Council Field Holds Steady

11/05/2020 11:39 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The three front runners in the race for four City Council seats padded their leads Wednesday afternoon, as LA County voting officials released a batch of nearly 2,400 new votes.

Challenger Phil Brock now leads with 16,035 votes, expanding his early morning 42-vote advantage to 248 votes over Councilmember Gleam Davis, who had 15,787 votes as of 4:45 p.m.

AND: https://smmirror.com/2020/11/change-slate-plus-incumbent-maintain-santa-monica-city-council-lead/

Incumbents Sweep Board Races

11/05/2020 11:35 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Incumbents easily won re-election to the School, College and Rent Control boards Tuesday, and one first-time candidate will join their ranks after making a strong showing.

AND: https://www.smdp.com/incumbents-sweep-school-board-and-college-board/198457

Santa Monica Electoral Races

Phil Brock, Christine Parra, Gleam Davis, Ahead in Council Race

11/04/2020 8:29 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Update, 7:50 am: Phil Brock and Christine Parra said this morning that they were not yet issuing a statement, because they wanted to wait until all the votes were counted.

AND: https://www.smdp.com/early-elections-results-too-close-to-call-for-city-council-but-favor-local-ballot-measures/198416

Challengers Plus Davis Head Into Wednesday as City Council Leaders

11/04/2020 8:26 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Three challenges plus an incumbent head into Wednesday as leaders in the race for Santa Monica City Council.

As of 2:07 a.m. Wednesday, challenger Phil Brock leads the field with 15,155 votes, incumbent Gleam Davis is in second with 15,113 votes, challenger Christine Parra is in third place with 14,176 votes and challenger Oscar De La Torre is in fourth place with 13,707 votes. The top four candidates—out of the field of more than 20 contesters—will win a seat on City Council.

City of Santa Monica Launches New Home Page and Virtual Permit Counter Services

11/02/2020 9:53 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This week, the City of Santa Monica launched a new home page at santamonica.gov and a new virtual permit counter.

City invites residents to help with Housing Element

11/02/2020 9:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The State of California is requiring Santa Monica to build more than 6,000 affordable housing units in the coming years, and city leaders are calling on local residents to help in the effort.

Santa Monica has been asked to build 9,000 new units between 2021 and 2029, almost double what the city would have been required to accommodate prior to last year’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment, which called on the Southern California region to plan for more than 1.3 million housing units.

Officials Warn of LA County Property Tax Scam

11/02/2020 9:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector Keith Knox and County Assessor Jeffrey Prang are alerting the public to an alleged property tax scam perpetrated under the guise of COVID-19 building closures.

According to the County, it’s being reported that unknown people are attempting to fraudulently collect in-person property tax payments at taxpayers’ homes because of COVID-19, often with fake identification as well as the tax bill for the specific homeowner in question.

Rent Index for Santa Monica Down 13 Percent Since Start of Pandemic

11/02/2020 9:37 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A recent report shows the average rent in Santa Monica has decreased 13 percent since the start of the pandemic in March, a steeper drop than experienced in any Southern California city.

SMa.r.t. Column: The Opportunity to Re-unite the Residents with their City”

10/30/2020 8:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Two factors have created the residents’ unprecedented concern about our future. What should we as residents expect from our city? As Livablecities.org describes it,

“The essential character of the city, “its urban character,” evolves through a confrontation of the public and private domains; a constant exchange, a separation and coming together of these two domains. Only when inhabitants live in both domains, can the city meet its full potential for enhancing the life of each, and serve its social and cultural functions.”

Applying this definition of a successful city to Santa Monica over the past 20 years of the residents’ lived experience, it’s clear that the instances of the essential synergistic coming together of the public and private domains has been in inexorable decline. Compounding this decline at every step has been the complete absence of clarity about what the future holds.