The move was prompted by Mayor Phil Brock's urgent proposal to "sequester" as much as $3.8 million to address a public safety "crisis" highlighted when a homeless sex offender attacked three women on the beach the day before the vote ("Homeless Sex Offender Goes on Violent Rampage on Santa Monica Beach," June 25, 2024).

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2024/July-2024/07_01_2024_Council_Adopts_Budget.html

Brock said in a phone interview that he considered it "beyond the pale" that the council could not find a way to increase public safety now. "So we're letting the city burn for another 4 months b/f we can even talk about what's needed."

Read More: https://www.smobserved.com/story/2024/07/01/news/public-safety-do-we-need-more-lets-study-the-matter-says-santa-monica-city-council/8358.html

Four years ago, our esteemed colleague Mario Fonda-Bonardi wrote the prescient essay below when much of the legislative development juggernaut was beginning to make itself felt in our city. Let’s take a look at the questions in the article and see if any of them, even a single one, has been answered four years later (please remember the dates in the article refer to events four years ago).

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2024/06/sm-a-r-t-column-santa-monica-under-scags-boot/

The four-hour-long count taken in Santa Monica on the night of January 24 "reflects the actual number of people, along with what LAHSA calls 'improvised dwellings' counted by volunteers," City officials said

In Santa Monica, volunteers -- who for the first time were led by LAHSA and not the City -- physically counted 479 homeless persons outdoors, including at city beaches.

It also recorded 173 individuals in shelters, including those staying that night at SAMOSHEL, the city’s shelter.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2024/June-2024/06_28_2024_Homeless_Population_Drops_in_First_County_Run_Count.html

The report released Wednesday found that the median rent in the city decreased by -0.3 percent during the month, and has now fallen by a total of -4.0 percent over the past 12 months.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2024/June-2024/06_28_2024_Santa_Monica_Rental_Market_Remains_Sluggish.html

Santa Monica's political establishment will field a united slate in the November race for four City Council seats after the local Democratic Club made its endorsements Wednesday.

The group, "by a wide margin," endorsed Santa Monica College Trustee Barry Snell, Planning Commission Chair Ellis Raskin, Natalya Zernitskaya and Pier Corporation Board member Dan Hall, Club officials announced Thursday.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2024/June-2024/06_27_2024_Major_Establishment_Groups_to_Field_United_Council_Slate.html

Let’s harness our collective passion to enact the needed change.

Read More: https://smdp.com/2024/06/27/santa-monica-renaissance-a-call-to-restore-our-city-to-its-former-glory/

During the June 20 meeting of the SMMUSD Board of Education, the board gave staff approval to develop bond measure resolutions for the November ballot. The two bond measures would be for $495 million in School Facility Improvement District #1 (Santa Monica schools) and $395 million in School Facility Improvement District #2 (Malibu schools).

Read More on page 1: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/062624.pdf

How do you like the artist’s rendering of Santa Monica’s newest skyscraper, a low rise 24 stories coming to 6th and Colorado. When? Never is too soon for me.

And that’s the crux of it, isn’t it? The fights and division here, over how the future of our city should look. A lot of it depends on how you feel about development. I started as common sense, slow-growth for my city. It’s not a good plan for any community to stay stuck in the past; some managed growth is good. Then as I saw how much was being built here, accompanied by ill effects, I decided it was time for a moratorium on new construction. I said years ago we needed to take a pause, but that didn’t happen, and it has only exploded since.

Read More: https://smdp.com/2024/06/26/ive-had-it/

Shelton is now hired by property owners to target squatters living in their homes without permission. Property owners start by giving him a lease, with the legal rights that come with it.

Read More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/how-property-owners-are-turning-the-tables-on-squatters/ar-BB1oT4qL?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=7b23c293d30f45ea91796521edb8397f&ei=13