Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Is the former Santa Monica landfill underneath Gandara Park and the Municipal City Yards emitting high levels of methane gas? That's what the Santa Monica City Council will focus on next Tuesday night when it will hold a study session on the city's gas monitoring system for the former landfill site. "In several instances, anomalies have been recorded at a handful of locations that exhibit temporary increases in methane levels that exceed the regulatory threshold of 5% by volume," said city...
Local Briefs A group of local residents and business people are trying to talk the City out of an ill considered plan to tear down a downtown Santa Monica parking structure, and replace it with "affordable Housing." The group says it has gathered 5000 signatures on a petition. The group's press release reads as follows: "This morning a group of Santa Monica residents and business owners delivered individual packages to Mayor Sue Himmelrich, members of City Council and the City Manager,...
October 12, 2021 - The final Environmental Impact Report for the state-ordered addition of 8,895 new housing units to Santa Monica over the next 8 years reveals the projection of significant and unavoidable impacts on air quality, historic resources, fire protection services, education, recreational facilities, water sustainability, and Vehicle Miles Traveled thresholds. And that is only the negative effects that Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions, the city's environmental...
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...
October 8, 2021 The city-owned garages in downtown Santa Monica are missing basic fire-safety equipment, lack lights, and use elevators with expired permits. During a homeless-started fire that occurred in the elevator of Parking Structure 5 early Sunday morning, it was discovered that all of the fire hose and fire extinguisher boxes on every ramp of the garage were empty. Fire trucks are unable to enter the garage because of their height, so the hoses and extinguishers are essential to stop fir...
Public health officials on Saturday finally released data regarding Covid-19 infection and death rates among the fully vaccinated residents of the county. The numbers reveal the rationale behind officials requiring the fully vaccinated to wear masks in public places (assuming masks are effective in preventing infection). At the same time, the collected data throws doubt on the necessity or wisdom of violating federal medical privacy laws, violating civil rights, and basically pissing off the...
The Los Angeles County Sheriff is the only entity in the area willing and able to remove homeless encampments, says Michelle Bisnoff, Chair of the Brentwood Community Council, in a social media post. Currently, the sheriff's Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST) is working to clear the encampment of veterans that have occupied the sidewalk on San Vicente outside the Veterans Administration for some time. Two murders have occurred in the tent encampment in a month. In an apparent answer to...
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...
October 1, 2021 Spurred on by Santa Monica City Councilmember Phil Brock, the City Council on Tuesday voted 5-2 to ask a Westside city association if they should join a lawsuit challenging the number of units they've been ordered to build by the state. The lawsuit, already filed in June by the Orange County Council of Governments (OKKOG), disputes the number of units decreed by California's Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), saying the population growth data used was...
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...
Santa Monica’s Mayor refused to attend a public forum on homelessness where she could not control the microphone. Nor did she reply to our request for a statement regarding her refusal to come discuss a problem that is arguably, in some significant part, her fault and likely to get worse if she peppers the city with the “affordable” and “permanent supportive” housing she desires. On the other hand, City Councilmembers Phil Brock and Oscar de la Torre did attend the meeting held Monday at Alle’s...
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....
September 17, 2021 - This week, Los Angeles County health officials announced they would be issuing a new Health Officer Order mandating vaccine verification for individuals wishing to work at or enter bars and wineries. Proof of vaccine or a negative Covid test would be required to attend an outdoor mega event. They could not have created more distrust in the vaccine if they tried. Initial damage was done to the vaccine's credibility in mid-July, when health officials ordered masks to be worn...
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 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 California State Legislature has approved Assembly Bill 721 whose stated purpose is to "remove exclusionary and racist provisions in housing covenants." Actually, the bill cites "racism" to do what the Democratic controlled legislature has wanted to do for years: Greatly increase the density of R1 and R2 zoning, to replace single family homes occupied by older white people, with high density housing. "AB 721 is a crucial step in remedying California's painful history of segregation and...
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...
In an act of political violence, a woman or girl wearing a gorilla mask hurled an egg at Larry Elder. Elder, a black Conservative , is a candidate for California Governor in what Dems have labelled "the Republican recall." He was touring homeless encampments in Venice and campaigning at the time the incident happened. "Touch me again! Touch me again! Touch me again, and I'll f**k you up!" the unidentified woman repeatedly shouts at an older white male, part of Elder's entourage, who intervenes b...
Ok, so check this out. California, the bluest Democrat state in the US, has a recall election against the most unpopular Governor in State history, Gavin Newsom. They want to project fairness in a one party state where elections are engineered, a State that produced Nancy Pelosi and Gov. Brown. And they send out ballots. According to the Hill, the envelope provided to mail in your ballots, has 2 holes in it. One can see how whether the Voter voted "Yes" or "No" through those holes. And we...
The Los Angeles Times has been attacking him for weeks. He's being outspent ten to one. National leaders like Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi have trash talked him. So it's clear Larry Elder has a shot at the Governor's mansion in this recall election versus Governor Gavin Newsom. Elder is a registered Republican, but he is a philosophical Libertarian. As a Libertarian, Elder believes individuals should make the decisions that are best for them. Like Libertarianism itself, Elder...
The discovery of 300 stolen mail-in ballots in the car of a man passed out in a 7-Eleven parking lot in Torrance on August 16 illustrates the potential for fraud in the coming gubernatorial recall election - or any election held via universally mailed ballots. The security of the mailed-out ballot system relies on the diligence, care, and concern of numerous individuals, the massive majority of whom did not ask for the task and have no foreseeable interest in performing it. In other words, the...
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...
Gavin Newsom, a rich white guy from the Bay Area who is backed by some of the richest people in the State, faces a real challenge from the Recall Campaign. This has galvanized since June, when former Talk Radio host Larry Elder announced that he was running for the Golden State's top job. Some say the establishment is running scared. "There's real anger at Sacramento, real anger at Gavin Newsom. Larry Elder, temperament wise, symbolizes that, In a way that Kevin Falconer and John Cox don't."...
Courts & Rulings Judge halts Newsom's planned closure of Northern California prison A Lassen County judge this week granted the city of Susanville a temporary restraining order halting the state's work to close a Northern Californian prison that employs about 1,000 people. Superior Court Judge Mark Nareau found Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration did not comply with requirements cited in the California Penal Code when it announced plans in April to close the California Correctional Center....
The Santa Monica City Council this week approved the employment contract with its newly-appointed City Manager David White. White will earn an annual salary of $340,000 plus benefits and start his new post on October 11, city officials said. Under the negotiated contract, Santa Monica will also reimburse White's moving and relocation expenses, provide up to seven months of temporary rental assistance (maximum of $21,000) as well as use of a city car and "make available a home loan not to exceed...
