February 28, 2017 -- A Santa Monica slow-growth group is rallying members behind a proposal to create a sprawling urban park on 2.5 acres of City-owned real estate downtown that officials want developed as a 12-story mixed-use “plaza.”

The Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC) says allowing construction of the 357,000-square-foot “Plaza at Santa Monica,” at 4th/5th and Arizona, would be an “irretrievable” loss to residents in the park-starved city.

Another 42,000 square feet would house neighborhood retailers and restaurants, and 40,300 square feet is earmarked for 48 units of affordable housing. The mix is four three-bedroom units, eight two-bedroom units, 20 one-bedroom units, 16 studios and ground floor lobbies.

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_28_2017_Slow_Growth_Activists_Girding_for_Fight_Against_Downtown_Santa_Monica_Plaza.html

February 27, 2017 -- While the effort to change how Santa Monica’s City Council is elected from at-large races to district-based contests is being argued in court, a similarly sized city in Santa Barbara County has decided to make the shift.

A trial for that lawsuit [Santa Monica] is scheduled to begin October 30, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s website.

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_27_2017_Santa_Maria_Moves_Toward_District_Based_Voting_Could_Santa_Monica_Be_%20Next.html

by Robert Kronovet

Dear Editor,

It's been awhile since I've written; the time has come to discuss once again the nature and interactions between housing, the right to private property, rent control, upwards mobility and the state of our nation.

Read More: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2017/02_27_2017_LETTERS_Santa_Monica_Should_Encourage_Home_Ownership.html

February 23, 2017 -- After years of the steep hikes that produced today’s sky-high rents, Santa Monica tenants are getting a tiny and very brief break, a new survey of rents in metropolitan Los Angeles shows.

But they shouldn't get their hopes up.

Average rent in Santa Monica dropped about 2.4 percent in December, compared to December 2015, according to Yardi Matrix, a Santa Barbara-based company that tracks rents throughout Greater Los Angeles, as well as nationally.

The recent study by Apartments Rents also found a similar dip in Santa Monica rental rates, abeit smaller ("Santa Monica Rent Increases Slow but Prices Still Among Highest in Metro L.A.," February 1, 2017).

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_23_2017_Skyrocketing_Rents_Take_Brief_Break_in_Santa_Monica_Survey_Finds.html

February 23, 2017 -- After more than six years in the making, the final draft of Santa Monica's Downtown Community Plan (DCP) will be released April 12, City officials announced Wednesday, setting the stage for the final battle over future development in the heart of the city.

When it is eventually approved by the City Council, the DCP will dictate how much new development will be allowed downtown through 2030, the mass and height limits for new buildings, the amount of open space and related issues.

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_23_2017_Stage_Set_for_Final_Battle_Over_Downtown_Santa_Monica_Development_Plan.html

February 22, 2017 -- As it scrambles to avert the red ink of a predicted recession, the City of Santa Monica ranks among the highest in California in some employee pension cost indicators, according to a Stanford University research institute study.

Employee pension obligations for the City reached a total of more than $2.6 billion in 2015, according to the university’s Institute for Economic Policy Research, a think-tank that analyzes public pensions throughout California.

The data showed the City’s pension plans had assets worth $1,160,707,532 in 2015, leaving it with a shortfall of between $1,474,333,894 and $1,565,550,491, depending on the assumptions and methods used in calculations.

Read More: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_22_2017_Santa_Monica_Citys_Pension_Debt_Ranked_Among_Highest_in_California.html

By Susan Shelley, LA Daily News

ne of the more depressing tricks employed by people who favor more government control of everything is this: Put government controls on a business, which causes problems, and then use the problems as a justification for more government controls.

It’s like trying to reverse a case of alcohol poisoning with a jug of moonshine.

Nowhere is the “here, drink this,” cure more discouraging than in the housing market. Just recently, Assembly member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) and two co-sponsors introduced AB 1506, a bill to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

The Costa-Hawkins Act put statewide limits on the rent-control ordinances that local governments are allowed to enact. The law, passed in 1995, prohibited rent control on newly constructed residential housing starting in 1999. It also guaranteed owners of rent-controlled buildings the right to raise the rent to market rate for new tenants when former tenants moved out voluntarily.

Read More: http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20170222/reckless-bill-to-repeal-limits-on-rent-control-will-make-housing-crisis-worse-susan-shelley

On Friday, February 17, the last day for a bill to be introduced in the California State Legislature for 2017, Assemblymembers Bloom, Bonta and Chiu introduced AB 1506 a bill to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.  The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act has been the law in California for over 20 years.  

The current law (1) exempts new construction built after 1995 from local rent control laws,(2)  exempts single family homes from any form of rent control, and (3) requires all local rent control laws to contain a “vacancy decontrol” provision.  

Should Costa-Hawkins be repealed, each city and county in California would have the ability to adopt rent control measures without any limitations.

From a timing perspective, we [CAA] anticipate that AB 1506 will be set for a hearing in the Assembly Judiciary or Housing Committee in late March.

Michael Millman will provide an update at the next Owners' meeting, March 6, 2017

Read the bill: http://files.constantcontact.com/e89db90b001/b3e9ede7-10ad-4725-aa33-0c006e97d40c.pdf

February 21, 2017 -- In the clean energy game, everybody wants Santa Monica on its team. The City Council heard from suitors and their advocates last Tuesday on Valentine’s Day for Santa Monica to be a part of their clean energy effort.

The council made one thing clear at that meeting: it wants to pursue community choice aggregation (CCA), which involves a city government buying and selling its own electricity that is said to be cleaner and cheaper than current options.

The method to do that will be determined later this year.

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_21_2017_Santa_Monica_Council_Weighs_Options_on_Pursuing_Clean_Energy_Goals.html

by Elaine Golden-Gealer

ACTION REPRESENTS THE OWNERS and managers of thousands of units in Santa Monica. We read with interest your letter to the Editor of Santa Monica Daily Press printed on Feb. 15. We welcome the opportunity to dialog about RUBS with the hope that a mutually satisfactory outcome may result from our conversations.

Initially, we note that you mention “newer buildings” that “have the infrastructure ready to take on sub-meters.” We do not understand the term “newer buildings” in this context. All buildings constructed since 1990 have been built with sub-meters. So “newer buildings” with sub-meter ready infrastructure must be buildings that are over 27 years old. Do you agree? If not, what exactly do you mean by “newer buildings?” 

Next, we are unfamiliar with the term “sub-meter-ready buildings.” 

Read More on page 5: http://backissues.smdp.com/022117.pdf