Victor Fresco and his family have lived
in Santa Monica since 1997. During that time he has been alarmed
at the rapid pace of development, which he believes threatens to turn
this eclectic beach-side community into an upscale Manhattan on the coast.
He joined the Board of Directors of the North of Montana Association
when that group was first formed and eventually served as its co-chair.
As he worked with NOMA to downsize the scale of so-called "monster
mansions", Victor realized that people and companies make a lot
of money developing our neighborhoods and if residents don't make themselves
heard, soon what attracted them to Santa Monica will be gone forever.
Diana Gordon has lived in Santa Monica since 1985. As an attorney, Diana spent the early part of her career
specializing in land-use and environmental law before moving into civil
litigation, including entertainment and First Amendment litigation at both
the state and federal levels. Concerned about the relentless amount of
new construction throughout the downtown area, Diana believes projects
are going forward without regard to the collective consequences on traffic
and on the character of the city. Diana would like to keep Santa Monica
from turning into a gridlocked, urban high-rise environment, indistinguishable
from cities elsewhere.
Jeff Segal is a 34-year resident of Santa Monica. He is president of First Avenue Realty, a Santa Monica property management business. He is the Boards of the Santa Monica Kiwanis Club, and Santa Monica Kiwanis Charities. He is Vice President of Santa Monica College Associates. He lead the effort, and found private funding, for a new playground at Ozone Park. Jeff is concerned about the City’s indifference to traffic grid lock, and the impact of over development on the quality of life of those who reside in Santa Monica.
Mark Armour is a national political consultant who creates TV ads and digital content for progressive groups, issue campaigns, nonprofits and candidates. His clients have included U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Department of Health Services’ anti-tobacco campaign, the American Cancer Society, Obama for America, MoveOn, PBS, and the Motion Picture Association of America. A longtime Santa Monica resident, he is the former co-chair of the North of Montana Neighborhood Association.
Susan Giesberg lived in Santa Monica as a renter in the 1970's and now with her family as a homeowner since 1992.Concerned with community issues, Susan was an early participant in the North of Montana Association. She has served on Franklin Site Governance Council, Lincoln PTSA Executive Board, and for many years as Legislative Co-Chair for the Santa Monica Malibu Council of PTAs integral in coordinating the Council's efforts on school funding measures.
Susan believes that rapid growth in development, resulting in unprecedented traffic and congestion, have had a huge impact on Santa Monica. She was attracted to the Coalition's grassroots approach to reassessing the rapid "canyonizing" and "densifying" of our beach community. Professionally, Susan has worked in consumer protection for 27 years.
Dan Jansenson has lived in Santa Monica since 1992. An architect in private practice, Dan was born in Argentina, and raised in Israel and the U.S. Dan has a wide-ranging practice, with a diverse background in residential design, corporate strategic facility planning and community development. Dan teaches seminars in architectural computer visualization techniques, and is the author of several technical computer manuals for architects. Dan was deeply involved in the effort to save the downtown Santa Monica urban forest, which has now led to the creation of an urban forest task force.
Dan believes that the preservation of a human-scaled urban setting in Santa Monica, and the solution to the environmental and traffic challenges facing the city must be rooted in a deeply pragmatic, problem-solving approach. Seemingly-intractable issues must be faced squarely and honestly, with the goal of providing quality-of-life improvements for the largest number of the city's residents.
Mary Marlow has lived in Ocean Park since 1997. She is a retired ATT executive with over 20 years experience in sales and marketing to multinational corporations. She has been active in the Ocean Park community, successfully pressing for needed changes to large projects in Ocean Park, which would have had significant and negative impacts on the mass, density, scale and character of the historic neighborhood.
Mary has remained active in the community by joining the Board of Directors of the Ocean Park Association, organizing Santa Monica’s successful 4th of July parade, launching the Santa Monica Transparency Project to monitor campaign finance disclosures in our local elections and ensure compliance with the anti-corruption law known as Oaks, and serving as co-chair of the Bergamot Advisory Committee for the Arts Center at Bergamot. Her primary concern is the loss of community character with the continued construction of ever larger and denser buildings, which drive out neighborhood serving local businesses in favor of retail chains and increase parking and traffic congestion.
Bea Nemlaha is a 40-year resident of Santa Monica. An attorney, but currently an inactive member of the California Bar, Bea lives in the Third Street Neighborhood Historic District and was its principal organizer and spokesperson for designation in 1990. She was also spokesperson for, and a member of, the Steering Committee of Save Our Neighborhoods, a political action committee which successfully preserved the Santa Monica Landmarks Ordinance through opposition to Proposition A in 2003. Bea was a founding Board member and Vice President of the Santa Monica Conservancy in 2002 - 2004, and an active member of the Ocean Park Community Organization and its Co-Chairman in 1989 - 1990. Bea is currently a member of Executive Service Corps of Southern California providing consulting services to non-profit organizations in board development and staff leadership.
Bea believes that preserving a human scale in the physical environment of Santa Monica in particular, and cities in general, is critical to the promotion and preservation of viable communities and neighborhoods. She is opposed to furthering a densely urban, high rise, traffic clogged City in place of the low-rise beach town of light and air, which is what traditionally has attracted most residents and others to Santa Monica.
Jacob Samuel is a life long resident of
Santa Monica, graduating Samohi in 1969. He has worked in the Santa Monica
fine arts community for 32 years as a printer and publisher. In 1987
he started his own publishing company, EDITION. Among the local artists
he has published are Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Ed Moses and Joe Goode.
Lorraine Sanchez is a longtime resident of Santa Monica. As a community health nurse with a masters degree in nursing, she has worked in a variety of settings predominately as an administrator of home health care agencies. Upon retiring, she spent 2 yrs as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador.
Returning to Santa Monica, Lorraine was appalled at the amount of new, high-density development and traffic in our beach community and became active in local politics, with the hope of making our city more livable. Lorraine has remained active in the community. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the Ocean Park Assn. and later, the Pico Neighborhood Assn. She currently volunteers at teh Santa Monica Conservancy's Shotgun House.
Susan Scarafia has lived in the Wilmont neighborhood in Santa Monica since 2007. She wants residents to have a louder voice than out-of-state developers who don't live with the traffic-snarling consequences of their projects.
Susan's career included 15 years in marketing strategy work and sports marketing. She also served as an Interim Executive Director of a homeless shelter.
Carol Sobel is a civil rights attorney
in private practice in Santa Monica. She was on the staff of the American
Civil Liberties Union of Southern California for 20 years before opening
her law office in the City in 1997.
Maryanne Solomon got her start opposing neighborhood-busting development in 1986 when a developer announced that a 6-story office building would be built next door to her bungalow. She worked for 2 years opposing the monolithic building including sitting at a Planning Commission meeting until 2:00 a.m. and giving birth the next day. She served on Mid-City Neighbors Board of Directors and was active in opposing the Water Garden and Colorado Place and instrumental in getting one of the city's first Permit Parking Districts near St. John's Hospital.
She is co-president of the Santa Monica Democratic Club and 2015 50th A.D. "Democrat of the Year." She has served on the Samohi PTSA Board of Directors and as Co-1st Vice President of the SM-Malibu PTA Council.
Peter
Tigler, an artist, likes to use
his visual acumen, communication skills, and 40 years of resident experience
to remind the power structure that many people are watching, a good
number do not like what they see, and a few might do something about
it. He mows his own lawn, personally walks his dog. His artwork can be viewed
at tigler.com.
Bill
Zimmerman is a professional political
consultant who has worked in Santa Monica for over 25 years. Bill has
served as either a campaign manager or lead media consultant in over
200 campaigns, helping to elect many progressive candidates including
the first Hispanic Governor of New Mexico and the first African American
Mayor of Chicago. Bill has also managed many successful large-scale ballot
initiatives, including California's Prop 103, which regulates auto insurance
rates, Prop 36, which provides treatment instead of incarceration for
nonviolent drug possession offenders, and Prop 63, which places a one
percent surtax on personal incomes over $1 million to fund mental health
services. Bill has also managed successful initiative campaigns across
the country for medical marijuana, state-funded election campaigns, physician-assisted
suicide, and other progressive issues.
Bill received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and has written books, magazine articles and op-ed pieces on politics, elections and public policy.
