Gruning takes Reins at Chamber; Gabriels Honored for Lifetime Achievement

By Jorge Casuso

June 23 -- It was a time for the Chamber for Commerce to look to the future and celebrate the past last week when it inaugurated Dr. Michael Gruning as chairman and honored Bob and Louise Gabriel for their years of service to Santa Monica.

Gruning will take over at a time when the chamber, emboldened by the defeat of the City’s pioneering Living Wage law in the 2000 election, plans to become a major political player -- for the first time endorsing candidates and helping to bankroll their campaigns.

A hard-line advocate of cracking down on the City’s transient population, Gruning also worked to pass a parcel tax at the polls earlier this month that will pump $6.5 million a year into the local schools. In addition, he worked to defeat the living wage ordinance, which would have required businesses in the coastal zone to pay workers a minimum wage. “Businesses are struggling,” said Gruning, a 56-year-old optometrist. “These are trying times. I don’t think it’s the time for the council to pass potentially onerous laws.”

Dr. Michael Gruning

The chamber, he added, would oppose a possible revision to the sound ordinance, fears a recent law that bans smoking in the parks will hurt tourism and would oppose a ballot measure to raise hotel bed taxes.

“Complacency,” Gruning said in his written address to the chamber, “is not an option. With your help we will persevere and prosper.”

Gruning called the chamber’s recent joining of forces with its traditional foes -- the politically powerful tenants group, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights -- to pass the Measure S parcel tax “an amazing collaboration.”

But he added that he is also cautious that the tenants group that helped lead the fight for the City’s unprecedented Living Wage law could seek another battle on the labor front. “We have to beware of Freddy Krueger coming back as another living wage ordinance,” Gruning said.

Gruning, who will take the reins July 1, wants to tackle the three biggest problems identified in a survey of chamber members and echoed by residents in a City survey last year -- homelessness, parking and traffic.

He noted the response of Downtown business owners who were visited by chamber leaders last month to discuss the effects of a pair of recent ordinances that crack down on the homeless sleeping in doorways and on groups that hand out free meals in the parks.

“The response was overwhelming and consistent,” Gruning said. “People were fed up. That’s something we need to fix. “

The Gabriels were presented with the Roy E. Naylor Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of their nearly half century of dedication to the community.

“They’re both really wonderful people,” said Mayor Richard Bloom. “They’ve contributed a lot to the community over many, many, many years.

The owner of Bob Gabriel Company, which he started in 1954, Bob Gabriel served on the Parks and Recreation Commission as well as on the City Council and is a past president of the chamber and of the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Louise was one of the lead organizers of Santa Monica’s centennial celebration in 1975, the same year she founded the Santa Monica Historical Society. Thirteen years later, the society’s museum was founded.

“She and Bob, along with scores of volunteers, have made the museum Santa Monica’s finest repository of local memorabilia of historic significance,” the chamber said in presenting the award.

Members of countless civic organizations -- including the Santa Monica College General Advisory Board, the Salvation Army, the Boys and Girls Club and the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center Advisory and Foundation boards -- the Gabriels have been major players in the city’s history.

They worked on Rose Bowl parade floats that were viewed by millions on national television, helping to promote Santa Monica across the nation, as well as with the local PTAs as they raised their three children. “They are an outstanding team,” the chamber said.

The Gabriel’s remain active in civic and political affairs, with Louise spearheading the successful effort to find the museum a permanent home in the new Main Library under construction Downtown, and Bob involved with business and political issues.

“We don’t often agree,” Mayor Bloom said Bob has often told him, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk.