A protest banner that has stirred controversy on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica has been revised yet again—this time in a parody of Mt. Rushmore.

In 2022, John Alle hung a sign in front of his shuttered property that proclaimed, “Santa Monica is not Safe: Crime, Depravity, Outdoor Mental Asylum.” A year later, he changed the sign to the following statement, later adding a rainbow background: “Santa Methica is not Safe: SM City Manager supports Free Needle & Meth Pipe Distribution Program in our Parks and Public Spaces.”

Recent pushback from the Santa Monica City Council, the City Manager, and the City Attorney prompted Alle to replace that banner with a new one, this time depicting headshots of Barbara Ferrer, the Director of L.A. County Department of Public Health, next to Westside County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, City Manager David White, and City Councilmember Gleam Davis. Their faces rest against a mountainous backdrop dripping with drug needles, just above the banner’s proclamation: “Mount Drugsmore, Santa Monica Memorial: Fire David White and Hold the Rest Accountable.”

At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council members voted unanimously to support a resolution expressing their disapproval of the previous protest banner, which stated that the City Manager endorses the needle distribution and harm reduction program. The resolution noted that this information was false and misleading because the County provides those services, not the City.

A few days in advance of the City Council’s decision, Alle preemptively replaced the banner with the current one, also sending a letter to the City Council, claiming that he had been defamed: “Each and every recipient of this email has received comprehensive communications from me and copies of email correspondence to and from City Manager David White demonstrating, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the banner referred to in the staff report and resolution is totally accurate and not false.”

Several council members took issue with this and also decried the negative influence of the banners on tourism and local businesses.

“The banner disparages our city; it disparages our City Manager; it’s completely offensive, and it’s absolutely false,” said Councilmember Caroline Torosis. “The previous banner was even reported as containing false information, and a cease-and-desist was sent to the property owner, and quite frankly, it discourages economic activity in our downtown. So the very businesses who are trying to recover are being harmed by this one property owner.”

Other council members addressed the concerns swirling around questions of free speech.

“There’s been some misleading comment,” said Councilmember Jesse Zwick, “that the city is somehow curtailing free speech with this resolution, but as is quite clear, and as the City Attorney has previously addressed, we allow residents and property owners and business owners to say whatever they want, and we too are allowed to say whatever we want, including the fact that your sign is juvenile and misleading. So we’re not restricting anyone’s free speech; we’re exercising our own, and I feel happy to do so.”

Vice Mayor Lana Negrete disliked that Alle was refusing to rent the space and suggested that the Santa Monica Coalition, the activist organization co-founded by him, could instead use the empty building for public meetings or information sessions, inviting public officials to speak and members of the public to express their opinions.

Councilmember Gleam Davis said she is “proud” to be represented on the new banner, also noting that the removal of the original sign indicated “that they did misstate the facts” and that the new sign “conveys the same message, just in a different way, and so I think it’s fine to pass the resolution because the other sign could be put up tomorrow if we don’t.”

Closing out the discussion, Mayor Phil Brock said, “The banners address drugs in our parks and drugs on our streets, which is a countywide, state-wide issue that we’re all diligently trying to do everything we can to solve. It may not be as quick as he wants, but his object should be to work with his fellow merchants … trying to attract more business to the Promenade.”

On their website, the Santa Monica Coalition expressed their concern regarding the County’s free needle distribution, which takes place at Tongva Park, Reed Park, and Palisades Park once a week: “This program is attracting substance abusers to settle in our parks, inject drugs, and discard their used needles in the grassy areas of the park. For the last 19 months, City officials have not acted on our behalf. … We want our parks available for safe use for all our families and visitors. We believe the program should be moved away from our parks.”

As for the ostensible economic decline of the Third Street Promenade, an anonymous Santa Monica resident on Reddit noted that “the Promenade has a cyclical life. It’s now at a low point, but it doesn’t mean it’s the first time. I think we need to Vegas-it up a bit—allow open containers, urban zip lines, a live music stage, more bars and food, more housing, and fewer stores.”