January 16, 2018 – Unfunded pension liabilities for the City of Santa Monica jumped 20 percent in the last fiscal year, rising from $387 million to $461 million, according to a new report.

The rise is “primarily due to the actual returns on the investment portfolio being less than CalPERS’ (the California Public Employees' Retirement System) projected returns,” said Gigi Decavalles-Hughes, the City’s finance director.

The 20 percent leap in unfunded pension costs is detailed in the City’s newest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, conducted by independent auditors. It goes to the City’s Audit Subcommittee tonight at a 6 p.m. meeting in the Ken Edwards Center, 1527 4th Street, Room 104.

The report covers the fiscal year that ended June 30

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/January-2018/01_16_2018_City_of_Santa_Monicas_Unfunded_Pension_Costs_Jump_20_Percent.html

January 16, 2018 -- The findings of an internal investigation into possible conflict-of-interest violations by three Santa Monica-Malibu School Board members will go to the board at its meeting on Thursday.

“This summary reflects the findings of the investigation and recommendations,” according to the agenda item. “Next steps will also be discussed.

“In order to avoid actual or perceived conflicts in the future and to continue to ensure the public's trust is earned and maintained, additional direction to conduct further review of board policies and regulations and training for board members and senior staff will be discussed.”

The public portion of meeting starts at 6 p.m. (instead of the typical 5:30 p.m. start), with the closed board session, which is not open to the public, to begin at 4 p.m., instead of 4:30 p.m.

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/January-2018/01_16_2017_Conflict_of_Interest_Probe_Findings_Go_to_Santa_Monica_Malibu_School_Board.html

Commentary

Charles Hughes

REGULATION

Rent control policies have come back in vogue for some cities grappling with higher housing rents and people worried they will not be able to live in growing, prospering cities. Perhaps no city in the country encapsulates the concerns about housing affordability and availability more clearly than San Francisco, where the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is more than $3,000. A new paper analyzes the effects of rent control expansion in the city and finds that it reduced rental housing supply, causing a city wide-rent increase. 

Read More: https://economics21.org/html/rent-control-raises-housing-costs-2790.html

Legislation would see 95 percent of Santa Monica bypass zoning codes

When it first appeared it was almost a joke, some kind of bizarre nightmare; a State senator from San Francisco recently introduced legislation to encourage new housing production throughout the state. SB-827 would do away with all zoning restrictions within a half-mile of a train station, a quarter-mile of a frequent bus route, and a half-mile of any intersection of frequent bus routes. Any housing built in those areas would be free of any local restrictions on height, size, parking requirements, floor area ratio, or number of units.

According to SB-827, any lot, no matter its zoning, could have apartment buildings of up to 85’ or eight stories built on it (lots less than 45’ wide could go up to six stories). This includes single-family residential lots, buildings on the state historic register, and properties containing two- or three-story apartment buildings similar to those containing most of Santa Monica’s rent-controlled units. It also includes the entirety of the city’s ocean-facing neighborhood along Ocean Boulevard. None would be spared. The text of the measure can be seen here: https://tinyurl.com/y84a4l8g.

Resident input into newly redesigned development was less oppositional, but not quite accepting.

On Thursday, the 89-year-old legend himself sat in front of a skeptic audience: his own neighbors.

“We want it to be human scale,” Gehry said of the Ocean Avenue Project, a mixed-use hotel, apartment complex, cultural center and shopping center. “We don’t want it to get out of line. We want it to be pedestrian friendly.”

Public attendees were still skeptical of the project, but the reception was far more optimistic than for other recent downtown developments. 

City planners are exploring an emergency ordinance to halt the “mansionization” of Santa Monica by reducing the maximum size of new houses in residential neighborhoods by twenty percent. The planners will present options to the City Council at their next meeting, Jan. 23.

“It’s not rocket science,” City Manager Rick Cole told the City Council Tuesday. “The houses are too big. They are too energy intensive. They change the character of neighborhood and they (infringe) on the quality of life of nearby residents. There are clear ways we can block out those things.”

Read More: http://smdp.com/city-exploring-emergency-ordinance-to-decrease-the-size-of-new-homes/163888

Costa Hawkins is a state law that sets some requirements for the 15 cities in California with rent control—Los Angeles included.

There are two main provisions:

• It protects a landlord’s right to raise the rent to market rate on a unit once a tenant moves out.
• It prevents cities from establishing rent control—or capping rent—on units constructed after February 1995.

Read More: https://la.curbed.com/2018/1/12/16883276/rent-control-california-costa-hawkins-explained

State legislation that would have expanded rent control in California failed Thursday after a lengthy and heated debate that brought landlord and tenant groups from across the state to the Capitol.

At issue was a bill that would have repealed a nearly quarter-century-old law that prohibits cities and counties from implementing most new rent control policies. The measure died after four members of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, including Democrats Ed Chau of Arcadia and Jim Wood of Healdsburg, declined to support it.

Read More: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-rent-control-expansion-bill-dies-20180111-story.html

AND

https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/January-2018/11_12_2018_Santa_Monica_Lawmakers_Rental_Bill_Fails_to_Pass_Committee.html

January 11, 2018 -- The head of Santa Monica's environmental task force on Tuesday strongly criticized the City Council for allowing $56.4 million to be drained from the City’s water fund to help finance mega-projects not related to water use.

“I was mortified,” Mark Gold, the head of the Santa Monica Task Force on the Environment, said of learning water money would be diverted.

Gold appeared before the council as it was considering -- and then approved -- a five-percent hike in the rate for using the municipal water system ("Santa Monica Prepares Five Percent Hike in Water Rate," January 8, 2018).

“To ask for ratepayers to cover any of the costs of groundwater remediation or additional water treatment is unethical given that a large pot of money exists to do exactly this,” the letter said.

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/January-2018/01_12_2018_Environmental_Leader_Blasts_Santa_Monica_Council_for_Use_of_Water_Funds.html

A state assembly committee voted Thursday to reject a bill with broad implications for the ability of California cities to impose rent control restrictions on local landlords.

The bill would have repealed the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which exempts newly constructed housing from rent control laws and prevents cities from limiting a landlord’s ability to raise rents on a unit after a tenant moves out.

Hundreds of residents from across California packed the Capitol building to speak for and against the measure—so many that the committee had to restrict public comment to a simple yes or no statement.

Assemblymember Richard Bloom of Santa Monica, who authored the bill, told the committee that a repeal would not create “statewide rent control,” but would simply provide local governments with the power to make their own rules.

But opponents of the bill argued that cities would use this freedom to impose legislation that would hurt landlords and steer developers away from markets like San Francisco and Los Angeles, where the housing supply is slim.

Read More:   https://la.curbed.com/2018/1/11/16879264/rent-control-california-costa-hawkins