Blog: The Gehry Tower as Trojan Horse

Dear Santa Monica,

In the span of only a few weeks, we've seen and heard a flurry of splashy news about three 20+story projects... the new Miramar, the Gehry and the former Holiday Inn.  Three towers. Three hotels.  All along Ocean Avenue.  All reportedly represented by the same well-known attorney.

All three are sold as "opportunity site" projects to suggest residents will gain from their construction. But what would we gain? If one, or two or all three are approved, what's to stop other developers or any property owner along Ocean from wanting the same "opportunity"? All of a sudden there's a real possibility we will have the kind of "wall" along our front yard so many of us do not want, a wall casting a dark shadow over the rest of the city.

Some say, "That'll never happen." Well, it IS happening and there's no indication it will end with just these projects. Some also will say, "Judge each project on its own merits."  Sorry, but "big picture" thinking is mandatory for any intelligent discussion about the vision, character and future of Santa Monica. Finally, there are those who will say, "We need the revenue from these projects for schools and to close our looming deficit." I say, Santa Monica has always and will always support our schools. And perhaps the wave of development we've seen the past few years, and see in the pipeline, is not a solution to the deficit but actually fueling it.

The very thing many of us don't want to happen to Santa Monica is taking shape in the form of these three "sisters," all timed strategically at the same time, driven by an expensive PR campaign in one instance, and a big-name architect in another.

The Gehry Tower is a Trojan Horse, that if allowed to go forward, will lead to others and we'll become Santa Miami.

If the world's best-known architect can't design a shorter hotel for Santa Monica, he can build it somewhere else. Same with the Miramar. And if you stand on the Santa Monica Pier looking east, do you really want a 200 foot hotel tower staring you in the face, casting a shadow that runs the length of the pier?

I don't. And I doubt you do, either. But if we residents don't stand up and fight, these three amazon-sized sister hotels will be moving into our home, throwing their weight around and chatting all the while about how good it's going to be now that they're here.

Sincerely,

John C. Smith