Action Apartments Association, Inc.

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  • 03/12/2020 5:55 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    In what one Council member characterized as "taking baby steps," the City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to allow most large housing projects to be approved by planning staff effective immediately.

    The emergency interim ordinance and related zoning amendments comprise the first step in an effort to meet the State-mandated goal of building 8,874 new housing units, two-thirds of them affordable, over the next eight years.

    Read More: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/March-2020/03_12_2020_City_Council_Begins_Clearing_Path_for_Nearly_9000_New_Housing_Units.html

    AND: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/031320.pdf


  • 03/12/2020 10:41 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks to force Los Angeles officials to provide thousands of shelter beds in an effort to stem what it described as the unfolding “human tragedy” of people living in squalor on the streets.

    While once largely confined to the notorious Skid Row neighborhood, encampments have spread countywide. Freeway overpasses are lined with tents, and it’s a common sight to see someone pushing a shopping cart filled with belongings through downtown and even suburban neighborhoods.

    Read More: https://www.smdp.com/lawsuit-seeks-to-require-la-to-provide-beds-for-homeless/187385

  • 03/12/2020 10:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

     “Prop. 13” $15 billion bond DEFEATED!

    Last night, the Associated Press declared that the $15 billion bond measure called Proposition 13 on the March 3 ballot has been defeated!

    The AP wrote, "The opposition was led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which took particular issue with a provision that would have increased the limit on what a local school district could borrow, from 1.25% to 2% of assessed property value. The group feared that could have led to future tax increases to pay back the debt. The state should fund school facilities itself rather than adding to school districts' debt, the group said."

    As of March 11, Proposition 13 had the support of only 46% of California voters, falling more than 600,000 votes short of reaching the majority vote it needed to pass. Although counties continue to process and tally late-arriving absentee and provisional ballots, there are not enough outstanding ballots to change the outcome.

    This tremendous victory for taxpayers would not have been possible without your help. Thank you for telling your friends and neighbors to vote no on this Prop. 13. And most of all, thank you for your support of HJTA. We rely entirely on the support of our members and we are so grateful that the future of California will be brighter because of you.

    There will be new challenges ahead in November, and we’ll keep you informed. Please invite your friends and neighbors to sign up for email updates at www.hjta.org. If you tell ten people, and they tell ten people, we will rapidly strengthen the voice of taxpayers for the next big fight. And we will Protect Proposition 13.

    Thank you!

    Appreciatively,

    Jon Coupal
    President, HJTA

    Read More on pg 4: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/031220.pdf

  • 03/11/2020 3:17 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to allow all affordable housing projects and many market-rate projects to go through a rapid approval process as the city prepares to meet a state requirement to zone for 8,800 units of housing over the next decade, drawing ire from community groups who say the city should be fighting the mandate.

    Read More: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-allows-housing-projects-to-bypass-lengthy-approval-process/187435

  • 03/11/2020 3:16 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    At its meeting on Tuesday, March 10, the Santa Monica City Council approved an emergency interim ordinance to amend the City’s Zoning Ordinance regarding procedures for review of 100% affordable housing projects and housing projects that comply with the Zoning Ordinance. The ordinance is immediately effective following Council adoption and will apply to housing applications filed after March 10, 2020.  

    Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2020/03/11/emergency-interim-zoning-ordinance-to-streamline-housing-production-in-santa-monica

  • 03/11/2020 3:10 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    Letter to the Editor

    Dear Editor,

    The City Council is about to take a step that will change the nature of Santa Monica forever ("Council Could Immediately Streamline Permit Process to Spur Housing Development," March 5, 2020).

    At its meeting Tuesday, it plans to adopt an emergency ordinance that would allow fast-tracking housing projects, skipping levels of review, including that of the public.

    Left unrestrained by public outrage, large, dense Soviet-style housing projects will spring up in every corner of the city. Why this rush to annihilation?

    An obscure group of non-elected government apparatchiks known as the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) decreed that Santa Monica should add 8,874 more low-cost housing units to one of the densest cities in the state within the next nine years.

    Read More: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2020/03_09_2020_LETTERS_Wheres_the_Analysis.html

  • 03/11/2020 1:10 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    Nine community groups on Tuesday urged the City Council to appeal the "unattainable, irrational, and environmentally unsustainable" housing targets mandated by the State.

    The letter came hours before the Council takes up an emergency interim ordinance streamlining Santa Monica's permitting process to reach the mandated 8,874 units, 70 percent of them affordable ("Council Could Immediately Streamline Permit Process to Spur Housing Development," March 5, 2020).

    Read More: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/March-2020/03_10_2020_Community_Groups_Urge_Santa_Monica_to_Reject_Housing_Targets.html

  • 03/11/2020 9:28 AM | Angelica Jue (Administrator)

    Six weeks after his high-profile effort to force California cities to increase housing density failed in the Legislature, the Democratic lawmaker behind the proposal introduced on Monday what he called a “light touch” approach — still pushing for more housing units in many single-family neighborhoods while also offering other communities the ability to skip lengthy environmental review for larger projects.

    The bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would allow construction of duplex, triplex and fourplex residential units without additional local government approval in single-family neighborhoods using what’s known as “by-right” provisions of state law. The number of units that could be built would depend on the size of the city, with fourplex projects aimed at cities with a population greater than 50,000.

    Read More: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-09/california-new-housing-density-bill-scott-wiener-post-sb50-sb902

  • 03/10/2020 9:00 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    Santa Monica City Council will vote Tuesday to make cuts to retirement and health care benefits for municipal employees after negotiations with employee unions stalled for more than a year.

    Santa Monica and other California cities are trying to resolve multi-million dollar deficits between the pensions they promised workers and the value of CalPERS, the state’s public employee pension fund that suffered severe losses during the Great Recession.

    Read More: https://www.smdp.com/city-council-to-vote-on-pensions-health-care-contracts-for-municipal-workers/187332

  • 03/09/2020 5:02 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

    As Santa Monica revs up to meet its State mandate to add nearly 9,000 new housing units over eight years, other cities have taken a much more cautious, if not contentious, approach.

    Read More: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/March-2020/03_09_2020_Santa_Monica_Scrambles_to_Meet_Housing_Targets.html

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