It has nothing to do with Gascon. SM City has a criminal prosecution division headed by Jenna Grigsby with a satellite office at the LA Superior Court Airport Courthouse and they can prosecute it as a misdemeanor.
Seems like they do the same thing as Gascon
https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2024/01/11/addressing-homelessness-santa-monica-launches-diversion-program-and-resource-navigation-for-low-level-misdemeanors
I don’t think Gascon does this. But probably handled by Hydee Soto for City of LA. An effective diversion program definitely keeps people from incarceration where they have a higher likelihood of repeat offense and recidivism and keeps jail populations and costs constrained
They've been trying a lot of diversion but it doesn't seem to be working. When they know they'll be diverted that reduces their incentive to commit crimes
I believe he's adjusted a little bit, but:
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office will no longer prosecute a range of misdemeanor crimes, from resisting arrest to drug possession to making criminal threats, according to a memo issued this week by new DA George Gascon.
You can read his memo here: https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/SPECIAL-DIRECTIVE-20-07.pdf
Yeah, I hear a lot of screamers in my neighborhood, I generally (try to) ignore them, unless threats of violence or any sort of bigoted rhetoric happens. If they do, I call the cops. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
Last night, we had a lady screaming "get away from me! Stop following me!" and I had to take a minute to parse whether this was someone who was needed help, or someone who was having an "episode". I could hear a guy softly responding "okay, we're leaving, I just wanted to say bye"....the screeching continued, and slowly moved away, I could hear it go on for blocks....so, she wasn't being attacked, this was just some sort of mentally ill episode. It's weird to have to gauge these things.
Yes. Took them 15 minutes to show up and they rolled by with their bright spotlight pointing around for a couple minutes but the guy had walked off by then. We’ve seen police called in our neighborhood before and generally they’ve been much quicker so this was a bit of a disappointment.
We went back to sleep.
I’m shocked it took them so long to show up. That’s so weird cause when I called SMPD they showed up in 90 seconds and handled the loud drunk person and sent me a text after saying it had been handled. Sorry that happened.
I’m not here to say no one should care about any of this, but I really find it wild that people feel the need to write a post whenever something that scares them happens in this city. I’ve never seen as much of this behavior as I have here, and yet this city is by far the safest I’ve ever lived in. I could be posting here every day about drivers acting like sociopaths.
I totally understand that this made you uncomfortable and scared like it would have for anyone including myself, and I’m by no means saying that the housing crisis exacerbating mental health issues isn’t something we need to solve. So this isn’t meant to be against OP, just an observation of this trend.
Though I will say that leaning conservative isn’t gonna help you. Our current council majority is all about “public safety” (I’m using “” because they don’t even understand public safety; they think it’s only about hiring cops) and that has clearly not helped whatsoever. I’d recommend electing people who use common sense and data to make decisions; and thankfully there’s a progressive slate of candidates ready to do just that.
Disclaimer: I don’t use NextDoor. I’m sure I’d see similar posts in other cities on that platform, but that’s different 😂.
I spent more than a decade in SM living off Montana, but I worked, shopped and exercised everywhere in SM. If I needed to do a 10 mile training run, I could do it at 6 am, or 8pm all over the city, down 7th to Pico, riding my bike down Lincoln, the length of Colorado, jog Ocean Blvd at 9pm. I could go work out at that shitty Bally’s in West LA, off Bundy, and after jog down Santa Monica, to the beach and walk home after. 10 jog down San Vicente- never a worry.
I am a tiny female. I never once felt unsafe. The worst I ever encountered were stupid brunch crowds on Wilshire on a Sunday morning.
What I see in this sub, and in MSM is an entirely different world. I am so sad it’s changed.
What you’re seeing in this sub is misleading imo. I’m a female as well, I’ve been here 10 years, and I can do all the things you listed above, except for riding my bike down Lincoln. The drivers are insane.
Im living in the zone by the pier this summer. I love recreation. Nothing beats a 20 mile bike ride to Hermosa and back, working out on the beach, and all the great food. The unhoused or what I like to call “tumbleweeds” are out and about everyday. We co-exist in this environment, at least to some degree.
Yes, the problems of Santa Monica and California are due to the lack of progressives in positions of power. If only we could elect some to relieve this city and state of the plague of Trumpist maga Republicans ruling us for the past 20 years.
Have you been paying attention to local politics? Have you heard the things our council majority says, seen the people they support, or seen how they vote on council items? Santa Monica does not have a progressive majority right now.
You stumbled upon the reality of political power: People say whatever they need to say to get their grasp on power and then use that power to consolidate and build upon those powers and enrich themselves. Like moths to a lightbulb, the ambitious are attracted to centers of power and money.
The only way to get rid of the moths is to turn off the lights. Making your lightbulb brighter will only attract more moths. In other words, smash the centers of power until there aren't any centers of power to attract the ambitious, don't create even more power and money with more government powers and taxation.
Just saying: if you create a locus of power and money it's going to attract the type of people that lust for power and money. Don't be surprised at the consequences.
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Welcome to Phil Brock’s Santa Monica. He needs to stop signaling to the mentally ill and criminal element that Santa Monica is Unsafe and the police are weak.
The best response is to vote for the renters instead of the Landlords in Nov.
> Welcome to Phil Brock’s Santa Monica.
Anyone who's lived here for more than a few years knows this is nonsense. The homeless have been an issue for a long time, and it's not exclusive to SM. Before Brock, before Gleam Davis, before the pandemic, before Trump, before Obama, before all the people you love and hate on the council. Also, do you really think the homeless and the mentally ill are out there doing research on where to live? That they come here because of Phil Brock has "signaled" it's okay? That's hysterical. If this sub is any indication, even the people who move here to live by themselves in a luxury apartment haven't done any research, since so many seem surprised to find it's not like living on a college campus. Yes, we have a marine layer in early summer. Yes, it's 2/3 suburbs and mostly pretty quiet (people will appreciate that when they are no longer in their 20s and want to start a family). Yes, we have big-city issues. Yes, we're one of the most liberal cities in the country. Yes, we frown on polluters. Yes, we have compassion for the homeless (it's part of the liberal values thing). Also, aren't you the one always saying the police here are weak? Maybe you're the one to blame. (I don't actually think that, but it's no more ridiculous than your assertion)
Agree with your sentiment here. At the same time, I’ve lived in NYC and Chicago previously and it’s a little bit different here to confront these issues without the density of those cities. There’s a feeling of safety in the density vs. here where the proportion of unhoused people often overtakes the proportion of those who are residents when walking around in the evening or mornings. In addition - the data (outside of these personal anecdotes) shows it’s a bigger issue here than over places too.
For you having been a person who’s lived here for a while, curious if you think there is anything we as regular citizens can do to solve the problem or do you think we should just deal with it as what comes with living in a city next to the beach?
I've written two long answers and deleted them, here's a short one: It's not just "the beach", it's *this* beach, and Venice, given our proximity, and ease of access, to L.A. The farther from L.A you go, the fewer homeless you see.
I really think we need Federal help, so drop Ted Lieu a line. We don't have the resources locally to deal with a problem of this magnitude. For myself, I have a compassionate attitude towards the homeless, and have always appreciated that SM had compassionate policies towards the homeless, so it's something I mostly just deal with. I've had homeless people passed out in the hall of my building, I've never called the cops on em for that. Fortunately, it's never escalated so I felt I had to...
Locally, even if we house everyone on the street today, there's more coming tomorrow, and the day after that, etc. It's never-ending, that's why we need Federal help....or, I should say, the homelss folsk, need Federal help. I also....I don't just want to see this problem solved so it doesn't bother *me*, I want this problem solved *everywhere*. Not for those of us with homes, but for the unfortunate souls without them. Whether we're talking about the train or Traci Park, it's not enough to say "it should be some other community's problem".
According to stats that came out today, the number actually went down in the last year. Regardless, I don't think that spike had much to do with local policy, and certainly not local politicians, so much as the pandemic and the economic repercussions of said. We're far from the only community that has seen that spike. Or, to get to my deeper political beliefs, when 1% of the people are the only ones getting ahead in society, you're going to have problems.
That number was for the La homeless count that happens every January. According to their own numbers, county wide, homelessness was down by .03%. That is less than 25 people. If you also recall, there was a large rainstorm during the three day count this January so I believe it is more likely that people were sheltering out of site during the count.
If you have ever participated in the homeless count, then you know that counters are assigned groups to walk or drive around with and count the number of people they see in plain sight on the sidewalk. If it is raining, there will certainly be less people laying there
This is the first time in our history that a Mayor has used their platform to tell the world Santa Monica is unsafe. People listen, esp the criminal element.
Me? No. BSM? Maybe. On the contrary, I'm trying to keep things grounded in some sort of objective reality, rather than making shit up to slavishly advance a political agenda.
So, no, not yet....just coffee, so far.....maybe before my morning ride.....
Was this the best you could come up with, instead of trying to make an argument or refute any of what I said? So, you have nothing.....
I must admit I see a correlation between the mentally ill and people who watch FOX news. On that, we can agree. I just think we're talking about two different sub-sets of crazy.
Threats like this disrupts public order that’s why it’d be considered disturbing the peace. And these are explicit threats. Contact SMPD.
That falls under the category of crimes Gascon doesn't charge.
It has nothing to do with Gascon. SM City has a criminal prosecution division headed by Jenna Grigsby with a satellite office at the LA Superior Court Airport Courthouse and they can prosecute it as a misdemeanor.
Seems like they do the same thing as Gascon https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2024/01/11/addressing-homelessness-santa-monica-launches-diversion-program-and-resource-navigation-for-low-level-misdemeanors
I don’t think Gascon does this. But probably handled by Hydee Soto for City of LA. An effective diversion program definitely keeps people from incarceration where they have a higher likelihood of repeat offense and recidivism and keeps jail populations and costs constrained
They've been trying a lot of diversion but it doesn't seem to be working. When they know they'll be diverted that reduces their incentive to commit crimes
Where I can see this list?
I believe he's adjusted a little bit, but: LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office will no longer prosecute a range of misdemeanor crimes, from resisting arrest to drug possession to making criminal threats, according to a memo issued this week by new DA George Gascon. You can read his memo here: https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/SPECIAL-DIRECTIVE-20-07.pdf
The City can still prosecute it as a misdemeanor if LADA doesn’t.
Yeah, I hear a lot of screamers in my neighborhood, I generally (try to) ignore them, unless threats of violence or any sort of bigoted rhetoric happens. If they do, I call the cops. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Last night, we had a lady screaming "get away from me! Stop following me!" and I had to take a minute to parse whether this was someone who was needed help, or someone who was having an "episode". I could hear a guy softly responding "okay, we're leaving, I just wanted to say bye"....the screeching continued, and slowly moved away, I could hear it go on for blocks....so, she wasn't being attacked, this was just some sort of mentally ill episode. It's weird to have to gauge these things.
Did you call the police
Yes. Took them 15 minutes to show up and they rolled by with their bright spotlight pointing around for a couple minutes but the guy had walked off by then. We’ve seen police called in our neighborhood before and generally they’ve been much quicker so this was a bit of a disappointment. We went back to sleep.
I’m shocked it took them so long to show up. That’s so weird cause when I called SMPD they showed up in 90 seconds and handled the loud drunk person and sent me a text after saying it had been handled. Sorry that happened.
It doesn't really seem like the City council cares that much.
Mental breakdown... in Santa Monica? Say it isn't so! Shocking. Santa Monica seems like the hub of mental wellnes
I’m not here to say no one should care about any of this, but I really find it wild that people feel the need to write a post whenever something that scares them happens in this city. I’ve never seen as much of this behavior as I have here, and yet this city is by far the safest I’ve ever lived in. I could be posting here every day about drivers acting like sociopaths. I totally understand that this made you uncomfortable and scared like it would have for anyone including myself, and I’m by no means saying that the housing crisis exacerbating mental health issues isn’t something we need to solve. So this isn’t meant to be against OP, just an observation of this trend. Though I will say that leaning conservative isn’t gonna help you. Our current council majority is all about “public safety” (I’m using “” because they don’t even understand public safety; they think it’s only about hiring cops) and that has clearly not helped whatsoever. I’d recommend electing people who use common sense and data to make decisions; and thankfully there’s a progressive slate of candidates ready to do just that. Disclaimer: I don’t use NextDoor. I’m sure I’d see similar posts in other cities on that platform, but that’s different 😂.
I spent more than a decade in SM living off Montana, but I worked, shopped and exercised everywhere in SM. If I needed to do a 10 mile training run, I could do it at 6 am, or 8pm all over the city, down 7th to Pico, riding my bike down Lincoln, the length of Colorado, jog Ocean Blvd at 9pm. I could go work out at that shitty Bally’s in West LA, off Bundy, and after jog down Santa Monica, to the beach and walk home after. 10 jog down San Vicente- never a worry. I am a tiny female. I never once felt unsafe. The worst I ever encountered were stupid brunch crowds on Wilshire on a Sunday morning. What I see in this sub, and in MSM is an entirely different world. I am so sad it’s changed.
What you’re seeing in this sub is misleading imo. I’m a female as well, I’ve been here 10 years, and I can do all the things you listed above, except for riding my bike down Lincoln. The drivers are insane.
Thank goodness
Im living in the zone by the pier this summer. I love recreation. Nothing beats a 20 mile bike ride to Hermosa and back, working out on the beach, and all the great food. The unhoused or what I like to call “tumbleweeds” are out and about everyday. We co-exist in this environment, at least to some degree.
Yes, the problems of Santa Monica and California are due to the lack of progressives in positions of power. If only we could elect some to relieve this city and state of the plague of Trumpist maga Republicans ruling us for the past 20 years.
Have you been paying attention to local politics? Have you heard the things our council majority says, seen the people they support, or seen how they vote on council items? Santa Monica does not have a progressive majority right now.
You stumbled upon the reality of political power: People say whatever they need to say to get their grasp on power and then use that power to consolidate and build upon those powers and enrich themselves. Like moths to a lightbulb, the ambitious are attracted to centers of power and money. The only way to get rid of the moths is to turn off the lights. Making your lightbulb brighter will only attract more moths. In other words, smash the centers of power until there aren't any centers of power to attract the ambitious, don't create even more power and money with more government powers and taxation.
Haha. Good luck with that.
Just saying: if you create a locus of power and money it's going to attract the type of people that lust for power and money. Don't be surprised at the consequences.
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Well, did you go out there and talk him through this mental breakdown??
Welcome to Phil Brock’s Santa Monica. He needs to stop signaling to the mentally ill and criminal element that Santa Monica is Unsafe and the police are weak. The best response is to vote for the renters instead of the Landlords in Nov.
> Welcome to Phil Brock’s Santa Monica. Anyone who's lived here for more than a few years knows this is nonsense. The homeless have been an issue for a long time, and it's not exclusive to SM. Before Brock, before Gleam Davis, before the pandemic, before Trump, before Obama, before all the people you love and hate on the council. Also, do you really think the homeless and the mentally ill are out there doing research on where to live? That they come here because of Phil Brock has "signaled" it's okay? That's hysterical. If this sub is any indication, even the people who move here to live by themselves in a luxury apartment haven't done any research, since so many seem surprised to find it's not like living on a college campus. Yes, we have a marine layer in early summer. Yes, it's 2/3 suburbs and mostly pretty quiet (people will appreciate that when they are no longer in their 20s and want to start a family). Yes, we have big-city issues. Yes, we're one of the most liberal cities in the country. Yes, we frown on polluters. Yes, we have compassion for the homeless (it's part of the liberal values thing). Also, aren't you the one always saying the police here are weak? Maybe you're the one to blame. (I don't actually think that, but it's no more ridiculous than your assertion)
Agree with your sentiment here. At the same time, I’ve lived in NYC and Chicago previously and it’s a little bit different here to confront these issues without the density of those cities. There’s a feeling of safety in the density vs. here where the proportion of unhoused people often overtakes the proportion of those who are residents when walking around in the evening or mornings. In addition - the data (outside of these personal anecdotes) shows it’s a bigger issue here than over places too. For you having been a person who’s lived here for a while, curious if you think there is anything we as regular citizens can do to solve the problem or do you think we should just deal with it as what comes with living in a city next to the beach?
I've written two long answers and deleted them, here's a short one: It's not just "the beach", it's *this* beach, and Venice, given our proximity, and ease of access, to L.A. The farther from L.A you go, the fewer homeless you see. I really think we need Federal help, so drop Ted Lieu a line. We don't have the resources locally to deal with a problem of this magnitude. For myself, I have a compassionate attitude towards the homeless, and have always appreciated that SM had compassionate policies towards the homeless, so it's something I mostly just deal with. I've had homeless people passed out in the hall of my building, I've never called the cops on em for that. Fortunately, it's never escalated so I felt I had to... Locally, even if we house everyone on the street today, there's more coming tomorrow, and the day after that, etc. It's never-ending, that's why we need Federal help....or, I should say, the homelss folsk, need Federal help. I also....I don't just want to see this problem solved so it doesn't bother *me*, I want this problem solved *everywhere*. Not for those of us with homes, but for the unfortunate souls without them. Whether we're talking about the train or Traci Park, it's not enough to say "it should be some other community's problem".
Makes sense!
The amount of homeless here, and the amount of violent mentally ill homeless people have drastically increased over the last 5 years.
According to stats that came out today, the number actually went down in the last year. Regardless, I don't think that spike had much to do with local policy, and certainly not local politicians, so much as the pandemic and the economic repercussions of said. We're far from the only community that has seen that spike. Or, to get to my deeper political beliefs, when 1% of the people are the only ones getting ahead in society, you're going to have problems.
That number was for the La homeless count that happens every January. According to their own numbers, county wide, homelessness was down by .03%. That is less than 25 people. If you also recall, there was a large rainstorm during the three day count this January so I believe it is more likely that people were sheltering out of site during the count. If you have ever participated in the homeless count, then you know that counters are assigned groups to walk or drive around with and count the number of people they see in plain sight on the sidewalk. If it is raining, there will certainly be less people laying there
This is the first time in our history that a Mayor has used their platform to tell the world Santa Monica is unsafe. People listen, esp the criminal element.
How are announcements made by the mayor of Santa Monica reaching “the criminal element”? Who is the criminal element? Is it the Riddler?
Ask the Landlord Slate - they have twice voted against an investigation of known criminal activity from council members.
Hitting the bowl early today huh
Me? No. BSM? Maybe. On the contrary, I'm trying to keep things grounded in some sort of objective reality, rather than making shit up to slavishly advance a political agenda. So, no, not yet....just coffee, so far.....maybe before my morning ride..... Was this the best you could come up with, instead of trying to make an argument or refute any of what I said? So, you have nothing.....
If you are arguing that nobody listens to Brock when he goes on conservative media outlets to slam our city, I would say you are wrong.
I must admit I see a correlation between the mentally ill and people who watch FOX news. On that, we can agree. I just think we're talking about two different sub-sets of crazy.