December 2, 2024 -- A last ditch lobbying effort to settle the 8 1/2-year-old voting rights lawsuit against the City before a new council is sworn in has failed.

Advocates of switching to district-based elections pushed hard over the holiday weekend for Mayor Phil Brock to hold a special meeting before four new Councilmembers take their seats next Tuesday.

The calls came after Brock and Councilmember Oscar de la Torre failed to win re-election on November 5 and Coucilmember Christine Parra did not run.

The three have supported settling the case filed by Latino plaintiffs in 2016 but would need a fourth vote.

The lobbying effort also comes days after a Superior Court judge urged the parties to try and mediate the case that has cost the City an estimated $14 million in legal fees ("Voting Rights Lawsuit Drags On," November 25, 2024).

Holding a special closed session did not come up during Monday's meeting with the City Manager to set the agenda for Tuesday, according to Brock.

"There's been a bunch of calls over the last couple of days," Brock said on Monday. "I can't anticipate seeing this happen.

"If there were four votes, I would consider doing anything in my power to change our voting system to something more equitable and spare us four years of legal sparing."

Advocates of district elections also lobbied Mayor Pro Tem Lana Negrete, who has opposed switching from Santa Monica's at-large election system, leaving proponents of a settlement one vote short.

"I'm getting harassed," Negrete said. "People were coming out of the woodwork over Thanksgiving weekend.

"There would be no reason to (settle)," Negrete added, saying the new Council "would just go back and change it."

The lobbying effort included a letter from Downtown activist John Alle posted by Santa Monica Observed Monday urging Brock to call "an immediate special meeting."

"It is yours and the City Council's fiduciary duty to Santa Monica Taxpayers to consider a settlement if the public expresses they do not wish to continue to fund a case that is said to have already cost in excess of $14 million," wrote Alle, who heads the Santa Monica Coalition.

"At-large elections in Santa Monica were implemented historically with a specific intent to deprive minority, less affluent, and underserved neighborhoods a say in elections."

Negrete counters that two Latinos –- Parra and de la Torre, a Pico Neighborhood activist -- were elected to the City Council in 2020, along with Black Pico resident Kristen McCowan and that she herself was appointed eight months later.

In last month's race for four Council seats, three Pico Neighborhood residents -- Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya -- were elected, Negrete said.

"The whole race card thing is silly to me," she said. "Back in the day there probably was a need for that in the Pico Neighborhood.

"I grew up on the south side, went to school North of Montana, lived all over Santa Monica, so my votes come from all over the place," said Negrete, who noted houses in the Pico Neighborhood are going for $1.8 million.

"I'm not adverse to a different (voting) system, but that's not what this case is about," Negrete said. "They're losing sight of the fact that this case is about voter dilution," which she doesn't believe is happening.

"To me if this is how you feel, bring it to the voters," she said.