Showdown Over Center Court

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

May 25 -- A fight over the Third Street Promenade is brewing, and it pits the board responsible for managing the popular strip and the City it blames for failing to tackle the major issues -- vagrancy, cleanliness and safety.

In discussing the big picture for the Downtown last week, the Bayside Board concluded that the the problems will never be solved unless it wrests more control from local government, which it holds responsible for letting the situation get out of hand.

In defiant words board members vowed to stop “pussyfooting” around the issue that has long had the business community and the City at loggerheads -- the homeless, who are viewed by those who manage the Promenade as the biggest threat to the strip’s survival.

In order to combat the homeless problem -- which the board contends is just a symptom of the larger problem of a city government that is unfriendly to businesses -- the board began brainstorming a strategy for a community-wide lobbying campaign to win over the mostly liberal City Council.

Setting out to concentrate on the problems outlined in a list of 10 issues facing the Downtown (ranging from the public restrooms to outdoor dining and the homeless feeding ordinance), the discussion last Thursday quickly shifted to the political forces blamed for the continuing problems.

“Our biggest problem is that we have a City that is accepting of that activity,” said board member Henry Lichtman, the vice-president of the Macerich Company, which owns Santa Monica Place. “And what we’re describing on this list is symptoms.

“The issue is we have a City Attorney and City leadership that is not aggressively pursuing these issues,” Litchman added. “We have to change that umbrella, or that cloud, that is over our Promenade” if there is to be change.

Board member Ruth Elwell agreed. Take Center Court, where the street kids and the homeless who congregate there on a daily basis and are known to harass shoppers have virtually taken control, Elwell said.

“What we’re talking about is changing the fountain, changing the steps,” at Center Court, said Elwell, who owns Ye Olde King’s Head a block away from the strip. “Instead, we should go out and say this is our domain, and you’re not going to be allowed to do this.

“Instead we’re thinking of ways to camouflage that and pussyfoot around it, but what we should be doing is saying (to the City), ‘Why isn’t that cleaned up?”

Comparing the situation in Santa Monica with his company’s businesses in Orange County, Newport Beach and Irvine, Lichtman said that the problem stems either from political spinelessness, incompetence or just unwillingness.

“I am sure our City Attorney is exceptionally talented,” Lichtman said, “but I have done business (in other cities), and they’re not caught up in the same constraints that our attorney is caught up in, and they don’t have any of the issues we have.

“I am not sure who is right and who’s wrong, but I think some of what were dealing with is because we’ve allowed it,” he said.

Board member John Warfel said that “there is some truth in that,” but noted that Santa Monica is a “lighting rod.”

“Because it happens in Santa Monica, it gets press and people pay attention,” Warfel said. “So it’s not just the City Attorney’s policy.”

The real problem, Warfel said, is that the business community gets politically marginalized because it is “perceived as a shrill voice representing a small minority,” that “it’s one street and a bunch of property owners, or it’s one street and it’s a bunch of business owners.

“But if you go out into the community and ask, ‘What do you think of the Promenade?’… from the low-income person to the high-income person they say, ‘The problem is it smells, I trip over people, and I can’t park.’”

Warfel added that “it’s a community-wide problem and we need to get the community involved” in building a larger political constituency. Warfel pointed out that Mayor Richard Bloom “might be more receptive” than Councilman Michael (Feinstein),” his predecessor who is a tireless champion of the homeless.

The political and economic importance of Santa Monica residents and visitors from the Westside should be stressed, Bayside consultant Rob York said.

“Our most important market (for the Downtown) is local,” said York, a partner in the Fransen Co. “That is our primary customer base, and that is an important political tool going forward.”

Warfel added that nothing less than that primary customer base is at stake. “Another thing about the local people is that it’s only a 15 minute drive instead of a 10 minute drive to go the Westside Pavilion, or Century City, and another 10 minutes to the Grove, and if they’re already in their car, they’re going to go to the place that’s most attractive.

“We can’t get to the point where we’re totally relying on tourism, and we can’t keep faking people to come down here [by telling them] it’s nicer than it is,” Warfel said.

The board also complained about the City’s perceived lack of commitment to the Downtown, which needs more security, more maintenance and more overall support. Boar members pointed to the unmet need for more lighting to enliven the streets and create a safer and more attractive environment for shoppers.

“There are so many instances where philosophically we have to get with our leadership and talk about those issues in a very meaningful way,” Lichtman said. “It can’t be political. It can’t be about unions… It has to be about the people of Santa Monica. I feel very strongly about it because I love it here.”