🚀 go-pugleaf

Recycled News <ay903@extra.lafn.org> wrote in message news:<a8lg9l$2cm$1@localhost.lafn.org>...
> March 2001
>    
>    INTERVIEW: Seeing Green
>    Mayor Michael Feinstein says his liberal agenda has helped busines
>    thrive, bettered the lives of residents and made Santa Monica the envy
>    of other cities
>    
>    By Danny King. Staff Reporter, [1]Los Angeles Business Journal
>    March 25th - April 1st, 2002
>    
>    With tourism hit hard by the effects of Sept. 11, the dot-com
>    collapse, unaffordable housing and highly contentious retail wage and
>    development issues, Santa Monica finds itself a microcosm of the
>    broader Southern California economy.
>    
>    Where it diverges, however, is in its elected officials. Mayor Michael
>    Feinstein is the most visible of the [2]138 Green Party members
>    holding office in the nation, and he relishes his role in the town he
>    describes as "a laboratory of democracy." Since his election in 1996,
>    Feinstein has stuck to his support of diversity, environmental causes
>    and proactive government, all the while promoting Santa Monica as a
>    business-friendly environment.
>    
>    Two issues facing the city are the skyrocketing rents that have forced
>    restaurants off [3]Third Street Promenade - prompting the [4]City
>    Council to approve a one-year moratorium on replacing restaurants with
>    shops - and a living wage ordinance for the city's coastline hotels
>    and larger restaurants that will be on the November ballot.
>    
>    Feinstein has led the crusade for both the moratorium and the living
>    wage, putting him at odds with some in the business community. Still,
>    he defends the process of government involvement in local wage and
>    real estate issues.
>    
>    Though being mayor in Santa Monica is supposed to be a part-time job,
>    Feinstein says he works seven days a week, attending city council and
>    community group meetings and answering resident e-mails late into the
>    evening (he's a notorious night owl).
>    
>    Question: How badly was Santa Monica hurt by the Sept. 11 attacks and
>    what is the city government doing to help out local business?
>    
>    Answer: We're looking at a $7.9 million shortfall in the budget for
>    this fiscal year (ending June 30). That's a combination of tourism
>    losses and sales taxes losses. (Regional visitors) are also spending
>    less after Sept. 11 because of the Bush recession, or Clinton
>    hangover, or whatever you want to call it.
>    
>    The difficulty for us is that the international visitor spends much
>    more per day than does the regional visitor, so out of the $780
>    million last year in tourism and visitor related business, about $520
>    million was spent by the international visitor, and clearly we took a
>    real hit there.
>    
>    We spent $100,000 out of the city general fund to do a Shop Santa
>    Monica campaign starting last fall that included print, television and
>    bus advertising. We worked together not only with the chamber, but
>    with the business improvement districts, the convention and visitors
>    bureau - all the local economic entities worked together on this
>    campaign to encourage to shop here.
>    
>    Q: Some Third Street Promenade property owners are complaining that
>    the city's attempts to control the restaurant-retail mix restricts
>    their ability to get the highest return on their investment.
>    
>    A: The government always creates the context for a market. We have to
>    look at whether the private individual's self-interest is at odds with
>    a collective interest in the area being healthy. We stepped in when
>    restaurants over-proliferated 10 years ago in order to ensure there
>    would be some retail. It worked very well - almost too well. We have
>    really gone gently on this, more gently than I think our residents
>    would like. We have hemorrhaged so many more restaurants in the last
>    two years, and some property owners suggested that they weren't
>    interested in self-disciplining for the greater economic good for the
>    area.
>    
>    Q: But when restaurants and retailers move off 3rd Street and onto 2nd
>    and 4th streets, isn't that good for the overall area?
>    
>    A: The argument that the migration to 2nd and 4th streets in and of
>    itself is OK misses the point that the Promenade is the social engine
>    for the economic success of downtown. If the Promenade is a
>    single-mode destination, it will hurt the district. It's entirely in
>    the self-interest of national retailers to overpay and distort the
>    local market because of the foot traffic that we've created with the
>    public space.
>    
>    Q: So what's the city's next step?
>    
>    A: I think everyone is interested in finding incentives to go with the
>    least amount of regulation possible, so that's the philosophy going
>    in. Some of the property owners are talking about trying to group
>    themselves into an association as well, so they might self-regulate a
>    bit. I'm encouraged by the interest and willingness to do that.
>    
>    Q: The living wage proposal has also garnered criticism from Santa
>    Monica business leaders. What's its status?
>    
>    A: There was a campaign primarily led by the beach hotels and some
>    folks on the chamber to get the referendum on the ballot in an
>    incredibly deceptive campaign. They managed to qualify the ordinance
>    as a ballot measure, which will be voted on in November, and I'm
>    confident that voters will vote to affirm the living wage ordinance.
>    
>    Q: A recent study by the Public Policy Institute of Southern
>    California found that the enactment of a living wage, while raising
>    the average income of the lowest income workers, can also decrease
>    employment in that same group. Is this a concern?
>    
>    A: Not in this region. We're talking about maybe 2,000 low-wage
>    workers within the area that would be subject to the ordinance, and if
>    one loses a low-paying job in Santa Monica, there are tens of
>    thousands of similar jobs in this region. If we were an island, maybe
>    one can make that argument, but it is entirely invalid in this region.
>    
>    It makes sense for people to earn enough money to have a chance to
>    live closer to where they work. Now, they're not going to all live in
>    Santa Monica, but there's a difference between living in Downey and
>    living in Mid-Wilshire.
>    
>    Q: What is Santa Monica doing to alleviate the shortage of
>    low-to-middle income housing and the scarcity of buildable land?
>    
>    A: Certainly, we've lost affordability with changes in rent control.
>    (A 1998 change allowed market rate rentals with limited annual
>    increases.) If you go by the standard formula of housing being 30
>    percent of your overall costs, since 1999 it's gone from a tenant
>    needing an income of about $30,000 to about $80,000 just to live in
>    the same unit. Every zoning district in the city, except for one,
>    allows for housing. Right now we're updating the last remaining
>    district - the light manufacturing and studio district - for
>    residential zoning.
>    
>    Q: How does Santa Monica balance being an ecologically friendly city
>    while allowing competitive opportunities for development?
>    
>    A: We passed a green building guidelines ordinance (last year) - we
>    require a higher rate of energy efficiency for new buildings than the
>    state requirements, but what we did is a process in concert with the
>    local development community. We didn't prescribe an exact method to
>    get the efficiency, but we helped with a menu of ways to get there. We
>    didn't impose it in a way that was going to be unreasonable for
>    businesses, but we're stretching the envelope in a way that's good for
>    everybody to help meet our city goals.
>    
>    Also, when Edison backed out of its commitment to help small
>    businesses with energy efficient lighting this year, the city back
>    funded the Edison program ourselves.
>    
>    Q: The Green Party is not considered part of the political mainstream.
>    Do you find that to be a hindrance to building a thriving business
>    community?
>    
>    A: The environment and economics have to go hand in hand to be
>    successful. The economic base of our country is based on the
>    environmental resources, and if we undermine them, we undermine our
>    economic sustainability.
>    
>    When you look at this city, we have a very strong overall economy. We
>    manage our money very well - we're one of seven cities in the country
>    with a AAA-bond rating from two rating agencies, so I think we've
>    proven that environment and economy can go hand in hand. In addition,
>    we've tried to find a balance between regional and national chains and
>    locally owned businesses, and that is also a Green Party value - to
>    have community-serving small businesses.
>    
>    Q: Is this enough to overcome the "People's Republic of Santa Monica"
>    stereotype?
>    
>    A: It's always fun to play with stereotypes, but when one gets beyond
>    the stereotypes, we're the envy of most cities in the nation for how
>    well it is run, and businesses keep coming here because we've managed
>    it well. It's a safe, clean and economically solid community. We
>    wouldn't be having the business climate we have here if we were so bad
>    to business, so the evidence is here.
>    
>    INTERVIEW:[5]Michael Feinstein
>    
>    Title: Mayor
>    Organization: City of Santa Monica
>    Born: Athens, Greece, 1958
>    Education: Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Carleton College
>    Career Turning Point: Serving as resident representative to the
>    17-member Main Street advisory committee in 1989
>    Most Admired Person: Albert Einstein
>    Personal: Single
>    
> References
> 
>    1. http://www.labusinessjournal.com/
>    2. http://www.feinstein.org/greenparty/electeds.html
>    3. http://www.baysidedistrict.org/
>    4. http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/cityclerk/council
>    5. http://www.feinstein.org/

Utter bullshit. The sleazy bastard welcomes illegal aliens who
eventually will destroy the environment.

Lance