HERB KATZ

GENERAL QUESTIONS:

1. Who are you? Describe yourself in 100 words or less.

I'm proud that I have been called "the voice of reason" on the Council, in large part because I am the only member of the current Council who is a business person, owning and operating an architectural firm that requires me to meet a payroll for 21 people in my office. That's a real-world professional perspective the City Council needs from at least one of its members. And I have a great sense of humor

I'm also proud that I've been endorsed by the Santa Monica Firefighters Association, the Chamber of Commerce the Transit Workers Union, AFL-CIO and CEPS for my support of Santa Monica's public schools.

2. What is your favorite book? Movie? Food?

Favorite book: Einstein's Theory of Relativity Simplified, because it's timeless. Casablanca. Ice cream.
Favorite movie: Casablanca
Favorite food: Ice Cream

3. How long have you lived in Santa Monica?

41 years.

4. Describe your history of community involvement, if any, in 75 words or less.

I've served our City for the past thirty years as a community volunteer, school advocate, Architectural Review Member, Planning Commissioner and City Council Member. That experience has put me in touch with real-world problems and solutions.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Please choose the statement with which you agree most. Feel free to explain your answer in 50 words or less.

5. Tourism is one of Santa Monica's most important industries and has been almost since the city's founding. Yet, especially in the summer and on weekends, Santa Monica can appear downright crowded. Ignoring the economic benefits, with which statement do you agree more:

A. Tourism creates a major inconvenience for Santa Monica residents.

B. Being a world-renowned magnet for tourism is a tribute to Santa Monica and has made our city a more lively, fun and interesting place to live.

A combination of the two. The benefits of tourism must be balanced with the needs and desires of residents. Both are important.

6. Over the years, the City has received two kinds of complaints about traffic. Some residents complain that there is too much traffic going through their neighborhoods, often going too fast, and have pressured the City to construct various forms of "traffic calming." Other residents complain that our streets are clogged with so much traffic that it takes too long to drive around town. With which statement do you agree more:

When it comes to traffic:

A. The most important thing is to protect neighborhoods by slowing down and discouraging cut-through traffic.

B. The most important thing is to find ways to speed up the flow of traffic.

Again, a combination of the two. Easing the flow of traffic on major arterials like Wilshire and Pico will protect neighborhood streets by encouraging drivers to remain on those arterials and reduce cut-through traffic.

7. Over the past decade, more than a thousand apartments have been built or approved in downtown Santa Monica in response to City incentives. With which statement do you agree more:

A. Santa Monica needs more housing to be built, downtown is the best place to build it and the City should encourage more housing to be built there.

B. Downtown is too crowded already and the City should do what it can to discourage more housing development there by increasing regulations and/or downzoning.

Again, a combination. Santa Monica does need more housing at every economic level and the best approach is to spread it out at appropriate sites within the city. Wherever that is, that's the appropriate location for affordable and middle-income housing. Our planning decisions should be flexible enough to weigh those factors.

8. It's generally acknowledged, within and without City government, that navigating the building and development permit process in Santa Monica is a nightmare for developers and homeowners alike, and much more complicated and time-consuming than in other local jurisdictions. With which of the following statements do you agree most:

The major cause of the problems with the building process in Santa Monica is:

A. An incompetent bureaucracy suffering from high turnover and bad training and supervision.

B. The Planning Commission, which has demoralized planning staff and made them fearful of approving projects and has slowed down the approval process itself by applying vague and varying standards.

C. The City Council, which over the years has enacted an overly complex set of laws governing zoning, environmental review and building standards.

9. Preferential parking districts are controversial in Santa Monica. With which statement do you agree more:

When it comes to street parking in residential neighborhoods located near commercial districts or boulevards,

A. The rights of the residents come first, and no resident should have to compete with a non-resident for a parking space on a resident's street at any time of day.

B. In designating preferential parking districts, the City needs to be more cognizant of the needs of employees and customers.

C. The streets belong to everyone, and the City should get out of the business of designating preferential parking districts.

A combination of A & B. The city should balance the needs of residents - which are the priority -- with the needs of adjacent businesses and their employees, since all of these elements are essential to Santa Monica's ambiance.

10. True or false: The Third Street Promenade has become primarily a destination for visitors and does not cater to local residents. Explain in 50 words or less.

The Promenade appeals to BOTH residents and visitors and that's a quantifiable fact, as well as clear to anyone with basic observational skills. As always, residents' needs must take precedence.

11. Pick one and explain in 50 words or less:

The City's policies attract an influx of homeless who would not otherwise come to Santa Monica.

The homeless come to Santa Monica for reasons outside the City's control.

The homeless problem is regional in nature and the only long-term solution is regional. Santa Monica needs to actively participate with neighboring cities in a regional approach in which each city takes their fair share of the burden for solving this problem.

12. With which of the following statements do you agree most. Santa Monica's traffic problems are the direct result of,

A. City policies approved by the SMRR majority, including traffic calming, the development of the Promenade and the fostering of tourism.

B. Major developments -- such as the large office complexes in the city's industrial corridor -- approved in the mid-1980s by councils controlled by non-SMRR pro development factions.

C. Regional growth outside the control of the City Council.

13. With which statements do you agree. You can choose more than one.

Affordable housing:

A. Creates blight.

B. Pays back hotel and restaurant union workers for their political support and creates more tenants to vote for Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights.

C. Addresses a legitimate need, especially in Santa Monica.

And it can and should be undertaken in ways that minimize impacts of the rest of the community.

14. With which statements do you agree. You can pick more than one. Community input in planning and building design,

A. Improves Projects

B. Is overly skewed towards pleasing nearby neighbors as opposed to
meeting the interests of the community as a whole.

C. Unreasonably slows the process and is a way for opponents to
eliminate new development.

D. Needs to be streamlined.

15. With which statement do you agree most. Santa Monica tenants in rent-controlled units,

A. Need more protections from harassment by landlords eager to re-rent units at market rates.

B. Are being subsidized by landlords who can't charge fair rents and make
a profit.

C. No longer need strong rent control policies because vacancy decontrol
has given landlords more opportunity to make a fair return.

D. Should not have majority control of the City Council.

16. In the past two years, the number of laws passed by the City Council has increased from 32 in 2002 to 41 last year. This is:

A. A reasonable response to the concerns of residents.

B. A council that tries to please everyone.

C. A council that believes it knows what's best for the City and likes to impose its will.

17. What would you do to improve Santa Monica? (50 words or less)

I would make respect for the community the basic philosophy of city government -- starting with a policy that no official city meeting or public hearing continue past 11:00 PM so residents won't be forced to wait until 2:00 AM to express their opinions, nor staff be forced to stay for those late meetings and then be late for work the next day when residents need their help.

18. What is your "wish list" for Santa Monica? (Maximum of 5 items)

* A regional solution to the homeless issue.
* A range of housing with options that are affordable for residents at various economic
levels.
* More parks, landscaping and open space.
* Safer neighborhoods and streets
* Less traffic.
* BONUS WISH: A City Council majority that finally will begin to show respect for ALL members of the community, not just the people who agree with it.

19. What is the best thing about Santa Monica?

The sense of community in its neighborhoods and an active citizenry.

20. What is the worst thing about Santa Monica?

Political squabbling based on ideologies and idiosyncrasies that ignore what's best for the community as a whole, as well as allowing one political ideology to govern our city.

21. What is your favorite place in Santa Monica? Your least favorite place? In 30 words or less give your reasons.

Favorite place: My house

Least Favorite place: Cloverfield, because the traffic on it keeps me from getting to my house without backing up and waiting.

22. A measure on the November ballot calls for increasing the City's hotel bed tax. Do you support or oppose the measure?

Yes

23. Do you support the $135 million Santa Monica College bond measure on the November ballot?

Yes

24. An analysis by The Lookout found that Santa Monica spent $1,906 per resident to provide basic services in fiscal year 2003-04. By comparison, Culver City spent $1,349; Pasadena spent $1,244 and Torrance spent $1,005. Do you think the City can cut back on its spending or is spending the right amount? (See analysis)

By streamlining its maze of regulations imposed by the current Council majority, the City could maintain its level of services at a lower cost more in line with what neighboring cities spend and what our citizens want and need.

25. Over the course of more than a century, Santa Monica has had many personalities, usually more than one at any given time depending where you are standing. A tony resort and haven for the rich and beautiful; a honky-tonk beach town known for the Pier and P.O.P. and Muscle Beach for everyone else; a blue-collar factory town and arsenal of democracy; the wide-open "Bay City" of Phillip Marlowe; a "leafy suburb"; a working-class city of dingbat apartments and little bungalows; a conservative bastion run by real estate and business interests; the "Peoples' Republic of Santa Monica"; and other historical realities you can probably think of, not to mention today's reality of regional center for retail, entertainment and white-collar employment. What historical era or personality of Santa Monica do you most identify with, and how does that relate to your vision of Santa Monica's future?