The Epoch Times is a media outlet best known for spreading misinformation about Climate Change and the 2020 election results. Its California Insider YouTube videocast focuses mostly on crime and paints a picture of California, especially its most liberal-leaning cities, as unsafe and undesirable places to live. There are many reasons that appearing on their videocast is not a great idea and we outlined them before when videographer Matt Wilson appeared in 2023 and when Vice-Mayor Lana Negrete appeared earlier this year.
California Insider has had an intense focus on the small beach city of Santa Monica, having completed its fifth interview focused on what it perceives and presents as a city in decline. In addition to Brock, Negrete and Wilson; Insider has interviewed John “Santa Methica Is Not Safe” Alle and Dr. Houman David Hemmati in interviews that portray the city as a place of high crime and danger in just the last eighteen months.
Most of the audience for California Insider are people who don’t like California and want to believe the worst about the state and cities such as Santa Monica and many of the rest are people that only know about the city because they see it through the lens provided by the Epoch Times and outlets such as Fox News.
While Brock’s politics may make him a conservative compared to many in Santa Monica, he is a bad fit for that narrative. For better or worse, Brock is a true believer in Santa Monica and its greatness. His optimism about the city may have been well received by the show’s host; but the audience was not as receptive. A quick stroll through the comments section shows that the Insider Audience wasn’t impressed with his view. Comments such as “this guy is king clown of a clown show” are some of the more kind ones to be found.
And the reason for this is Brock doesn’t attack parts of the city the way that Negrete did when she listed off everyone that she feels slighted her or the way Alle and Wilson did when he presented a stark view of the city that made it seem like something out of a Mel Gibson film.
“Come to Santa Monica! We are not dead. We are not overrun by crime,” Brock concluded the interview with an invitation to the audience. “And we have great things coming. In 2026 we will host a part of the World Cup festivities. 2028, the Olympics come to Los Angeles and we are scheduled to be the host of Beach Volleyball…July 10, 2025 is the 150th anniversary of the founding of modern Santa Monica.”
“Santa Monica is resilient. Santa Monica overall is prosperous. Santa Monica will get a handle on the homelessness situation on our street…I invite everyone to come to Santa Monica and experience our city.”
While Brock may be an optimist, California Insider was not interested in becoming a commercial for the city. Much of the interview is focused on Santa Monica’s ongoing struggle with homelessness. The interviewer repeatedly goes back to the complaints made by the previous guests when Brock pushes a positive narrative, and to his credit Brock pushes back rather than acquiesce. One of his arguments that surely turned the conservative commenters against him was when he repeated that criminalization of homelessness will not work and that Santa Monica is a city that will always lead with compassion.
But while things are improving in Santa Monica, Brock points to Los Angeles City and County as the reason for many of the city’s ills. The Metro rail ends its nightly service at Santa Monica stranding people experiencing homelessness who have been riding the rails as a place of temporary shelter. He also argues that much of the property crime in the city is caused by people that are residents of Los Angeles, not Santa Monica.
But even though that’s the case, Santa Monica is not a dangerous place to live according to Brock. Perhaps responding to Alle’s interview with California Insider last year where Alle describes the Promenade as a sort of crime ridden no-man’s-land; Brock challenges the host and listeners to walk the outdoor mall. “You’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
As the interview went on, the host continued to push Brock about crime in the city and the impact on the economy. Brock noted that while the vacancy rate at shops and restaurants is higher than he would like, that there has been a global recession going on these last few years. In addition, major retailers and hotels are opening in the city in the coming months and years pointing to their investments as proof that people see Santa Monica as a safe investment. Throughout the interview, Brock uses the Epoch Times’ platform to assure residents that crime is not as bad as they’ve heard and that the city is safe.
“We have a fantastic police force….that’s something you don’t always find in other cities. If something happens, our police are there,” Brock boasted. “Santa Monica is not the place to commit a crime because we will prosecute and we will catch you.”
While somewhere between two thirds and three quarters of the interview is about crime and homelessness; perhaps the most interesting parts of the interview were about housing and affordable housing.
Brock argues that the state legislature and government has overreached by demanding the city build nearly 10,000 new units 6,100 of which are mandated to be affordable. He notes that the market-rate units are under construction, so now the issue is how to build the affordable units.
While he’s not thrilled about the coming changes, Brock is also a realist when it comes to challenging the state. Instead of picking a legal fight it would likely use, he focuses his time on how the city can rise to these mandates without overtaxing the city’s infrastructure and protecting the existing communities.
“Do I want to build 18 story buildings? 24 story buildings? I do not,” Brock continued. “I used to joke that the tallest thing should be the palm trees but then I saw some really tall palm trees so I need to rethink that.”
But what can the city do to prepare for these challenges? Brock mixes a desire to create more parks and plant more trees; but also to hire more police.
When discussing how the city can meet the mandate of 6,100 affordable housing units; Brock says the best way to do that is to use government land. Interestingly, he mentions the Bergamot Arts District and the projects at 5th and Arizona as some of the best places for the city to invest in 100% affordable housing developments.
