Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

Articles from the December 9, 2016 edition


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  • Sick Leave for Santa Monica Workers Becomes Effective January 1

    Constance Farrell, Ministry of Information|Dec 9, 2016
    1

    Editor's Note: This is an official City Press Release and has not been edited. Less than one month from today on January 1, 2017, Santa Monica's new paid sick leave provisions under the City's recently adopted Minimum Wage law will become effective. State law already requires all California employers to offer employees 24 hours of paid sick leave. Under Santa Monica's law, Santa Monica employees will benefit from increases to 32 or 40 hours, depending on the size of the employer. "Santa Monica c...

  • We Are At War With the FAA Over SM Airport. Does The City Attorney Want to Win or Lose?

    Jonathan Stein|Dec 9, 2016
    4

    According to public court documents, FAA has proposed a "Standstill Agreement" to the City, which the FAA insists the City Council agree to upon threat to issue a Cease and Desist Order. Like some in City Hall and on the Council, I urge the City not to sign the FAA Standstill Agreement. Let me explain why very briefly. The City is pursuing a questionable strategy, but one that I support. It is setting up the City's own "fixed base operator" (FBO) to replace Atlantic and American Flyers. In...

  • SMCLC Demands City of SM Halt Processing of 18 Development Applications by NMS

    SMCLC|Dec 9, 2016

    In SMCLC's November 28, 2016 alert we informed you that the Los Angeles Superior Court had found that Santa Monica's most prolific downtown developer, NMS, and its founder and CEO Neil Shekhter, had committed "massive, intentional, coordinated efforts to destroy evidence," "fraud," and "perjury." The Court has now issued further rulings. The Court "ordered the real estate mogul to cede all control of [the nine projects in dispute in that lawsuit, including in Santa Monica,]" according to the...

  • Enigmatic Illness Destroys Seastars ("Starfish") from the Gulf of Mexico to the Bering Sea

    Sabine Ganezer, Observer Staff Writer|Dec 9, 2016

    While the people of North America have been squabbling over truck routes and pipelines across the continent, there is a population that really could not care less. Their arms are falling off. And no matter what happens with the Great Wall of America or the DAPL pipeline, this population of underserved yet beautifully simple individuals will crumple into a sad moldy mound unless we take action. Said population, as you might have guessed, consists not of two-legged folk but of sea stars. Sea Star...

  • Electric Car Charging Network Planned Across Europe

    Liz Miller|Dec 9, 2016

    Several well-known motor companies are determined to make electric car use easier for consumers. BMW, Ford Motor Company, Daimler AG, and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche are among the manufacturers teaming up to provide more efficient charging stations throughout Europe. In a joint press release made earlier this week, the companies said they hope that this serves as a milestone in "facilitating mass-market battery electric vehicle adoption." The network would begin with 400 stations...

  • Political Correctness Caused the Oakland Ghost Ship Fire that Killed 36 Patrons

    Stan Greene, Observer Staff|Dec 9, 2016
    3

    California has the toughest building and safety codes in the world. Why didn't authorities enforce them against the Ghost Ship's operators? This is the obvious question from the Oakland fire which has killed at least 36 people. The Washington Post has finally explained why: They didn't want to be seen as politically incorrect, forcing their way into an LGBTQ "safe space." The deaths struck at the heart of a flourishing community of artists united by the Bay Area's underground electronic music...