REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

     You have almost as much chance of being hit by lightning as a jet owner has of being fined at Santa Monica Airport.

     In all of last year, with more than 230,000 airport operations, only FIVE fines for noise violations were issued.  That's right, 5.  Total.  And this figure includes propeller planes.
     The ONLY problem with airport fines is that they AREN'T ISSUED!

     As a resident of Santa Monica, however, the odds are far greater that you could find yourself, even unknowingly, facing a civil fine.  Uncollected trash in your alley.  Using an umbrella in a park.  Even loud play while at the beach!
     If Proposition MM, written by the City Council, passes, your fine would now have no limit.

     This is NOT about airport noise.  It doesn't change airport policy or enforcement.  The "spewing pollutants" the proponents mention could very well be the smokescreen they themselves have created:
     Proposition MM takes away civil protections.  It does NOTHING else.

     Don't leave it to the City Council to say what a "reasonable" fine is, especially when many everyday behaviors are actually violations.  Don't give up our protections, especially with no promise of any real benefits, simply because they tell us to.

As Mayor Pro Tem Pam O'Connor and Councilperson Paul Rosenstein, among others, have stated: even "...no law is better than (a) bad, poorly conceived, poorly written law."

     Prove them right.  Protect your civil rights.
     You have nothing to gain, but a tremendous amount to lose.

     Vote NO on Proposition MM.

Donald Gray, Santa Monica Resident

Impartial Analysis

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