ACTION Apartment Association

Severe SoCal Water Restrictions Ordered

04/27/2022 9:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Water officials in Southern California declared a water shortage emergency Tuesday amid the state's worsening drought.

Outdoor watering will be immediately restricted to just one day a week across areas in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said in a release.

Density - Plaintiffs say SB10 includes a blatant constitutional overreach

04/27/2022 9:17 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is asking a Los Angeles Court to reject a lawsuit that seeks to overturn one of California’s recently enacted mandatory housing density laws, SB 10, which allows for 10 residential units on one parcel of land irrespective of local restrictions that say otherwise. The legislation allows municipalities to overrule zoning restrictions that were enacted by ballot initiatives, thereby running roughshod over the will of voters.

LA City Council calls on state to pass bill restricting Ellis Act evictions

04/26/2022 5:01 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

For the second time this year, the Los Angeles City Council has called for the state to pass legislation requiring a minimum of five years of ownership before a homeowner can invoke the Ellis Act to evict tenants and take property off the rental market.

Public input wanted on Rent Control charter amendment

04/26/2022 4:22 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Board is debating a proposed City Charter amendment that would make several revisions to its powers including requiring the registration of all non-rent-controlled rental units, amend existing rules to require that an owner intend to occupy a unit for at least three years instead of one year when seeking an owner exemption, require an owner to re-offer the unit to the displaced tenant if the owner fails to reside in the unit for at least three years, to allow an owner 60 days, instead of 30 days, to take occupancy of the unit, allow Commissioners to be elected to a maximum of three full terms to align with City elected officials and state that an election need not be held if the number of qualified candidates does not exceed the number of open board positions.

L.A. Residents Express Lowest-Ever Satisfaction With Quality of Life

04/26/2022 2:23 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

“For the first time since the inception of this survey, respondents’ ratings dropped in each of the nine categories, and eight of the nine fell to their lowest rating ever,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative, who oversees the index.

Letter to Editor: Your “Standing Firm With Santa Monica” Initiative

04/26/2022 2:21 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The following is an open letter to Councilmember Sue Himmelrich from Santa Monica resident Arthur Jeon regarding a proposed transfer tax ballot initiative.

The rest of the money will go into the ongoing pile of billions to address “homelessness,” a bottomless pit sucking up money while the problem only gets worse because the thinking around solving the issue is braindead, and doesn’t comport with reality.

It's Deja Vu for Santa Monica's Homeless Policies

04/26/2022 2:13 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

That the problem still persists after hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent is reflected in the numbers -- in 2008, 999 homeless people were counted in Santa Monica. In 2020, it was 985.

Don’t Sign the Petition

04/25/2022 9:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Solicitors are being posted outside the Gelson’s Grocery Store, Bob’s Market and possibly other neighborhood store locations to solicit signatures for a petition to place a new Santa Monica property “transfer tax” (i.e., sales tax) onto this November ballot.

Mixed-Use Development With Art Gallery Planned

04/25/2022 9:43 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

An empty lot used to store vehicles for an auto dealership at 1807 Broadway might become a mixed-use development with an art gallery as reported by Urbanize Los Angeles. The idea was proposed to the Santa Monica Architectural Review Board on April 18.

SMa.r.t. Column: Planning The Real Future

04/25/2022 9:39 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The city has a goal to be fully independent of the state’s water system, which supplies about a third of the city’s water needs and is under severe and increasing climate-change pressure. But a Public Works staff report to City Council last June suggested that the State’s new housing requirements would cause the city to fall short of that goal [link: https://tinyurl.com/2p862b4p]. A real, comprehensive master plan would plan for that eventuality, and start orienting the city toward a drier, hotter future with fewer resources. This would include guidelines for the design of buildings and courtyard-enabled city blocks similar to the methods developed by Professor Knowles.