City Manager’s Take on Downtown

By Jeneé Darden
Special to The Lookout

March 3 -- Three weeks after assuming City Hall’s top post in January, City Manager P. Lamont Ewell, 53, is still settling into his new office.

A few unpacked boxes sit on the floor, files are steadily growing on his desk and the mahogany walls are bare. But, pictures of his family, dog and a statuette of black firefighters atop his bookshelf give a sense of the mellow man who served as Oakland’s fire chief from 1991 to 1995.

While still unpacking, Ewell has made time to take the pulse of the demanding city he will run. He’s studied news accounts and documents, visited civic leaders, walked the streets and listened to residents testify before the City Council that tapped him to replace Susan McCarthy late last year.

Ewell, who served as San Diego’s city manager for close to two years, says he didn’t come to town with a preconceived vision for Santa Monica. Instead, in a city that often pits the interests of businesses and residents, tenants and landlords, developers and no-growthers, the San Diego native raised in Compton says he’s listening to all sides and wants to find a middle ground. “I never go in any community assuming I’m going to do it my way,” Ewell says sitting at a wooden conference table in his City Hall office.

“I go in based on what the needs of the community are. Once I’m clear on that, that’s how I’ll focus my attention.”

Tackling issues based on community needs is a tactic Ewell used as city manager in Oakland, Durham and San Diego. By talking to leaders of corporations and non-profit organizations and touring the city Ewell has been assessing desires of those who live and work in Santa Monica.

“I’m beginning to understand that this community wants a city that’s pedestrian friendly, has a better handle on traffic control, multiple transportation systems to relieve some of the traffic congestion, a good mix of retail and housing, not buildings that are sky high, but scaled so that the community retains its uniqueness,” Ewell says.

Unlike Santa Monica, Durham and Oakland were thirsting for business growth and a higher tax base.

As Durham’s city manager between 1997 and 2000, Ewell revived the downtown with a retail and office complex, oversaw the development of a mall that pumped millions of dollars into the city and brought North Carolina its first Nordstrom department store – an achievement he joked that Mary, his wife of 29 years, was most proud of. Ewell was also involved in bringing the Raiders back to Oakland in 1995.

But, it’s a new ballgame in Santa Monica, especially when it comes to thriving areas like the Downtown and its popular Third Street Promenade, where City and Bayside officials are working to strike a balance between restaurants and retail outlets, major chains and small independent stores.

“The Promenade is like the front door of this community,” Ewell says. “It has to have economic vitality and the ability to continue to draw daytime and evening populations for dining, entertainment and shopping. You need a mix that is both high end and low end with restaurant choices that provide the same so that people will want to go there.”

While he is still gauging the impacts of large chains on independent businesses on the thriving strip, Ewell says he would like to see the movie theaters upgraded with stadium seating. “I’m not a developer, but I would say, yes, there’s probably space to go in (and renovate),” says the self-described “movie buff.” “It would be nice to update.” One of the economic engines driving the Downtown’s success is tourism, and while some residents see the influx of visitors as a burden, Ewell sees it as a big economic plus.

“Historically Santa Monica has been a destination for tourists, and I don’t think that’s going to change,” he says. “But that’s actually a good thing in that it keeps our economy strong and healthy. By keeping it strong and healthy it means that our residents don’t have to have their taxes raised to pay for basic services.”

An advocate of sustainability, Ewell supports maximizing the use of city blocks and building mixed-use developments with ground-floor retail and housing on the upper floors.

“People that live in them wouldn’t have to hop in their car to go shopping,” he says. “This would reduce traffic.”

Ewell also supports a plan to add 1,712 parking spaces Downtown by 2015. More parking, he believes, won’t add to the congestion, but will curb visitor parking in residential neighborhoods. (see story)

But the University of Phoenix alum agrees with residents who, when polled, consistently rank homelessness as the biggest issue facing Santa Monica. The problem is “near and dear” to Ewell, who oversaw the construction of Prince George’s County Homeless Shelter in Maryland and later served as its interim director.

“I have a passion for it,” Ewell says. “I had the opportunity to work up close with decent, everyday people who because of addictions or circumstances beyond their control, found themselves homeless.”

Ewell takes exception to a recent report by the National Coalition for the Homeless that ranked Santa Monica as the ninth “meanest” city. If anything, Ewell says, Santa Monica is compassionate towards the down and out and pumps a bigger chunk of its resources than other cities to help solve the problem.

“I take real issue with that,” he says, referring to the report. “This city has been more compassionate then any other city I’ve ever seen in helping to support homeless people. Oakland, Durham, Maryland, San Diego all try to do their best to help the homeless but they don’t put the same level of resources into it as this city does.”

Still, Santa Monica is not perfect and needs to do a better job of finding a way to get people off the streets, Ewell says.

“One of the goals I think the council would like to achieve is to find a place for opportunities for shelter,” says Ewell, who has been working with Council member Bobby Shriver on addressing the homeless issue. “We’ll be working on strategies to achieve that.”

Ewell was chosen for Santa Monica’s top post after running San Diego’s government for nearly 20 months. He beat out more than 60 candidates nationwide for the job that pays him $245,000, a boost over his $232,000 salary in San Diego, a much larger city than Santa Monica.

Ewell left San Diego under rocky conditions that included budget problems, disputes over pension benefits, public conflicts with the city attorney and a City Council under federal investigation for political corruption.

Despite the turmoil, background checks and interviews with his colleagues convinced the Santa Monica City Council that Ewell was not the root of the city’s problems. Instead, they were impressed with his skills as a manager and his track record working under fire, council members said.

One of Ewell’s biggest career challenges came in 1991. Thirteen days after he was hired as Oakland’s fire chief, one of the most destructive fires in the nation’s history erupted in the Oakland Hills. The fire killed 25 people – including one of his chief officers and a police officer – and destroyed 3,400 homes.

“I still remember these things if not everyday at least four times a week,” Ewell says. “It was one of the most stressful times of my career. Those things just stay with you.”

A movie was later made of the fire, with actor LeVar Burton playing Ewell. The city manager says he only watched 20 minutes of the film because it was too hard to view. Still, Ewell says he has drawn lessons from the tragedy.

“I’ve come to grips with the loss,” he says. “Because of what I do now, I’m cognizant of things we can do to avoid such tragedies in the communities that I work in.”

Striking a healthy balance between retail and restaurants is a challenge facing City officials.

Growing up in Compton with two brothers and a sister, Ewell says he was an average kid who played on a little league team and stayed out of trouble. His parents divorced when he was very young, and his mother became head of the household.

Ewell describes his mother as a “proud woman” who held two to three jobs at a time to take care of her four children, including working as a postal worker and in a hospital.

“But she always managed to be home to make sure when we went off to school we were dressed appropriately, did our homework and had eaten,” he recalls with a smile.

Today, Ewell has a family of his own with two adult children and two grandchildren. His 28-year-old daughter works for Johnson & Johnson laboratory in San Diego. His son, 24, is an army sergeant stationed in South Carolina.

During his first month on the job, Ewell has already made a mark and stamped his style as a no-nonsense doer.

He acted quickly and decisively by ordering the elimination of ground squirrels in Palisades Park, despite the urging of County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Council member Kevin McKeown to wait and find other solutions. (see story)

He also made it clear that he believes the process to update the land use and circulation elements (LUCE) of the general plan could continue, despite vacancies in the City’s top planning positions, including planning director.

“I’ve had people suggest to me that placing the update on hold would be the best thing to do,” Ewell says. “However, I think that some of the larger elements of the plan need to continue on, and we can do it without a planning director.

“The general plan, at this point, is really a reflection of the community desires, and I think there’s already been enough information gathered from the extensive outreach to plan the larger elements.”

Ewell’s first major decision will likely be the appointment of a permanent planning director to replace Suzanne Frick, who resigned last year to head the planning department in Long Beach.

“We need to find someone that understands we need community input,” Ewell says. “We want to make sure to hire someone who will do outreach… and interact with all aspects of the community.

“We want the right person with the right vision,” he adds. “We need a strong leader, period.”