Some Santa Monica property owners posted a sign in a busy shopping area saying the California beach town is “not safe” due to crime and homelessness.
“We’ve had enough,” Jessica Rogers, a member of the Santa Monica Coalition, he told KTTV-TV above the sign displayed on Santa Monica’s famous Third Street Promenade and reads: “Santa Monica is not safe. Crime, depravity, open-air madhouse.”
“We’re using free speech as a way to raise awareness and let people know that this is the truth about Santa Monica,” Rogers added.
Rising crime has been a consistent problem in Los Angeles County in recent years, and while Santa Monica police figures show “serious crime” holding steady in the exclusive beach city, crimes of “Part 2” which include simple assault, vandalism and narcotics were 8% in the first 6 months of this year, according to the report Santa Monica Daily Press.
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The Santa Monica Coalition put up a sign on the Third Street Promenade warning shoppers that the city is not safe.
(KTTV-TV)
A study published by SafeWise at the beginning of this year ranked Santa Monica as one of the least safe cities in California. Home to several high-profile celebrities and tourist attractions like the iconic Santa Monica Pier, the city was ranked 224 out of 230 in the ranking.
In April, the United States Postal Service temporarily suspended service to a Santa Monica neighborhood not far from where the sign was posted after several attacks on postal workers.
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3rd street promenade in Santa Monica, CA
(Photo by Morgan Lieberman/Getty Images)
“Day and night, the boardwalk has become a madhouse,” John Alle, also of the Santa Monica Coalition, said of crime and homelessness on the boardwalk. “Very, very sick people who need to be institutionalized and need medical help. It is very sad”.
“There are sex workers here. There is drug trafficking in the open, from 8 to 9 in the morning, at 10 at night, at 11 at night. We have four to five people dying a month in the alleys from overdoses of fentanyl”.
Not everyone in the area was pleased with the group’s gesture, including Andrew Thomas, CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., who told the outlet that the sign is counterproductive.
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A homeless man sleeps in the six-acre Tongva Park, a relatively new urban community oasis in Santa Monica, California, filled with interesting architecture, trails, landscaping, and native vegetation, and located between the Santa Monica Pier and City Hall.
(Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
“Putting up signs like that seems very damaging to our business community, to our reputation, and it really goes against the experience that thousands and thousands of people have when they visit our downtown every day,” Thomas said.
The city of Santa Monica also expressed its frustration with the sign in a statement outlining the work the city has done to combat crime and homelessness, including adding more security officers.
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“We are deeply concerned about the success of Santa Monica businesses. It is sad that a small group of owners is working against our collective success through signage at the same time that small businesses are welcoming holiday customers,” the statement said.
The Santa Monica Police Department, which is facing a record officer shortage mainly due to a surge in retirements and a lack of recruits, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Homeless encampments are a common sighting in Santa Monica, especially along the beach in the area known as “No Man’s Land” between Santa Monica and neighboring Venice Beach, where authorities recently tried to evict the encampments.
A report released in September estimated that nearly 70,000 homeless people are living on the streets in Los Angeles County, an increase of 4% since 2020.
