Archive

By Lookout Staff

October 17 -- A fledgling coalition fighting development and traffic in Santa Monica added to is growing ranks a former planning commissioner, a political strategist, a public beach club activist and a former City Council candidate, the group announced this week.

Darrell Clarke, Mark Armour, Joel Brand and Maria Loya joined the two-year-old Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City as advisers, bring their expertise in planning issues, community organizing and political strategy, group leaders said.

“SMCLC is currently expanding its roster as it moves forward in exploring new ways for traffic weary residents to control development,” the coalition wrote in a statement released this week.

The four new advisers join more than a dozen other community leaders and SMCLC advisers who helped the coalition successfully fight a plan to redevelop Santa Monica Place that included three 21-story towers.

Among the new members is Clarke, who recently failed in his unusual bid to be reappointed to the City’s powerful Planning Commission for a third four-year term.

Widely viewed as a slow growth advocate representing residents’ interests, Clarke -- a founder and co-chair of the volunteer group Friends 4 Expo Transit -- has focused much of his efforts on bringing light rail to the city.

Clarke, who has lived in Santa Monica for 28 years, was also a founding member of the North of Montana Association (NOMA), which worked to limit the construction of "monster mansions."

Another public figure joining the group is Loya, an activist from the Pico Neighborhood, the City’s poorest and most diverse area, and a labor activist.

Loya is the director of Public Policy and Advocacy with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), one of the key groups behind an unprecedented local living wage law that failed at the polls five years ago.

A board member of the Pico Neighborhood Association, Loya helped found Mothers for Justice (MFJ), which tackles inequity in the public school system and has led efforts to strengthen Santa Monica’s tenant protection laws.

Brand, who serves on the boards of the Santa Monica Pier and the Santa Monica Conservancy, was a driving force behind Friends of 415 PCH, a coalition group that helped save the public beach club now under construction at the former Marion Davies Estate at 415 PCH.

A communications consultant and former foreign correspondent, Brand has reported for CNN, Newsweek, and The Washington Post, reporting from more than 20 countries. He is past president of both the Conservancy and the Ocean Park Association, a group he helped found.

Armour, who is co-chair of NOMA, is a media strategist who has created television advertising and communications strategies for progressive causes, statewide initiatives and candidates.

The President of ArmourMedia, Inc., a political and issue advertising firm based in Santa Monica, Armour has produced ads for MoveOn, the California Department of Health Services' anti-smoking campaign, PBS and the Sierra Club.

Before working as media consultant, Armour served as press secretary for Al Gore and as a speechwriter in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.