Letter To The Editor: Why I Support Santa Monica Forward:

Dear Editor,

I am very happy to be a part of a community in which not only does the city provide amazing resources that are not available in other places but the civic engagement is astounding. Santa Monica is a place where community members truly care. I was not born here, nor did I grow up here but I am still a Santa Monican.

I moved to Los Angeles after college in 2010 and spent four years trying to move into Santa Monica. While I wasn’t physically a resident during those four years, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t a community member or stakeholder—I worked in Santa Monica, I went to parks, restaurants, and shops in Santa Monica, but it took me four years and five different job changes to be able to find an apartment in the city I could afford.

This majestic city we live, work and play in is not without its problems but I think we can work together to move forward and come up with the best solutions to solve them. I’m a supporter of Santa Monica Forward because I know that in order to maintain and improve our incredibly high standard of living, we need to anticipate the  problems of tomorrow and learn from the mistakes and missteps of the past.

I am particularly passionate about housing because I want to remain in Santa Monica and while I’m extremely comfortable with my current living situation, I don’t see myself living in a tiny studio for the rest of my life. I consistently hear from people who are already a part of our community that they can’t afford to live here. The housing/jobs imbalance is absurd. The fact that the city has been unable to build much housing in the past 25 years has only made it worse. Economic laws of supply and demand say that if you restrict the supply (don’t build housing), while increasing demand, prices go up—which is exactly what we’ve seen happen here. I’m not saying building more housing will solve all of our problems but it’s good first step.

I’m very proud to be a supporter of a group that is fighting for a diverse, sustainable and equitable Santa Monica.

Natalya Zernitskaya

Supporter of Santa Monica Forward