Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Open letter to the Santa Monica City Council and the City Manager Much has been made about the needle exchange program conducted by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health in our city streets and parks. So I cleared my Friday morning to spend two hours listening to their abysmal defense of the program, which is really a needle distribution program, because, as even the mad doctor Gary Tsai acknowledged, only 60% of needles gets returned. (How he arrived at that figure nobody knows because...
Courts, Rulings & Lawsuits Supreme Court allows politicians to block constituents from personal accounts The Supreme Court ruled in favor of local government officials in a First Amendment fight on Friday, finding that politicians can block members of the public from their social media pages without violating the First Amendment. In a unanimous opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, set guidelines for when public officials' accounts could be viewed as state action. Courthouse New...
Dear Neighbors, TIME TO "MAKE GOOD TROUBLE! I am writing to ask you to show up and use your voices and simple presence to "make good trouble" tomorrow night, Monday, Feb. 4th, regarding the oversized Gelson's development at the Architectural Review Board meeting at City Hall at 7 pm. Alternatively you could WRITE A LETTER to the ARB to be received by 12 pm tomorrow, the 4th, pleading, yelling, singing out that residents’ concerns must be respected. What we want is good for future tenants at G...
The Harvard Crimson newspaper reports today that President Claudine Gay has resigned. This following controversy over her apparent plagiarism of academic appers, and a disastrous testimony before Elise Stefanik at the house of representatives last month, in which Gay said whteher or not calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard's student conduct policy "depends on the context." "TWO DOWN," tweeted rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s questioning lead to the resignation. The president of UPENN h...
Thanks for sharing these videos, Santa Monica Coalition. This is my neighborhood. Council et al, Really watch these two videos and what these women are saying. Take whatever opinions you have about where the videos came from and simply absorb them. I did. Right behind my fury came a surprising and deep sadness. These women, with babies, just trying to live their lives at the local park. The addicts, allowed to disintegrate and die on the streets under the empty promises and failed policies of...
December 19, 2023 - In an email, John Alle of the Santa Monica Coalition, supplied comments from Santa Monica residents regarding the proposed ten percent increase in the salary of City Manager David White, and they are not in favor. The Santa Monica Coalition is a group of residents, property owners, and businesses that advocate restoration of safety, cleanliness, and prosperity to the city. The proposal to be considered at tonight's city council meeting is to raise White's salary from $ $365,9...
The world knows you as rapper Tory Lanez. However, the California Department of Corrections will call you by your birth name. So let me begin by saying "hello" to you, Mr. Daystar Peterson. Let me also state that I don't believe you shot at Megan Thee Stallion that day. That ship has now sailed. You are now in state prison. Your world is upside down. Your head is spinning. Congratulations on getting out of [unreadable] isolation and into the mainstream general population of that reception...
Dear Mayor Davis, Councilmembers and City Attorney Sloan, The purpose of this open letter is to express grave concerns regarding the constitutionality of item 5-K agendized for the upcoming September 26, 2023 City Council meeting. The name of the item is "Adoption of a Resolution Amending and Restating the Civility at Public Meetings Policy set forth in Resolution No. 10642 (CCS)." The item seeks the addition of the City's Statement Against Hate to the existing civility policy. The Statement...
September 22, 2023 - John Alle, the Santa Monica activist, business owner, and founding member of the Santa Monica Coalition who was attacked by a drugged homeless individual on Tuesday, wrote us to clear up some misconceptions that have been circulating in other news outlets. Below is his statement: 1) The attack occurred DURING THE DAY between 2:30 and 3 pm. 2) I was not filming the suspect or anyone in particular. I was taking a break from work and decided to walk the bluffs (at Palisades...
My open letter to SM City Council and School Board on the quarter billion $+ plan to acquire the Civic Auditorium: Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, Santa Monica City Council, Mayor Gleam Davis Dear Members of the SMMUSD Board of Education, City Council, and Mayor Gleam Davis, I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of Santa Monica and a parent of two school children in the SMMUSD. The proposed plan to purchase and repurpose the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is...
Letter to the Editor: City Attorney Sloan has broken his ethical obligations to all residents, the Council, and the State Bar by falsely claiming in the Observer that the Brown Act will not be violated Tuesday when Council meets in Closed Session to discuss and make decisions on all aspects of proposed sales of the Civic Auditorium without any open meeting on the issue. He is also causing all Council members , the City Manager and other senior staff members to be put in serious legal risk of...
A recent petition states that LA County is conducting a free needle distribution program in the 7 Eleven parking lot, across the street from the Santa Monica Proper Hotel. A luxury hotel, the Proper's rooms start at about $1,000 a night. A petition to rid Santa Monica of the County of LA's distribution program has the signatures of at least one Santa Monica City councilmember, Phil Brock. "The City of Santa Monica and the County along with Venice Family Clinic have been operating the only...
L.A. county police union blindsided by plan to 'depopulate' jails -- A sweeping proposal calling for depopulation and decarceration of the Los Angeles County jails will be considered Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, drawing the ire of an organization representing police chiefs for 45 law enforcement agencies. The plan advanced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath would declare a "humanitarian crisis" in the jails and advocate for or instruct several county agencies to evaluate,...
April 12, 2023 - Citing out-of-touch leadership and mismanagement of funds, 54 business and property owners on the Third Street Promenade have hired an attorney to create their own business district, apart from Downtown Santa Monica Inc, with no city government participation. Currently, DTSM operates the downtown area, including the Third Street Promenade and from Second Street to Lincoln Boulevard and the 10 Freeway. They are to maintain the area, keep it secure, and institute programs and...
Director BARBARA FERRER, Ph.D., and her 4th in command at the County of Los Angeles Public Health, Gary Tsai. M.D., are at it again, this time in Santa Monica. The City has acknowledged that without the knowledge of its Police Department, residents and businesses, it has funded and allowed over a year for the County and the Venice Family Clinic to administer a clandestine needle and synthetic drug distribution program in one of the City's largest parks (Reed Park), adjacent to the Children's...
Dear Mayor Davis and Honorable Santa Monica City Councilmembers, As you know, Measure GS, the Himmelrich-financed 5.6% transfer tax on properties $8+ million sold in Santa Monica, takes effect tomorrow, March 1, 2023. As I predicted to you earlier, the impact of GS is already being seen. In the last 2 days, we have seen rapid real estate closures of at least three homes in N of Montana valued at $33,941,000, depriving the city of over $1,900,000 in Himmelrich tax for you to squander on...
Convictions of rape, multiple murders must be reversed The blunder of a San Diego judge in 1989 in countermanding the ruling of another judge in the absence of any new law, facts, or circumstances resulted yesterday in the California Supreme Court unanimously overturning the conviction of a man for three first-degree murders, rape, and other felonies committed during a 1985-86 crime spree. The infeasibility of re-trying Billy Ray Waldon, 71, for offenses perpetrated as long ago as 37 years...
January 25, 2023 - Citing a budget that is heavy on salaries and failed programs, incompetent leadership, and the economically and physically depressed state of the Third Street Promenade, property owner and business leader John Alle is calling for the disbanding of Downtown Santa Monica Inc (DTSM). DTSM is a "private" non-profit organization that is supposed to work with the City government to manage services and operations in downtown Santa Monica. The 13-member board of DTSM is made up of 6...
LA County loses bid for contempt hearing for Villanueva, for now A judge has denied on procedural grounds a request by attorneys for Los Angeles County that a hearing be scheduled on whether to hold former Sheriff Alex Villanueva and his ex-undersheriff in contempt for allegedly ignoring subpoenas to appear before the Civilian Oversight Commission and testify about suspected deputy cliques.--City News Service Judge declines to shoot down California's restrictions on openly carrying guns in...
UPDATE December 12, 2022 - The mountain lion known as P-22 has been safely captured according to the National Park Service and SaveLA Cougars. Beth Pratt, Regional Director of the National Wildlife Federation, thanked NPS and California Department of Fish and Wildlife for bringing P-22 in safely for a health evaluation. As well, Pratt wrote that, "Our hearts go out to the pets and people that in P-22's distress have been impacted. We acknowledge that these interactions are traumatic for the...
California Supreme Court tosses gang murder conspiracy case: The California Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the conspiracy-to-murder conviction of a gang member who used social media to applaud the killing of rivals during a San Diego gang war. "Being a cheerleader" isn't enough to show that Nicholas Hoskins conspired in the murders, the court said in an unusual and unanimous opinion. The court overturned Hoskins' sentence of 25 years to life and sent the case back to the appellate court tha...
Los Angeles District Attorney Taxpayers on hook as Gascon brings in nation's highest-paid attorney in legal battle with his own prosecutors Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, whose own deputies sued him for permission to charge repeat offenders to the fullest extent of the law, has pulled out all the stops in his California Supreme Court appeal against them, retaining one of the nation's top lawyers. Neal K. Katyal, a former Acting U.S. Solicitor General who represented Al Gore in the...
Open Letter to Sue Himmelrich and husband Michael Soloff: It was with dismay that I watched both your orchestrated attacks on councilman Phil Brock's alternate tax transfer measure at the July 12 City Council meeting (http://santamonica.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2). It was the definition of bad faith. Michael Soloff, in your labored straw man argument, you called Councilman Brock's measure a "poison pill." You used every cliche in the canon to push for endless construction that...
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón claims L.A. County is safer 'in some areas' because of his policies despite rise in violent crime over past year Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón joined local station KTLA 5 Saturday morning to defend his record as he faces a potential recall. Gascón was asked by news anchors Lynette Romero and Mark Meester to respond to those criticizing him as a "soft-on-crime" DA as L.A. has seen an 8.6% rise in violent crime over the past year. Wh...
Los Angeles District Attorney Los Angeles DA George Gascon 'overstates his authority,' can't ignore California law, court rules A California appeals court of Thursday upheld an injunction that said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon can't refuse to charge three-strike cases, which can significantly increase prison sentences. The court affirmed an earlier ruling that said the directive not to charge strikes against dependants violates state law and the rights of prosecutors in...
