Meet Terry O'Day, Planning Commissioner

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

July 16 -- If you don't believe the Los Angeles axiom that you can know someone by the car they drive, you haven’t met Terry O’Day, the fresh-faced 30-year-old who just replaced longtime political fixture Kelly Olsen on the Planning Commission.

His car? A fire-truck-red 1998 General Motors limited edition all electric EV1, a car you’d be hard-pressed to find parked anywhere in the Pico Neighborhood where he has lived for five years.

His ideology? An environmental-driven pragmatism -- or as he puts it, “capitalism with a cause." But as a co-owner of a small, alternative-vehicle rent-a-car company in Los Angeles, the soft-spoken, progressive-minded Democrat has one eye fixed firmly on the bottom-line.

His qualifications? While most members the City's most powerful commission have headed neighborhood groups or served on other boards (Olsen was a City Council member), O'Day seemed to come out of nowhere.

Unlike his fellow commissioners, O'Day has no ties to Santa Monicans for Renters Rights or other local political or neighborhood groups. The background he brings to Santa Monica's highly charged political scene is a BA in public policy from Stanford, some work-study experience in Los Angeles government and a role in helping to lead the Coalition for Clean Air.

“This is my first real involvement in a public position,” said O’Day, sitting on a cushy armchair in shorts and slippers and looking a little exhausted after watching 11 hours of Planning Commission footage in preparation for his second meeting.

“I figured I had some unique experience in not only managing a business, but an environmentally responsible business -- that I’ve balanced the interests of the environmental community and the business community. And I think as a resident that brings a third layer of experience that I hope enables me to bring a balanced approach.”

“Using a business model to solve a social problem” is at the center of the business/political philosophy of the Buffalo, New York native who grew up in a “union family.” As his father, an assembly worker and New Deal Democrat used to say: “‘Union wages put food on the table your whole life.”

A “policy junky,” O'Day is fascinated with land use issues, watching Planning Commission meetings on City TV -- “not religiously, but yeah” -- and speaking before the commission as a concerned resident about local projects, one involving Santa Monica College’s new parking entrance, “so I have familiarity with the process.”

His interest extends beyond the City Hall chambers. On the road, he needs to be constantly reminded by his wife, Tiffany, to keep his eyes off the passing buildings while driving.

“I think land use is the foundation of public policy on the local level, and it is a favorite area of interest of mine that I’ve read a lot about,” O’Day said.

And the age thing?

“I think it’s important to have people (my) age work in city government," O'Day said. "If you look through most other levels of government, you’ll see young people very active.

"I don’t think there is any reason age should preclude someone from being in it, as long as they have some understanding of the effects of land use in our community, our city, and our region, from an environmental standpoint to a quality of life standpoint.”

The co-owner with his wife of a small condominium on 17th Street, O’Day lobbied all the City Council members by phone for a seat on the seven-member commission, which he had applied for the last time around to no avail.

“I saw that three of the Planning Commissioner's terms were expiring," O'Day said. "I didn’t know much more than that. I thought there’d be an opportunity, so I applied, and called some folks in town to let them know that I applied.

"I noticed at that the time that there was no one on the commission from the Pico Neighborhood, so I though that might be helpful,” he said.

Coming from a strong Democratic household with a working-class father as a role model, O’Day said he has an innate “underdog” mentality and a calling towards social justice.

Naturally, his primary concern about Santa Monica is the lack of affordable housing, “which is reaching crisis proportions. I hope I can have some influence on that.”

Asked about a City ordinance that exempts affordable housing projects from City Council and Planning Commission review, O'Day's answer is revealing.

“I have mixed feelings about it," he said. "I just wonder if we get the best housing when we do that. I hope we do.”

Further signs of the kind of commissioner O'Day might make are in the notes he took when colleagues praised Olsen for his four years on the board. The ones he checked off on his list of things to “build into what I do” as a commissioner were:

· Being a strong voice and having opinions
· Being diligent: working outside the meetings to investigate projects
· Trying to build an institutional memory

Most telling, however, might be why he got into public service. O’Day switched his major from engineering “when I realized I was doing it because I thought that by getting an engineering salary I would be able to solve a lot of my family’s problems.

“I think I realized that it would be more meaningful to me and probably my family if I studied public policy and hopefully addressed those same issues but for more people and solve the systemic problems that cause crisis in families, rather than pursuing my own financial interests and trying to buy my mom a house,” he said laughing.