The monthly rent for anyone living in a Santa Monica rent-control apartment cannot be raised by more than $40 starting September 1. The Rent Control Board voted unanimously to pass the dollar amount cap during their July 8 public meeting.

Back in May, the Board set the 2017 General Adjustment at two percent. The adjustment is calculated to be 75 percent of the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for the greater Los Angeles area which the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported was 2.7 percent. Rent Control tenants saw their rents rise by 1.3 percent last year.

Read More: http://smdp.com/rent-control-increases-capped-by-board-at-just-40/161310

This is a constant in the city. Companies that wish to open and grow and provide jobs, find it stifling to work with our enforcement agencies but that is what slows us down. For a city that is as technologically savvy as we are, it seems that our calcified bureaucracy makes it brutal to do business here, and I’m not against slowing things down a bit, but at what cost?

It seems like every time I investigate a new company there is a horror story of what it takes to get a company up and running here. But yet, we seem to always have time, money and the willpower to increase our staffing. I know I sound like a broken record, but what will it take for us to get a more responsive city government, not just a more bureaucratic one.

I’d like to see us put a moratorium on new staff hiring, and on new commercial and residential development. We need to return to our roots, as best we can, to being a small town that is focused on our residents. I know that the big dollars that have flowed in from tech companies, developers and the land rush barbarians are intoxicating. But if the entire city becomes one giant mixed use retail/commercial/residential building separated by nothing more than addresses, well we might consider changing our name to West New York.

Read More: http://smdp.com/lets-stop-the-bureaucracy-growth/161312

The battle comes as the City Council Tuesday night considers a conceptual plan that more than triples total development at the five-acre, City-owned site ("Santa Monica Council to Take Next Step in Bergamot Arts Center Development," June 8, 2017).

The plan includes the proposed 120-room, 82,600-square-foot hotel that split the Bergamot Station Advisory Committee tasked with evaluating the entire 220,000-square-foot project near a new Expo light rail line.

Also under consideration is allowing the project’s developer, the Worthe Group, to become the master leaseholder for up to five years. The proposed lease agreement with the City would limit rent hikes to only the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/June-2017/06_13_2017_Santa_Monica_Arts_Community_Torn_Over_Bergamot_Plan.html

by Michael Millman

ANNUAL RENTAL INCREASE - 2% [or $40, whichever is smaller]

ANNUAL REGISTRATION FEE - $198

Read the details: SM REPORT RENT AND REG FEES 6.10.17.pdf

However, the board was able to decide whether to pass a dollar-figure cap (also calculated by a formula) or not have one at all.

The $40 maximum increase is the highest since it was $52 in 2011. Other recent maximum increases have been $25 last year, $7 in 2015, $14 in 2014, $17 in 2013 and $26 in 2012.

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/June-2017/06_09_2017_Santa_Monica_Board_Sets_Maximum_40_Monthly_Rent_Increase.html

One month after an underground electrical fire, the 1447 Lincoln Building remains without electrical power. All the stores on the ground level of the building remain closed--including Starbucks, Jersey Mike's and Chase Bank.

Around 80 tenants of the 1447 Lincoln Building are still living in hotels at Landlord expense. They receive weekly stipends of $1500 a week. Dogs and cats get $350 a week. It's unclear how the dogs and cats cash their checks. All this according to a security guard and a tenant in front of the building.

Read More: http://www.smobserved.com/story/2017/06/08/news/they-live-in-hotels-tear-out-the-walls-landlords-accountants-pay-for-it-all/2955.html

Rent control, one of the most divisive and emotional issues sweeping the Bay Area, lost a round in Santa Rosa Tuesday.

In a special election, 52.5 percent of voters rejected Measure C, which would have implemented a rent- and eviction-control ordinance that Santa Rosa’s City Council passed 4-2 in August. The California Apartment Association and its allies collected enough signatures to force the City Council to rescind the ordinance or put it to voters. The council put it on the ballot.

Rehttp://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Rent-control-loses-a-battle-in-Santa-Rosa-but-11203882.phpad More: 

Tuesday’s City Council discussion could have big repercussion for homeowners hoping to cash in on a state law that encourages them to build extra housing on their property.

Next week the Council will decide whether homeowners in Santa Monica can list those accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on home-sharing websites like Airbnb. City staff is recommending the Council authorize language that would limit the new ADU’s occupants to long-term renters rather than tourists and vacationers.

Read More: http://smdp.com/city-council-to-consider-rules-to-further-restrict-airbnbs-in-santa-monica/161263

AND

https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/June-2017/06_09_2017_Santa_Monica_Council_Could_Further_Restrict_Short_Term_Rentals.html

This Monday, June 12, a three decade process will come to a significant milestone. The Landmarks Commission will be hearing, at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, whether to start the process of creating Santa Monica’s 4th Historic District.

Read More: http://smmirror.com/2017/06/sma-r-t-our-next-historic-district/

Rent control increases in Santa Monica could be limited to a fixed maximum, regardless of the percentage calculation, if the Rent Control Board passes a cap at their July 8 meeting. [NOTE: Actual date is June 8]

At tonight’s public meeting, the Santa Monica Rent Control Board will consider whether to set a $40 ceiling on 2017 and 2018 rent increases. Back in May, the Board set the 2017 General Adjustment at two percent.

Read More: http://smdp.com/rent-control-cap-could-be-limited-to-40/161246