Candidates Questionnaire--Bauer

BILL BAUER

GENERAL QUESTIONS:

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

I am a 62-year-old renter on Social Security who cares compassionately about his community. I like the simple things in life: A beautiful sunset, watching birds and squirrels from my porch and a walk at the beach. I enjoy lifting weights at the gym and solving problems at my computer. I derive great satisfaction from helping clients with their advertising, marketing and public relations problems. And, I belive that one’s happiness must come from within.

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

Favorite book:"City of Quartz" Mike Davis

Favorite movie: "The Long Good Friday" 1989

Favorite food: Steak

3. How long have you lived in Santa Monica?

33 years

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

Back in the mid-1970’s: I was the public relations lead for the Save The (Santa Monica) Piers Citizens Committee and helped prevent demolition of the Santa Monica Piers. I also helped pass the Pier Preservation Act which now protects the piers, forever. I was Co-Chair of Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition in 1999-2000. I’ve written an opinion column the Ocean Park Gazette for two years before relocating to the Daily Press where I’ve written "My Write" for the last two years.

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.

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.

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

The City’s circulation element needs updating. Traffic improvements are knee-jerk reactions. Major arteries must be re-opened so traffic does not "short-cut" onto residential streets. We must stop removing, narrowing and blocking lanes so that streets can efficiently carry increasing traffic loads. Enforcement is the best way to slow 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.

Santa Monica is already one of the densest cities in California. Additional housing increases that density and traffic, makes higher demands on schools and infrastructure and establishes a host of causes and effects down the line. Most Santa Monicans want less, not more, growth – something else that City Hall has lost touch with.

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.

Two fold.

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

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. 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.

The damage has already been done. Two-thirds of our streets have parking restrictions to protect residents. Now, City Hall plans to issue "employee" permits to allow commercial parking back in residential neighborhoods.. Nothing shows how schizophrenic this City is run than the way parking is handled.

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.

True. Because of the traffic, poor parking and panhandlers and crazies, most adults I know don’t go to Third Street any more. The average age of Promenade visitors is in the 20’s which tells me it primarily attracts bigh school and college-aged youth and tourists

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

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

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

C. It is federal policy that has people in the parks.

A 1999 census says, 1100 transients are on our streets, daily. While climate is a factor, most are drawn here by policies deliberately promulgated by the incumbents and their "Renters Rights" political machine. Free food handouts, twenty-two programs through city subsidized providers and non-aggressive policing are the major draws.

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.

A. City policies approved by the SMRR majority, including traffic calming, the development of the Promenade and the fostering of tourism.
The expansion of development, tourism and surrounding area growth contribute to annual increases in our traffic volume. However, the majority of problems are a result of social engineering to force us out of cars, bad traffic management and lack of planning fostered by SMRR politicians and their ideologues

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.

Affordable RENTAL housing -- combination of the three: Creates blight and areas of high crime, creates more tenants to vote for Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights but still addresses a legitimate need, when housing goes to Santa Monica’s seniors, disabled and others in need – which is usually not the case.

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.

All four: Sometimes improves projects, often is overly skewed towards pleasing nearby neighbors as opposed to meeting the interests of the community as a whole and often slows the process as well as being a way to restrict new development. Yes, codes need to be simplified.

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.

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

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.

None. This is a clear signal of a City Council without goals, a plan or vision. Elected council persons fly by the seat of their pants, Decisions are made based on an agenda dictated by a behind-the scenes political machine or as a "Band Aid" for politically connected special interests.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

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

Get Santa Monica’s City government back in touch with reality. I will solve long term problems and create a brighter future for all. I pledge to reset priorities so that we will benefit from a friendly and cooperative City government that serves the needs of residents, first.

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

1. A dramatic reduction in the number of vagrants and street people.

2. Streets that move traffic once again.

3. First class amenities for residents -- schools, parks, arts and recreational facilities.

4. City government more caring of residents when it comes to noise, nuisance abatement development, property rights and quality of life issues.

19. What is the best thing about Santa Monica?

The climate, the beach and the people.

20. What is the worst thing about Santa Monica?

Probably the allies in and around our major commercial districts. They’re absolutely revolting.

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

Favorite Place: The residential streets North of Montana Avenue near San Vicente Boulevard. They’re lovely and quiet. A great place to walk or jog.

Least Favorite: The allies and parking garages downtown are truly vile. They alone are enough to drive business to Westwood, Century City and cleaner, friendlier and less hostile commercial areas.

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

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

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)

The City overspends and still residents aren’t getting bang for the buck. Priorities are backward. Homeless services and low-income housing take priority over schools Spending on pork, cronyism, and personal agenda by the incumbents and the SMRR political machine have cost the community safety and valuable amenities.

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?

I identify with the present – a city at the crossroads. Is this a City going down the path of increased development, traffic, congestion and crowding or are we going to take a step sideways and preserve what little quality of life we have left? Are we going take touch care of our own or continue to play host to the world’s problems and those in need? Those we elect on November 2 will set policy and guide the city for decades to come, so we must choose our leadership wisely. I have the common sense, practicality, fiscal responsibility, vision and devotion to the people of Santa Monica necessary to make our City even greater and more livable. That’s my vision.