1 David Yakobson
From: Mike Terranova <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2025 11:59 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Lana Negrete; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Dan Hall; Ellis Raskin; Barry Snell; Natalya Zernitskaya
Cc: Elaine Polachek; Julie Baczewski
Subject: Written Public Comment - Item 12-B March 25 2025 City Council Meeting Attachments: Screenshot 2025-03-25 at 10.34.57 AM.png; Screenshot 2025-03-25 at 10.36.23 AM.png; Screenshot 2025-03-25 at 10.35.06 AM.png; Screenshot 2025-03-25 at 10.36.16 AM.png; Screenshot 2025-03-25 at 10.33.54 AM.png
EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Negrete, Pro Tem Torosis, and Councilmembers:
I am the parent of a child attending Growing Place / Early Childhood Lab School at 1802 4th St. I write to express my frustration and disappointment with how the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office handled the process leading to your requested approval of Item 12-B in today’s meeting - namely, the Emergency Interim Zoning Ordinance (IZO) extending the previous IZO that exempts city projects from normal temporary use permit requirements (generally limited to 180 days) and as it related to SaMo Bridge situated at the Civic Auditorium.
1. A Flawed Process Led by the SM CAO
CAO staff demonstrated a startling lack of transparency and thoroughness throughout this effort. A project that impacts the community’s use of public land should not be passed in the dark but that's what transpired on December 17 at the last regular City Council meeting of 2024. Families at the ECLS preschool adjacent to the Civic Center Auditorium were given no notice of the CAOs plan until after Council had already taken action. During the limited “community outreach” with both Growing Place and the Human Services Commission in January, our questions were answered only with fragmented information or vague “legal” references, rather than clear, detailed justifications for why SaMo Bridge was placed next to the ECLS. A public records request turned up almost completely redacted emails hidden behind asserted attorney-client privilege (examples below), as well as glaring omissions: no communications with SCE regarding technical feasibility to utilize the parking area near Pico/Main (mentioned in the HSCC meeting) versus the east patio, and no Teams chat logs produced which were requested in the PRA's electronic communications record request, despite emails produced referencing such chats. This response was unworthy of a municipal government tasked with serving the public good.
2. Dismissing Available Options and Funding
Rather than pursuing state funding to rehabilitate or replace mold-ridden Clover Park prefabricated trailers used during our last local emergency (COVID) or considering more appropriate locations (while balancing the 50% human services funding component to the grant), the City Attorney’s Office pushed forward with an IZO that bypasses the Civic Center Specific Plan’s protections. This was done in haste - apparently to activate a site for Prop 47 funds by April 2025. At the January HSC meeting, GP parents Item 12-B
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Item 12-B
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2 were told the Pico/Main lot was not feasible due to a supposed lack of SCE power distribution. Yet a public records request revealed no correspondence with SCE, and the staff report for tonight’s meeting merely implies that the Civic Center east patio was picked because using the Pico/Main lot could interfere with any rehabilitation of the Civic Auditorium in the next three years. City staff, like most residents, probably assume the Auditorium will remain neglected for years to come, as it has for the past decade.
3. Contradictions with Established Ordinances
Current municipal code (SMMC 4.08.094) closes the Civic Center grounds nightly from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM to prevent nuisances. Yet the City Attorney’s Office is circumventing its own ordinance by sanctioning 24/7 operation of new trailers there - a de facto Social Service Center (defined in SMMC
9.31.350) which is zoning use entirely absent from the Civic Center Specific Plan. Social Service Centers are also limited to 8AM - 8PM and by ordinance should not adversely impact surrounding parcels and neighborhoods. Misclassifying this as a "Temporary Use" (per SMMC 9.31.370) is typically limited to 180 days or less - not three years. Typically, when an IZO is enacted, a study period follows to evaluate whether and what permanent zoning changes should occur. No such study appears to be happening in this case. The CAO is the same office that once used its powers to abate a public nuisance and stop a McDonald’s from operating 24/7 in the coastal boundary zone in 2018. It is unacceptable for the City Attorney’s Office to selectively ignore its own codes and regulations whenever it finds them inconvenient.
4. Impacts on the Growing Place Community
By authorizing around-the-clock operations directly next to a preschool, the City Attorney’s Office has placed our children and families in an uncomfortable and uncertain position. We already navigate dayto-day interactions with at-risk individuals in a busy area and the children have early exposure to this on community walks to Hotchkiss, Jocelyn, and Tongva parks. These new steps by the City raise serious doubts about whether officials intend to follow the same permitting and land-use regulations they impose on everyone else. While both the school and parents agree that relocating SaMo Bridge to the parking lot at Main/Pico is best, the process that produced the east patio plan was riddled with inconsistencies and remains opaque - despite repeated earlier public records requests.
5. A Call for Professionalism and Accountability
I urge the City Council to demand higher standards from the City Attorney’s Office and staff:
• Enforce a More Rigorous Legal Review
Require the City Attorney’s Office to adopt a collaborative process, supported by thorough public documentation of alternatives, relevant municipal code sections, and potential effects on existing uses - including a preschool.
• Hire or Consult Professional Grant Writers
The scramble to secure and allocate state funds, without well-structured proposals, underscores the need for experienced grant writers. Juggling multiple responsibilities, staff cannot be expected to confidently manage Prop 47 "Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act" funds totaling $8 million. • Insist on Transparency and Community Engagement
Item 12-B
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Item 12-B
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3 Going forward, the Council should require staff to disclose all options, trade-offs, and location evaluations before any vote on zoning exemptions for “temporary uses.” It remains unclear how a “temporary” use can exceed 180 days when all examples of temporary use permits in the city municipal code are less than 180 days in duration. I expect the City to respect its own ordinances, existing land-use plans, and fundamental obligations to the community—especially our youngest members.
6. Our City Can and Must Do Better
Santa Monica prides itself on thoughtful policy and civic engagement, yet this closed-door approach betrays those values. Families, along with all residents, deserve straightforward governance that takes public safety, public land integrity, and financial stewardship seriously. By instructing the City Attorney’s Office and City Manager to meet a higher standard of professionalism, you can ensure such haphazard processes do not repeat. Attached are heavily redacted documents from a public records request that illustrate just how opaque the City’s decision-making was regarding SaMo Bridge at the Civic Center.
Thank you for your time. Please restore our confidence by demanding better accountability and transparency from those who serve the public.
Sincerely,
Mike Terranova
A Growing Place Parent and Santa Monica Resident
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