ACTION Apartment Association

Brock Proposes Alternative to Mayor's "Outrageous" Transfer Tax

05/27/2022 4:53 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Brock's measure would charge a real estate transfer tax of $15 per $1,000 on commercial properties that sell for more than $8 million, with the tax applying only to the amount above that threshold.

Himmelrich's proposed tax would charge $53 per $1,000 on all properties valued at $8 million or more, with the entire amount taxed.

Three local tax measures could appear on November ballot

05/26/2022 10:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Councilmembers agree that the City should seek to raise revenues through a ballot measure, but what taxes to increase and where to spend the money is up for debate.

City Council Weighs in on Proposed FY 2022-23 Budget

05/26/2022 10:24 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

To expedite economic recovery, enhance public safety presence and address homelessness, the City must seek a combination of new ongoing and one-time revenues.

Is Gelson’s Our Future? Bigger Is Not Better & Not Necessary! – Part 2

05/24/2022 10:54 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

SMa.r.t.

The dream of our beachfront city is about to become a nightmare! Just imagine a tsunami of these projects washing onto the beaches of Santa Monica over the next 10 years – sad, no – alarming! The proposed project supplanting Gelson’s market at Lincoln & Ocean Park is much higher, much denser, with more traffic, and overall a horrific model for the future of our city.

Local government representatives pen coastal bills

05/24/2022 10:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

AB 2762

Richard Bloom’s AB 2762, focuses not on coastal resources but on the housing and homelessness crisis seen up and down the California coast. It “is an intent bill that would authorize local governments to build affordable housing on parking lots that serve parks and recreational facilities,” per the California Coastal Commission staff.

Santa Monica Rent Controlled Building Sells for Record $330 Million

05/24/2022 10:17 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The former Champagne Towers -- a half-century-old rent control apartment complex -- has sold for $330 million, making it the most expensive apartment sale in Santa Monica history.

According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, Santa Monica-based Douglass Emmett purchased the 120-unit complex at 1221 Ocean Avenue from Newport Beach-based Irvine Co., for an average of $2.75 million a unit.

Mayor's Transfer Tax Campaign to Submit Signatures Next Month

05/24/2022 10:16 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Mayor Sue Himmelrich said Monday that her campaign to dramatically boost Santa Monica's transfer tax on high-end real estate plans to submit signed ballot petitions to the City Clerk by mid-June.

The proposed tax measure -- which would charge a real estate transfer tax of $53 per $1,000 on properties valued at $8 million or more to fund homeless housing -- will submit more tha 10,500 signatures, Himmelrich said.

Is the Big Housing Crunch Mostly Fiction?

05/23/2022 11:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In some parts of California, there is definitely a housing crunch: small supplies of homes for sale, prices that escalate even when population has apparently stabilized and high prices that exclude most Californians as buyers.

But a massive, multi-million-unit shortage? Maybe not. At least, so suggests a scathing springtime report from the non-partisan acting state auditor.

SMa.r.t. Column: Failure to Plan…

05/23/2022 10:33 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Over the last approximately two years your City has been busy trying to respond to new California laws that are completely destroying the urban fabric and quality of life of our City. Specifically, the State’s requirement to permit least 9000 new units (including 6000 affordable units) over the next eight years has coerced a massive up zoning and eviscerated our previous planning codes.

County Supervisor candidates spar in CD3 forum

05/23/2022 10:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The candidates (Jeffi Girgenti, Roxanne Beckford Hoge, Craig Brill Henry Stern, Lindsay Horvath and Bob Hertzberg) were given between 30 seconds and a minute for each response, which created a lightning round ambiance, but also allowed for all candidates to cover a broad range of topics.