"Use the vacant offices that we have."
Oct. 1, 2014 Whitney Scott Bain

"We cannot afford to increase traffic. We're already in gridlock. Over 125,000 people drive to Santa Monica each day to work. We can't pack more in. Let's be smart. There are over three million square feet of office space in our downtown core. Much of that can be adaptively renovated into existing buildings to become current interior office space.

We cannot, must not, add to our traffic and infrastructure nightmares. We need more housing in Santa Monica not more office space. Let's create a limited amount of middle class affordable housing for some of our younger office employees to live in. After we analyze the effects of the Expo light rail system on our infrastructure then we can look at the future. As a community we do not need to rush into a frenzy of new construction. Let's create character in our town. Santa Monica is a treasure and a coveted destination…let's keep it that way."
Oct. 1, 2014 Phil Brock

"Unfortunately, after the 1984 General Plan was enacted, 9 million square feet of offices were built, with virtually no building of housing for all these new employees. Ever since I got involved in local issues, with the Civic Center Plan 21 years ago, I have been opposed to more office developments. The huge expansion of offices in Santa Monica, together with the same thing happening on the whole Westside, resulted in the shifting of commuting patterns that have made traffic congestion such a big problem in Santa Monica. Unfortunately, when the new Land Use and Circulation Elements (LUCE) were adopted in 2010, they also called for more office development in the old industrial district around Bergamot. I opposed this then, but my warnings fell on deaf ears. Now one plank of my platform now is to amend the LUCE to drastically reduce the amount of office development permitted under it."
Oct. 1, 2014 Frank Gruber

"Santa Monica has a well-documented jobs/housing imbalance. I witness the results every day when I drive to and from my job in Koreatown in 25 minutes, while traffic is at a standstill heading into Santa Monica. It is simple: office space generates very significant traffic and provides little local benefit, little revenue, and few opportunities for the local workforce. We need housing in Santa Monica, especially affordable housing: we need it near our light rail stops, and we need to encourage marketing new units to those who work in Santa Monica. Our new transfer tax and cap-and-trade dollars from AB 32 should help us to build this housing.

As a member of the Planning Commission, I have advocated for a defined set of community benefits in Tier 2 projects. I believe that at least two times the affordable housing requirements of Tier 1 (i.e., at least 10% extremely low, 20% very low, etc.) should be required for Tier 2 projects. Tier 3 projects should require at least three times the affordable housing requirements of Tier 1 projects. We should no longer relax the requirements of the AHPP and continue to prohibit staff abuses of their discretion."
Oct. 1, 2014 Sue Himmelrich

"Office space can be created in a few different ways one of which is to build new. I strongly support the development of truly affordable housing near transit and in our Downtown and do not support building further new commercial office development until we have demonstrated that we are adequately and consistently meeting the housing needs for existing low-wage workers in Santa Monica. When existing office space gets a new tenant or owner and there is a higher intensity of use, or when an adaptive re-use project proposed new office space, the proposal must adhere to the city's trip reduction programs, the zoning code and transportation demand management programs to mitigate traffic and environmental impacts."
Oct. 1, 2014 Jennifer Kennedy

"We are already maxed out in the square footage of any and all development. This includes both residential and commercial projects."
Oct. 1, 2014 Terence Later

"Four years ago I fought long and hard to include less office space and more housing in the LUCE. I lost. I was also the only Councilmember who voted against all the last-minute height increases in the LUCE.

We will see office space expansion under unwise land-use and zoning decisions already made; in fact, I fear we may see far too much. We are fortunate to be a jobs-rich city already, and new office space without adequate and affordable near-by housing will mean even more office workers driving in and out of Santa Monica every workday, forced to commute and pollute.

I'm fully cognizant that there continues to be a market-driven demand for still more office space in Santa Monica, but a demand is not a need. If we rationally assess what we need to be a livable, sustainable city, blocks of 'creative office' developments are not part of the solution.

We've already seen what traffic misery Water Gardens caused, and too much office space and traffic generation were major reasons why I voted against the Hines project even before residents mounted a referendum."
Oct. 1, 2014 Kevin McKeown

"Office space is a part of old generation thinking that buildings produce needed City tax revenue. Yet the 3 million square feet of office space built over twenty years distorted the City and created a now permanent jobs housing imbalance that produces the daily traffic gridlock. More office space will simply worsen the situation. So many other uses create City that is focused on residents and resident needs and create walkable streets of human scale and needs."
Oct. 1, 2014 Richard McKinnon

"The question here is WHERE? This is an issue that needs to be carefully evaluated. It is appropriate where there is a transit corridor, like the Expo line not where there will be more traffic congestion problems."
Oct. 1, 2014 Zoë Muntaner

"While Santa Monica has a good supply of office space there is need for a limited amount of additional offices spaces in strategic locations. There has been a loss of office spaces in downtown Santa Monica replaced by new residential uses. Ensuring that there is a reasonable supply of office space for businesses such as bio-technology and other research and entrepreneurial endeavors is necessary to ensure a vibrant economy and strong fiscal base for our city."
Oct. 1, 2014 Pam O'Connor