Could your peace and quiet, even your continued residency in our neighborhood, be threatened... by something that happened on the other side of town, in Ocean Park?

Some Wilshire/Montana neighborhood residents, whose homes or apartments abut our main thoroughfares' commercial districts, are already more warily eyeing business-adjacent parking lots and other historically allowed commercial uses of land zoned for housing.

Well they should, in the wake of last month's controversial residential rezoning on Main Street. Already, a prominent local development attorney has been heard calling for a City-wide zoning review, and developers rarely petition for downzoning.

"The Board of Directors of the Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition is concerned about piecemeal changes to zoning that could have a detrimental effect on residential neighborhoods."

On August 12th I read that resolution to our City Council, as they heard public input on the proposed conversion to limited commercial zoning of an Ocean Park residential parcel, long a part of Main Street's Edgemar Complex.

Santa Monica welcomes the Loretta Theater and its permanent resident professional performance company to a renovated Edgemar Complex, but the precedent set for zone changes is worrisome.

The Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition supports our neighbors in other parts of the City, as we hope they support us. We asked the Council to consider and vote on Edgemar and other projects as if they themselves lived next door.

One way we as residents can be effectively heard on issues that affect us on our streets or in our neighborhoods is to band together with other streets and other neighborhoods.

Four of our City's existing neighborhood groups are forming a Santa Monica neighborhood network. This month's exploratory meeting, identifying a number of common concerns, marked a new start in the wake of last June's Council defunding of the Neighborhood Support Center.

Already, inter-group committees are being formed around the shared issues of parks, crosswalks, recycling and development.

The joint parks committee of the neighborhood groups hopes to locate and recommend sites for future parklands. The current City budget sets aside $3.5 million for park acquisition.

Working with City staff we plan to involve local resident eyes and ears in finding land to turn green and share. To get involved, contact your local neighborhood organization.

The Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition and two of the other groups can be reached at 450-5578. Leave a message for me and I'll direct you to your own local group.

Usually there'd be residents up in arms over the introduction of a alcohol-selling retailer along lower Wilshire Boulevard. This proposed store will occupy the former bank building at the corner of Fifth Street.

Could parking be a problem? The site has 41 spaces accessible from Fifth Street, which will no longer be one way under the approved Downtown Streetscape Plan. Another eight spaces, suitable for employee parking, have alley access.

Every group I've spoken to dissolves into smiles when the name of the projected tenant is finally mentioned: Trader Joe's. The chain has long sought a suitable Santa Monica location. Welcome to the neighborhood!

Released too late to make the summer reading list, a new free publication from the City and the Chamber of Commerce is chock-full of amazing Santa Monica facts and figures, graphically presented.

No, not that kind of graphic language. The "Demographic and Economic Profile of the City of Santa Monica" paints our town in charts and graphs. By the time you read this, free copies should be in plentiful supply at City Hall.

Some of the facts and figures were so amazing I had to call Gwen Pentecost at Resource Management/Economic Development for verification. She confirmed that, yes, in just the ten years between 1980 and 1990 the Median Family Income in our City more than doubled, from $22,263 to $51,085!

For another shocker, take a look at the education levels of Santa Monicans compared to the county and the state. We're roughly twice as likely as our neighbors to have completed a bachelor's and/or graduate degree.

With all this, you have to wonder why our own schools struggle with funding. If ever there was a City that should value and financially support education, Santa Monica is it.

The importance of education to our community will be highlighted later this month. Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights' annual membership convention plans to expand on the theme "Focus on Education" with a school computer and technology expo, at the new John Muir Elementary School campus on Ocean Park Boulevard at Fifth.

Come see how Internet communication and research is being integrated into our Santa Monica/Malibu schools curriculum, even at lower grade levels. The District is completing a massive wiring project that will bring a fast Ethernet network into almost every classroom.

So... are you ready to get more involved in your community? The next monthly board meeting of the Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition is Wednesday, October 1st, from 7 to 9pm.

We meet in the Rec Room at 801 Ocean Avenue, on the corner of Montana, and all are welcome. Please R.S.V.P. to 450-5578. See you there!

Back to Kevin's home page?