Survey Results Show Santa Monica Residents Favor Business Preservation, Fiscal Responsibility and Employee Privacy Protection
Businesses that lease Santa Monica-owned properties may be forced to sign labor peace agreements if a proposed city ordinance is passed.
Opposition to the ordinance has heightened, drawing fear that if adopted, the requirement could force closures of businesses still recovering from pandemic losses, according to an economic analysis released by the Hatamiya Group in early October.
In a recent survey conducted by the Santa Monica Mirror, the collective responses of 255 participants disagree with the city’s approach to business policy, public safety and economic priorities. The results reflect strong community sentiment in favor of local business preservation, fiscal responsibility, and privacy protection for employees.
Among the 255 respondents, 94% of the respondents believe Santa Monica should focus more on addressing public safety and fiscal distress rather than creating new mandates on local businesses.
As part of a labor peace agreement, unions often are allowed access to employees’ home addresses and contact information without their permission. Asking if respondents support this measure, 90.9% of the respondents do not support giving unions access to private information.
In support of local businesses, 91% respondents are not in favor of large corporate chains replacing local businesses. More than 86% of the respondents also agreed that the City Council should not add more requirements on businesses that lease from the city.
Fred Deni, owner of Back to the Beach and longtime resident of Santa Monica, has concerns behind the reasoning of the labor peace agreement ordinance and why it has resurfaced. He said the city of Santa Monica isn’t doing enough to support local business, rather imposing restrictions that could drive businesses away or stifle any new businesses from opening in the area.
In regard to the LPA ordinance, Deni said, “I don’t see the advantage to the city at all, and there’s no advantages to a business that I could see. I would like to see the city do more to support local businesses and something like the LPA could cause a business to think twice about opening here, or even for a business to move out of the area because of the LPA.
“I feel it’s discouraging to the businesses as opposed to helping businesses or the city,” he said.
Deni, who has been operating Back to the Beach since 1979, said he’s in favor of unions, generally, however, in local businesses like his, mandates such as the LPA are discouraging and unsupportive.
“It doesn’t change the rent the city would get, and it causes more pressure on the operator. Seeing the survey results and what residents say, I’m so happy to see them wanting to support local businesses, which the city should be doing,” he said.
Back to the Beach has retained longtime employees at its local business, some that have remained for more than three decades or are approaching retirement.
“We have been a local supported restaurant, our customers know our waiters by name and we want to remain a community restaurant,” Deni said.
In today’s economic environment, profit margins have dropped, making it increasingly difficult to open and maintain a small local business.
“We opened in 1979 and it was a totally different business environment. Now, you need a lot of money to open a small business and getting the business open, you better have a balance in the bank that can hold you for at least six months to a year,” Deni said.
Looking back at economic hardship during the COVID-19 era, Deni said the economy hasn’t been the same since — inflation and rising costs with vendors that puts more strain on the operators.
“It’s much harder and we don’t need one more restriction put on us with the LPA,” Deni said. “Our customer base seems to understand and support our side of it. We have to speak back in the voting booth, this is not the direction to go.”
