ACTION Apartment Association

Rental prices fall on Los Angeles & Santa Monica Apartments

06/08/2020 7:47 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

It took a pandemic to make it happen, but Los Angeles and Santa Monica rental prices appear to be on the way down for the first time since the Great Recession, according to a new report from real estate data tracker CoStar.

Between the first week of February and today, rental prices in LA fell from $2.51 per square foot to $2.49 per square foot, on average. That amounts to a roughly $15 price reduction for a 750-square-foot one-bedroom apartment.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE PROPOSED FY 2020-21 BUDGET

06/06/2020 8:40 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City Council, Housing Authority, and Parking Authority of the City of Santa Monica will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on June 23, 2020.

Santa Monica Overwhelmed. SMa.r.t.

06/05/2020 12:01 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Chaos, anguish, despair, and lawlessness gripped our city on Sunday. By Monday, anger, disbelief, and heartbreak were the words of choice. One Hundred Fifty-Five businesses had “significant” damage. Over Three Hundred Fifty reported some loss. Nine fires set. Citations issued to Four Hundred Thirty-Eight people. None spent a night in jail. A petition to remove the Chief of Police has garnered over 37,000 signatures in five days.

One in Ten Santa Monica Rent Control Tenants Failed to Pay Full Rent

05/29/2020 10:49 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

As rent becomes due Monday, a survey found that approximately 10 percent of Santa Monica rent control tenants did not pay their full rent in April and May due to the impacts of the coronavirus emergency.

The ongoing survey of landlords and tenants conducted by the Rent Board and presented at its meeting last Thursday provides a glimpse of the economic impacts of the shutdown on the beach city.

City Hall releases draft of next year’s budget

05/29/2020 10:29 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica City Council approved Tuesday a plan to restore $6.4 million in funding to programs that city staff had proposed eliminating to fill a $224 million budget deficit over the next two years.

The city also released a draft budget for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, showing that about 469 city employees have been bought out or laid off ⁠— 20% of its former workforce of 2,298 full-time equivalent positions. The $607.4 million budget proposed for next fiscal year is nearly 25% smaller than last year’s budget, and projected revenues will be 20% smaller at $537.6 million.

Announcing Santa Monica Cares

05/29/2020 10:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Building on last week’s announcement of a new website section and resources for Santa Monica’s economic recovery as well as a presentation before Council on Tuesday, May 26, the City joins local community organizations and residents in rallying together to support Santa Monica’s economic recovery through Santa Monica Cares. Santa Monica Cares is the community-partnered outreach effort for Santa Monica’s economic recovery.

A Fresh Start for a City Mired in Old Solutions - SMa.r.t.

05/29/2020 10:14 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A city that has prided itself over the years for its innovation and public service appears to be boxed-in by outmoded ideas that may benefit the few at the expense of many. What happened to our sense of community?

We appear to have forgotten the age-old concepts of public ownership of resources held in trust for the common good. The concept of the town commons, where the community owns land and assets, including access to views and air, for the benefit of all (an American concept that goes back hundreds of years) has been deeply eroded by the wayward tangents of the city’s direction in recent years. We are in danger of making things worse.

City Council Approves $6.4 Million in Restoration of High Value Programs

05/27/2020 5:14 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

At its meeting last night, May 26, 2020, the Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved restoring a number of key services into the City budget as the City restructures its operations to respond to the impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The restorations include programs and services that City Council prioritized and hundreds of community members have expressed a desire to preserve – from access to playground and fields to expanded Swim Center hours and resources for seniors. The restorations reflect the needs of young children to our oldest residents and include foundational needs like housing and food assistance as well as program dollars for sustainability and mobility initiatives.

Santa Monica Mayor Appears on CNN Asking for Federal Bailout

05/26/2020 5:12 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown appeared on CNN over the weekend and made the case for a bailout for the city from the federal government.

“Things are financially pretty grim. We want to get the city reopened as quickly as we can, but we need to protect people not only from each other, but from themselves. Our local economy has tanked. We are a tourism town. People have been coming here for over 100 years. Tourism has ended, for the time being, our hotels are empty, our restaurants are doing just pickup and delivery, the City revenue there has, therefore, cratered and we have done an estimate that over the next two years, we are down by $224 million in this city,” McKeown told CNN.

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Petition to Hear Voting Rights Appeal

05/26/2020 5:05 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a petition to take up a case challenging the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) at the center of a districting lawsuit against Santa Monica.

Kevin Shenkman, who represents the Latino plaintiff's in the Santa Monica case, which the City appealed after a Superior Court found it had violated the CVRA, greeted the Supreme Court's quick denial of the petition.

"This is good for all of California," Shenkman said. "It is yet another confirmation that the CVRA is a constitutional exercise of the State's authority to ensure that minority votes are not diluted."

Shenkman, however, does not believe the Court's decision would have impacted the districting lawsuit against the City, which a California Appeals Court is expected to decide by July.