Articles written by Alyssa Erdley
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Venice Homeless Shelter Approved at MTA Bus Yard on Main Street and Sunset Avenue
A Venice neighborhood group has initiated a legal fight against plans by the City of Los Angeles to erect a 154-bed homeless shelter on a former Metro bus yard, a few blocks from the beach. The...
As Legislature Tries to Stuff More Housing Down the Throats of Cities, California Just Says No
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to oppose a proposed bill in the California State Senate, SB 50, which would offer waivers and other encouragements to housing built close to urban...
President Donald Trump Raises Money and Traffic on Westside Friday 4/5/19
President Donald Trump swept through Los Angeles last Friday after a trip to Calexico to discuss the situation at the border with Mexico. Multiple roads throughout West Los Angeles were closed at...
Street Vendors Decriminalized, as Long as They're In the Right Place at the Right Time
On Tuesday, the Santa Monica City Council voted to institute an emergency ordinance that would require sidewalk vendors to acquire licenses and permits. They would also be barred from operating in...
Brunei Stones Gays, and Hollywood Boycotts Hotels as new Anti Gay Laws Take Effect
On April 3, Brunei put into effect Islamic Sharia laws that allow for amputation for theft and stoning to death for adultery and homosexual sex. These laws have been on the books since 2014 but were...
Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the SamoHi Titanic with a $385 million "Discovery" Building
Ground broke on Tuesday for a new structure, dubbed the Discovery Building, at the Santa Monica High School campus. Its function is to replace the Science and Technology buildings which were...
Montana Avenue Bomber Robber Gets Two Years for February 2018 Incident
The LA County District Attorney's office announced yesterday that they had secured a two-year sentence for the so-called "Bomber Robber." Robert Abalov of Los Angeles was initially charged with attemp...
Los Angeles County Bans Monsanto's Roundup In the Wake of 2 Huge Jury Verdicts
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors banned the use of any glyphosate-type weed killer on county property pending more information about the chemical's potential health and environmental...
$1.4 Million Gets 23 Homeless People Into Santa Monica Housing (That's $60,900 per individual)
An Information Item sent from Santa Monica City Manager Rick Cole to the city council seeks to explain what achievements staff has made over the past year to address homelessness. In late November of...
Current Santa Monica City Council Saved From Election by California Appeals Court (For now)
The California Court of Appeal offered temporary relief to Santa Monica's current City Councilmembers, who were facing a special election this summer. Justices Elizabeth Grimes, Maria Stratton, and...
Poison Control: Roundup Continues to be Used by City of Santa Monica
The weedkiller Roundup, a product of Monsanto, continues to be used in Santa Monica's public spaces despite a recent $289 million dollar judgment against Monsanto for the terminal illness of school...
'Homeless' Man Sets Fire to House, Closes Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica
On Monday around 1:00 pm, a small house fire in the 1300 block of the Pacific Coast Highway closed all southbound lanes and the number one northbound lane. Around the same time, police were called for...
As Crime Increases 8.8% in Santa Monica, California Liberalizes Shoplifting Laws and Releases Felons
In a video address to citizens on Facebook on Wednesday, January 29, Police Chief Cynthia Renaud explained the 8.8 percent increase in Part 1 Crime in 2018. Part I crimes range from murder through...
Current City Council Members Must Quit by August 15, Unless Court of Appeal Rescues Them
Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos ruled on Wednesday that the City of Santa Monica must hold special elections via districts by July 2. Current members of the Santa Monica City Council are...
Sustainable Plastic - All We Need is a Nudge
We dutifully separate our recyclables and put them in a separate container for the waste trucks to pick up, but the fact is that little of that material is currently getting recycled. "In California,...
Water Rate Increase is Entirely Intended to Subsidize Development in Santa Monica
By January 8, when the City Council voted to increase water rates in the city, there had already been well-above-average rainfall throughout California. To date, California has received 18 trillion...
Santa Monica City Council Doesn't Want to Hear From You
A proposal by the Santa Monica City Council to halve public speaker time from two minutes to one minute has roused vigorous criticism. The current Rules of Order for council meetings allows a speaker...
City of Santa Monica to Demolish a House of God to Build Unaffordable Housing
2/28/19 This month, Community Corp. of Santa Monica was awarded a $10.7 million-dollar 'loan' from the Santa Monica Housing Trust Fund to acquire property at 1819 Pico Boulevard, across the street...
Residents Want Less Traffic and More Parking. SMPD Wants to Talk Traffic Safety, However
In a video released on Thursday, Santa Monica Police Chief Cynthia Renaud promised to discuss traffic and what the police department is doing about it. However, Renaud - understandably - shied away...
Downtown Los Angeles Men's Jail to be Replaced by Mental Hospital
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday, February 12, to change a plan to rebuild the Men's Central Jail into a plan to build at least one mental health treatment facility. The...
Police Chief on upgraded Homeless Liaison Program: The Cannots and Will Nots
by Alyssa Erdley In a video released on Wednesday, Santa Monica Police Chief Cynthia Renaud informed the public of the steps being taken by her department regarding the homeless on the street. The...
LA County to Build One or More Units of Affordable Housing Over Next Two Years (Seriously)
On Monday, the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative awarded $4.5 million to five different organizations in a contest to propose "game-changing creative and scalable permanent housing solutions for...
California Voting Rights Act Upheld in Federal Court After Gerrymandering Lawsuit
A San Diego politician lost his federal lawsuit challenging California's Voting Rights Act. Don Higginson, former mayor of Poway, a city in San Diego County, had sued in 2017, claiming the drawing of...
We Can't House All the Homeless, But At Least we can Count Them
On Wednesday night, volunteers in Santa Monica and across Los Angeles County conducted the annual Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. From 10:30 pm until 2:30 am, volunteers in teams canvassed the...
Council Appoints Ana Maria Jara to Fill Vacancy on Santa Monica City Council
To the surprise of no one, the Santa Monica City Council appointed longtime resident and community activist Ana M. Jara to fill the city council seat vacated by Tony Vazquez. Vazquez resigned in...
