Rick Cole and Katie Lichtig are irresponsible leaders who care more about being politicians and pushing their self-serving agendas than cultivating community wellbeing and government transparency.

Their latest endeavor to destroy Santa Monica behind closed doors started with a bold-faced lie to City staff that the City Council had directed 25-40% budget and workforce reductions. City Council claims it simply asked for three possible scenarios (low, moderate, and severe cuts) to discuss in closed session at the April 14 meeting and then they would give Rick direction. Rick and Katie took it upon themselves to go straight for the severe cuts that would have MAJOR impacts on our residents.

City department directors had fewer than 3 days over the Passover, Good Friday, and Easter holidays to prepare their list of services, programs, and city staff that would need to be cut. ONLY 3 DAYS to decide to decimate programs, services, facilities, and amenities that are so valuable to our community.

Undeniably, the City has seen major losses in revenues due to the COVID-19 crisis, but it has $70 million in financial reserves, expressly for the purposes of sustaining operations during emergencies, disasters, and times of economic uncertainty. So why the big rush? Why not provide time to conduct a thorough community outreach process? Why only give directors 3 days to submit rushed proposals of major cuts and community impacts instead of sufficient time to do a proper analysis?

HERE IS WHY: Rick Cole has expanded powers and authority under the local emergency proclamation, and is able to make budgetary decisions and implement laws without the usual due process. The City can also layoff a large percentage of  City staff who provide these services and keep our beach and parks beautiful, without giving them proper notice and without any regard for their livelihood.

And what better time to push through something sneaky than when residents are unable to physically attend public hearings? If major impacts to community services and benefits are proposed, you would think residents and business owners would be consulted through an outreach process. That wasn't even considered!

Shouldn't we residents and taxpayers have a say in what happens in the beautiful city we call home? Shouldn't city staff be given the same basic rights we demand for hotel workers and other employees in our city? Not all city staff make six figures - some make little more than a living wage, are single parents, immigrants, live in our community, and can barely make ends meet. These are not furloughs! These are permanent layoffs. The only furloughs the City has considered are the 600 temporary staff that were very quietly furloughed last week. Some of these "temporary" employees had served our community in "temporary" positions for more than 10 years!

Rick and Katie are ABUSING power while the City is in a state of emergency and also are EXPLOITING the emergency to blame the Coronavirus for the dire financial situation we are in.

Wake up, residents! Do you think one month of lost revenues would bankrupt a city with net assets valued at $1.6 BILLION? Of course not! Santa Monica is experiencing financial problems because of YEARS of superfluous spending, poor judgement, and a weak City Manager and Assistant City Manager incapable of making tough decisions. In Rick Cole's 5-year tenure, the City's budget has added $70 million in annual spending and nearly 50 full-time equivalent new positions - many of them have been for his pet-projects with various "Chief" position titles. The fact that Rick Cole is blaming the Coronavirus for the City's financial state of affairs is disgusting and unforgivable.

CUTS SHOULD BE MADE, BUT NOT LIKE THIS. It is completely understandable and acceptable for the City to make budget cuts and reduce staff. Many of us residents have been demanding this for years! But these cuts should be done through a fair and transparent process, with heavy community input.

The worse part of this whole despicable situation is that some of the programs proposed for elimination serve the most vulnerable people in our community - youth, seniors, low-income residents, and the Pico Neighborhood.

Below is a list of only a few of the programs and services on the chopping block. This list will be updated as more information is provided. The items below are all things that have been CONFIRMED to have been put forward in desperation by directors being forced to come up with 25-40% cuts, and approved by Rick Cole and Katie Lichtig to be proposed to Council tonight in closed session, with decisions to be made at the virtual April 28, 2020 Council meeting.

- Close the Santa Monica Swim Center 

- Eliminate the CREST after-school and summer programs.

- Reduce street sweeping to once per month. 

- Combine and reduce the Virginia Avenue Park and PAL youth programs.

- Eliminate the Office of Sustainability & Environment and most, if not all, of the sustainability policies and programs. 

- Reduce frequency of beach restroom cleaning from 8x per day to 2-3x per day, and close some beach restrooms completely, even during summer.