ACTION Apartment Association

Council Sets Framework Priorities to Guide Upcoming Budget Process

01/28/2019 7:48 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

At the fourth annual City Council retreat, all seven councilmembers participated in workshop activities and listened to staff presentations to identify and vote on the top six priorities for the Fiscal Years 2019-2021 biennial budget.

6 City Framework Priorities:

Affordability
Keeping Neighborhoods Safe
Reduce Homelessness
Climate Change
Engaged and Thriving Community
Mobility and Access

California will sue Huntington Beach over blocked homebuilding

01/28/2019 7:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In the first move of a promised battle between Gov. Gavin Newsom and local governments over California’s housing affordability crisis, the state sued the city of Huntington Beach Friday and accused it of failing to allow enough new homebuilding to accommodate a growing population.

At Newsom’s urging, the state attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against the community over a state law that requires cities and counties to set aside sufficient land for new residential development. The governor said in a statement that the suit was needed because rising housing costs threaten the economy and deepen inequality.

AND

SMDP Jan. 28, 2019, pg. 5: http://backissues.smdp.com/012619.pdf

Budget priorities to be set at weekend Council retreat

01/25/2019 10:46 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Council will set priorities for the City of Santa Monica’s 2019-2021 budget Saturday using results from a community survey conducted over the last month.

Council will select three to six goals the City will prioritize in its budget, which will go into effect July 1. The City conducted a survey in December and January called SaMoSays that asked the community to select five areas they would like the City to devote more resources to from a list of 23 priorities, such as infrastructure and business diversity. Staff is also recommending Council add a 24th goal to that list: advancing a new model of mobility.

City renews funding for homeless shelters with a catch

01/25/2019 10:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Hall is looking to clarify the complaint process for the homeless shelters it funds in response to multiple shelter residents alleging neglect from staff.

City Council heard testimony Tuesday night from clients of The People Concern, which operates three homeless shelters in Santa Monica, before deciding to renew the agency’s $1.6 million in funding for the next two years. Multiple speakers told Council that staff at Samoshel, a shelter near City Hall, neglected the health and safety of residents and did not adequately assist them in finding permanent housing.

We Can't House All the Homeless, But At Least we can Count Them

01/25/2019 9:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On Wednesday night, volunteers in Santa Monica and across Los Angeles County conducted the annual Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. From 10:30 pm until 2:30 am, volunteers in teams canvassed the streets to count the people they could see sleeping in public spaces.

The City Must Redo and Recirculate the EIR for the Massive Project at 4th and Arizona

01/25/2019 9:40 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

SM.a.r.t.

Let’s just say it: This is Hines ALL OVER AGAIN! An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that doesn’t select qualified alternatives to the project that would have fewer environmental impacts so as to choose a better option.

The massive project currently proposed for 4th and Arizona would be only about 20 percent smaller than Santa Monica Place (10.5 acres) squeezed onto a 2.5 acre site. Like Hines, it has generated enormous public engagement. It’s been controversial from the beginning — it’s size turned on its side is as big as a football field, it’s mix of uses (hotel, office, residential, retail) — and whether these uses benefit the public so as to BE on public land.

Landlords, Tenants Forge Unlikely Alliance in Fight Against San Jose’s Rent Control Registry

01/24/2019 8:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

As part of sweeping revisions to a decades-old apartment ordinance, some of which only went into effect this year, San Jose requires owners to sign up for a rent registry that lists the names of every tenant in each unit, how much they pay per month and for security deposit, when they move in and, finally, when and why they move out. Landlords have until Feb. 1 to comply.

Proposed Teachers Strike Settlement Calls for Los Angeles to Join Effort to Repeal Limits on Property Tax Increases

01/23/2019 12:59 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Labor Dispute Brings National Attention to California's Underfunded Schools and Movement to Partially Repeal Proposition 13

A tentative agreement to end the six-day strike by Los Angeles teachers requires the Los Angeles Unified School District and Mayor Eric Garcetti to endorse a polarizing measure headed for the November 2020 ballot that would repeal protections of the landmark property tax-cutting measure known as Proposition 13 for commercial real estate.

Commercial real estate owners and developers have warned that if the so-called split-roll property tax is passed, hundreds of companies could leave California to avoid paying higher state taxes, which in turn could drive up commercial vacancy rates and discourage real estate development in the state.

Council Appoints Latina from Pico Neighborhood to Fill Vacant Seat

01/23/2019 9:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

It took two quick rounds of voting Tuesday night before Ana M. Jara became the first Hispanic from the Pico Neighborhood to take a seat on the City Council.

Jara will fill the seat vacated by Tony Vazquez, the City's first Latino Council member, who resigned after his election to the State Board of Equalization in November.

AND: https://www.smdp.com/pico-resident-chosen-to-fill-empty-council-seat/172308

AND: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2019/01/23/city-council-selects-ana-jara-to-fill-vacant-council-seat

AND: https://www.smdp.com/pico-resident-chosen-to-fill-empty-council-seat/172308

City Submits Response in Voting Rights Lawsuit

01/23/2019 8:58 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In a 139-page response as long as some classic novels, the City last week objected to the "proposed statement of decision" submitted by the plaintiffs in a voting rights lawsuit filed by Latino activists.

The City's approximately 62,000-word document objects to the plaintiffs call for a special election July 2 using a district map drawn for the plaintiffs by demographer David Ely.