Clean Water Accord

By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer

September 26 -- It was two against one as Heal the Bay Executive Director Mark Gold and City Councilmember Richard Bloom debated Don Gray on the merits of Measure V, a property tax that will fund upgrades to the storm drainage system and other water management projects designed to clean the bay.

This summer, the beach by the Santa Monica Pier has been the most polluted in the entire state, Gold said as CityTV cameras filmed the debate last week.

“It looks like a landfill, it’s disgusting,” Gold said.

The City has both “a moral imperative” and a “legal requirement” to reduce pollution and protect the beachgoing public from illnesses like respiratory infections, skin rashes and ear infections, Gray and Bloom argued.

While not disagreeing with the aims of Measure V, Gray, apparently speaking for himself, countered that the City’s plan will cost too much money and will place an unfair burden on Santa Monica residents, who will pay to clean up pollution coming from further inland.

Not so, argued Bloom, who pointed out that 76 percent of Los Angeles voters passed a $500 million proposition for the same purposes, and the two cities will work closely together on water pollution, drinking water supplies and flood control.

While Gray estimated a $700 to $750 annual charge to property owners, Bloom said the cost will be more like $7 a month. The tax will generate approximately $2.3 million a year, at least for now.

Gray’s biggest complaint was that the City’s “Watershed Management Plan” is too broad, and not “science-based” enough.

“It’s purely a mishmash, a shopping list,” Gray said. “You’ve literally thrown in the kitchen sink with no regards to costs.”

Bloom and Gold tried to explain that the plan isn’t meant to be a step-by-step list of projects. Rather, it’s a compilation of options that the City can choose from.

The plan itself has been “scaled down,” Gold said. It’s not the “Rolls Royce” version.

But Gray continued to assert that the city is planning to raise monthly water fees, in spite of Bloom’s objection that what Gray was saying would be “completely illegal.” Gray went on to say that the City has a hidden agenda, which includes using the proposition as a springboard for a “property buying spree.”

“The only agenda,” Bloom said in exasperation, “is an agenda to clean up the beaches and to clean up the ocean.”

“You’re saying there’s a controversy,” Bloom added a short time later. “But there’s not been a controversy.”

Calling the measure “well-vetted” and based on consensus, Bloom said there’s been “virtually no controversy throughout the process.”

Gold closed the proponents’ case by urging voters to join Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper and Global Green in supporting Measure V. In turn, Gray asked voters to support Proposition 84, a state water quality bond.

The debate was co-sponsored by CityTV, the League of Women Voters of Santa Monica Education Fund and the Center for Governmental Studies.

CityTV will be making its election programming available with prime time airings on cable channel 16, 24/7 airings on cable channel 75, video-on-demand on Time Warner Cable, and on its election website www.smvote.org.