Jenny Pirie, Peter Kastner and Jeff Mudrick A Short History of Ocean Park, Ocean Park Community Organization, 1982, (With a 1983 update.) 15pp. 1983, 1982,
"1982 was also a year of achievement for the people of Ocean Park. Early in the year, OPCO members began pushing for stronger eviction protection for all Santa Monica renters. By September, the Santa Monica Rent Control Board passed regulations meeting these demands and Ocean Park residents had won another victory in their struggle for control over their community.
"Another group of OPCO members won a commitment from the City Council to narrow Fourth Street in order to reduce the danger of speeding traffic; and the Council also agreed to preferential parking for Second and Third Streets.
"The summer of 1982 saw OPCO's First Annual Arts Festival which tapped the community's creative resources and brought people together for two days of fun and socializing.
"Communtiy members on Third Street were involved in planning what was to become of the last few vacant lots in Ocean Park.
"OPCO helped tenants in several buildings throughout Ocean Park organize to win badly needed improvements in their building maintenance and security.
"The Free Locks Program was expanded to include all of Santa Monica.
"The community development corporation, called for at OPCO's Third Annual Congress, began its work under the name, "Community Corporation of Santa Monica."
"Finally, the most important organizing issues for the coming year were set down by the Fourth Community Congress: housing, crime, the arts, telephone rates and service, traffic and safety were the issues that most concerned OPCO members in November, 1982.
"It's been over eighty years since a group of ambitious real estate promoters founded the resort town of Ocean Park. During that time, the community has grown and changed and struggled to preserve its very livable diversity in spite of the Depression, the post-war boom, the staggering pressures of real estate development, and the mixed blessing of urban renewal.
"The community has hung on long enough to build an organization that allows people to gain power over their lives at the community level. That's what OPCO does. But no community organization can survive without a constant influx of new people and energy. That's another of OPCO's tasks: to continue building the organization, and, in doing so, realize the vision of Ocean Park as a community where people are able to identify their goals and accomplish them by working with their neighbors."