Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 165
Traffic may heavy and possibly brutal on the west side of town for the next four weeks. Between Monday, October 18, and November 12, the city of Santa Monica contractor, Excel Paving, will grind out top 2-inch layer of the asphalt street and repave with new fresh asphalt pavement on segments of five major streets, officials announced this week. The segments are: 4th Street between Palisades Ave and Wilshire Blvd. 6th Street between Montana Ave and Wilshire Blvd. Neilson Way between Pico Blvd....
The Santa Monica City Council this week adopted the revised 2021-2029 Housing Element Update, which "prioritizes 100% affordable housing in city-owned land" and "addresses historic discrimination and satisfies affirmatively furthering fair housing." The vote was not unanimous. Councilmember Gleam Davis and Mayor Pro Tem Kristin McCowan gave the thumbs down to the plan. At its Tuesday night meeting, the Council also voted unanimously to approve the Environmental Impact Report for Santa Monica's...
California has passed a new law that will phase out the inhumane practice of keeping "blood slave" donor dogs in captivity. Over the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law, AB1282, which lets veterinarians run community blood banks where residents can take their pets to donate blood, which they can later sell and transfer to clinics that need it. The new law, known as the California Pet Blood Bank Modernization Act, also creates a plan to eliminate the "closed colony banks" where dogs are kept...
The OIR Group, the consulting firm that analyzed and issued a detailed report on the events connected to the civil unrest in Santa Monica, of May 31, 2020, will soon become the first Inspector General of the newly-created Safety Reform and Oversight Commission. At its next meeting on October 12, the Santa Monica City Council is expected to approve a five-year agreement with the OIR Group to facilitate the work of the new panel, including conducting policing investigations and developing recommen...
Santa Monica and Los Angeles has settled a jointly-filed, consumer protection lawsuit with Wheels Labs, a shared mobility company that operates a fleet of e-bikes. Wheels Labs agreed to pay $300,000, with a portion of those funds going to safety organizations Sustainable Streets and Los Angeles Walks, local officials said this week. Although it is now an authorized operator in Santa Monica as a participant in its second Shared Mobility Pilot Program, Wheel Labs operated in the city from...
Californians will soon see the return of glass beverage bottles to their supermarkets. Governor Gavin Newsom this week signed a bill, AB 962, which paves the way for reusable glass bottles to flow through the state's beverage recycling program. "Now, rather than bottles being crushed for recycling, the bottles can be preserved to be washed and refilled by beverage producers -- simultaneously creating jobs and reducing waste," said Senator Sydney Kamlager (D-LA), author of the legislation. Kamlag...
The city of Santa Monica has sued a local landlord for allegedly converting a rent-controlled apartment building on 10th Street into a complex mostly used for "unlawful vacation rentals," thereby violating the Ellis Act and local rent control regulations. In a lawsuit filed on September 28, the city and the Santa Monica Rent Control Board allege that since 2018 NMS Properties, Inc. and its affiliates have violated the Ellis Act as well as local laws intended to protect long-term tenants and...
About 84% of local residents are fully vaccinated, announced the City of Santa Monica this week as it extended its local emergency orders through October 31. "Santa Monicans have done an incredible job getting vaccinated and wearing masks indoors and these actions have curbed rising cases," said Interim City Manager and Director of Emergency Services John Jalili. "As we look to the holiday season, let's keep the trend going by vaccinating, masking, and gathering safely." With its 40th emergency...
Hoping to revitalize its world-renowned, open-air shopping center, the Santa Monica City Council this week unanimously approved zoning changes for the Third Street Promenade that will allow new and varied businesses and "greater adaptability for existing businesses." "The Promenade can't be the land of $20 burgers," said Councilmember Phil Brock, urging his colleagues to consider all types of businesses, including fast-food restaurants, for the three-block pedestrian street to attract more...
A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted four Southland residents in connection with an alleged fraud scheme that induced people into purchasing thousands of Target gift cards, which were then used at stores in Los Angeles and Orange counties to purchase electronics and other goods. The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, charges U.S. citizen Blade Bai, 33, of El Monte; and Chinese nationals Bowen Hu, 26, of Hacienda Heights; Tairan Shi, 27, of Diamond Bar; and Yan Fu, 58, of Chino Hills,...
Santa Monica will soon have a new interim City Attorney but a familiar face to local city government. The City Council is expected to appoint Joseph P. Lawrence as Interim City Attorney at its next meeting on September 28, according to city officials. Lawrence will replace interim City Attorney George Cardona who announced recently he was leaving his post on September 30. "Lawrence has specialized skills and a unique understanding of city and the position of City Attorney," said city officials....
A Santa Monica business executive pleaded guilty on Thursday to a federal charge of conspiring to make and conceal conduit and excessive campaign contributions during the U.S. presidential election in 2016 and thereafter, court officials said. Stevan Hill, 70, of Santa Monica, conspired with his business associate, Ahmad "Andy" Khawaja, and others, between March 2016 and June 2018, to make unlawful contributions to several political committees, thereby circumventing contribution limits and causi...
The City of Malibu's petition to break up the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District into two separate districts cleared a major hurdle Saturday as a Los Angeles County Office of Education panel decided to move it to the next phase of the lengthy process. At a virtual public hearing, the LACOE Committee on School District Organization voted 8-2 to proceed with regular review of the contentious petition. County officials said the vote doesn't necessarily represent an approval of the...
The Santa Monica Fire Department this week launched a new emergency response unit which will address the needs of people experiencing homelessness. The Community Response Unit (CRU) looks like a typical ambulance – staffed by two firefighters – but it has a distinct mission: provide an alternative response to 911 calls to better address the needs of vulnerable populations in Santa Monica, city officials said on Monday, announcing the new outreach. "The CRU's 'one meaningful intervention at a t...
The Santa Monica City Council has gone on the record with its opposition to City of Malibu's petition to split the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District into two separate districts. This morning, the Council sent a letter to the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) and its Committee on School District Organization, calling for its members to deny Malibu's petition "given that terms are not equitable for all students." The Council's letter follows an LACOE report – released l...
The California State Legislature has approved a bill which "will ensure cities and counties are adequately re-zoning to meet their housing needs" – a move many critics and homeowners say may lead to the elimination of the R-1 (single-family) zones in their municipalities. AB 1398 – approved by the legislature last week – requires local agencies that fail to adopt a legally compliant housing element to properly rezone within one year to meet its affordable housing needs. "The housing eleme...
The City of Malibu's petition to split the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District into two separate districts received a major boost from county officials this week. Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) has recommended that Malibu's petition move forward to the next phase, even though it "does not sufficiently meet" some of financial conditions required for evaluation and approval, according to a newly-released county report. Next Saturday, September 18, LACOE Committee on School...
Culver City police have arrested two people on attempted murder charges and one man on accessory charges in connection with an ambush shooting last month. One of the suspects was apparently shot by the victim and ended up in a local hospital, according to Culver City Police Department. The shooting occurred around 2:40 a.m. on August 24 in the area of Mentone Ave. and Culver Blvd., said CCPD in a press release. Witnesses told police that they heard gunshots and saw a black man drop a handgun in...
The Santa Monica police and fire departments will conduct a brief and solemn ceremony this Saturday, September 11, in remembrance of those who perished 20 years ago during the terrorists' attacks at the Word Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field. The 30-minute ceremony will start at 8 a.m. at Fire Station 1, located at 1337 7th Street. In attendance will be Santa Monica Mayor Sue Himmelrich, local police officials, interim Fire Chief Wolfgang Knabe and the chaplain of fire depar...
Amid the statewide drought that turned flowing streams into dry river beds, the City of Santa Monica has secured over $45 million in grants to advance "water self-sufficiency projects to diversify and increase the local water supplies," local officials announced this week. "These grants come at a critical time and will help fund local water supply projects to enhance drought resiliency and reduce the City's reliance on imported water," said Rick Valte, the city's interim Public Works Director....
Roughly 85% of families in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District have provided consent for weekly COVID-19 testing of their children, district officials announced yesterday. The remaining families must agree to Covid tests or submit an exemption if they want to continue in-person instruction, said SMMUSD Supt. Ben Drati. In a letter to school families, Drati mentioned that the district started Covid testing students and teachers last Wednesday and the staff will contact by September 3...
With the statewide eviction moratorium expiring September 30, Santa Monica officials are urging local tenants in need to apply for the state's rental and utility assistance program. Currently, California has available $5.2 billion in rental assistance and $2 billion in utility assistance through its COVID-19 Rent Relief program, commonly called "Housing is Key," said local officials. City officials said that more than $10 million in state rental assistance has been distributed to over 650...
Following in the footsteps of its neighbors, the Santa Monica City Council this week voted to require all city employees, volunteers and contractors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But the vote was not unanimous at Tuesday night's meeting. Councilmember Lana Negrete abstained, stating that, though she is vaccinated, she respects people who don't believe in vaccines. Voting against the measures was Councilmember Oscar de la Torre. He said he supports "people getting vaccinated" but he...
The Santa Monica City Council this week revisited an emergency ordinance it voted down four months ago which would ban certain items that "can be weaponized" at public assemblies and community events. And after a lengthy debate and a friendly amendment at its Tuesday night's meeting, the Council voted 6-1 to pass the emergency ordinance "to keep the protesters safe." The reconsideration of the ordinance was prompted by the upcoming the "Rally of Freedom" – slated for this Sunday, August 29, a...
The Metro Transit Agency seeks public input on a plan to convert the diamond lanes on the 405 freeway into toll lanes through the Sepulveda Pass. Two weeks ago, Metro and Caltrans began the scoping process for a key project funded by Measure M: ExpressLanes (or toll lanes) on the 405 freeway, between the 10 and 101 freeways. Scoping is the first step in the legally required state and federal environmental study process, Metro officials said. Its main focus is to identify the purpose and goals...
