seeking common sense solutions for our city
Solutions
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The Santa Monica Coalition is a movement comprised of Santa Monica residents, business owners, and locals that addresses the humanitarian crisis, public safety concerns, the rising crime, and the current lack of responsiveness from the City of Santa Monica.
The City of Santa Monica and the County along with Venice Family Clinic have been operating the only open-air, publicly funded needle, condom and synthetic distribution program in the country. They make their distributions at Reed Park (across from a K-12 Catholic School with over 650 students), Tonvga Park, Palisades Park, the California Incline, 3rd Street Promenade and at the privately owned 7 Eleven parking lot on 7th and Wilshire. This program is attracting addicts to settle in our parks and public spaces and publicly use drugs causing a major safety concern with more needles being discarded in all areas where they are being distributed.
California Governor Newsom vetoed a bill last year by Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) that would have set up pilot programs using public funds, citing worries about “unintended consequences”.
Santa Monica doesn't have a housing issue, it suffers from a drug epidemic. There is an uptake of deaths on our streets. We are now experiencing 2-3 people dying on our sidewalks and in our parks every week. Venice Family Clinic, under contract with the County Department of Public Health and with the approval and support of the Santa Monica City Manager, David White, is operating a Needle Distribution Program in Reed Park, Tongva Park and Palisades Park. It is only recently, since the Coalition exposed their activities, that the program stopped its distributions on 3rd Street Promenade, the California Incline and the 7 Eleven at Wilshire and 7th Street.
Our City and County Leaders must prioritize enforcing the law regarding open drug use and drug dealing in our parks and public spaces. Not only are the lives of addicts at risk but also the lives of residents and visitors who are victims of the created circumstances.
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seeking common sense solutions for our city
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