ACTION Apartment Association

100 Families Apply for SM Program Prioritizing Housing for Historically Displaced Households

02/25/2022 9:07 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

More than 100 families have applied to a pilot program that gives priority on Santa Monica's affordable housing waitlist to the households who were displaced by the Civic Auditorium or I-10 Freeway projects in the 1950s and 1960s, civic officials announced this week.

Gelson's Proposed Project Is a Done Deal

02/25/2022 9:03 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Under SB330, which is meant to fast track new housing construction, the nearly 900,000-square-foot project -- comprised of ten five-story buildings on a 4.7-acre site -- only requires an administrative approval, Martin said.

WE CAN TALK - Charles Andrews

02/24/2022 8:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

YOU CAN’T STOP THIS ONE

The monster coming to plant itself at the already very busy intersection of Lincoln and Ocean Park. And this 10-building project (ugly buildings too, in my opinion), nearly a million square feet, will take out all the community-serving businesses there now – UPS store, pharmacy, low cost haircuts, sushi restaurant, dry cleaners, nail salon, optical store, pet supplies, the full-size Gelson’s supermarket.

LA spending up to $837,000 to house a single homeless person

02/24/2022 8:54 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The program “is still unable to meet the demands of the homelessness crisis,” Galperin said in a letter accompanying the 31-page report. The pace of development is sluggish, he said, while the cost of each unit continues to rise — in some cases to “staggering heights.”

Most of the units are studios or one-bedroom apartments. The audit found 14% of the units build exceeded $700,000 each, and one project in pre-development is estimated to cost almost $837,000 per unit.

Prang Seeks Third Term as LA County Assessor

02/24/2022 8:35 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

We asked Assessor Prang some questions about the role and responsibility of his position and how those responsibilities impact Westside neighborhoods.

How are properties valued?

The appraisal of property begins using industry standard methods: the market, cost, and income approaches. The appraisal may be adjusted based on a number of considerations, including partial ownership, exclusions, exemptions, Prop. 13 limitations, etc.

Council Nixes Probe into Closed Session Leaks

02/24/2022 8:33 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City Council on Tuesday voted not to pursue an investigation into the source of closed session leaks it had approved earlier this month.

The Council failed to muster the four votes needed to hire an investigative team to get to the bottom of the leaks some Councilmembers beleive are jeopardizing key hires.

Santa Monica's Communications Director to Leave Post

02/24/2022 8:31 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Debbie Lee -- who turned Santa Monica's small communications staff into a department of as many as ten employees -- will leave her post, City officials announced Wednesday.

As Santa Monica's Chief Communications officer, a post she assumed in July 2014, Lee established Santa Monica's citywide communications program and developed the City's new website, City officials said.

In first address, new City Manager describes an optimistic vision

02/23/2022 10:15 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

When it came to the economic outlook for 2022, White said revenue loss projections, which had been predicted at about $220 million over three years, was revised down to a loss of $188 million in that time period.

City revenues rebound yet economic recovery remains elusive

02/21/2022 9:06 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Nuggets of good news brightened the gloomy overtones of the City’s midyear budget review — like the announcement of a $30 million influx of unanticipated revenues, which ever so slightly lessens the sting of the $188 million in revenue lost and over 420 staff positions cut as a result of the pandemic.

This $30 million difference between the forecasted general fund revenues from Fiscal Year 2021 to 2022 and what is now expected signals that Santa Monica’s economy is rebounding faster than predicted.

Ocean Park residents oppose 571 unit development

02/21/2022 9:04 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Over 500 people attended the second community Zoom meeting for the proposed 571-unit Lincoln Center Project, which mainly consisted of residents sharing their opposition to the project with the development team.

The project is located at the corner of Lincoln Blvd. and Ocean Park Blvd. on the site of an existing Gelson’s grocery store and surface parking lot.