Santa Monica

SANTA MONICA OP-ED PRESS

Neighbor to Neighbor Tidings

Down Town

JAN 2013 ISSUE #3

Produced by SMPD Badge #3104 - Retired

BOOZE AND BLADES ON ICE

DowntownSM Incs illegal after hours money making booze parties on City Property.
ICE RINK: While the citys new gurehead Mayor Pam OConnor was being anointed at city hall on Tuesday night (12/11/12), the Mayor of Downtown Santa Monica, Kathleen Rawson, was renting out the ice rink for an illegal and non-permitted after-hours money making booze party.
Ms. Rawson is the Executive Director of DowntownSM Inc, a shell/front corporation created by City Hall to do business without having to follow the laws and be subject to public scrutiny. DowntownSM Inc is a money making bonanza for City Hall, so City Manager Rod Gould, City Attorney Marsha Moutrie, and Police Chief Jackie Seabrooks look the other way when Downtown Inc doesnt follow the law. Even worse, City Hall goes along with the corruption and acts as a guardian for DowntownSM Incs illegal activities.
This is not good for locals. In the past its led to events like the Farmers Market car crash in July of 2003. Ten people died and over sixty people were injured. The city paid out over twenty-million dollars to cover-up one of the real truths of the tragedy--that Ms. Rawsons

Injured ParkMe partygoers should seek legal advice: the City of Santa Monica is responsible for your injuries. organization took the trafc safety job away from the police and then didnt do anything to protect the market. PARTY: The ice rink was closed down early on December 11th so a company called ParkMe could have a holiday party. Tents and tables were setup, and then the booze started rolling in. Two bar stations were installed and bottled and keg beer were put on ice. Next came the cases of wine. By 10 p.m. the party was on. ParkMe employees and guests lled the ice rink and started drinking. Beer Pong drinking games were set up under the tents out of public view and many guests partook. It did not appear that identications were checked by the ice rink bartenders or rink staff. Beer Pong before skating. Winning! (Continued on back)

No Ped Protection due to Corruption

SANTA MONICA OP-ED PRESS

(Continued from front) Some very young-looking girls were observed guzzling down wine and later regurgitating it in the 400 Block of Arizona Avenue. This was one of the incidents that lead to several police calls. POLICE IGNORE CITIZEN COMPLAINTS AGAIN!
There were several citizen calls to the police to come to the area of the ice rink and deal with problems due to the illegal party. But as usual, since the DowntownSM Inc corporation is a front company for city hall, the public calls for help were ignored.
One call to the police was SMPD Incident #120149644 - a call about loud music coming from Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue (the ice rink location). The police received the call at 10:07 p.m. and 23 seconds. An ofcer allegedly went to the location, investigated the problem, and discussed the situation with ice rink management all by 10:08 p.m. and 14 seconds; at which time he told SMPD dispatch that he took care of it. This ofcer works faster than Superman. He did all that work in 48 seconds. In other words; screw the citizen who couldnt sleep because the ice rink was illegally blasting their music above misdemeanor level according to the citys own municipal code.
Loud music calls come in regularly to the police and the police ignore them. The complaints are legitimate. The ice rink has been the worst violator of the citys sound ordinance since it started ve years ago.
Another call regarding the ice rink came in at 10:31 p.m. and 45 seconds. It was SMPD Incident #120149651 - a Disturbance of the Peace at the intersection of Fourth Street and Arizona Avenue. The ofcer that responded told SMPD dispatch at 11:06 p.m. and 34 seconds that the subjects were G.O.A - Gone on Arrival. He cleared the call almost 35 minutes after SMPD received it. But why more than half an hour later?
I was in the area when this police call went out and while several other ice rink alcohol related problems occurred.
I watched as an ofcer drove to the corner of Fourth and Arizona to respond to the Disturbance of the Peace call. He slowed his car, looked around, and then drove off. That was pretty much it, but for some reason the call was not cleared until nearly 35 minutes later. Where did he go and what did he do during that half an hour? City Halls illegal Ice Rink Speakeasy.

BACK PAGE

LOCAL NEWSPAPER DOES ABSURD STORY ON Park Me:

The Santa Monica Daily Press Editor, Kevin Herrera, wrote a story on ParkMe (see Daily Press Dec 21, 2012). His writing demonstrated a complete lack of effort on his part to act as anything other than a publicity agent for City Hall (a major source of income for his paper).
Herrera highlighted Don Patterson who talks about how city ofcials hope people will use the ParkMe app to nd parking. In other words, while youre driving around, illegally use your iPhone so you can nd parking quicker so you can have more time to shop according to Patterson.
Herrera also quotes the citys Chief Information Ofcer Jory Wolf whos excited about providing the ParkMe service. Just the fact that Wolf has the title of Chief Information Ofcer, should be a story in itself. Does the city really need an ofcer to handle its information? Why does City Hall act so ofcious with its information?
Most importantly, why does Herrera avoid asking these city ofcials why they are giving contradictory information regarding using the ParkMe app? Both ofcials goal is to provide people with an app they can use in realtime to nd parking. That means use it while you drive. With the increased number of car versus pedestrian fatal accidents in downtown, Herrera should be asking why the city is supporting a driver distracting phone app--but he isnt
The last sentence of Herreras story tells readers that the city does not want drivers using the app while driving. Talk about an absurd disclaimer. The entire story was about city ofcials getting people to use the app while driving, and then the last sentence tells people not to use the app while driving.
Daily Press Editor Herrera must believe that his readers dont read to the end of his stories (possible), or that his readers are too stupid to catch his double-talk.
Either way, when a driver causes the rst fatality while using the ParkMe app, I hope it isnt Herrera and his bicycle that get pulled from beneath the front bumper of the vehicle. Without him, City Hall would have to cultivate a new best friend all over again.