa Monica city government as a lawless clown show has already resulted in us losing the consideration of multiple qualified would‐be candidates who rightly did not want to tarnish their own reputations by shackling their reputation to that of the Santa Monica city government. And now, the same three candidates who voted to protect this new culture of lawlessness surrounding the selection of city employees have presented an agenda item which, ironically, sure looks like the start of their own witch hunt against anyone in the Santa Monica city government who commits the high crime of having policy disagreements with them, starting with Commissioner Camner. From our hired city staff to our volunteer city Item 13.G
02/22/22
79 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
2 commissioners, these three councilmembers are clearly hellbent on creating a Santa Monica city government that consists solely of their handpicked sycophants.

Thank you for your time,
Jason Mastbaum
Item 13.G
02/22/22
80 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Danielle Charney <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:42 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Sue Himmelrich; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Kristin McCowan; David White; [email protected] Subject: Item 3-G. Don't Back Down -uphold ethics

EXTERNAL
I am writing again to urge you – my city – to please remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission.

She never should have been appointed.

You voted her in and you can vote her out.

I am seeing Ms. Camner's bully campaign all over social media...urging call ins and write ins
from Barbados to Belarus.

This is tech... this is what they do.

I remember when Ms. Camner and her group worked the internet to destroy LV...

Anyone who dared to disagree or question their backers and motives was threatened with a lawsuit.

Now we have Scott Weiner and others joining this mob designed activity.

Please stand up for what is right and ethical.

Don't let this group decide how we run our City, because that is their intention..they are seeing to it that this State and our City is run into the ground. They have done major damage here.

Stop them now. Do what is right. Uphold ethics.

Item 13.G
02/22/22
81 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
2 Thank you,
Danielle Charney
Item 13.G
02/22/22
82 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Zac Dean <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 3:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Do not remove Commissioner Camner

EXTERNAL
Hello Santa Monica Council ‐
I'd like to request that the council immediately cease the attempt to purge Leonora Camner from her role on the planning commission. Leonora hasn't done anything wrong ‐ this attempt is just a blatant political retaliation. While I understand some on the council might disagree with Leonora on housing issues, this is not a valid reason for an ideological purge.

With Santa Monica's disastrous housing element attempts, Leonora's voice is needed now more than ever. She deserves to stay.

Item 13.G
02/22/22
83 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:05 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Leonora Cramner
From: Faustino Garza <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 3:51 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Cc: David White <[email protected]>; Susan Cline <[email protected]> Subject: Leonora Cramner

EXTERNAL
SM Council Members:

I and my family strongly support the motion to dismiss Leonora Cramner from the Housing Commission. Her pro‐development, high‐density policies are bad for the City and bad for our quality of living. Our small city already is overcrowded and overbuilt. We are beginning to feel like rats in a cage. Enough is enough. Thanks to Phil, Oscar and Christine for standing up for residents.

Faustino Garza
34‐year resident and homeowner
Sunset Park
Item 13.G
02/22/22
84 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:09 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Housing Commission
‐‐‐‐‐Original Message‐‐‐‐‐
From: Mara Thompson <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 3:09 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Subject: Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Please note that I do not support retaining Leonora Camner on the Housing Commission.

She has got to go as her other affiliations are a conflict to serving the current citizens of Santa Monica.

Mara Thompson
Santa Monica
Sent from my iPhone
Item 13.G
02/22/22
85 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Amy Anderson <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:13 PM
To: Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Sue Himmelrich; Gleam Davis; Kristin McCowan
Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13.G

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Himmelrich and Santa Monica Councilmembers,
It’s come to my attention that the Council is considering removing an appointed commissioner from her post. I would urge you NOT to take that action. It sets very bad precedent. If you are dissatisfied with her performance, then don’t reappoint her. Unless someone has committed a grievous offense, appointed commissioners should be permitted to complete their terms without interference from the Council.

It’s been mentioned to me that the commissioner is being considered a lobbyist. We don’t want lobbyist serving on commissions because they represent, and therefore prioritize, special interests over those of the community.

Commissioner Camner is an advocate, not a lobbyist, encouraging policies that support a community interest – increased housing affordability and opportunities ‐ not a private one.

Thank you for your consideration of this input.

And thank you for your investment of time and expertise to support Santa Monica.

Amy Anderson
Item 13.G
02/22/22
86 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jerry Rubin <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:48 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: [email protected]; David White
Subject: February 22 Council Meeting Agenda Item 13G

EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica City Council Members:

I am communicating with all 7 Council Members to voice my strong opposition to the proposed removal of Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner from her appointed position.

I hope to be able to speak virtually at tonight’s meeting.

I sincerely and respectfully hope that the Council Members who put Item 13G on the agenda will actually please reconsider and hopefully decide to remove it from the agenda.

I thank Ms. Camner and ALL of our Housing Commissioners for their dedicated service and varied advisory housing opinions!
Thank you,
Jerry Rubin
Santa Monica
310‐399‐1000
Item 13.G
02/22/22
87 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: lmarreola <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:03 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: ITEM 13-G @ Tonights CC Mtg.

EXTERNAL
Please don't approve of Commissioners that have a conflict of interest be on city commissions.

Carol and Larry Arreola
Sunset Park Residents
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone Item 13.G
02/22/22
88 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:24 PM
To: councilmtgitems; councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Oscar de la Torre
Subject: Re: 2/22/2022 city council meeting items 8A and 13G

As was also discussed in the February 8 meeting, the sadly not‐unearned perception of the Santa Monica city government as a lawless clown show has already resulted in us losing the consideration of multiple qualified would‐be candidates who rightly did not want to tarnish their own reputations by shackling their reputation to that of the Santa Monica city government. And now, the same three candidates who voted to protect this new culture of lawlessness surrounding the selection of city employees have presented an agenda item which, ironically, sure looks like the start of their own witch hunt against anyone in the Santa Monica city government who commits the high crime of having policy disagreements with them, starting with Commissioner Camner. From our hired city staff to our volunteer city Item 13.G
02/22/22
89 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
2 commissioners, these three councilmembers are clearly hellbent on creating a Santa Monica city government that consists solely of their handpicked sycophants.

Thank you for your time,
Jason Mastbaum
Item 13.G
02/22/22
90 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Danielle Charney <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:42 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Sue Himmelrich; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Kristin McCowan; David White; [email protected] Subject: Item 3-G. Don't Back Down -uphold ethics

EXTERNAL
I am writing again to urge you – my city – to please remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission.

She never should have been appointed.

You voted her in and you can vote her out.

I am seeing Ms. Camner's bully campaign all over social media...urging call ins and write ins
from Barbados to Belarus.

This is tech... this is what they do.

I remember when Ms. Camner and her group worked the internet to destroy LV...

Anyone who dared to disagree or question their backers and motives was threatened with a lawsuit.

Now we have Scott Weiner and others joining this mob designed activity.

Please stand up for what is right and ethical.

Don't let this group decide how we run our City, because that is their intention..they are seeing to it that this State and our City is run into the ground. They have done major damage here.

Stop them now. Do what is right. Uphold ethics.

Item 13.G
02/22/22
91 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
2 Thank you,
Danielle Charney
Item 13.G
02/22/22
92 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Zac Dean <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 3:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Do not remove Commissioner Camner

With Santa Monica's disastrous housing element attempts, Leonora's voice is needed now more than ever. She deserves to stay.

Item 13.G
02/22/22
93 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:05 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Leonora Cramner
From: Faustino Garza <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 3:51 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Cc: David White <[email protected]>; Susan Cline <[email protected]> Subject: Leonora Cramner

EXTERNAL
SM Council Members:

Faustino Garza
34‐year resident and homeowner
Sunset Park
Item 13.G
02/22/22
94 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:09 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Housing Commission
‐‐‐‐‐Original Message‐‐‐‐‐
From: Mara Thompson <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 3:09 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Subject: Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Please note that I do not support retaining Leonora Camner on the Housing Commission.

She has got to go as her other affiliations are a conflict to serving the current citizens of Santa Monica.

Mara Thompson
Santa Monica
Sent from my iPhone
Item 13.G
02/22/22
95 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Amy Anderson <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:13 PM
To: Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Sue Himmelrich; Gleam Davis; Kristin McCowan
Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13.G

Commissioner Camner is an advocate, not a lobbyist, encouraging policies that support a community interest – increased housing affordability and opportunities ‐ not a private one.

Thank you for your consideration of this input.

And thank you for your investment of time and expertise to support Santa Monica.

Amy Anderson
Item 13.G
02/22/22
96 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jerry Rubin <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:48 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: [email protected]; David White
Subject: February 22 Council Meeting Agenda Item 13G

EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica City Council Members:

I am communicating with all 7 Council Members to voice my strong opposition to the proposed removal of Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner from her appointed position.

I hope to be able to speak virtually at tonight’s meeting.

I sincerely and respectfully hope that the Council Members who put Item 13G on the agenda will actually please reconsider and hopefully decide to remove it from the agenda.

I thank Ms. Camner and ALL of our Housing Commissioners for their dedicated service and varied advisory housing opinions!
Thank you,
Jerry Rubin
Santa Monica
310‐399‐1000
Item 13.G
02/22/22
97 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: lmarreola <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:03 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: ITEM 13-G @ Tonights CC Mtg.

EXTERNAL
Please don't approve of Commissioners that have a conflict of interest be on city commissions.

Carol and Larry Arreola
Sunset Park Residents
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone Item 13.G
02/22/22
98 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:24 PM
To: councilmtgitems; councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Oscar de la Torre
Subject: Re: 2/22/2022 city council meeting items 8A and 13G

As was also discussed in the February 8 meeting, the sadly not‐unearned perception of the Santa Monica city government as a lawless clown show has already resulted in us losing the consideration of multiple qualified would‐be candidates who rightly did not want to tarnish their own reputations by shackling their reputation to that of the Santa Monica city government. And now, the same three candidates who voted to protect this new culture of lawlessness surrounding the selection of city employees have presented an agenda item which, ironically, sure looks like the start of their own witch hunt against anyone in the Santa Monica city government who commits the high crime of having policy disagreements with them, starting with Commissioner Camner. From our hired city staff to our volunteer city Item 13.G
02/22/22
99 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
2 commissioners, these three councilmembers are clearly hellbent on creating a Santa Monica city government that consists solely of their handpicked sycophants.

Thank you for your time,
Jason Mastbaum
Item 13.G
02/22/22
100 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Danielle Charney <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 2:42 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Sue Himmelrich; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Kristin McCowan; David White; [email protected] Subject: Item 3-G. Don't Back Down -uphold ethics

EXTERNAL
I am writing again to urge you – my city – to please remove Leonora Camner from the Housing Commission.

She never should have been appointed.

You voted her in and you can vote her out.

I am seeing Ms. Camner's bully campaign all over social media...urging call ins and write ins
from Barbados to Belarus.

This is tech... this is what they do.

I remember when Ms. Camner and her group worked the internet to destroy LV...

Anyone who dared to disagree or question their backers and motives was threatened with a lawsuit.

Now we have Scott Weiner and others joining this mob designed activity.

Please stand up for what is right and ethical.

Don't let this group decide how we run our City, because that is their intention..they are seeing to it that this State and our City is run into the ground. They have done major damage here.

Stop them now. Do what is right. Uphold ethics.

Item 13.G
02/22/22
101 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
2 Thank you,
Danielle Charney
Item 13.G
02/22/22
102 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Zac Dean <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 3:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Do not remove Commissioner Camner

With Santa Monica's disastrous housing element attempts, Leonora's voice is needed now more than ever. She deserves to stay.

Item 13.G
02/22/22
103 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:05 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Leonora Cramner
From: Faustino Garza <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 3:51 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Cc: David White <[email protected]>; Susan Cline <[email protected]> Subject: Leonora Cramner

EXTERNAL
SM Council Members:

Faustino Garza
34‐year resident and homeowner
Sunset Park
Item 13.G
02/22/22
104 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:09 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Housing Commission
‐‐‐‐‐Original Message‐‐‐‐‐
From: Mara Thompson <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 3:09 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Subject: Housing Commission

EXTERNAL
Please note that I do not support retaining Leonora Camner on the Housing Commission.

She has got to go as her other affiliations are a conflict to serving the current citizens of Santa Monica.

Mara Thompson
Santa Monica
Sent from my iPhone
Item 13.G
02/22/22
105 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Amy Anderson <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:13 PM
To: Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Sue Himmelrich; Gleam Davis; Kristin McCowan
Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13.G

Commissioner Camner is an advocate, not a lobbyist, encouraging policies that support a community interest – increased housing affordability and opportunities ‐ not a private one.

Thank you for your consideration of this input.

And thank you for your investment of time and expertise to support Santa Monica.

Amy Anderson
Item 13.G
02/22/22
106 of 107 Item 13.G
02/22/22
1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jerry Rubin <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 4:48 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: [email protected]; David White
Subject: February 22 Council Meeting Agenda Item 13G

EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica City Council Members:

I am communicating with all 7 Council Members to voice my strong opposition to the proposed removal of Housing Commissioner Leonora Camner from her appointed position.

I hope to be able to speak virtually at tonight’s meeting.

I sincerely and respectfully hope that the Council Members who put Item 13G on the agenda will actually please reconsider and hopefully decide to remove it from the agenda.

Santa Monica City CouncilFebruary 22, 2022

Santa Monica City Council
February 22, 2022