KEN GENSER

GENERAL QUESTIONS:

1. Who are you? Describe yourself in 100 words or less.

Concerned, caring, inquisitive, analytical, down to earth, with a healthy sense of humor.

2. What is your favorite book? Movie? Food?

Book: Gideon’s Trumpet
Movie: Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound
Food: (It’s a tie!) Pizza, Ice Cream

3. How long have you lived in Santa Monica?

32 Years

4. Describe your history of community involvement, if any, in 75 words or less.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Please choose the statement with which you agree most. Feel free to explain your answer in 50 words or less.

5. Tourism is one of Santa Monica’s most important industries and has been almost since the city’s founding. Yet, especially in the summer and on weekends, Santa Monica can appear downright crowded. Ignoring the economic benefits, with which statement do you agree more:

A. Tourism creates a major inconvenience for Santa Monica residents.

B. Being a world-renowned magnet for tourism is a tribute to Santa Monica and has made our city a more lively, fun and interesting place to live.

Tourism is a good industry for Santa Monica. It generates significant revenue that is used to provide services to residents, employs many, and has relatively few negative impacts.

6. Over the years, the City has received two kinds of complaints about traffic. Some residents complain that there is too much traffic going through their neighborhoods, often going too fast, and have pressured the City to construct various forms of “traffic calming.” Other residents complain that our streets are clogged with so much traffic that it takes too long to drive around town. With which statement do you agree more:

When it comes to traffic:

A. The most important thing is to protect neighborhoods by slowing down and discouraging cut-through traffic.

The most important thing is to find ways to speed up the flow of traffic.

Most traffic calming measures balance the desire of people to drive quickly with safety; they save lives and make neighborhoods more livable.

7. Over the past decade, more than a thousand apartments have been built or approved in downtown Santa Monica in response to City incentives. With which statement do you agree more:

A. Santa Monica needs more housing to be built, downtown is the best place to build it and the City should encourage more housing to be built there.

B. Downtown is too crowded already and the City should do what it can to discourage more housing development there by increasing regulations and/or downzoning.

The state of California has required Santa Monica to make provision for more housing. To the extent that we must do so, it makes sense to direct its development to our downtown to preserve the character of our existing neighborhoods, and minimize the displacement of existing residents.

8. It’s generally acknowledged, within and without City government, that navigating the building and development permit process in Santa Monica is a nightmare for developers and homeowners alike, and much more complicated and time-consuming than in other local jurisdictions. With which of the following statements do you agree most:

The major cause of the problems with the building process in Santa Monica is:

A. An incompetent bureaucracy suffering from high turnover and bad training and supervision.

B. The Planning Commission, which has demoralized planning staff and made them fearful of approving projects and has slowed down the approval process itself by applying vague and varying standards.

C. The City Council, which over the years has enacted an overly complex set of laws governing zoning, environmental review and building standards.

The causes of the problems with our planning and building divisions are manifold. What is important is that the City Council and city management have acknowledged the problems, analyzed them, and are on the way to correcting them.

9. Preferential parking districts are controversial in Santa Monica. With which statement do you agree more:

When it comes to street parking in residential neighborhoods located near commercial districts or boulevards,

A. The rights of the residents come first, and no resident should have to compete with a non-resident for a parking space on a resident's street at any time of day.

B. In designating preferential parking districts, the City needs to be more cognizant of the needs of employees and customers.

C. The streets belong to everyone, and the City should get out of the business of designating preferential parking districts.

I will always fight to preserve the quality of life in our residential neighborhoods.. At the same time, I will strive to find ways to help businesses without adversely affecting residents.

10. True or false: The Third Street Promenade has become primarily a destination for visitors and does not cater to local residents. Explain in 50 words or less.

It’s both true and false. Many residents enjoy the movies, restaurants and activity of the Promenade. On the other hand, the retail mix offers little to many of us; there are not enough shops in the downtown to serve our every day needs.

11. Pick one and explain in 50 words or less:

A. The City’s policies attract an influx of homeless who would not otherwise come to Santa Monica.

B. The homeless come to Santa Monica for reasons outside the City’s control.

Homeless people are attracted by the mild weather, and beautiful setting. And, Santa Monica is easily accessible by public transportation. Many homeless people are attracted by the free meals programs offered by volunteers in our parks. These programs are not supported by the city. The city has tried to prohibit them, but our efforts were blocked by the Federal courts.

12. With which of the following statements do you agree most. Santa Monica’s traffic problems are the direct result of,

A. City policies approved by the SMRR majority, including traffic calming, the development of the Promenade and the fostering of tourism.

B. Major developments -- such as the large office complexes in the city’s industrial corridor -- approved in the mid-1980s by councils controlled by non-SMRR pro development factions.

C. Regional growth outside the control of the City Council.

In addition to “B” and “C” (above), traffic is also caused by visitors to our beaches and Promenade (which was developed with bi-partisan support.)

13. With which statements do you agree. You can choose more than one.

Affordable housing:

A. Creates blight.

B. Pays back hotel and restaurant union workers for their political support and creates more tenants to vote for Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.

C. Addresses a legitimate need, especially in Santa Monica.

14. With which statements do you agree. You can pick more than one. Community input in planning and building design,

A. Improves Projects

B. Is overly skewed towards pleasing nearby neighbors as opposed to meeting the interests of the community as a whole.

C. Unreasonably slows the process and is a way for opponents to
eliminate new development.

D. Needs to be streamlined.

I am strongly opposed to efforts to limit public input in our land use decisions.

15. With which statement do you agree most. Santa Monica tenants in rent-controlled units,

A. Need more protections from harassment by landlords eager to re-rent units at market rates.

B. Are being subsidized by landlords who can't charge fair rents and make
a profit.

C. No longer need strong rent control policies because vacancy decontrol
has given landlords more opportunity to make a fair return.

D. Should not have majority control of the City Council.

16. In the past two years, the number of laws passed by the City Council has increased from 32 in 2002 to 41 last year. This is:

A. A reasonable response to the concerns of residents.

B. A council that tries to please everyone.

C. A council that believes it knows what’s best for the City and likes to impose its will.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

17. What would you do to improve Santa Monica? (50 words or less)

Add more parks and open space.
Find more resources for public education.
Limit commercial development and its associated traffic.
Find ways to prevent youth violence and make sure all our kids are safe.
Redouble our efforts to curtail anti-social behavior in our public spaces.

18. What is your "wish list" for Santa Monica? (Maximum of 5 items)

Add more parks and open space.
Find more resources for public education.
Limit commercial development and its associated traffic.
Find ways to prevent youth violence and make sure all our kids are safe.
Redouble our efforts to curtail anti-social behavior in our public spaces.

19. What is the best thing about Santa Monica?

Creative, caring people living in a beautiful city.

20. What is the worst thing about Santa Monica?

Congestion, youth violence.

21. What is your favorite place in Santa Monica? Your least favorite place? In 30 words or less give your reasons.

My favorite place is on the Santa Monica Pier, just north of the Mariasol restaurant. From there, you can look back across the water at the city, listen to the waves, and enjoy the ocean air.

Least favorite: The downtown parking structures when they are crowded.

22. A measure on the November ballot calls for increasing the City’s hotel bed tax. Do you support or oppose the measure?

Support.

23. Do you support the $135 million Santa Monica College bond measure on the November ballot?

I am neutral on it. I strongly object to the way the measure was formulated (and revised!) and I am concerned that it will fuel more unilateral action by the College. On the other hand, I think that there is potential for some facilities that benefit to the community to come from it. Instead of concentrating on the bond, I'm voting for College Trustees who I know will have an resident-friendly perspective.

24. An analysis by The Lookout found that Santa Monica spent $1,906 per resident to provide basic services in fiscal year 2003-04. By comparison, Culver City spent $1,349; Pasadena spent $1,244 and Torrance spent $1,005. Do you think the City can cut back on its spending or is spending the right amount?

The Lookout’s analysis is flawed. It was based on Santa Monica’s resident population of about 85,000 people. However, the city must provide services (including police and fire protection) for about 200,000 people daily, and even more on summer weekends.

25. Over the course of more than a century, Santa Monica has had many personalities, usually more than one at any given time depending where you are standing. A tony resort and haven for the rich and beautiful; a honky-tonk beach town known for the Pier and P.O.P. and Muscle Beach for everyone else; a blue-collar factory town and arsenal of democracy; the wide-open “Bay City” of Phillip Marlowe; a “leafy suburb”; a working-class city of dingbat apartments and little bungalows; a conservative bastion run by real estate and business interests; the “Peoples’ Republic of Santa Monica”; and other historical realities you can probably think of, not to mention today’s reality of regional center for retail, entertainment and white-collar employment. What historical era or personality of Santa Monica do you most identify with, and how does that relate to your vision of Santa Monica’s future?