Candidate for
Member, City Council; City of Santa Monica

A resident of Santa Monica for 22 years, and proud of it.

After graduating from Harvard College and Columbia Law School, Sue Himmelrich chose to make her life in Southern California because of its progressivism, its diversity, and its balmy climate. She met her lawyer husband, Michael Soloff, in the courtroom as opposing counsel in 1987. In 1992, with their 2-year-old daughter, Hilary, the young family moved to a 1923 cottage-like home in Santa Monica, the city they believed offered the very best of Southern California. Second daughter, Molly, was born in 1993 to complete the family.

Family values and community service are all-important to Sue and Michael, the values handed down by their own families and communities with long histories of public service. And like all parents, they work hard to instill those values in their children in meaningful ways. They carried those traditions forward through involvement in the "Adopt a Family" Christmas Program in Sue's law firm; "Children Helping Poor and Homeless People" at Crossroads School; and volunteer tutoring at the Santa Monica Police Athletic League (PAL) after-school program.

Civic involvement is also important to Sue. She and her family worked to register voters and served as poll watchers to protect citizens' rights to have their votes counted in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. They volunteered their time in California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.

Sue has utilized her legal expertise to help those in need. She defended the long-time residents in Santa Monica's Village Trailer Park (VTP) who were threatened with evictions to make way for a massive development. Unable to stop the development, Sue used her legal skills to fight the evictions and enhance the relocation benefits for 30 tenants, some of whom had lived there in their homes for more than a quarter century. She worked with City Council members to force the developer to substantially increase the percentage of affordable units where current residents might relocate. As Special Counsel for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, she continues to fight for those who don't have the means to defend themselves.

Sue's work on VTP brought her to the attention of Santa Monica City Council members Kevin McKeown, Ted Winterer and Tony Vazquez who shared her opposition to the development and her desire to save the homes of our neighbors living in the trailer park. They urged her to apply to become a member of the Santa Monica Planning Commission.

Since her appointment to the Planning Commission, Sue helped anchor the "slow-growth" side of the commission. She was able to win three votes in an effort to block the massive 765,000 square foot Hines mega-development: not enough to reject it, but enough to help inspire other opponents to take up the cause. When four City Council members unwisely voted to approve the Hines development, Sue joined with Santa Monica grassroots group Residocracy and neighbors city-wide to collect signatures for a referendum on the project. The signature gathering was historically successful and convinced a new majority of the Santa Monica City Council to rescind its approval of the project. Democracy prevailed!

But the work is not over. Sue is concerned that a majority of current SM Councilmembers seem ready to approve excessive development. Several massive ultra-luxury hotel and condo projects have been proposed on Ocean Avenue + each seeking to blow through our city's downtown height limits. A majority of current Santa Monica City Council members may be tempted to support these projects just as they did the Hines project.

That is why she is running for City Council.

Sue has been a strong voice for Santa Monica's values while on the Planning Com­mission, especially 1) preserving our existing neighborhoods; 2) opposing projects that bring excess traffic or ultra-luxury develop­ment to our diverse community; 3) preserving renters' rights and the production of affordable housing; 4) enhancing strong environmental programs; 5) championing a living wage for hotel workers. She will continue those priori­ties on the City Council.

It's time to stand firm.

We have seen Sue do exactly that. She is not afraid to say "No!" to protect our community, its depth and diversity, its small town charm and its neighborly character.