Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to the article titled Voting Rights Judge Issues Dire Warning. Eight and a half years ago the Pico Neighborhood Association and I filed a CVRA lawsuit against the City of Santa Monica for violating the voting rights of Latinos in Santa Monica’s Pico Neighborhood.

After a six-week trial, Superior Court Judge Palazuelos issued a judgment affirming that the City of Santa Monica had indeed violated the voting rights of Latinos and also the Equal Protection clause of the California State Constitution.

The City Council at the time voted to appeal the Superior Court judgment and refused to establish district elections because it threatens the strong hold the political establishment has had on our city’s governance.

Spending more than $14 million dollars of taxpayer money to protect power and privilege is not progressive or even liberal. It demonstrates that institutional racism is alive and well in Santa Monica and racial justice is a mere word.

Last year, a report authored by professors from UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan and Harvard used Santa Monica's switch to at-large elections in 1946 as a case study in voter discrimination ("Santa Monica Is Case Study in Voter Discrimination, Report Contends," October 10, 2023).

Although we have all new Councilmembers except for Gleam Davis, the City Council continues to fight against Latino voting rights, as the political establishment that has held power for decades still has significant influence on the majority of the City Council.

Residents have been kept in the dark as to why the City would gamble with our public dollars. All discussions have been held in closed session with little to no report back to the public. Residents aren’t being informed on the mounting legal fees being accumulated as the CVRA lawsuit continues.

According to the transcripts from the August 13 hearing, the City is not interested in settling this case because they are refusing to negotiate reasonable attorney’s fees, yet there seems to be no hesitation on their part to misuse our public dollars and pay their high priced law firm $1,800 plus per hour to fight Latino voting rights, racking up as much as $15 million to date and counting.

Even Judge Crowley warns that without a settlement this case could last another 7 years, doubling the attorney fees. This tactic of refusing to settle the CVRA lawsuit to avoid attorney fees only to accumulate mounting legal fees is irresponsible and nonsensical.

Does the current City Council realize that by refusing to settle and continue to fight against Latino voting rights and district elections they are creating a structural deficit that will cost Santa Monica residents millions of public dollars and years to recover.

Residents are already paying the price for bad decision making within our city government and shouldn’t tolerate more self-inflicted financial burdens. Would they make the same decision if it was their own money?

There has been a lack of transparency and a lack of accountability when it comes to the use of our public dollars and the decision to continue to fight a losing court battle. Rightfully so, every other City in the State of California has settled a CVRA claim, but the white liberal establishment continues to act like racism somehow skipped Santa Monica.

The establishment's political machine continues its influence the majority of the current City Council and the candidates who have vowed to continue to misuse public dollars to protect their strong hold on our city governance.

I am confident that the courts in California will one day deliver a more just system of elections that provides representation for every neighborhood and every resident in our city.

It saddens me to think that a city that prides itself on being “progressive” wasted millions of dollars to fight our call for district elections that will make it is less expensive to run for a City Council seat and provide for permanent representation for the Pico Neighborhood and every neighborhood in our city.

Maria Loya
Santa Monica