End the Dictatorship, Save the Playhouse and Call a Spade a Spade

June 17, 2002

Dear Editor,

Good for Paul DeSantis identifying, once again, the corruption in Santa Monica politicians ("Lust for Power," OPINION, June 17). The end of the socialist regime is in view.

Twenty years of mistakes, from the SM City Council dictatorship, unfair rent control laws and overall hypocrisy, can be history if the citizens of Santa Monica vote in the VERITAS initiative.

Fingers & legs crossed!

Harry Williams
Santa Monica native & resident for 46 years

June 10, 2002

Dear editor,

The Santa Monica Playhouse after over 40 years of service to our community is asking the city for help. For over four decades the Santa Monica Playhouse has been a renter. The problem -- the success of the downtown district has driven up the price of market rents. The Santa Monica Playhouse rent will soon increase to $12,000 a month, an amount that would force the theater to close.

So the Santa Monica Playhouse has turned to the City for help to buy its own home and help ensure that the Santa Monica Playhouse will be here for another 40 years to come. The Santa Monica Playhouse serves our city in so many ways. They play a vital role in this community through education and live artistic experiences. Every year over 300 young people complete 50 to 150 hours of in-depth theatrical and artistic training.

These young students learn combined skills including not only acting, singing and dancing, but also leadership skills, improved self-confidence, public speaking,
team-work, critical thinking, and an opportunity to shine in their own community.

To date over 20,000 young people have succeeded through arts training programs of the Santa Monica Playhouse. They have out-reached to the public schools with the Young People's Professional Company speaking and performing for over 100,000 students. They have taken over 300 local young artists abroad as youth artistic ambassadors to Canada, England and Japan. They have received over 800 exchange students here in Santa Monica from foreign lands providing a forum for their performance to our local audiences. The Santa Monica Playhouse has two live theaters where they have performed for audiences totaling over three million. They have done all of this as a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the artistic sustainability of our community.

I believe it is important that the Santa Monica Playhouse serve the community of Santa Monica for another 40 years. There is one way to do this: help the Santa Monica Playhouse buy the building they have been renting at sky rocketing rates. Otherwise their investment in our community will soon end and they will be out-priced by the national chains and competitive businesses that can afford the highest bidder rental rates in Santa Monica.

The Santa Monica Playhouse is a bargain for Santa Monica. They are only asking the city for about 7.5 percent of purchase price of the building. It is that crucial 7.5 percent that will make up about 20 percent of the theater's down payment and represent the vote of confidence and support they need to match the rest of the funds through additional grants and the Save the Playhouse fundraising campaign.

With the city's help, and only with the city's help, the Santa Monica Playhouse will continue to serve so many young people and community members through art and education. This is one opportunity our city can't afford to miss.

Ryan Flegal
Santa Monica

June 9, 2002

Dear Editor,

Why can't we call a spade a spade any more? Everyone knows that the "white people" you refer to as being such well organized white people from outside Santa Monica are not just Russian immigrants but Russian Jewish immigrants (SPECIAL REPORT: "Against the Odds: Chances for New Housing Slim for Santa Monica Seniors," May 13, and "Apply and Demand: How Local Housing Providers Beat the Odds," May 14).

The Jewish community is superbly politically and economically organized and the Jewish community used that organization, among other things, to get Russian and other Jews into the United States under special rules for them and to get them automatically onto SSI, Medicaid (MediCal),and other such programs.

A few years ago the LA Times reported on the wave of Russian Jews in West Hollywood, noting their immediate abuse of programs like the handicapped parking placard programs and their abusiveness in public places and businesses (explained away by representatives of the Jewish community as a byproduct of their life in the Soviet Union).

The LA Times also pointed out that Jewish political voting power would have diminished without the importation of, in particular, Russian and Iranian Jews into the West Side and parts of the Valley because of the low birth rate among American Jews.

You don't have to be an Einstein to put two and two together. Few things happen by accident.

Oh, one other thing. When you name a housing project Menorah, rather than, say, St. Patrick's, don't you think you are sort of giving a signal as to who will and won't be welcome?

Frankly, gentlemen, I am shocked to see anyone shocked.

William Bolte