Bayside Board Picks Task Force Members

By Jorge Casuso

January 24 -- In an effort to provide a balanced view, the Bayside District board Thursday night chose a restaurant owner and a landlord to represent its views on the task force that will craft a plan to maintain a healthy mix of businesses on the Third Street Promenade.

By acclimation, the board named West Hooker, owner of Lago Restaurant, and Bill Tucker, a property owner on the popular strip, to the seven-member task force created by the City Council when it approved a one-year moratorium on the conversion of restaurants to retail use earlier this month. The task force will include three City Council members, a planning commissioner and a Bayside District property owner.

Mandated by the council to make one of the representatives a restaurant owner, Hooker's choice was a given, since the only other restaurant owner on the board, Ruth Elwell, did nor submit her name for consideration.

"It's nice to run against somebody, but we haven't found somebody as yet," Hooker joked after the vote.

Tucker's appointment to the second seat, which was unrestricted, was contested, with Patricia Hoffman garnering 3 of the 8 votes initially cast before the minority members changed their vote to show a united front.

Tucker, who opposes the one-year moratorium on the conversion of restaurants to retail, told the board that he advocates a "non-regulatory solution" to the loss of restaurants from the Promenade.

"I'm looking to see something if possible that would be a non-regulatory solution," Tucker said, "something that will involve all the parties and require a little give and take."

Hoffman offered to be a bridge between the Bayside board and City officials, who advocate stricter regulations to curb the exodus of eateries driven out by rents only retailers can afford.

"I think that I actually bring the different sides together," said Hoffman, a longtime leader of the powerful Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR). "I understand the point of view here (at the Bayside District Corporation) and the one driving the City."

Before making the appointments, the board debated the role of the representatives. Should they express the views of the board or their individual views as a restaurant owner or landlord? Can it be guaranteed that they would represent the board's views?

Unlike the Downtown Parking Task Force, which tackled an issue most agreed on, board members cautioned that the new task force will be faced with a much more difficult task.

"The job of this task force will be substantially more difficult," Hoffman said. "The issues are much more broad and difficult to deal with."