The annual Rental Property Maintenance Seminar will be held October 10, 2017, at 9:30 a.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Santa Monica Main Library.

Read More:   https://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/Rent_Control/Information_and_FAQ/Maintenance%20workshop%20flyer%2010-11-17.pdf

More than three years after moving here, Gupta is now in a position to affect real change. As he settles into his new job directing policy for the City by the Sea, he’s focused on the same issue that has been on the minds of many residents – the growing homeless population in Santa Monica and what do to about it. The City reported a 26 percent increase in the number of homeless this year alone. More people are living on the streets now than in any other time in recent history.

Read More: http://smdp.com/homeless-top-of-mind-for-citys-new-deputy-manager/162819

October 5, 2017 -- Reinhard Kargl was elected chair of the Wilmont Montana Neighborhood Coalition (“Wilmont”) on Tuesday. A freelance science and tech writer for European publications, Kargl has lived in the neighborhood -- which the City's largest with 20,000 residents -- for 25 years.

The day after his election, Kargl shared his thoughts about the current state of Wilmont and the future it faces as the neighborhood closest to Downtown. Wilmont stretches from Pacific Coast Hwy to 21st Street and Wilshire Boulevard to Montana Avenue. This is the first of a series of interviews with Santa Monica leaders and stakeholders.

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/October-2017/10_05_2017_New_Wilmont_Chair_Weighs_in_on_Santa%20Monicas_Largest_Neighborhood.html

In almost every state, responsibility for preventing crime and protecting tenants from crime that occurs on a rental property falls to some degree on the landlord. In fact, the landlord has a duty to use reasonable precaution to protect tenants from foreseeable harm caused by criminal acts. The following is a list of actions a tenant can take to help ensure that a rental unit and the surrounding property are safe and secure.

Read More: http://realestate.findlaw.com/landlord-tenant-law/preventing-crime-in-and-around-rental-property.html?version=2

Mayor Ted Winterer is urging other city leaders to think big when it comes to the technological headwinds facing the local economy.

After hearing an extensive presentation from the City’s Director of Housing and Economic Development, Andy Agle, on the upcoming ‘retail apocalypse’ that will hit the Promenade, the impact of telecommuting on leased office space, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, Winterer expressed concern staff isn’t thinking broad enough.

“I’m concerned that we are already looking very short term from the comments heard on the dais,” Winterer said. “We’ve talked about the decline of retail and maybe the answer is more music downtown. I think it would be prudent to look broader and see what else is on the horizon.”

Read More: http://smdp.com/city-leaders-look-for-ways-to-tackle-the-problems-of-the-future/162729

October 2, 2017 -- Proposals for two apartment complexes in downtown Santa Monica go to the City’s Planning Commission on Wednesday, as the pace of more than 3 million square feet in new building picks up after being left in limbo by a long fight over development.

The five-to -six story mixed-use buildings proposed by NMS and WNMS, the City's two largest residential developers, would replace existing surface parking lots.

1430-1444 Lincoln and 1313-1325 6th Street 

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/October-2017/10_02_2017_Mixed_Use_Apartment_Projects_in_Downtown_Santa_Monica_Headed_for_Hearing.html

AND

http://backissues.smdp.com/100317.pdf

By CAROLINE TOROSIS, a Commissioner on the Santa Monica Rent Control Board

A SERIES OF DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKES in Mexico this month is a stark reminder that Santa Monica will be left vulnerable should a quake of similar magnitude hit the southland. The newly redrawn Santa Monica fault line runs directly across a large portion of Santa Monica, and an earthquake has the potential to damage some of Southern California’s most expensive real estate, not to mention risk the lives of our residents. In March 2017, the Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved a comprehensive retrofit ordinance to bring Santa Monica’s most earthquake-vulnerable buildings up to today’s safety standards.

Read More on page 4: http://backissues.smdp.com/093017.pdf

The City of Santa Monica has a robust set of services to help its homeless residents find services and while those programs were successful for many years a changing demographic among homeless individuals is challenging the established approach.

Officials including law enforcement officers, social service providers and civic leaders are now rethinking the City’s approach to homelessness and searching for ways to maintain successful programs while tackling problems associated with changing demographics in the homeless population.

At a recent meeting for DTSM merchants, Brian Hardgrave and Margaret Willis (both with Santa Monica’s Human Services Division) said the approach so far has been to funnel significant resources into the most at risk or troublesome individuals. The approach has successfully brought some chronically homeless individuals in from the streets but the programs can only serve a relatively small number of individuals at a time.

Read More: http://smdp.com/challenges-abound-for-serving-new-wave-of-homeless-individuals/162697

September 28, 2017 -- Blessed by three decades of prosperity, the Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday asked for an assessment on surviving a hi-tech future likely to upend the popular beach city's economic success stories.

Successful venues that face new challenges are the Third Street Promenade, thriving office parks and even the city’s biggest attraction, the Pacific Ocean.

A fast-evolving world of new technology “has the potential to undermine past strategies” for a thriving economy, said Andy Agle, the City’s director of housing and economic development.

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/September-2017/09_28_2017_Santa_Monica_City_Officials_Brace_for_a_Future_of_Hi_Tech_Change.html

September 26, 2017 -- Two of the largest projects in Santa Monica’s development pipeline will face referendums to stop them if the City Council ultimately approves versions approximating the nearly 1 million total square feet being proposed, a leader from the slow-growth movement said Monday.

“The Plaza at Santa Monica,” a nearly 360,000-square-foot hotel/mixed use development proposed on prime City-owned real estate, and the proposed expansion and renovation of the Miramar Hotel, which when last proposed totaled nearly 570,000 square feet, will spark a battle if approved by the council, said Armen Melkonians, the organizer of the slow-growth group Residocracy.

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/September-2017/09_26_2017_Santa_Monica_Slow_Growth_Leader_Vows_Referendums_on_Major_Downtown_Projects.html