March 29, 2024 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Letter To The Editor: Did You Really Have To SLAPP Us?:

Editor’s Note: This is an open letter to the Santa Monica City Council, City Staff, and residents of Santa Monica.

Dear Editor,

We residents of Sunset Park have been watching the airport grow into a noisy, polluting, and dangerous jet port. Just days after a unanimous vote by City Council to look into ways to rein in the airport, an out of town airport lobby, funded by of town money, filed a petition to maintain airport status quo and change the Santa Monica Charter.

Within two weeks paid signature gatherers hit the streets. We stuck our necks out and filed suit to block the deceptive outside interests.

Our lawsuit named the city staff and City Council (named in official capacity only) as blameless defendants and also named the aviation interests.

Naming the city is standard procedure for pre-election ballot lawsuits.

Shortly after our lawsuit, the city attorney filed a SLAPP lawsuit against us, a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence. The aviation interests followed suit. The city attorney did most of the work crafting the motion, and did most of the talking in the courthouse. Filing a SLAPP like this is not standard procedure.

We plaintiffs still seek our day in court to stop the outside lobbyists. We plaintiffs have been actively involved in the campaign against the aviation interests, and have been working toward a better city version of a competing initiative that requires a vote on future use of the land except for parks and recreation.

The SLAPP in fact helps the aviation interests by delaying court action on our lawsuit and the delay may make it impossible to have a timely resolution.

Please drop this SLAPP. If not, explain to the 11 plaintiffs, and the thousands of others who are badly affected by an unsafe polluting jet port in our neighborhoods, why the city attorney is aiding outside interests attempting to control city land.

Explain why they are filing motions against residents who are attempting to improve the health and safety of their neighborhood.

Thank you.

Alan Levenson, Susan Hartley, Lisa Sandbank, Jim Redden, Peter  Altschuler,Colin Maduzia, Gavin Scott, Robb Brown, Nicola Scott, Lisa Detamore, and Jason Detamore.

Santa Monica, CA

in Opinion
Related Posts

ARB Courage (Part 1 of 2)

March 24, 2024

March 24, 2024

On March 4, 2024, your ARB (Architectural Review Board) ruled in favor of the 521-unit Gelson’s Project at Ocean Park...

SM.a.r.t Column: Can California ARBs Balance Affordable Housing with Community Character in the Face of New Housing Laws?

March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024

By suggestion, I attended the March 4th ARB (Architectural Review Board) meeting that addressed the Gelson Lincoln Boulevard Project.  After...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Need for Safety

March 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Earlier this week, in the dark pre-dawn hours, a pair of thugs covered in masks and hoodies burst into the...

Film Review: The Oscar Landscape 2024

March 7, 2024

March 7, 2024

FILM REVIEWTHE OSCAR LANDSCAPE 2024A Look at the Choices – Academy Awards – March 10, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. on...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Five Saving Historic Santa Monica

March 3, 2024

March 3, 2024

Our beloved City is surrounded by many threats, from sea level rise to homelessness, to housing affordability, to cancerous overdevelopment,...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Gelson’s Looms Large

February 22, 2024

February 22, 2024

Our guest column this week is by SMCLC (the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City). SMCLC is a well-established...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Top Toady Town

February 18, 2024

February 18, 2024

Throughout history, from the ancient Romans and Assyrians to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, siege warfare has served as an...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The Sunset of Home Ownership

February 11, 2024

February 11, 2024

We are watching the sunset of our historical and cultural American dream of home ownership as we now are crossing...

SMa.r.t. Column: B(U)Y RIGHT

February 4, 2024

February 4, 2024

“By Right” state housing laws that give developers, in certain projects, the ability to ignore codes ‘by right.’ Well, that...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Serf City

January 28, 2024

January 28, 2024

Homelessness is a problem in California, and nowhere is this more evident than in our fair city, where the unhoused...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Bond Fatigue

January 22, 2024

January 22, 2024

Last week’s SMart article,  described two critical problems faced by our Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD): the declining...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Peace on Earth

December 27, 2023

December 27, 2023

We are all, by now, saturated with jingles, holiday cards, “ho ho ho’s,” countless commercial advertisements, and exhortations to feel...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Clock with Mayor Brock

December 17, 2023

December 17, 2023

I became Santa Monica’s Mayor on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, following a simple “switch of the chairs” transition with outgoing...

S.M.a.r.t Column: SANTA MONICA CITY COUNCIL 2024

December 10, 2023

December 10, 2023

Position:Seeking Santa Monica City Council Candidate(s) Introduction:Exciting opportunity for the right candidate(s) to work with like-minded Council members committed to...

S.M.a.r.t Column: ARB (NOT Ready to Build!)

December 3, 2023

December 3, 2023

Santa Monica City’s Architectural Review Board (ARB), established in 1974, acts “…to preserve existing areas of natural beauty, cultural importance...