Public hearings on the following topics will be conducted during the Santa Monica Rent Control Board meeting on Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. via teleconference:

1) Consideration of imposing a $32 ceiling (or maximum increase) on the 2020 annual general adjustment of 1.4%;

2) Consideration and adoption of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board’s Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Operating Budget; and

3) Consideration of amending Regulation 11200 to clarify that a “business day” is any day that the Board is staffed and conducting business, regardless of whether City Hall is open to the public; and to provide for the deferment of registration fee payments with respect to units occupied by tenants who were unable to pay rent due to a loss of income occasioned by COVID 19.

Read More on page 2: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/061020.pdf

AND: https://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/Rent_Control/About_the_Rent_Control_Board/Agendas_and_Minutes/2020/RcB061120.pdf

Local candidates will have to pay $1,700 if they want the City Clerk to distribute their candidate statements to voters, according to a proposed resolution the City Council will take up today.

In the past, the City has paid the cost of printing, handling, translating and mailing candidate statements that appear in the Supplemental Sample Ballot that Santa Monica voters receive.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/June-2020/06_09_2020_Council_to_Consider_Charging_for_Candidate_Statements.html

Santa Monica City Council is set to cut the city’s budget by up to 25% as coronavirus decimates the hospitality and retail sectors that generate most of its tax revenue. 

City Council will discuss the budget Tuesday afternoon after meeting two weeks ago to restore $6.4 million in funding to programs that city staff had proposed eliminating. Under the proposed budget, all city departments except the Santa Monica Police Department and Santa Monica Fire Department would see significant funding cuts, which city staff say are needed to avoid a $224 million budget deficit over the next two years.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-city-council-to-discuss-cutting-annual-budget-by-192-million/192763

It took a pandemic to make it happen, but Los Angeles and Santa Monica rental prices appear to be on the way down for the first time since the Great Recession, according to a new report from real estate data tracker CoStar.

Between the first week of February and today, rental prices in LA fell from $2.51 per square foot to $2.49 per square foot, on average. That amounts to a roughly $15 price reduction for a 750-square-foot one-bedroom apartment.

Read More: https://patch.com/california/santamonica/affordable-apartments-rent-santa-monica

The City Council, Housing Authority, and Parking Authority of the City of Santa Monica will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on June 23, 2020.

Read more on page 3: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/060620.pdf

Chaos, anguish, despair, and lawlessness gripped our city on Sunday. By Monday, anger, disbelief, and heartbreak were the words of choice. One Hundred Fifty-Five businesses had “significant” damage. Over Three Hundred Fifty reported some loss. Nine fires set. Citations issued to Four Hundred Thirty-Eight people. None spent a night in jail. A petition to remove the Chief of Police has garnered over 37,000 signatures in five days.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/06/santa-monica-overwhelmed/

As rent becomes due Monday, a survey found that approximately 10 percent of Santa Monica rent control tenants did not pay their full rent in April and May due to the impacts of the coronavirus emergency.

The ongoing survey of landlords and tenants conducted by the Rent Board and presented at its meeting last Thursday provides a glimpse of the economic impacts of the shutdown on the beach city.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/May-2020/05_28_2020_One_in_Ten_Santa_Monica_Rent_Control_Tenants_Failed_to_Pay_Full_Rent.html

Santa Monica City Council approved Tuesday a plan to restore $6.4 million in funding to programs that city staff had proposed eliminating to fill a $224 million budget deficit over the next two years.

The city also released a draft budget for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, showing that about 469 city employees have been bought out or laid off ⁠— 20% of its former workforce of 2,298 full-time equivalent positions. The $607.4 million budget proposed for next fiscal year is nearly 25% smaller than last year’s budget, and projected revenues will be 20% smaller at $537.6 million.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-releases-draft-of-next-years-budget-including-6-4-million-to-continue-programs-up-for-elimination/192107

Building on last week’s announcement of a new website section and resources for Santa Monica’s economic recovery as well as a presentation before Council on Tuesday, May 26, the City joins local community organizations and residents in rallying together to support Santa Monica’s economic recovery through Santa Monica Cares. Santa Monica Cares is the community-partnered outreach effort for Santa Monica’s economic recovery.  

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2020/05/28/announcing-santa-monica-cares

A city that has prided itself over the years for its innovation and public service appears to be boxed-in by outmoded ideas that may benefit the few at the expense of many. What happened to our sense of community?

We appear to have forgotten the age-old concepts of public ownership of resources held in trust for the common good. The concept of the town commons, where the community owns land and assets, including access to views and air, for the benefit of all (an American concept that goes back hundreds of years) has been deeply eroded by the wayward tangents of the city’s direction in recent years. We are in danger of making things worse.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/05/a-fresh-start-for-a-city-mired-in-old-solutions/