By Jorge Casuso

October 18, 2024 -- A small army of volunteers from the Northeast and Sunset Park neighborhoods has been busy blanketing their single family areas with an urgent message.

"Santa Monicans Deserve the Truth," reads the one-page flyer being hung on gates and doorknobs and being sent via email. "The SMRR Establishment Slate Will End Single Family Neighborhoods."

If the slate gains control of the City Council, the flyer warns, its members would implement SB 10, a State law that allows as many as 14 units to be built on a single family lot.

"People didn't get it," said Tricia Crane, chair of Northeast Neighbors. "They didn't understand the impact. This is the one development issue we can actually affect."

So far, the little-known law has been lost amid a flurry of social media posts, banner ads and glossy mailers in a hotly contested race that has seen a record $1.5 million in campaign contributions ("Campaign Fundraising War Deadlocked," October 17, 2024).

If implemented by the new Council, SB 10 allows a 10 unit apartment building to be built on single family lots. In addition, the development can include two Auxiliary Dwelling Units (ADUs), or "granny flats," and two Junior ADUs.

The four members of the establishment slate backed by Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR), the local Democratic Club and the hotel workers union are advocates for more housing.

At a candidate forum last month, College Trustee Barry Snell, Planning Commissioner Ellis Raskin, Pier Board Chair Dan Hall and Natalya Zernitskaya all said they support SB 10 ("Candidate Forum Highlights Deep Divisions," September 10, 2024).

Rent Board Chair Erika Lesley, who is backed by the Police and Firefighters unions and the Blue Wave Democratic Club, also backs the State law.

The incumbent-led slate composed of Mayor Phil Brock, Councilmember Oscar de la Torre, John Putnam and Vivian Roknian oppose the 2021 law sponsored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).

Opponents argue that SB 10 does not require affordable units, that Santa Monica already easily exceeds its State mandate for market rate units and that once implemented it cannot be reversed.

They also argue that low-income areas would be disproportionately impacted by the law because it's cheaper to build there, which would make it harder for residents to find parking.

Less than three weeks before voters decide control of the Council on November 5, none of the PACS supporting the incumbent-led slate has used the more than $500,000 raised to make SB 10 an issue.

That has left residents of two of the neighborhoods that would be most impacted by the law to reach voters in Santa Monica's nearly 12,000 single family homes before they vote.