The Santa Monica Conservancy has sought to preserve historic buildings around town for nearly 20 years. But in an effort to adapt to the needs of the community, the conservancy recently formed a task force that has already begun drafting ideas on how to continue protecting local landmarks well into the future.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-conservancy-introduces-21st-century-task-force/197027

California voters overwhelmingly rejected a more expansive rent control measure two years ago known as Proposition 10. Last year, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a decade-long limit on rent increases to 5% a year plus inflation and barred landlords from evicting tenants without a reason.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/californias-prop-21-would-let-cities-expand-rent-control/196980

The next of the Santa Monica candidate forums co-sponsored by the Committee For Racial Justice and the Santa Monica League of Women Voters Educational Fund will be a zoom meeting on Sunday evening, October 4, which will feature candidates for City Council and will start at 6 p.m. All the candidates were invited. To date, 15 have confirmed.

Read More on page 11: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/100120.pdf

As the pandemic stretches into its seventh month, tenants and landlords have found themselves facing the same question: Who’s going to pay the rent if unemployment continues to hover north of 11%?

Read More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/california-s-rent-strike-who-pays-and-how-it-works/ar-BB19A1nZ?ocid=hplocalnews

The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution will collaborate with the City of Santa Monica to provide mediation for landlords and tenants who are navigating payment of deferred rent alongside city- and state-wide eviction moratorium orders in place through the end of the year. Pro bono services will be offered through the Straus Mediation Clinic and externship program. 

Read More on page 5: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/093020.pdf

Santa Monica City Council has approved plans that have been in the works for a decade to redevelop the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, despite opposition from the mayor and a councilmember. 

In a meeting that began Tuesday night and ended in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Santa Monica City Council approved the proposed redevelopment of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows with a 4-2 vote. 

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/09/breaking-santa-monica-city-council-approves-miramar-expansion/

AND: https://www.smdp.com/city-council-approves-miramar-revitalization/196964

The Miramar Hotel managed to use a loophole in 2006 when they purchased the Miramar property for $200 million to save approximately $1.2 million every year in property taxes.

That means the County of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Monica and the local school district lost needed revenue for the past 14 years of around $20 million dollars.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2020/09_29_2020_OPINION_The_Artful_Dodgers.html

And in two minutes you’re going to know exactly what it is and what you can do about it. First the facts… —The Santa Monica City Council is set to vote THIS Tuesday, September 29th on the super-sized Miramar Hotel, owned by Michael S. Dell, whom Forbes says is the 39th-richest person in the world, worth $35 billion. —The hotel would essentially DOUBLE in SIZE.

Read More: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2020/09_28_2020_OPINION_Somethings_Not_Right.html

A slow-growth group has filed a lawsuit to halt the development of an 11-story, 240-room luxury hotel proposed on publicly-owned land in downtown Santa Monica.

The proposed development, known as The Plaza at Santa Monica, is an 11-story, 240-room luxury hotel, with 106,800 square feet of creative office space, approximately 40,000 square feet of open public space and 48 units of affordable housing at 4th Street and Arizona Avenue in Downtown Santa Monica.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/09/lawsuit-filed-against-plaza-development/

Meanwhile, ambitious housing bills languished in a pandemic-truncated legislative session wracked by internal discord. Most spectacularly, Senate Bill 1120, which would have more or less erased single-family zoning to spur construction of multi-family projects, died in the final three minutes of the session despite being carried by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins.

Read More: https://calmatters.org/commentary/2020/09/california-housing-shortage-crisis-goals/