Written Comment — Santa Monica City Council, July 29, 2025

1 Mitchell Kois
From: Catalina Langen <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2025 10:07 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Santa Monica City Manager's Office; Caroline Torosis; Lana Negrete; Sandra Santiago; Ellis Raskin; Barry Snell; Julie Rusk; Dr Karen Gunn; Dan Hall; Natalya Zernitskaya; Jesse Zwick
Subject: Letter of Community Support for Equity Plan
Attachments: Community Letter in Support of Citywide Equity Plan.pdf Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Negrete, Mayor Pro Tem Torosis, Councilmembers Hall, Raskin, Snell, Zernitskaya, Zwick, and City Manager Chi,
Please see the attached letter regarding community support for the 7/29/2025 Council Meeting Agenda Item 11A - Approval of Citywide Equity Plan.

This letter is submitted on behalf of the Santa Monica Bay Area Human Relations Council (HRC).

Thank you,
Catalina
Catalina Langen
Director
Santa Monica Bay Area Human Relations Council
To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.

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1 Mitchell Kois
From: Mathew Millen <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2025 2:30 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Lana Negrete; [email protected]; Jesse Zwick Subject: July 29 Item 11 A
Attachments: 11AJuly29.pdf
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Completed

EXTERNAL
Attached are my comments for July 29 Item 11 A
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1 Mitchell Kois
From: Tara Barauskas <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 7:29 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 11A-support for City Equity Plan

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Negrete and Members of the City Council,

I would like to express our strong support for the City’s Equity Plan as presented in Item 11A. As a longstanding nonprofit partner of the City, we collaborate with you and many other organizations to support equity principles here in Santa Monica to create a more inclusive community. The Equity Plan prepared by the City’s staff, led by Lisa Parson, is an impressive and well thought out set of strategies and actions that will demonstrate the City’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness. The level of community outreach was particularly impressive. We hope that the City Council will agree to not only adopt this Plan but to implement the recommendations in the plan with urgency.

Thank you,
Tara

Tara Barauskas, LEED AP
Executive Director
Community Corporation of Santa Monica
1410 2nd Street, Suite 200
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 394-8487 ext. 133
[email protected]
www.communitycorp.org
I acknowledge with respect and gratitude the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples on whose traditional territory I live and work.

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1 Mitchell Kois
From: Angela D. Scott <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 11:46 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Dan Hall; Lana Negrete; Natalya Zernitskaya; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Ellis Raskin; Barry Snell
Subject: Strengthen the Citywide Equity Plan - Item 11A Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Negrete and Esteemed Councilmembers,
I am writing to express my appreciation for the City of Santa Monica’s bold and necessary steps toward acknowledging and repairing historical harms through the Citywide Equity Plan and the emerging Reparations & Landback framework. These initiatives represent a meaningful response to generations of injustice and exclusion experienced by many of Santa Monica’s historically marginalized communities— including the Black, Indigenous, Latino, Jewish, and disabled residents whose stories were far too long erased or ignored.

The Council’s adoption of racial justice, equity, and social diversity as a strategic priority, the 2022 Black Apology, and the forthcoming Reparations & Landback Task Force reflect not just moral leadership, but an institutional shift that centers truth, healing, and restoration. I commend the City for framing equity as both a value and a shared responsibility embedded across departments and community partnerships.

However, as the implementation phase of these efforts begins, I urge Council to address several key pain points that could hinder the long-term success of this transformative work:

Pain Points

1. Limited Fiscal Flexibility and Funding Sources
The City’s constrained General Fund, legal liabilities, and infrastructure backlogs raise questions about the feasibility of implementing reparative programs without sustainable financing mechanisms.

2. Community Tensions and Representation Disputes
The Reparations Study Session notes that historical trauma, internal division, and disputes over rightful representation—especially among Indigenous groups—could fracture community solidarity if not navigated with care.

3. Public Awareness and Buy-in
Resistance to restorative justice efforts—particularly from residents unaware of Santa Monica’s historical role in systemic harm—may jeopardize implementation unless addressed through consistent, transparent community education.

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2 4. Risk of Performative Action Without Measurable Impact Without well-resourced metrics and accountability mechanisms, there is a risk that the Equity Plan and Reparations Task Force become symbolic rather than transformative.

Recommendations for Sustainable Solutions
 Establish a Dedicated Reparations and Equity Fund
Consider reallocating underutilized city-owned assets, leveraging public-private partnerships, and exploring voter-approved measures to support ongoing investments. A multi-year funding strategy could model successful approaches in cities like Evanston, Providence, and Palm Springs.
 Codify a Restorative Justice Framework in Policy
Move beyond resolutions by integrating restorative justice principles into the City’s charter or municipal code—ensuring these efforts outlast political cycles and staffing transitions.  Strengthen Community Education and Narrative Shifting Expand partnerships with schools, faith-based institutions, and neighborhood groups to host truth-telling forums, intergenerational storytelling projects, and cultural preservation initiatives to normalize this work across the city.
 Create an Independent Equity Accountability Body
Establish an oversight committee with budget review authority and representation from impacted communities to track progress across departments and ensure timely implementation of Equity Plan projects.
 Prioritize Reparations-Eligible Residents in Housing and Economic Development Programs While complying with legal limits under Prop 209, programs can be targeted using race-neutral indicators, such as geographic displacement (e.g., the Belmar Triangle, Pico neighborhood) and historical property loss, ensuring that benefits reach the communities most impacted.

Santa Monica has an opportunity to become a national model for municipal-level reparative justice. The roadmap has been drawn by your staff and shaped by the voices of those who have endured and survived inequity. Now, the challenge is to resource, implement, and protect this vision—ensuring that the legacy of equity is not just planned, but lived.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to a Santa Monica where every resident is seen, heard, and valued. I welcome continued collaboration and stand ready to support this work in any way possible.

With respect and solidarity,
Angela
Angela D. Scott (she/her), MBA/V
Student, Doctor of Education, Ed.D.

Organizational Change and Leadership
"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." - Shirley Chisholm
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3 I acknowledge with respect and gratitude the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples on whose traditional territory I live and work.

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4 Mitchell Kois
From: Cris Gutierrez <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 9:58 AM
To: Lana Negrete; Caroline Torosis; Dan Hall; Jesse Zwick; Natalya Zernitskaya; Barry Snell; councilmtgitems
Cc: Oliver Chi; Lisa Parson
Subject: Support 7/29/25 Agenda Item 11.A – Citywide Equity Plan Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Negrete, Mayor Pro Tem Torosis and City Council Members:

As the Great Park Coalition Regenerative Sustainability Working Group, we support the adoption of the City of Santa Monica’s Citywide Equity Plan and that “The City of Santa Monica is committed to addressing past harms, breaking down systemic barriers, and advancing equity for all our community members.” The Great Park Coalition’s (GPC) effort is a non-partisan, diverse group currently made up of over 65 organizations (representing 20,000 individuals) as well as almost 800 listed individual supporters. The GPC welcomes all future uses of the airport site that are compliant with Measure LC and which align with the five Guiding Principles for the Santa Monica Airport Conversion (SMAC) Project. The Equity Plan’s overall aims reflect the essence of the GPC’s values and the sense that reclaiming our public land would offer everyone in our Santa Monica community the enjoyments of and benefits from the ecological gifts offered at the Great Park.

We positively highlight Goal 3, which includes input from the City Manager’s Office & Community Development Department:
“Advance equity as part of the Santa Monica Airport conversion | 2030 Advance equity on the site of the airport’s conversion, including the construction of a multicultural center and the rewilding of the land in accordance with native practices, in partnership with the Kuruvungna Springs Foundation.” Rewilding the airport land aligns with the SMAC Project Guiding Principle “Start with Nature” and a “multicultural center” aligns with “Celebrate Place.” Embracing multiculturalism and rewilding is significant and essential. Cultural diversity and biodiversity are fundamental to our existence on Earth, and nurturing human and habitat health involves Santa Monica doing what it can to heal past harms and to care conscientiously for our present and future well-being by uplifting our relationships to each other and to Nature as interdependent. Our Rights of Nature/Sustainability Rights Ordinance deems no less.

What it specifically means to construct a multicultural center and to include rewilding to advance equity as part of the recreation of our public land at the airport site can generate thoughtful, open discussions as part of our community’s process. These goals should be considered within the context of and integrated thoughtfully into the overall SMAC project planning process being careful to respect the multi-year SMAC Project process itself.

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5 The Gabrielino-Tongva are the Indigenous inhabitants of Santa Monica and the Los Angeles Basin with a profound and enduring understanding of being “in right relationship” with the land, embodying a deep sense of environmental stewardship and responsibility. Their cultural practices, traditions, and very identity are inextricably linked to caring for and protecting the land and its resources.

The Tongva also have a vast understanding of the local ecosystem, including the plants, animals, and natural processes.

This knowledge, accumulated over generations, guides their land management practices also known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

The Equity Plan’s SMAC inclusion would be entirely appropriate, as it would support the creation of a nature-based regeneration and restorative ecosystem in keeping with, indeed bringing alive, the Guiding Principles of the Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project that have been adopted by the Santa Monica City Council.

1. Start with Nature

2. Inspire Wonder

3. Balance Economics

4. Amplify Versatility

5. Celebrate Place
We support the adoption of the City of Santa Monica Citywide Equity Plan’s goals generally and look forward to planning their inclusion in the Santa Monica Airport final master plan for a future Great Park.

Sincerely,
Regenerative Sustainable Working Group
Santa Monica Great Park Coalition
Michael Brodsky, Airport2Park
Kate Davies, UC Berkeley
Kyle Drees, Patagonia Santa Monica
Emmy Fay, California State University Monterey Bay
Cris Gutierrez, Santa Monica Community Gardens and SaMo Safe Streets Alliance Susan Jain, Santa Monica Arts Commission
Dylan Jericiau, Team Marine
Ben Kay, Santa Monica Clean Beaches & Ocean Parcel Tax Citizens Oversight Committee Andreas Kemkes, Verdant Venice
Dean Kubani, Santa Monica Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice & the Environment James Oliver, Centre for Applied Ecological Remediation David Pettit, Santa Monica Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice & the Environment Sylvie Rokab, Love Thy Nature
Cynthia Rose, Santa Monica Spoke and SaMo Safe Streets Alliance Jerry Rubin, Santa Monica Urban Forest Task Force
Alison Starcher, Ishihara Park Learning Garden
Kent Strumpell, Climate Action Santa Monica
Paola Vezzulli, Collective Fields, Regenerative Farming Laurene von Klan, Climate Action Santa Monica
Sarah Wauters, Verdant Venice
Randy Ziglar, Santa Monica Community Gardens
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6 Mitchell Kois
From: Cris Gutierrez <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 9:56 AM
To: Lana Negrete; Caroline Torosis; Dan Hall; Jesse Zwick; Natalya Zernitskaya; Barry Snell; councilmtgitems
Cc: Oliver Chi; Lisa Parson
Subject: Support 7/29/25 Agenda Item 11.A – Citywide Equity Plan Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Negrete, Mayor Pro Tem Torosis and City Council Members:

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7 The Gabrielino-Tongva are the Indigenous inhabitants of Santa Monica and the Los Angeles Basin with a profound and enduring understanding of being “in right relationship” with the land, embodying a deep sense of environmental stewardship and responsibility. Their cultural practices, traditions, and very identity are inextricably linked to caring for and protecting the land and its resources.

The Tongva also have a vast understanding of the local ecosystem, including the plants, animals, and natural processes.

This knowledge, accumulated over generations, guides their land management practices also known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

1. Start with Nature

2. Inspire Wonder

3. Balance Economics

4. Amplify Versatility

Sincerely,
Regenerative Sustainable Working Group
Santa Monica Great Park Coalition
Michael Brodsky, Airport2Park
Kate Davies, UC Berkeley
Emmy Fay, California State University Monterey Bay
Cris Gutierrez, Santa Monica Community Gardens and SaMo Safe Streets Alliance Susan Jain, Santa Monica Arts Commission
Dylan Jericiau, Team Marine
Ben Kay, Santa Monica Clean Beaches & Ocean Parcel Tax Citizens Oversight Committee Andreas Kemkes, Verdant Venice
Dean Kubani, Santa Monica Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice & the Environment James Oliver, Centre for Applied Ecological Remediation David Pettit, Santa Monica Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice & the Environment Sylvie Rokab, Love Thy Nature
Cynthia Rose, Santa Monica Spoke and SaMo Safe Streets Alliance Jerry Rubin, Santa Monica Urban Forest Task Force
Alison Starcher, Ishihara Park Learning Garden
Kent Strumpell, Climate Action Santa Monica
Paola Vezzulli, Collective Fields, Regenerative Farming Laurene von Klan, Climate Action Santa Monica
Sarah Wauters, Verdant Venice
Randy Ziglar, Santa Monica Community Gardens
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8 Mitchell Kois
From: Gabrielino Springs <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 9:48 AM
To: Lana Negrete; Caroline Torosis; Dan Hall; Ellis Raskin; Natalya Zernitskaya; Barry Snell; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems; Rick Valte; Peter James; Christopher Dishlip; Susan Cola; Douglas Sloan
Subject: Re: Agenda Item 11.A – Citywide Equity Plan / Land Back / Kuruvungna Village Springs Attachments: Airport to Park Concept.pptx
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
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EXTERNAL

July 28, 2025

Dear City Council:

I’m Bob Ramirez, a long-time resident of Santa Monica, a Designer and Builder of homes and landscapes, a Santa Monica Arts Commissioner, and the President and Director of the Gabrielino Tongva Springs Foundation, the Land Steward of Kuruvungna Village Springs.

The 1938 mural in the lobby of City Hall depicts the first contact between the Portola Expedition and the Native People at Kuruvungna Springs on August 4, 1769. This mural recently became the subject of Reframe, which proposed recommendations which were approved unanimously by the City Council last year.

Recommendation #8 to ‘Facilitate Land Back in Santa Monica’, and Recommendation #9, to ‘Facilitate Kuruvungna Springs Relationship’ has offered us an opportunity to address and correct an historical injury to our native habitat: the complete erasure of the local native environment by development.

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Airport to Park Concept
Presented to the SM Public Arts Committee by Bob Ramirez May 19, 2025
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The Site
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Start with Nature
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Inspire
Wonder
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Celebrate Place
• A Tongva inspired, spiral
ramped mound constructed of
recycled runway materials
rises to a promontory for
gathering, and celebration.
• Steps lead up to the 48 foot
height, and lookouts are
aligned with the points of the
compass.
• Secondary alignments for
solstices and equinoxes invoke
connection with the cosmos.

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Balance
Economics
• The 150’ L x 4,100’ L concrete runway contains 34,166 cubic yards of material.
• To break up and haul off to a landfill would require
approximately 6,000 truck loads.
• The runway should be regarded as an on-site quarry of building material, recycled as ‘Santa Monica Stone’.
• Portions of the runway can be sawn into large building blocks to form the 2,200 long, 16’ high walls of the spiral ramped Tongva Hill.
• Broken up concrete runway rubble from the associated site improvements can be used as permeable fill.
• When plantings are established, maintenance costs will be minimal.

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The 18” thick sawn blocks of
runway concrete arranged in an
ascending spiral, are inclined
inward to capture the rain and
fog.

An impervious layer of clay deep
below the mound of concrete
rubble impounds water to
create an aquifer.

A solar powered pump
distributes water to springs on
the upper flanks of the mound
to irrigate pockets of lush
vegetation and percolates back
into the basin.

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Amplify
Diversity
• Tongva Hill provides an amble through plant
communities and historical layers, with a promontory
for gathering, celebration, vistas and contemplation.
• Moomat Ahiko, the Breath of the Ocean, the daily
onshore breeze, is welcomed and softened by mound,
providing sheltered activities downwind.
• The monument serves as a node of biodiversity, using
Traditional Ecological Knowledge to de-colonize and
re-wild a fragment of the city.
• Tongva Park has almost no native plants.
• Tongva Hill will be enveloped with native plants
allowing for an inspiring passage through varying
microclimates and plant communities to celebrate the
diversity of our natural environment.

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Examples of Monumental Earthworks
In North America
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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND Cahokia
1100 AD
Mississippian Culture; present day Illinois
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Chaco Culture
900-1150 AD
New Mexico
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Teotihuacan, Mexico
1 st
-5
th Century AD
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Bio / Bob Ramirez
• CEO of Ramirez Design, Designer and Builder of notable homes and gardens since 1980
• President of the Gabrielino Tongva Springs Foundation and Steward of the ancient village of Kuruvungna in West Los Angeles.
• Arts Commissioner for the City of Santa Monica.

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9 Land Back:

The Great Park project will transform the 192 acres of airport land; a portion of this land should be given back to the native plants and animals that also call this land their home.

Santa Monica covers 8.4 square miles of developed land; 40 acres of airport land, less than 1% of the area of the City, could be restored with native habitats and provide educational, recreational and spiritual opportunities for the future.

Kuruvungna Springs:

Our work at Kuruvungna Village Springs involves the restoration of the 2-acre site in partnership with native plant specialists, community groups, and an enthusiastic army of volunteers.

Traditional Ecology Knowledge has allowed us to transform a once abandoned and neglected site into a sanctuary and refuge for Native Life.

Our deep experience with the land and water, creating relationships with our plant and animal relatives, will enable us to collaborate meaningfully with the airport conversion team.

Recycle the Runway:

The 35,000 cubic yards of concrete runway can be recycled into a Tongva inspired spiral-ramped Ziggurat, enveloped with native plants, leading up to a promontory with vistas of the mountains and the bay.

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10 A gentle ADA-conforming spiral ramp encircling the mound planted with local native vegetation allows for an inspiring passage through varying microclimates and plant communities that celebrate the diversity of our natural environment.

Captured rainwater, impounded in an artificial aquifer and pumped using solar power, create springs emerging on the north facing slope to irrigate lush vegetation, before percolating back into the basin through layers of crushed runway.

Here is a brief presentation of this concept:

This living, breathing monument embraces the Five Guiding Principles of the Great Park Design:
 Start with Nature
 Inspire Wonder
 Balance Economics
 Amplify Versatility
 Celebrate Space

We ask that this small parcel of Land be given Back to the Native Plants and Animals which will benefit our entire community in ways we have yet to understand.

Thank You for your support for our future Great Park.

Respectfully,
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11 Bob Ramirez
President
Kuruvungna Village Springs
Gabrielino~Tongva Springs Foundation
P.O. Box 642043
Los Angeles, CA 90064
501(c)(3) EIN 95-4396168
Gabrielinosprings.com
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12 Mitchell Kois
From: Santa Monica Great Park Coalition <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 8:56 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: July 29, 2028 Council Meeting - Item 11.A. - Equity Plan Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged

EXTERNAL

Dear Mayor Negrete, Mayor Pro Tem Torosis and Councilmembers, The Santa Monica Great Park Coalition, a grassroots community organization composed of more than 65 non-profit organizations representing more than 20,000 community members, shares and supports the goals of the Equity Plan, and believes that they can be furthered by the conversion of the Santa Monica Airport into a Great Park.

While the GPC takes no positions on specific uses and programs to be included in the park (at this time), we are excited to note that the draft plan includes reference to the closure of the airport and the future of the land there, as a means to expand pathways to opportunity for historically underserved communities in Santa Monica, and specifically refers to a proposal from one of our coalition members, the Kuruvungna Springs Foundation. Our Regenerative Sustainability Working Group is sending you a separate letter on that proposal. Again, while GPC does not have positions on specific proposals, we can say that it is exciting that there would be a way to relate the environmental restorative aspects of the park to the land’s pre-colonization environment, cultures and history.

We do, however, want to point out ways that a park replacing the airport will further the goals of the Equity Plan. We must not forget that due to redlining and restrictive covenants “minorities” (we use that word in its historical sense) in Santa Monica were restricted to living in certain areas — principally along the railroad tracks and industrial areas (the Pico Neighborhood) and in Ocean Park (which was where Santa Monica’s skid row was located). These are the areas of the city where even today most of our economically disadvantaged residents live (e.g., where the schools have the highest number of pupils qualifying for subsidized lunches), predominantly in apartments. Additionally in Sunset Park, half the housing units are apartments, the vast majority of them (3,309 as of 2021) rent-controlled.

Because these neighborhoods are dense they have relatively few parks. They have high percentages of apartment dwellers who need parks for recreation and for picnics. They also bear the brunt of environmental impacts from Santa Monica’s industrial history. The pollution from the freeway that ripped through the Pico Neighborhood and from the airport falls mostly on these neighborhoods. However, and Item 11-A
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13 this is where the connection to the goals of the Equity Plan come in, these are the neighborhoods in Santa Monica that will receive the most direct benefits from closing the airport and replacing it with a park that is accessible to them.

Thank you for your consideration. The Great Park Coalition stands ready to support the City’s efforts to advance equity in a meaningful way in the coming years.

Sincerely,

The Great Park Coalition Leadership Team

John Fairweather
Cris Gutierrez
Frank Gruber
Zina Josephs
Joe Pertel
Ann Bowman

The Great Park Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, nonpartisan group of over 65 diverse organizations representing 20,000+ individuals committed to transforming the Santa Monica Airport site back into a 192-acre all-public, not privatized Great Park in accordance with the 2014 Measure LC City Charter Amendment.

The Great Park will add significant new green and open spaces, increase sports & recreational opportunities, enhance the City's arts and cultural experiences, honor the history of the site, support sustainability practices incl
==============================
Santa Monica Great Park Coalition
Web: www.GreatParkCoalition.org
E-mail: [email protected]
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