By Jorge Casuso

July 30, 2025 -- Citing "emergency circumstances," the City Council Tuesday night ousted six Downtown Santa Monica board members and replaced them with temporary members that include two former mayors and a former City Manager.

The unprecedented move was prompted by the "dysfunctionality" of a board that has been "completely skewed" toward property owners who are undermining efforts to revive the the city's central core, said Councilmember Barry Snell, who made the motion.

The six hastily appointed members -- who include former mayors Gleam Davis and Richard Bloom and former interim City Manager Elaine Polachek -- will serve until permanent members are appointed by the Council at its September 9 meeting.

The Council suspended its newly adopted ranked choice voting method and approved all six members with a single motion that was approved with the same 6 to 1 margin that removed the outgoing members. Mayor Lana Negrete cast the only dissenting votes.

The Council's action comes two weeks after Andrew Thomas, the CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM), announced his resignation in the midst of contract negotiations with the Downtown board.

"There are deep concerns about how Downtown Santa Monica is run," Snell said, "its relationship with the City, whether it's honoring the terms of its agreement with the City and whether it is performing its obligations."

"There's a small window of opportunity to see that Downtown Santa Monica is reformed, but that's not likely to happen with the current makeup of the board," Snell said.

"Therefore, I believe the City needs to take immediate action so that the board reflects the values of the Council prior to Downtown Santa Monica appointing a new CEO."

Mayor Negrete, who was a member of the slim Council majority that appointed three of the ousted members last July, said Tuesday's action seemed "unfair" and "retaliatory" ("Council Shakes Up Two Major Boards," July 11, 2024).

"Quite frankly it sounds like what our president is doing right now," Negrete said. "It's getting rid of systems in place that create democracy to control what they want the outcome to be."

Negrete questioned the "emergency" addressed by Snell's item. "This doesn't seem like an emergency to me to just tear six people off this board and reappoint people that serve what (Councilmembers) want.

"It doesn't feel fair," the mayor said. "It's just dangerous, and it undermines community trust."

Snell, who served as a DTSM Board member for 12 years, said Thomas' resignation was just one of the issues that prompted his motion. Some of the Board members ousted were failing to address key obstacles to the Promenade's success.

He noted that "the vacancy rate is very high, however, we have not heard about items we could do to support increasing the occupancy rate."

Snell also cited a controversial sign activist John Alle prominently displays on his Promenade storefront that include the message "Santa Methica is NOT Safe" ("Council Takes Up Promenade Sign Criticizing City," June 24, 2024).

The Council's efforts to help attract businesses by allowing digital signs on the Promenade, Snell said, are being undermined by signs "that are depressing and outright outlandish" and that the board "has not even chosen to discuss."

Councilmember Jesse Zwick said that with Thomas' resignation and the imminent hiring of a new CEO, the Central Business District is "desperately in need of leadership."

"I have been increasingly troubled by reports of not just dysfunction but outright hostility and attempts to undermine" the district, Zwick said.

In a last-ditch effort to block the Council's action, the Downtown Board called an emergency meeting that City Attorney Doug Sloan said was illegal.

The Board "did not comply" with California's open meetings act, rendering their actions void, and their "emergency" did not meet the standards, Sloan said.

"They need to take corrective action," he said, "and if they don't, then they are subject to the City filing a lawsuit."