Where's the Scandal in That?

January 18, 2006

Dear Editor,

In his latest column Mr. Gruber has taken aim at neighborhood organizations in general and the Ocean Park Association in particular, alleging that "this new group has presumed to speak for the neighborhood." (see story)

I've scoured our by-laws, our mission statement and our correspondence to the media and City Hall and have failed to find any suggestion that we presume to speak for all of the denizens of Ocean Park and for their diverse opinions. And in fact at our first annual meeting, attended by Mr. Gruber, no such grandiose claims were made. So much for objective journalism and reporting the facts.

Rather, we presume to exercise our right as a not-for-profit entity sanctioned by the Federal, California and Santa Monica governments to speak for ourselves. We no more purport to be the voice of all in Ocean Park than the NRA can claim to speak for all gun owners or AARP can assert to be the voice of all seniors or the Vatican can presume to represents all Catholics (OK, maybe I got that one wrong).

Let's put it this way. I'm a registered Democrat, but I don't belong to the Santa Monica Democratic Club. Do I lose sleep worrying that they'll misrepresent my opinions? No, because I know they presume to speak for the Club, not all Santa Monica Democrats. And if I want to shape the Club's agenda, I can certainly join, attend meetings and add my two cents. The same goes for OPA.

We are an organization of (relatively) like-minded individuals, with membership open to all Ocean Park residents, dedicated to the betterment of our neighborhood (primarily through infrastructure improvements such as safer restrooms in our public parks and more pedestrian-friendly, cleaner streets) and to the preservation of Ocean Park's charm and character.

As to the latter objective, we have from the moment of our formation made it clear that we intend to comment on the issue of growth in Santa Monica and to provide input on the City's revisions to the General Plan. Has our slant thus far been in favor of slow growth? Yes, because that's what our members want, not because we are afraid of new neighbors, as Mr. Gruber suggests, but because we are afraid of losing both our current neighbors and our socioeconomic diversity to the displacement caused by development.

There's certainly room for a different Ocean Park organization which supports razing the historic stretch of Main Street to make room for new four-story buildings; tearing down rent-controlled housing in favor of market rate abodes affordable only to the exceptionally affluent; and adding more traffic through increased density to our already hazardous residential streets. And if this organization arises, I, unlike Mr. Gruber, will understand they presume to speak for themselves, not for the neighborhood as a whole.

Yes, we are after a little more than a year still a small organization and it is true our first annual meeting had only 26 attendees of a membership of over 100. But we're engaged in civic affairs in a town where the electorate in largely uninvolved and uninformed and are doing our best to grow our membership and to get more citizens involved in municipal affairs. Where's the scandal in that?

In fact, our current Council members all hold office after winning only 15 to 20 percent of the votes of registered Santa Monica voters. Shouldn't Mr. Gruber be more concerned with whether or not our Council presumes to speak for the whole city when its popular endorsement is so meager? Or should he be glad that there are groups like OPA out there which at least try to represent the voice of some of the people to our elected officials and city staff?

Finally, I find it curious that Mr. Gruber should sneer so at neighborhood organizations when his bio on your website indicates he was formerly a board member of the late, great Ocean Park Community Organization (and in all likelihood was "self-appointed" rather than elected by all 13,000 Ocean Park residents).

Has he had a change of heart, like Saul converting to Christianity or Dennis Miller disavowing his once liberal politics? Or is his real beef that we don't agree with his advocacy of a degree of future growth which would be an assault on both the beach town ambiance and the diversity of our great city?

Ted Winterer
President, Ocean Park Association
www.opa-sm.org