Santa Monica : Ken Genser Becomes Mayor

Santa Monica City Councilman Ken Genser took over as mayor Tuesday night, promising to practice what he called the “politics of reality” in tackling the city’s problems.

Genser replaces outgoing Mayor Judy Abdo, who has been in office for one year and will now be mayor pro tem. Genser and Abdo, both of whom are affiliated with the renters’ rights council majority, agreed to split the two-year, largely ceremonial role of mayor rather than run against each other for the two-year term.

Genser was elected to the council in 1988 as a slow-growth advocate and often votes a harder anti-development line than the majority of his council colleagues. In a speech Tuesday night, he pledged to devise “an intelligent and comprehensive approach” that would take into account all points of view on the problem of the city’s homeless.