Calling him a NIMBY bothers Richard Bloom almost as much as blaming
him for the speed humps that line the streets of Sunset Park.
Or accusing him of being the one to oppose the Ralph's supermarket at
the corner of Cloverfield and Olympic boulevards.

Bad rap, says Bloom, a family law attorney and former president of the
Sunset Park Neighborhood Association. With a long history of community
involvement that has put Bloom in the middle of some of the hottest
local disputes, his candidacy is more focused on getting out a message
about who he isn't rather than who he is.

Not that Bloom necessarily denies being a NIMBY. Sticking up for his
backyard is something Bloom is proud of -- whether his backyard is his
neighborhood, his city or "the whole damn world," as Bloom recently
was quoted as saying.

What irks him is the negative connotation.

"What's wrong with sticking up for your own backyard?" he asked.

As for the speed humps, Bloom says he was overruled by others in
Sunset Park who saw them as the answer to the neighborhood's traffic
problems.

"While I support traffic calming, speed humps were not my first
choice," he said.

And don't forget the Ralph's supermarket that Bloom's critics often
accuse him of opposing. That, he says, is not true.

In fact, Bloom says, he was the one who wanted to see a Food-4-Less --
a lower-priced option -- occupy the site instead of Ralph's. The
problem wasn't with the supermarket, Bloom said; it was the city's
response to the traffic problems the project was expected to create.

"The city refused to do anything about the traffic in Sunset Park," he
said.

Development, traffic and parking continue to be Bloom's
biggest concerns. He calls himself a proponent of "reasonable growth,"
not no growth.

Take a proposed Target store in downtown Santa Monica. Bloom thinks
the store is a good idea. He thinks offering a low-cost shopping
option makes sense in Santa Monica. He just wants to make sure the
parking and traffic issues are addressed.

"Parking may turn out to be more complex than traffic," he said. "And
the more development we have, the bigger the problem is. I propose a
city-wide task forced formed as soon as possible to begin addressing
the parking issue on a citywide basis."

Bloom's long-term answer to parking and traffic problems?

"Automatic people movers," he said. But not for another 30 or 40 years.

If Bloom wins this weekend's election, he'll join the SMRR majority on
the council -- an odd turn of events considering that two years ago,
SMRR co-chair Denny Zane signed a letter recommending that the group's
members not support Bloom and former Councilman Kelly Olsen, who also
sought SMRR backing.

"I was disappointed he did that," Bloom said. "Denny and I have
discussed all of this now. At that time, we didn't know each other
that well. Now he's 100 percent behind me."

What's changed?

"I think I've grown," Bloom said. "I value and have incorporated the
views of a lot more people now than I did then."