Iconic city or ‘slum by the sea’? Santa Monica – Latest News
Remember when Santa Monica was a basic California seashore city: idyllic, iconic, protected and thriving?
This week, the city introduced it will enhance police visibility after a violent weekend and a crime-marred summer time.
On Saturday, cops killed a knife-wielding man close to the Santa Monica Pier. On Sunday, an tried theft left a individual shot in the leg. And in current weeks, a man was shot and killed close to the pier, a girl was crushed to death at care facility, and a individual was shot and injured in a road-rage incident close to 18th and Broadway.
Santa Monica Police officers seek for suspects after one individual was wounded during an tried theft and taking pictures close to the Santa Monica Pier. ZUMAPRESS.com
The city wants a turnaround, and stat.
Police presence alone received’t repair years of decline precipitated partially by a permissive, radical and at occasions looney-tunes City Council.
The seashore at the Santa Monica pier. Andy Johnstone for CA Post
(This is a bunch, you’ll recall, that voted to check tearing out the Santa Monica stretch of the 10 freeway. Just how sensible does anybody suppose they’re?)
City voters ought to scrutinize their ballots this Nov. 3, and decide which candidates are most apt to offer restoration.
The need for change is as plain as the ferris wheel on the pier at nightfall.
The city says as a lot in its own “vision” doc: “Once one of the most vibrant and prosperous coastal cities in California, our community has endured an extended period of decline since the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Santa Monica Police officers seek for suspects close to the Santa Monica Pier. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
Well, yes.
Much of that decline stems from the council’s own selections, post-COVID, to shrink police funding after the Black Lives Matter riots in June 2020; go for a permissive, service-oriented strategy to homelessness; and prioritize ideological tasks like rent control (and pushing for freeway removing) over making Santa Monica a protected and vibrant place to reside, work and do business.
Now, we’ve a doom loop: Crime and homelessness repel guests and convey retail malaise; empty storefronts and a declining Third Street Promenade focus more homeless downtown and depress tourism.
More police is a begin. But can the city tackle the causes of homelessness — reasonably than attempting in useless to handle it?
The third Street Promenade. Photo Copyright John Chapple / instagram: @JohnChapple
Can the council, which in 2025 acknowledged failure and vowed to prioritize law and order, ship public security? Not simply more patrols after a crime wave, however the type of sweeping law enforcement that brings protected, clean and orderly streets in the first place?
Or, in the phrases of a Post reader and longtime resident, is the city “on its way to being a slum by the sea”?
The pale glory is actual. The need for change is urgent. And three council seats are on the poll this November.
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