Politics/19″/dt1st/mark2nd
By HOWARD FINE
Staff Reporter
“Soviet Monica,” “The People’s Republic of Santa Monica” this town’s not-so-ingratiating nicknames point to a history of clamping down on business and development.
“This is hardly the first time that the business community has said the city’s actions would mean the end of business in Santa Monica,” said outgoing City Manager John Jalili. “In fact, there has been a long-running conflict between the impacts of business development and residential quality of life.”
In the early ’80s, just as today, the city had a moratorium on development a period that also saw the introduction of rent control and a more accommodating attitude toward the homeless.
Santa Monica, of course, wasn’t always a liberal haven. For most of its 124-year history, the coastal town was best known for its beaches, its pier and its resort hotels. After World War II, there was a homebuilding boom, and an apartment boom followed in the 1960s and 1970s.
But as apartments began being built throughout much of the city (bringing with them a more liberal type of resident, young and old), the politics turned increasingly progressive. That took hold in the late 1970s, as both land values and rents skyrocketed.
In other parts of the state, homeowners reacted to the rising assessed value of their properties by passing Proposition 13, which placed limits on property-tax assessments. But in Santa Monica the focus turned toward rent control.
“The people in the city became more oriented toward making sure the little person was well represented when he or she was at risk,” said Dennis Zane, one of the co-founders of the rent control movement, who later went on to become mayor.
The city’s rent control movement soon garnered national attention as liberal icons Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda lent their support. The rent control measure became law in 1979.
The influence of progressives did not stop with passage of rent control. By 1981, the rent control group named Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights had seized control of the seven-member City Council, with a five-vote “super-majority.” They quickly enacted the first moratorium on new development and began revising the city’s land-use plan.
That’s also around the time the media began highlighting the roles of Hayden and Fonda though in retrospect, Zane said their involvement was exaggerated.
“There was a perception that they were running things; they were connected with the New Left, and that was interpreted to mean that the New Left was running Santa Monica,” he said. “But while they were supporters, they never led the effort. It was simply the press and the public glomming onto the fun imagery.”
Nonetheless, the “People’s Republic” moniker stuck, even after SMRR lost its majority on the council in 1984. For the next four years, a coalition of moderates and pro-development forces controlled the council. They approved major commercial development projects such as the Water Gardens and the Arboretum.
Their reign did not last long. By 1988 just as would happen a decade later a backlash against development ensued and SMRR again won back control with the support of neighborhood groups. But SMRR had only a four-vote majority, meaning that it didn’t have the margin for defections on votes that it had with its five-vote super-majority.
Nonetheless, the council did pass a ban on outdoor work at auto repair shops and a down-zoning of the area around the Water Garden development, reducing the density of allowable commercial space.
Just when it looked like another round of anti-growth proposals would emerge, the recession of the early ’90s took the wind out of the progressive sails. The focus soon turned toward retaining businesses, which meant relaxing some of the more anti-business measures, including the auto repair shop ordinance.
By 1996, Santa Monica was booming once again. Concerns about growth once again rose to the top of the agenda, this time launching the careers of politicians like Green Party member Mike Feinstein. The current turn to the left was completed earlier this year with a special election that brought SMRR member Richard Bloom onto the council and re-established the group’s five-vote super-majority.
