Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Let's face it, being appointed Santa Monica City manager is kind of a $430,000 a year booby prize. The City's progressive residents demand contradictory things of its government. Embrace all and be diverse, but move the homeless people out of my backyard. Provide a safe environment, while at the same time bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors and build public housing on every square inch of available land. No surprise that this hasn't worked out particularly well...
May 21, 2021 Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Registrar approved the petitions for the recall of LA County District Attorney George Gascon. The Recall George Gascon Campaign may now legally begin the process of collecting the 579,062 signatures necessary for a recall election against the controversial head of the prime law enforcement agency for the county. The number is derived from 10% of the county's registered voters. The deadline for arriving at that number is October 27...
It is oxymoronic for anyone to believe he can simultaneously support HAMAS and consider himself a champion against antisemitism. These two positions are mutually exclusive. Yet, that is exactly the turf staked out by Congressman Ted Lieu, who represents coastal Los Angeles County. Earlier this year, Lieu touted his efforts on the House Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism. But actions speak louder than committee assignments, and Lieu's actions over the past decade speak...
Local residents and visitors – including those vaccinated – must continue to wear face coverings indoors and around crowds in Santa Monica, city officials declared this week. Interim City Manager Lane Dilg signed on Wednesday morning the 36th supplement to the local emergency aligning Santa Monica's guidance for face coverings with Los Angeles County and the State of California, which will keep its mask mandate until June 15. "This supplement further signals the return to nor...
The California Assembly's Public Safety Committee recently passed for additional consideration a bill that would gut the state's sentencing enhancements for the use of a gun during the commission of a felony. Current state law provides sentencing enhancements of either 10, 20, or 25-years-to-life, depending on the nature of the gun use. 10 years are added for simply brandishing a gun during the commission of a felony, 20 years are added if the gun is discharged, and...
On Monday, May 10, a federal judge modified an earlier injunction restricting the Los Angeles Police Department's use of less lethal 40-millimeter and 37-millimeter projectile launchers as a means of crowd control. Headlines around the region proclaimed that U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall had granted Black Lives Matter LA's request for the injunction against this arsenal in the police's use of force. In reality, the judge expanded the circumstances already allowed un...
May 5, 2021 After public outcry regarding illegal food vendors on the Santa Monica Pier, apparently run by a criminal family gang, authorities cracked down on the activity. Police would now accompany Code Enforcement Officers onto the pier, according to a statement from Deputy City Manager Anuj Gupta on April 21. The city also pledged to enforce parking restrictions so that the large trucks hauling the vendor carts would not be able to park in the adjacent lots. Residents...
Mike Bonin and the City of Los Angeles is sending out an online survey for residents and others who work in the city soliciting opinions on what types of calls armed police should answer and what should instead by answered by "trained, unarmed responders." The survey may be found at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSev-Ic5prXR8wr8eZef-d0JZGJb_1pa_ZhW9zoveSRGZ-u7HQ/viewform The proposal to create an unarmed response team was first floated in June, 2020, following the...
May 3, 2021 In what is probably not the smartest move by a state official facing a recall election during a year when violent crime is spiking across the region, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order giving extra time off of violent prisoners' sentences for "good behavior." Newsom's order changes a rule that has been in effect since 2017 that shortens sentences by one-fifth for good behavior. Now sentences can by shortened by one-third. There are currently...
April 30, 2021 - Yesterday, CharityWatch, an independent and well-regarded charity evaluator, announced that it had updated its rating of the Humane Society of the United States. And once again, HSUS finds itself in the doghouse. CharityWatch has issued a "D" grade to HSUS, the latest instance in a pattern of poor grades for the animal liberation group. This is a good time to note that HSUS is not affiliated with local humane societies that run pet shelters–although HSUS c...
About 15 years after California's last Republican Governor, elected in a recall, complained about all the "girly men" in Sacramento; the leading Republican candidate in California's next recall election is, well, a girly man. As a Republican, I couldn't be happier about it. At a 2011 graduation, Arnold Schwarzenegger jokingly shared with Cal Berkeley graduates his secrets to success in America. "Rule number three: Marry a Kennedy," he said. Marrying into the Kardashian family...
Every eight years, California's Department of Housing and Community Development comes up with a magic number of additional residents moving to the state for which the area must plan. The way they arrive at this number is shrouded in mystery and bureaucratese. For the future period of 2021 to 2029, HCD decided that Southern California had to plan for an additional 1.34 million more housing units. Officials all over the region were ordered to figure out how to shoehorn in this m...
In light of the recent demonstrations nationwide, where "violence erupted between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators and violence against law enforcement personnel," the Santa Monica City Council tried at Tuesday's meeting to pass an emergency ordinance which would ban certain items that "can be weaponized" at public assemblies and community events. But after some council members questioned some of its provisions and offered many amendments – in essence weakening it, t...
Commercial tenants in city-owned properties who have been financially impacted by the pandemic will soon be getting some rent relief from their landlord. At its Tuesday night's meeting, the Santa Monica City Council voted to direct staff to design a Rent Abatement Program for city tenants – which will be funded by a portion of the $29.3 million federal stimulus the city is receiving through American Rescue Plan. The motion also includes a rent freeze for all city tenants f...
Courts & Rulings New trial required in action over death of tased suspect The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, in a 2-1 decision, reversed a judgment pursuant to a jury verdict in favor of the City of Los Angeles in an action brought by the family of a man who died after an officer used a Taser on him, holding that an initially proper order barring introduction of Police Commission findings that the officers acted unreasonably was rendered invalid in light of...
Last fall, Governor Newsom vetoed AB 331, which would have made an Ethnic Studies course a high school graduation requirement. His objection to the law was the model curriculum on which it was based. Now, the Ethnic Studies requirement may come before the state legislature again as the State Board of Education (SBE) unanimously passed a revision of the model curriculum. The issue has now passed to the Assembly Education Committee. Although the SBE claims they made 240 changes...
March 23, 2021 - Almost exactly a year since the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health shut them down, bars and wineries not serving meals are now allowed to open - as long as guests remain outdoors. Establishments offering meals along with alcohol can open indoors at 25% capacity. Guests at outdoor bars are restricted to 90-minute stays, which begs the question if Public Health is thinking about unintended consequences. Those same people hastily guzzling their...
A bill that would upend the state's health insurance industry was introduced in the California State Legislature on the last possible day, February 19. The proposed legislation, authored by State Assembly members Kalra, Lee, and Santiago would establish a "comprehensive universal single-payer health care coverage" for all state residents. The bill is co-authored by, among others, Lorena Gonzalez, who was responsible for the legislation gutting the state's gig economy. AB 1400...
The Santa Monica City Council held a special meeting last Saturday to discuss the community priorities that will guide the biennial (2021-23) budget. In a 4-3 vote, the Council selected the following priorities: addressing homelessness, creating a clean and safe Santa Monica, and cultivating an equitable and inclusive economic recovery. "The City Council chose to focus for the next two years on the two issues overwhelmingly favored in the unscientific survey of the public's pr...
In a press release that proves he has no idea of his job description, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon boasted of the ways he has helped criminals and flouted state and local laws during his first 100 days in office. The top "accomplishments" he lists are "no longer seeking the death penalty in 17 active cases" and "a 71 percent reduction in enhancements filed" in sentencing demands. Gascon claims his electoral victory gives him the justification to institute...
March 5, 2021 On Thursday, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon released a press statement regarding a poll conducted by Californians for Safety and Justice, claiming the results proved that crime victims prefer public resources go toward crime prevention and rehabilitation of criminals rather than their incarceration. Gascon wrote, "Large majorities [of victims of violent crime] support policies to shift resources away from incarceration and move toward prevention and...
Most cities in California have struggled to come up with solutions to curb homelessness in their municipalities and it was no different for the Santa Monica City Council last night. At its annual study session on homelessness, the City Council discussed and rehashed at great length current programs for the homeless instead of focusing on new initiatives. "I don't know if we know how to solve this (homelessness) but we have to do something about it," said Councilmember Phil...
ADDA Lawsuit Association of Deputy District Attorneys on LA DA Gascón's reforms (Audio) Last month, we spoke with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón about his various criminal justice reforms which were meant to address incarceration and racial inequity. Today, we follow that conversation with Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County. Plus, we'll contextualize with our criminal justice correspondent F...
Los Angeles's new district attorney, George Gascon, announced yesterday that he is seeking a life sentence for Tracy Walker, 56, accused of murdering three transients between June 7, 2020 and February 7, 2021. The defendant, an ex-felon, will face additional charges for possession of a firearm although a knife was also used in all three murders. Gascon's choice to apply sentencing enhancements and attempt gaining a life sentence for the defendant is a surprising break from...
FEBRUARY 16 Los Angeles County's Department of Public Health announced yesterday that they expect to reach a level of Covid-19 cases that will allow elementary schools to reopen today. The state of California set an adjusted case rate of 25 per 100,000 residents as the threshold, and the county believes they will meet that threshold today. "This encouraging news means that dozens of elementary schools will be permitted to reopen for in-class instruction for students grades TK-...
