CEPS Capitalizes on Election Day

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

March 3 -- Capitalizing on a day when voters were out in force, supporters of a controversial charter amendment fanned out across the city Tuesday, gathering about half of the 8,000 signatures needed to place the measure on the November ballot, according to preliminary projections.

While Santa Monicans went to the polls Tuesday to tackle the state budget and pick a challenger for President Bush, some 250 volunteers for the Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS) set up stations near polling places.

Shortly after the polls closed, the group projected it had brought the total number of signatures gathered since it kicked off its drive a month ago to about 5,000, more than half of those needed to qualify the measure, which would secure $6 million a year from the City for local schools.

“People have been very supportive,” said Ralph Mechur an organizer for CEPS.

By 10 a.m., nearly 50 people had signed the petition at a signature station at 16th street and Ocean Park Boulevard, while only four or five people declined, saying they needed more information, according to the volunteer manning that station.

The volunteer -- who asked to remain anonymous -- said he felt most people do not yet know about the issue, but are eager to understand because it affects education locally.

“It’s news for most people, because there haven’t been a lot of mailings,” he said. “I’d say the core of our support is people who are involved in the schools. However, most people who come up want us to explain the issue before they sign.”

Since it was filed two months ago, the charter amendment has pitted education advocates, who contend it would add a predictable and much needed source of income for the cash-strapped district, and City officials and municipal unions, who fear the measure would be a fiscal disaster resulting in service cuts.

Susan Hartley, who has a daughter in the school district, had just finished voting at the Moose Lodge when she came over to sign the petition.

“I think it’s great,” she said. “I would say many parents who are active in the schools support the issue. They know about the issue already through general networking.”

The charter amendment, Hartley said, “would show where the priorities of the City are, or actually, where those priorities should be.”

But Jim Bambrick, a former member of the school board, said he had reservations about the issue.

“I think it’s a unified school district, and not only Santa Monica, but the surrounding communities need to put in,” Bambrick said. “One governmental entity putting money into a unified school district -- I think it’s the wrong approach.

“I don’t think it’s fair necessarily to Santa Monica,” said Bambrick. “I’m not sure of the propriety or the wisdom” of the measure, he said before eventually signing the petition, saying it should at least get on the November ballot.

Bambrick may not be alone in his divided response to the CEPS initiative. The issue already is splitting the ranks of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), the powerful tenants group that has controlled City Hall for the better part of a quarter century.

Mechur, a local architect and member of SMRR, acknowledged the issue’s potential to divide the group’s ranks.

“We’ll have to wait until SMRR’s meeting this summer to find out whether the group supports CEPS,” said Mechur, referring to the August convention when the group makes its endorsements. “We’ll see. It should be interesting.”

With four City Council seats up for grabs in November, a split in the renters group could hurt the chances of three SMRR incumbents. The divisiveness of the issue was made clear during a debate between Councilman Michael Feinstein, one of the SMRR incumbents whose term expires, and former Mayor Dennis Zane, who heads the tenants group.

While the SMRR convention remains in the distant horizon and CEPS and City officials could come up with a compromise agreement that would avert an election, supporters of the charter amendment on Tuesday withstood the morning rain and blustery wind to further their goal.

Across town at City Hall, one CEPS volunteer who only identified herself as Sheri, said she had been collecting signatures since 9:30 a.m. and would probably be out helping until about 4 p.m. She said the reviews had been mixed.

“Some people sign and others don’t,” Sheri said. “The ones who do appreciate that we are out here fighting for funds for local schools.”

Shelly Roth, another CEPS volunteer, gave her assessment of those interested in the issue.

“The older they are, the less likely they are to sign,” said Roth. “If they are under 50, they are interested.”