Santa Monica chief tries insane Trump blame game for diabolical state of the city

Santa Monica’s top bureaucrat has tried to claim President Trump is to blame for the city turning into a hellhole in recent years.City Manager Oliver Chi claimed Trump’s policies have contributed to a decline in international tourism which has impacted the enclave — but left out the fact there has been hundreds of millions of dollars in legal settlements, lingering fallout from the pandemic, retail vacancies and rampant homelessness.“There was a real sense, I think, a year ago that maybe Santa Monica’s best days were behind it,” Chi told The Wall Street Journal.But, he added, “it can still be one of the coolest places on the planet.”The city of roughly 90,700 residents formally declared “fiscal distress” last September after a cascade of financial setbacks, the Journal reported.

Among the biggest burdens are roughly $230 million in settlements stemming from decades-old sexual abuse claims involving a former city IT employee — a sum equal to nearly 30% of Santa Monica’s annual budget.The city’s finances were further battered when the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out hotel and sales tax revenue, forcing officials to lay off more than 400 municipal workers, or about one-fifth of the workforce.Just months later, widespread looting during the civil unrest following George Floyd’s murder devastated downtown businesses, leaving many merchants struggling to recover.Chi told the Journal that Santa Monica has since been hit by falling numbers of international visitors, which he attributed to Trump’s policies, while last year’s devastating Pacific Palisades wildfire displaced thousands of wealthy nearby residents who regularly shopped and dined in the city.Despite signs of improvement, downtown remains dotted with vacant storefronts.Retail and restaurant vacancies hover around 20% — among the highest rates in Los Angeles County — while Santa Monica Place continues to struggle after its owner defaulted on a $300 million loan in 2024.The once-bus...