John F. Muller Neglected Neighborhood . . . Santa Monica Daily Press, 4 August 2004a, 1, 1992, 1946. 1906
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"The city's original 1906 charter mandated district representatives and the direct election of the mayor. However, a 1946 charter reform set the current system, in place, under which the seven council members are elected at large. A city-commissioned study in 1992 found that the change was partially designed to exclude a growing black population in the Pico neighborhood from political power . . ."