Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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One of the two bodies found at UCLA had a suicide note, indicating that one of the dead people shot the other, UC Police confirmed. All finals for June 1 have been cancelled, and students have been asked to stay away from campus, as the LAPD conducted a search to be sure there are no other suspects. Los Angeles Police Department officers in tactical gear were all over the campus, and the FBI and ATF were also reportedly responding. Los Angeles Police chief said the shooting...
The pizza dough was ready to be tossed; the fresh vegetables were ready to be diced and and the mozzarella cheese had already been shredded. Nevertheless, Dagwoods Pizza Parlor on Wilshire Blvd had to close early Sunday night, unable to take orders since the phone was down; unable to take internet orders, since their internet access was down, and unable to do business. Frontier was experiencing another widespread outage. "It's a bad situation," said Dagwoods manager Mark...
Bill Cosby went back to court Tuesday in Pennsylvania, for a preliminary hearing on charges he drugged and sexually assaulted Temple University employee Andrea Constand 12 years ago. She says she only came forward after numerous other women accused the famous comedian of rape or sexual assault. Counsel for Cosby argued People v. Bill Cosby couldn't proceed, because Cosby settled Constand's claim civilly, but this is not much of an argument, given that criminal cases are...
Through a robo call left on our message machine and perhaps yours, Santa Monica High School Principal Eva Mayoral has confirmed that Bernie Sanders will be speaking at SamoHi tomorrow (Monday) evening. "While the program doesn't begin until the evening," Ms. Mayoral says,"folks will start lining up in the afternoon. Therefore, the 4th street gate will be closed all afternoon. Traffic is expected to be more congested than usual," she says. The call says that the Bernie Sanders...
The State Bar, perhaps California's most useless and anachronistic organ, overpays its leaders and its recent financial reports "contained errors and lacked transparency." This according to a new Audit released Thursday. The review, released by State Auditor Elaine Howle, says the top 13 executives at the bar are paid more than Gov. Jerry Brown, who takes home $182,791 a year. This in addition to lavish pensions, full medical and dental coverage, travel expenses, and other...
As of July 1, 2016, Santa Monica will have a local citywide minimum wage. This from a City press release. I suppose it's a good thing that folks behind the counter at the local Taco Bell (Santa Monica has three--believe me, I would know); will earn more. From the City's press release: Phased in over four years, the minimum wage will start at $10.50 per hour in 2016, rising to $15.00 per hour in 2020. There will be a one year delay for businesses with 25 or fewer employees and...
Ever wonder why Santa Monica's streets are so well maintained, while the alleys are generally as broken up as rural roads? Technically, the City of Santa Monica's alleys are County of Los Angeles roadways. Which means the City's road department could ignore them, the County did ignore them, and the State of California, well forget about it. They do give out parking tickets in the alleys (see photos). As I've said before, the City of Santa Monica functions like a corporation,...
If you've seen the trains conducting "tests" for the last six months along Colorado Avenue, you're probably aware that the Expo opens on May 20. A recent City press release says: "Mobility options include 500 Breeze bikes at 75 locations citywide, extended North-South corridor Big Blue Bus service connecting to each Expo Line Phase 2 stations, 1.5 miles of new off-street bike/pedestrian path along the Expo route in Santa Monica, and 12 pedestrian scrambles downtown. These, alo...
The City of Santa Monica has it's own City forester, "Sustainability Manager," and ambassadors who rove downtown on two wheels. It does everything itself, from paving to publishing its own newspapers. But apparently managing the City's last trailer park, is just beyond it. The City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday night, to issue a Request For Proposals (RFP) for an "affordable housing organization" to purchase the Mountain View Mobile Home Park. The City acquired the 4.8 acre park...
Update: Alix Hobbs, the President of Heal the Bay, called me to say that Thuy Tran's death, while tragic, was not connected to Heal the Bay, as she was not participating in their beach clean up event. For this reason, they have no more information on the circumstances of this tragedy. She said that Heal the Bay has procedures in place to train volunteers about beach safety. Nevertheless, she said, it's impossible to watch everyone at every moment, or to prevent people from...
In an attempt to force the City to change its Charter from city-wide to districted Council and School Board elections, several groups have sued Santa Monica alleging civil rights violations. And the moving force behind the lawsuit is Mrs. Oscar de la Torre, a school board members wife. The Pico Neighborhood Association (PNA), Maria Loya and Advocates for Malibu Public Schools (AMPS) filed the suit in the Los Angeles Superior Court, according to a press release received by the...
My wife finally made me drag that rug in our storage pile downstairs to a rug store. I took it from a client in exchange for $1000 in services about 20 years ago. It's a nice rug, I thought. But it's been, well, lying around ever since. With reluctance and a last yell from the wife, I threw the old rug into the backseat of an Acura, then sped off to Ruben's Rug Gallery & Jewelry. "Hand Wash Carpet & Repair Old & New Silver Handicrafts," says Ruben Saidan's card. Saidian really...
Despite criticism from the local pundit class, including yours truly, Caltrans appears to be nearing completion of the California incline, reasonably on time and within its $4 billion budget. The bridge deck appears to be entirely completed, save the striping. Two years have passed since they closed the bridge, and while the original time estimate was 18 months, they did say at the time that the project could easily require two years for completion. The bridge was originally...
An hour before dawn on April 5, a man was stabbed to death. No one saw it but the murderer. Officers responded to a homicide call at 1548 5th Street, Apt. 408. The building is a homeless halfway shelter called Step Up on 5th" at 4:30am on Tuesday April 5, according to the SMPD. Police said they found an unidentified adult male inside the apartment, with an apparent stab wound to the chest. Paramedics were called to the scene at 4:34am . They took an adult male in critical...
For the last seven years, the City of Santa Monica has struggled to come up with a downtown plan. The problem is, the City's residents are in open revolt against a City Staff they see as rubber-stamping numbers huge projects for years. 25 workshops have been held. Numerous discussions and formal hearings have been held. Yet the city's residents are lukewarm at best, to greatly raising the amount of traffic and people in downtown. Truly, what is wrong with these citizens? From...
A homemade rocket exploded Monday night at Madrona Elementary School, killing a 17 year old Thousand Oaks High School, and injuring his friend. Police identified the boy as Bernard Moon, 18, and described the device as a "propane filled model rocket attached to a skateboard." The propane propelled rocket appears to have gone off in Moon's hands, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Mike Lindbery. When the rocket didn't ignite as planned, Moon went to investigate and...
Who needs you anyway, Apple? That's what the Justice Department said Monday -- it has successfully accessed data stored on the iPhone that belonged to the San Bernardino gunman without Apple's assistance. The DOJ also said they would ask the District Court to vacate it's Motion to Compel, and dismiss its Federal case against Apple, Inc. The DOJ says the order is no longer necessary, which not only is a raspberry at Apple, but also calls into question its encryption generally...
In the wake of the recent Brussels airport and subway bombings, 83 student musicians, 11 parents and 3 teachers have been informed that the Santa Monica School District has cancelled their European tour this week. In an email to district officials and teachers, SMMUSD Superintendent Sandra Lyons stated that she and others, had been monitoring safety considerations in Europe since the November Paris massacre. She and SamoHi principal Eva Mayoral sent an email to parents Tuesday...
The Airport's land grant is deed restricted to aviation into perpetuity, and the City Council knows it. Yet residents are demanding that the City Council do something to close the 100 year old airfield to aviation. When irresistible force meets immovable object, and the City of Santa Monica is involved, strange legislation results. On Tuesday the Council adopted a new leasing policy that some 600 tenants and subtenants must protect the health, safety and environment of the nei...
Residocracy, a group known mostly for snarky remarks on their Facebook page, held a Rally and Kickoff for the LUVE Ballot Initiative Petition signature-gathering campaign. LUVE's supporters say the it will require voter approval for major developments, and for Developer Agreements. The City of Santa Monica is famous for signing Developer agreements that promise parks, schools, funding for programs, low income housing, even ice skating rinks-and then the agreements are...
by David Ganezer Observer Publisher Santa Monica is an egalitarian City, and everyone gets their chance to be Mayor. In a move that surprised no one, since it was arranged for in advance; Councilman Kevin McKeown was elected Mayor of Santa Monica by the other six City council members. He will be mayor for a one-year term, and then Councilman Tony Vazquez will succeed him in 2016. Vazquez was elected Mayor Pro Tempore. In 2016, Ted Winterer will be Mayor Pro Tempore (Latin...
City Hall will be closed tight as a drum on Christmas, New Years, and especially MLK Day. However, the City's trash collectors continued to work on Veteran's Day. So did those denizens of the Cushman, the city's tireless ticket givers. I know, because I saw them both working last Tuesday, November 11, 2014. Rumor has it they get paid triple time to collect the trash on holidays. Separately, this reporter can assure to you with absolute certainty that if you get more than five...
Voters returned Pam O'Connor to office for a 6th term, despite the repeated protestations of neighborhood groups such as SMCLC that she has never seen a large development project she didn't like. SMCLC tried to put the best face on it: "Pam O'Connor squeaked by in a distant third. In a city of almost 59,000 registered voters, she received 4,933 votes. Not a lot of support, but in an over-crowded field, just enough to win. "Ms. O'Connor enters what likely will be her last term...
Theodore Greenberg lawsuit against the Art Institute of Los Angeles will proceed to trial, Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg ruled Thursday. Greenberg alleges that he was sexually harassed by Mark Lowentrout, a supervisor at the school’s Santa Monica campus. In his complaint, Greenberg alleges that on December of 2011 he was employed as a teacher at the Art Institute, with Lowentrout as his supervisor. Greenberg was originally hired by the Art Institute in D...
Theodore Greenberg lawsuit against the Art Institute of Los Angeles will proceed to trial, Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg ruled Thursday. Greenberg alleges that he was sexually harassed by Mark Lowentrout, a supervisor at the school’s Santa Monica campus. In his complaint, Greenberg alleges that on December of 2011 he was employed as a teacher at the Art Institute, with Lowentrout as his supervisor. Greenberg was originally hired by the Art Institute in D...
