Check out the Santa Monica Police Department's latest update [video] featuring Chief Cynthia Renaud as she discusses the state of crime in Santa Monica highlighting an 8 percent decrease in Part 1 Crimes from January to May 2019.

See more: https://www.santamonica.gov/blog/smpd-chief-cynthia-renaud-s-quarterly-crime-update

AND: https://smmirror.com/2019/06/santa-monica-sees-8-percent-decline-in-part-1-crime/

Listening to the pro-housing passion of Scott Wiener, the Democratic state senator from San Francisco sponsoring what was arguably the most important bill before the state Legislature this year, you become more convinced than ever of the reality of California’s housing problem.

Sadly, though Wiener clearly understands the problem well, the solution he offered via his stalled SB 50 zoning nullification bill is the wrong answer. That’s partly because as much as Wiener wants to solve the housing shortage, he wants to end most single-family residential zoning just as badly.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/06/no-to-sb50-not-enough-there-are-other-solutions/

LaTerra Development, a Los Angeles-based developer, has begun construction on the first of two apartment projects in Santa Monica at the corner of Broadway Avenue and Cloverfield Boulevard with a second project at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Yale Street to break ground in approximately later this year.

Broadway & Cloverfield located at 1450 Cloverfield Boulevard and situated at the opposite corner to the Colorado Center office complex, will comprise two boutique apartment buildings totaling 49 units with five of these to be affordable plus 8,500 square feet of amenities and 10,711 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Santa Monica & Yale located at 2822 Santa Monica Boulevard will include 50 apartment homes with four affordable units plus 12,000 square feet of amenities and 10,337 square feet of retail in two three-story buildings.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/06/two-apartment-complexes-coming-adjacent-to-expo-line/

Last year our article “Santa Monica Must Prepare for the Future” outlined eight important areas on which the city needed to focus, as it prepares to meet future challenges. A year later, how is the city doing?

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/06/santa-monica-must-prepare-for-the-future-again/

The Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday approved a $712.9 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year that marks a steep drop from previous annual budgets, as the City tightens its belt to tackle a looming pension debt.

The budget -- down from the $802.1 million budget adopted last year -- includes no major new capital projects and leaves 29 unfilled full-time positions vacant.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/June-2019/06_26_2019_Council_Approves_Nearly_713_Million_Belt_Tightening_Budget_for_Upcoming_Fiscal_Year%20.html

Jim Ries -- considered a moderating force during the two terms he served on the Planning Commission -- will rejoin the board he left four years ago. Ries was among four applicants appointed to the powerful board by the City Council on Tuesday.

The City Council Tuesday night appointed Ries to replace Amy Anderson, who in April resigned from Santa Monica's most visible and powerful commission. 

Read More:  http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/June-2019/06_26_2019_Former_Planning_Commissioner_Among_Four_Appointees_to_Citys_Most_Powerful_Board.html

The City Council on Tuesday took initial steps to underwrite a $340,000 study on replacing Santa Monica's 25-year-old "temporary" homeless shelter by accepting two grants.

The study, as well as an estimated $60,000 in administrative costs, will be paid with a $300,000 grant from the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative and a $100,000 grant from California Community Foundation on behalf of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The feasibility study "on the interim and permanent housing needs of the City’s homeless population" will require approximately 3,000 hours over a two-year period to complete, staff said.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/June-2019/06_25_2019_Santa_Monica_Council_Accepts_400000_in_Grants_for_Samoshel_Replacement_Study%20.html

A new revised biennial budget will be presented for final approval to the Santa Monica City Council Tuesday that adds $1.2 million to the budget proposed earlier this month.

Among other things, the nearly $1.5 billion revised budget adds a $250,000 pilot program to place “ambassadors” at Reed Park, reduces the time the City's Swim Center closes during the winter and keeps Council meetings on the air another year.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/June-2019/06_24_2019_Proposed_Budget_Revised_to_Reflect_Community_Needs.html

The potential shuttering of another Santa Monica rent-controlled building could have an impact on the local political scene.

Last week, former City Council candidate and political activist Armen Melkonians received notice that the 13-unit complex north of Downtown where he lives will be cleared by the owner.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/June-2019/06_24_2019_Top_Santa_Monica_Activist_May_Leave_City.html

The revised biennial budget the council will vote to adopt Tuesday is $1.3 million higher than the budget city manager Rick Cole proposed last month.

About one-fifth of the increase will go toward the cost of stationing hospitality ambassadors in Reed Park. Residents have called for the city to manage the large homeless population in Reed Park and the council decided to fund a pilot program in which Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. ambassadors, who are already present in other downtown parks, would work to make the park cleaner, safer and more welcoming. The program will cost $250,000 over six months.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/council-to-adopt-2019-2021-budget/176674