Resident Asks Santa Monica City Council to Explain "Water Shortage" After Year of Record Rainfall

Dear Mayor Davis & Honorable Santa Monica City Councilmembers,

I hope you're all having a good start to your summer. I never thought I would have to escape Southern CA to experience some warmth but just returned from 11 days in Florida.

Upon returning, I was shocked to hear the news that Santa Monica is declaring a continued Level 2 Water Shortage.

Despite the drought being declared long over due to obvious severe rainstorms that have forced us to dump fresh water into the ocean, for some reason our city continues to declare a drought and insist we cut back on water use?! This to most reasonable people is no different than those who continue to declare a pandemic emergency and want to impose masking, testing and other restrictions. It's simply fake news.

Kindly explain how it's possible that, of all cities in this great state, WE are the ones who have to declare a water shortage and demand reductions in water use. Is it because our extremely expensive water independence system has been a colossal failure and waste of money? Is it because we cut ourselves off from other sources of abundant water? Or is it because you want to justify inappropriate water reductions and further rate increases upon an already burdened population and need an excuse to do so? Or is it because you're anticipating doubling the number of residents here (more if you count all the homeless you're welcoming here) and are Regardless of the reason, fearful that you'll run out of water?

Let's be clear: this doesn't impact me. I have already cut my water use by an enormous amount. Plus, even with higher water rates, I can financially cover it, especially because I conserve heavily. But many cannot and SHOULD not. If you don't have a problem, admit it and end this drought declaration.

If you do have a problem, transparently explain why and admit your failings. If you anticipate a lack of water for upcoming developments, either HALT all new developments in this city OR triple water rates for NEWLY CONSTRUCTED units, while leaving the rest of us alone. It's inappropriate to make those of us who already live here, and have been begging you to halt rampant new construction, to pay through the nose to fund out of control developments that you alone are in favor of.

The optics of this local drought declaration, when we have just had more rain and snow than anytime in recent history, so much so that you can still go skiing in this state, aren't great. There are already many reasons why much of the city has lost trust in its leadership: the exploding homelessness crisis, the rampant crime which you deny because people have given up on reporting many crimes causing numbers to artificially drop, the overbuilding of much of our city, the destruction of many of our streets to favor bikes, the wasting of hundreds of millions of dollars on housing programs for non-SM residents, the obsession with diversity when we are the most diverse location on earth, and the threat to ban use of natural gas, looking the other way when needles were distributed in our parks, and the encouragement and acceptance of school closures and forced student masking during the pandemic. It's why, despite our tiny size, your decisions and policies regularly make national and international news -- people are in disbelief. Let's not add yet another reason to this. I've proposed several reasonable fixes to this.

Please use more common sense. Please do what's right for the people who already, rightfully (in a home, not a tent) live here. Otherwise, ask yourself why you're in office. If it's to enrich friends and family who are developers or "abundant housing advocates", keep in mind that the federal and county prosecutors have no long left to prosecute on the LA City Council, and they're still hungry for more. Let's not add even more scandals.

Thank you!

Houman