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By Lookout Staff
January 3 -- As the New Year starts, The Lookout asked
Santa Monica civic leaders to share their resolutions, wishes and
hopes for 2008. Here are their thoughts.
Herb Katz, Mayor
To try and stay in good health, to serve my community and help others, and to
lose weight.
I want to get rapid transit to the city and shuttle buses to get people thinking
about alternate modes of travel, and I want to get our signals synchronized.
P. Lamont Ewell, City Manager
The New Year is a time to assess the importance of what we contribute and reaffirm
our dedication to achieving our goals. My goal for the city is to continue to
open lines of communication, provide real-time information to the public, and
achieve true problem solving with the community. Together, we can accomplish
great things in 2008.
Kevin McKeown, Council member
I hope for the clarity and inspiration to let concern for our shared future
inform each of our daily individual choices. Whether it's ending war or reducing
traffic, I wish us the wisdom to take meaningful action together.
For our city, I hope we apply our sustainability principles to every decision
and every aspect, including political finance reform to sustain a local government
controlled by residents, not by outside money or special interests. May we all
enjoy health, and the advent of single-payer universal health care.
Julie Rusk, Human Services Manager, Community and Cultural
Services
Santa Monica has a vibrant history of being innovative and bold. We are small
enough that we can get our hands around big-city problems and make a difference.
I hope that we can continue to do this in 2008, especially with some of the
most daunting issues such as homelessness, improving the quality of life for
families, and supporting our seniors and people with disabilities.
Even though these are regional and national issues, local government can have
enormous impact. In 2008, I hope that Santa Monica will be an urban village
where once again, the whole is indeed far greater than the sum of its parts.
I hope we continue to be daring in our approaches, that we champion our goals,
celebrate our diversity, and demonstrate the kind of leadership that will inspire
others to do the same.
Louise Jaffe, College Board Vice Chair
Peace on earth and good will to men and women and children would be a welcome
change in 2008. To advance that, I resolve to work to elect a new US president.
Here in Santa Monica, I hope that the City, Schools, and SMC can continue to
work well together to improve and strengthen lifelong learning opportunities
for everyone in our community.
I hope that our voters will continue to support our children and our schools
by passing Measure R, and that students in preK-12 as well as at SMC will be
more and more successful in their studies. I look forward to the opening of
the beautiful new theater at SMC's Performing Arts Center and the planting of
SMC's new quad.
My resolutions: To listen carefully, make decisions thoughtfully, and communicate
respectfully in both my public and private interactions, and hope that everyone
else does the same. And, as always, I resolve to exercise more and eat less.
Richard Bloom, Mayor Pro tem
Let's figure out how Lamont Ewell can be so damn nice all the time
and find out what's really going on at the "Dance Doctor"
on 4th Street. Most importantly, I'm convinced 2008 is the year
we're finally going to convince Jerry Rubin to stop wearing short
shorts.
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