Dear Editor,

A decision on whether to settle the voting rights lawsuit against the city is on the Council’s Agenda on Tuesday. It would change our at large Council elections to voting by district.

Those who are not happy with the Council we have elected naively assume that they will get better representation by voting for one councilmember every four years, instead of the seven we now select. They claim that their district’s councilmember would solve their neighborhood’s perceived problems.

This desire assumes that they will elect an effective person. But councilmembers will have to persuade three others to vote their way to get a majority.

This will inevitably lead to the trading of votes -- “I’ll vote for what you want, if you vote for what I want.” -- leading to decisions that are not necessarily what’s best for the city as a whole. And if my district’s councilmember is not effective, I will have to wait four years to elect someone else. Right now, I get to vote for all seven councilmembers over four years.

Certainly it would be cheaper and easier to run in one district. But it will also be cheaper and easier for “special interests” to support their candidates. Having been elected under the current at large system, I had to be concerned with the city as a whole and not just my part of town.

The lawsuit claims that the Pico neighborhood has been mistreated by the city. I don’t agree, but if it has, what is to prevent the other districts from freezing Pico out by uniting to grab the City’s resources.

Civil rights are extremely important and I’m sure many cities need to change their voting system, but Santa Monica is not one of them.

In recent years, over half of the City Council has been Latino. Two-thirds of the city’s Latino residents now live outside the Pico neighborhood. It has become a majority white area. If Santa Monicans have discriminated in voting, how have we elected numerous people of color to the city council, school board and college trustees?

I’m proud to live in a city that is a national leader of progressive policies and I look forward to the new Council continuing that vision.

Supporters of district elections should beware of what they seek, the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence!

Paul Rosenstein