The Organizer : Slow-Growth Activist Draws Attention to Once-Anonymous Mar Vista, Himself

Gregory Thomas was smiling like a Cheshire cat as he stood in his courtyard the other day. Before him were about 50 activists from Homeowners Organized to Monitor their Environment, the feisty Mar Vista neighborhood organization that Thomas has guided to prominence. To his right was their most prized supporter and the man they had come to hear, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Bradley listened patiently as Thomas, obviously savoring the mayor’s presence in his back yard, enumerated the slow-growth group’s goals and highlighted its achievements, then rose from his chair to take questions. But Thomas wasn’t ready to surrender the floor.

“Just a minute,” he admonished a rather startled-looking Bradley. “I’m not finished yet.”

If anything, Greg Thomas is just beginning. Outspoken, bright, sometimes brash, highly quotable and increasingly controversial, he is making a name for himself as a person to be reckoned with on Westside planning matters.

Graphic Designer

By achieving results for his development-weary neighbors during the last two years--such as the downzoning of Centinela Avenue and the banning of new liquor stores in the area--Thomas has moved from the ranks of everyday homeowners to the forefront of the Westside’s slow-growth movement with alacrity.

Even more remarkably, the 39-year-old graphic designer who lives in a fashionable, contemporary home with his wife and son, has put a concerned face on Mar Vista, traditionally one of the city’s most anonymous neighborhoods.

As a result, he has been openly courted by powerful men such as Bradley, who is expected to seek Thomas’s endorsement in the coming mayor’s race, and Republican Party operatives, who see the makings of a politician in Thomas.

There are some who say the attention is undeserved. They accuse Thomas of trying to shift the development burden from his own neighborhood to other areas, a charge often leveled against slow-growth backers. Others call Thomas a creation of the news media, since he constantly seeks out press attention.

But Thomas, who is now fighting plans for the massive commercial development of Santa Monica Airport land, says it all comes down to practicality. His game plan, whatever people think of it, is working.

“We have credibility because of the victories we’ve been winning,” he said. “People have realized that, well, maybe you can fight City Hall.”

Thomas always speaks in the third person when he discusses Homeowners Organized to Monitor their Environment, more commonly known as HOME. But in truth, the group consists of little more than himself and a mailing list.

There is no board of directors, there are no dues, there are no regularly scheduled meetings. And until recently, there was no means of communicating with the membership except by door-to-door canvassing. It is only during the last several months, as the mailing list swelled from about 300 to 3,000, that Thomas started publishing a newsletter and collecting voluntary donations.

Thomas’s autocratic style sets his organization apart from other well-known Westside slow-growth groups, such as the Coalition of Concerned Communities and Friends of Westwood. But Thomas said it may also account for HOME’s success.

‘On Top of Things’

When a problem arises or a decision must be made, Thomas doesn’t have to call a meeting or consult with a board of directors. He simply does what he thinks is best. “He’s always on top of things,” said J. Peter Fiske, an attorney and member of HOME who has lived in Mar Vista for more than a decade. “I see him as a leader. And it gives me a sense of hope for this community.”

“He’s very sensible,” said Sal Grammatico of the Coalition of Concerned Communities. “He takes on issues an analyzes them from every angle you can imagine.”

Thomas’ success may also have something to do with his personality. While many of his colleagues tend to be intense, rigid, even guarded, Thomas has a freewheeling style and an uncanny knack for getting to the heart of things.

When Bradley’s office contacted Thomas last year and offered to address HOME during a Westside tour--an unusual gesture since the group had never held a formal meeting at the time--Thomas warned that the mayor should not expect a warm reception. “Bradley has said that he wants a world-class city,” he replied. “It looks like we got the world but we didn’t get the class.”

He was just as candid when the Santa Monica Airport land developer invited some members of Thomas’s group to a barbecue. “It’s a placebo,” Thomas said. “I hope they don’t think we’re gullible enough to sell out for some ribs.”

Community Issues

Thomas admits that he gets a charge out of running interference for his neighbors. The burly slow-growth advocate, who drives a BMW and favors preppy fashions, such as khaki pants and sweaters wrapped around his neck, heads a successful design company that counts Litton among its corporate clients. Yet it often appears Thomas is happiest when he’s working on community issues.

Like a lot of neighborhood activists fighting for better planning, he has a fondness for the arcane details of development. He is somehow stimulated by the endless meetings and the bureaucratic battles that go along with the job.

Thomas estimates that he devotes 10 to 20 hours a week to HOME, not counting nights when he writes speeches, newsletters and attends meetings. As far as he’s concerned, it’s the price one pays for protecting a way of life in an ever-changing city.

“We not only have to pay for our homes,” Thomas said. “We have to fight for them.”

Thomas had no history of community activism when he first moved to Mar Vista, an area bordered by Venice, Culver City and Santa Monica, in 1979.

The Albany, N.Y., native, who holds a master’s degree in design from Yale, and his wife were starting a family at the time and chose the $70,000 2-bedroom tract home on Westminster Avenue by chance. As the years passed, however, and more young families moved in, the Thomases grew attached to the area.

“We could have afforded Brentwood or whatever,” he said. “We were both working. But we liked Mar Vista. So we decided to stay and build on.”

Like many of his neighbors in the upwardly mobile area, Thomas eventually more than doubled the size of his house, adding a sleek 2-story addition that includes a living room with bedrooms and a bathroom.

At the same time, however, he started seeing disturbing signs of change. In 1986, a neighbor complained that a developer was trying to build apartment buildings on the periphery of their area. Thomas took it upon himself to investigate the claim and later learned that several patches of land in the single-family home area were actually zoned for apartment construction.

In an effort to halt the construction, Thomas collected more than 100 signatures on a petition, obtained traffic data and took his case directly to then-Councilwoman Pat Russell, who enacted a temporary moratorium on construction. Eventually, after just one of the buildings was erected, the zoning was changed and Thomas was off and running as a neighborhood advocate.

In recent months he has helped persuade authorities to reduce densities along an even broader area, a congested one-mile stretch of Centinela Avenue that passes through Mar Vista. He has successfully fought off plans for a liquor store in a nearby mini-mall by enlisting the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other alcohol-abuse experts. And he is fighting plans to replace a popular neighborhood gas station with an all-night market.

But the biggest battle, and the one that has really catapulted Thomas to the front ranks of neighborhood activists, is the effort to reduce the scale of commercial development planned for Santa Monica Airport.

Thomas first raised questions about the $280-million development plan earlier this year, when it dawned on him that the traffic generated by the project could seriously clog streets in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Additional Support

Rallying others, including Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, to the cause, he called for a 50% reduction in the 1.4-million-square-foot complex of offices and movie studios planned for 37.5 acres of mostly vacant airport land.

Santa Monica officials, who stand to earn $10 million to $15 million a year in lease revenues under the current plans, have resisted, saying the size of the project cannot be reduced by more than 21%. And the developer, Henry A. Lambert, has pledged to fight any effort to significantly reduce the project.

Under a recent state Supreme Court ruling that affects the airport, Santa Monica officials are required to draft a new supplemental environmental impact report, setting a final decision on the development back several months.

Whatever the outcome, Thomas and his allies are likely to have some of their demands met when the matter comes before the Planning Commission. Among those supporting him are members of the Sunset Park Associated Neighbors, a Santa Monica residents group that will also be impacted by the development.

Bill Putnam, the group’s president, credits Thomas with alerting his group to the possible dangers. “He should get the credit for getting this started,” Putnam said. “The Mar Vista people got the excitement started.”

Thomas also has Galanter and Bradley in his corner. Galanter has supported the call for a 50% reduction in scale, and Bradley strongly implied during his December meeting with Thomas’s group that he would sue to stop the development.

“Something has obviously happened,” Thomas said. “It’s clear that this has struck a nerve with people in Santa Monica and the surrounding areas.”

Some Critics

Not everyone appreciates Thomas’s efforts, however. Several people privately accuse him of stirring unnecessary panic over the project by making exaggerated claims in the news media. And one foe, who asked that his name not be used, charged that Thomas is more interested in stroking his own ego than protecting his neighbors.

“He’s a media creation,” he said. “His major goal is attention.”

At the same time, however, other opponents grudgingly call him a straight-shooter with an especially good eye for issues people care about. “He always plays fair,” one said of Thomas. “And he always plays these deals very well. If he kills that airport thing, that will definitely put him on the map.”

Thomas knows his horizons are expanding. Bradley already considers him important enough to warrant invitations to City Hall galas. Lloyd Raikes, Bradley’s Westside-area coordinator, said the mayor, who is not known for his close relations with Westside slow-growth leaders, likes Thomas because he does a good job.

“He’s an impressive fellow,” Raikes said. “It’s not just one guy out there on a personal crusade. He’s trying to work on behalf of his neighborhood.”

In his typical blunt fashion, Thomas said Bradley is probably being so supportive because he hopes to win Thomas’s endorsement in his reelection campaign. “It seems like I’m being courted,” Thomas said.

And if that’s the case, Bradley is not the only one courting him. Earlier this year, a top ranking Republican consultant whom Thomas refuses to name took him out to lunch to talk about possible political aspirations.

Thomas said he had no immediate interest in public office, but was open to anything the consultant might suggest in the future.

“Who knows?,” Thomas said. “I wouldn’t rule anything out.”