keoadmin
01-06-2004, 07:33 PM
Bay City Beat - Santa Monica California
Civic Center for all, not everybody
Steve Stajich, contributing writer, Santa Monica Mirror May 1 -7, 2002
I’m going to fess up right at the top here, regarding plans for the Civic Center: Frankly, I haven’t been able to keep up with each new proposal nor do I pretend to understand the procedural sequences like this one, accurately reported in the City’s own words by your own Santa Monica Mirror, regarding the plan:
“After ordering a number of modifications of the plan, the Council voted 4 to 2 to accept the staff recommendation that it approve the plan in concept, authorize the Working Group and staff to prepare the written plan and related environmental review and authorize an additional payment… to prepare an environmental impact report and complete the written Specific Plan.”
All that’s missing in there is Chico saying, “What about the sanity clause?” and for Groucho to respond, “Everybody knows there isn’t any Sanity Claus.”
I think the problem is they yearn to make a space that is all things to all people. And, of course, not everybody can get behind a plan for doing that.
There might be some shading between a Civic Center area that truly serves or benefits the people of Santa Monica and one that makes us look smart in the eyes of visitors who come here from all over the world. Of course, buildings and design and even charm don’t always mean you’re going to win over every visitor. Comic/actor/writer Steve Martin has joked that the city of Paris is “a good argument for the neutron bomb;” I guess he means it’s great if only the people of France would go away.
We don’t have that rudeness problem here. We like all kinds of visitors here… rich Germans, rich French, rich British, rich Norwegians… there is no problem.
While this column has advocated not fixing that which is not broken in regard to the Civic Center, maybe I could finesse that mentality a little as an update. There are two key elements, I believe.
Far from not serving “the people,” rather, the current Civic Center area speaks loud and clear for the spirit of dignity and preservation. The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium doesn’t need its physical plan to be tweaked; it needs an infusion of creative programming. (We live in the pop culture capital of the world and we can’t consistently book interesting shows in there?!) The feeling of peace engendered in this key area of our city on any given day, thanks to its isolation as a through street and its inviting grassy areas, brings dignity to the grounds surrounding our center of city operations.
It has class. And if you don’t think class is an endangered species, visit any new retail development or stroll the faux ‘beauty’ of Playa Vista or try sitting through the first 20 minutes of “The Tonight Show.” (Sorry, Jay, but with your 10th anniversary you are now officially part of the problem.)
The other element we should keep in front of us is that even if the Civic Center included new facilities that were utilized such that the area was crawling with happy kids and parents and citizens of all ages seven days a week, it wouldn’t give the City license to overdevelop the rest of Santa Monica. I’m saying, let’s make sure we don’t build some kind of high-visibility super-park for “the people” out where visitors can see it, and then come to believe that makes it okay to overbuild, crowd and *****en the rest of our beautiful city.
Like public art, any Civic Center development is probably doomed to a certain level of opposition. But I’m again beseeching both the City Council and citizens to please take a walk (walk, on foot, no car) through the Civic Center now and bond with the clarity and simplicity of the area. True, the sidewalks there aren’t jammed with humanity and street performers who might synergize retail activity. No, it’s just a nice space. For people.
Civic Center for all, not everybody
Steve Stajich, contributing writer, Santa Monica Mirror May 1 -7, 2002
I’m going to fess up right at the top here, regarding plans for the Civic Center: Frankly, I haven’t been able to keep up with each new proposal nor do I pretend to understand the procedural sequences like this one, accurately reported in the City’s own words by your own Santa Monica Mirror, regarding the plan:
“After ordering a number of modifications of the plan, the Council voted 4 to 2 to accept the staff recommendation that it approve the plan in concept, authorize the Working Group and staff to prepare the written plan and related environmental review and authorize an additional payment… to prepare an environmental impact report and complete the written Specific Plan.”
All that’s missing in there is Chico saying, “What about the sanity clause?” and for Groucho to respond, “Everybody knows there isn’t any Sanity Claus.”
I think the problem is they yearn to make a space that is all things to all people. And, of course, not everybody can get behind a plan for doing that.
There might be some shading between a Civic Center area that truly serves or benefits the people of Santa Monica and one that makes us look smart in the eyes of visitors who come here from all over the world. Of course, buildings and design and even charm don’t always mean you’re going to win over every visitor. Comic/actor/writer Steve Martin has joked that the city of Paris is “a good argument for the neutron bomb;” I guess he means it’s great if only the people of France would go away.
We don’t have that rudeness problem here. We like all kinds of visitors here… rich Germans, rich French, rich British, rich Norwegians… there is no problem.
While this column has advocated not fixing that which is not broken in regard to the Civic Center, maybe I could finesse that mentality a little as an update. There are two key elements, I believe.
Far from not serving “the people,” rather, the current Civic Center area speaks loud and clear for the spirit of dignity and preservation. The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium doesn’t need its physical plan to be tweaked; it needs an infusion of creative programming. (We live in the pop culture capital of the world and we can’t consistently book interesting shows in there?!) The feeling of peace engendered in this key area of our city on any given day, thanks to its isolation as a through street and its inviting grassy areas, brings dignity to the grounds surrounding our center of city operations.
It has class. And if you don’t think class is an endangered species, visit any new retail development or stroll the faux ‘beauty’ of Playa Vista or try sitting through the first 20 minutes of “The Tonight Show.” (Sorry, Jay, but with your 10th anniversary you are now officially part of the problem.)
The other element we should keep in front of us is that even if the Civic Center included new facilities that were utilized such that the area was crawling with happy kids and parents and citizens of all ages seven days a week, it wouldn’t give the City license to overdevelop the rest of Santa Monica. I’m saying, let’s make sure we don’t build some kind of high-visibility super-park for “the people” out where visitors can see it, and then come to believe that makes it okay to overbuild, crowd and *****en the rest of our beautiful city.
Like public art, any Civic Center development is probably doomed to a certain level of opposition. But I’m again beseeching both the City Council and citizens to please take a walk (walk, on foot, no car) through the Civic Center now and bond with the clarity and simplicity of the area. True, the sidewalks there aren’t jammed with humanity and street performers who might synergize retail activity. No, it’s just a nice space. For people.