SANTA MONICA, CA — When Ashley Oelsen was 10, she wanted to become either a veterinarian or a chimpanzee researcher. She eventually got surprisingly close to the latter.
Oelsen, 45, was born in San Diego and grew up between there and Santa Monica. She attended USC and the University of Pennsylvania and has worked in environmental fields, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife projects, chimpanzee research and studying orcas in Iceland.
She has lived in Santa Monica for about 20 years, apart from periods away for graduate school and field research, and now lives in the Wilmont neighborhood with her partner and their young son.
What is Santa Monica getting wrong about homelessness today, and what would you do differently?
We're getting a lot wrong, but it's not just Santa Monica. It has to do with L.A. County as well. What we're not getting right is the data, the statistics and the outcomes. What are we doing that's working? We can't really say what is working and what isn't.
We're also talking about homelessness too generally. There are layers of homelessness and many different reasons for it. I think it's going to require smaller nonprofit providers with specialties working together, almost like a spider web. The big one-stop-shop approach isn't necessarily working. People are getting stuck in the system and not getting helped.
What measurable result would convince you that a city-funded homelessness program is working, and what result would cause you to stop funding it?
I'd like to see people working their way toward stability instead of being stuck in a program for a year and a half. I want to see people progressing through the system, getting the resources they need and stabilizing and living a healthier life.
But we also project what we think a normal lifestyle should be onto other people. Success to me isn't necessarily success to somebody else.
What should happen when someone living on the street repeatedly refuses an offer of shelter, treatment or services?
I don't think refusing help is enough to lock people away or force treatment on them unless they're committing a crime or there's a behavioral issue involved.
There are homeless people who live near me who are quiet, respectful and calm, and I have good relationships with them. I don't think it's fair to force them into some kind of program.
Do I want them always living on the street? No. But I think it depends on their behavior.
What's your default karaoke song?
"Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin.
What song or band makes you crank up the volume in the car?
Tupac. And Michael Jackson is always a good one that makes me crank it up.
Santa Monica Airport is scheduled to close at the end of 2028. What, specifically, do you believe should replace it?
All my votes on the Sustainability Commission support a park. Obviously, I would love to see more biodiversity and green space. I feel like generally we try to do all this or all that, and we're not very good at talking about compromise. But when it comes down to it, I'm going to support a park and want to see a park over housing.
The airport site is roughly 192 acres and converting it will be enormously expensive. How much should Santa Monica taxpayers be expected to pay for the project and where should the rest of the money come from?
This is a tough one. We keep adding taxes while at the same time talking about affordability. I think the reality is there's probably going to have to be some kind of tax burden with this park. I don't know how it's going to be funded.
Maybe it's public-private partnerships, leases or license deals with sports or athletic teams. I don't think it's realistic to say we have all the funding mechanisms in place when we don't even know what contamination is on the property. I don't think residents will tolerate any more taxes, to be quite honest with you.
What's your guilty-pleasure TV show?
I really like true crime, murder. It always makes me feel really good about my life.
When was the last time you took public transport and where was it to?
Recently. I took it to the history museum to see the orca exhibit.
What is the single most important thing City Hall can do in the next two years to bring businesses and residents back to Third Street Promenade?
Make Santa Monica cool and hip and fun again. I think we have a perception problem, but homelessness is the keystone issue. If we don't address homelessness and get it under control, I don't think we get anything else under control.
Is downtown Santa Monica fundamentally suffering from a public-safety problem, a business-model problem or a development problem, and what role should new housing play in its recovery?
I think it's a combination of all of the above. I'd also add parking and traffic. We're taking away parking, which is contrary to trying to revitalize downtown.
I don't think the solution is necessarily housing. I don't think building residential over the Promenade is necessarily the answer. Homelessness, shoplifting, lack of foot traffic and the business model all factor into it. Some new business models are definitely needed.
Who would you most hate to be stuck in a lift with?
Donald Trump.
What's your most irrational superstition or habit?
I know I've got one. I just can't think of what it is.
Does Santa Monica have a revenue problem or a spending problem, and if finances deteriorate, what specifically would you be prepared to cut or change?
I think it has a both problem. We're a tourist-based economy, and obviously we need to bring our businesses back so that we get tax revenue. I think we need to stop living in who we used to be and how we used to do things and modernize.
Some of the more personal pet projects of City Council members have to go. We have to cut the fat in stuff that's not absolutely necessary. But every program is funded differently, and we'll have differing perspectives on what's necessary. I don't want to answer what I would cut.
Who was your childhood hero?
Jane Goodall was one of my childhood heroes, for sure.
What's the most recent book you gave up on and why?
"Abundance" by Ezra Klein. And time.
Has Santa Monica gone too far, not far enough or roughly the right distance in redesigning streets around bicycles and pedestrians, and would you support removing or substantially redesigning a project that was shown to create new safety or access problems?
I would absolutely be open to redesign. I love bikes. I moved to Santa Monica because it was so walkable. I think it's good for the environment. I'm all for it.
I think the rollout of the city streets and the design are a problem. I think the lack of consultation with police and fire is a problem. Change is hard. People who've been here and had it a certain way are always going to complain. I think bike lanes are good, but I'm not quite sure the design of them is the right fit for what we're doing.
What's the worst job you've ever had?
When I was 14, I worked at a place called Bird Crazy. I made $4.25 an hour cleaning cages for exotic birds. Looking back now, it makes me want to throw up because keeping exotic birds in cages upsets me. It was brutal.
What completely different job would you secretly love to do?
An engineer or a chemist.
Santa Monica faces major decisions over the future of both the Civic Auditorium and Bergamot Station. What should happen to each, and how much should preserving their existing cultural uses influence those decisions?
Bergamot, man, I would hate to see that go. I understand the housing numbers and the Surplus Land Act and why it's been slated for development, but it would be such a shame to lose it. There's also so much opportunity there to make it flourish.
I would really like to keep Bergamot Station. I think it's going to be a hell of a fight and probably pretty hard to do, but that doesn't mean I won't try.
I'd also love to keep the Civic. My fear is that the cost of renovating it will far exceed demolishing and rebuilding it.
I think we're giving away too many of our cultural and historical spaces. We need to have our culture and our identity, and it's important to maintain those.
When did you last do something for the very first time?
I'm doing it right now. Running for office.
Do you have any tattoos?
I do. Well, they're half removed. I had one on my ear and one on my back, and they're both being removed.
Should Santa Monica continue challenging state housing mandates, or accept that Sacramento has largely removed the city's discretion and concentrate on deciding where new housing goes?
Absolutely. We should be fighting back. We should be asking questions, getting clarification and trying to maintain as much control as we possibly can.
Does Santa Monica need substantially more housing, and if so, where should it be built? Would you concentrate most new development downtown even if that means substantially taller buildings, and what areas should be protected from additional density?
I think we have an affordability issue. Do I feel like we have a housing issue? No. There's a lot of vacancy and a lot of buildings. If I have to build, I think downtown is the safe answer everybody gives, but I'm not sold that we really have to build more if we have vacancy.
I'm concerned about seniors in rent-controlled units who could be displaced if we keep upzoning and making properties so valuable that it's worth getting rid of them.
We're always going to have a housing shortage simply because the demand will never go away. We're by the beach. This isn't Riverside or Bakersfield. We're Santa Monica, and there are always going to be people from around the world who want to live here. I think we really need to be more honest about it.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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