As the City sent 30-day layoff notices to 156 Santa Monica employees Monday, the Lookout asked Council members if they would be willing to give up their salaries.

The latest figures obtained by the Lookout show that Council members received an annual salary of $15,696, while the mayor made $18,282 (The numbers have since increased by about $2,000.)

All seven Council members also received $29,012 a year in benefits and a budgeted car allowance of $4,416.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/May-2020/05_12_2020_Are_Council_Members_Willing_to_Give_Up_Their_Salaries.html

Drop the ill-conceived appeal now, and we will work with you on implementation of the district elections ordered by the Los Angeles Superior Court, and we will be reasonable in accommodating the City’s payment of our attorneys’ fees.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2020/05_08_2020_OPINION_An_Open_Letter_to_the_Santa_Monica_City_Council.html

A separate order adds specific language that expressly prohibits landlords from collecting interest on accrued rent for tenants impacted by COVID-19.

In addition, the order extends eligibility for affordable housing programs to individuals who were working in Santa Monica prior to March 1 "but lost employment due to COVID-19 related reasons."

A Fourth Revised First Supplement issued by the City Friday bars landlords from charging residential tenants "interest on unpaid rent for a period of 12 months following the expiration of the order."

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/May-2020/05_08_2020_City_Issues_Emergency_Order_Limiting_Hours_for_Heavy_Construction.html

Today, the City of Santa Monica issued a fourth revised first supplement adding greater specificity to the prohibition on landlords collecting interest on accrued rent for tenants impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Supplement also specifies that with respect to rent unpaid due to financial impacts related to COVID-19, landlords may not charge residential tenants interest on that unpaid rent for a period of 12 months following the expiration of the Order.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2020/05/08/new-emergency-orders-limit-construction-noise-suspend-plastic-bag-ban-extend-fire-permits-and-prevent-interest-on-rent

Santa Monica is shrinking. The city has felt more intimate to our residents over the past seven weeks. Streets that feel safer and walkable sidewalks are the norm. Traffic is now a distant purr instead of a constant cacophony of congestion and noise. The silence between sirens much longer. The roses are blooming, and the poppies open. Yet we are unsettled. The pandemic brings constant uneasiness to each of us.

The final budget adoption will be in mid-June. There are some in the city who are happy a day of reckoning is here. Santa Monica has overspent and overreached for decades. Can the same people who got us into this pickle be trusted to get us out?

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/05/sma-r-t-column-honey-we-shrunk-the-city/

Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR) on Monday proposed hiking taxes on select businesses to help the city recover from the steepest and swiftest economic downturn in its 145-year history.

Representatives of Santa Monica's crippled business sector, which already faces a daunting path to recovery, called the proposal "mystifying" and "unreal."

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/May-2020/05_07_2020_SMRR_Proposes_Business_Tax_Hikes.html

On April 30, 2020, the City of Santa Monica issued a revised supplemental emergency order that extends the City’s eviction moratorium to June 30, 2020.  The supplemental order also extends from six to twelve months the time for tenants to pay rent they were unable to pay because of financial impacts related to COVID-19.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2020/04/30/santa-monica-extends-its-temporary-eviction-moratorium-to-june-30-2020

The Tuesday City Council meeting was what we in the business call a doozy, but after watching eight hours worth of debate a few highlights and low-lights are readily apparent.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/thumbs-up-down-for-councils-budget-deliberations/190573

Tenants will soon have the right to sue landlords who violate restrictions that Los Angeles has placed on evicting renters during the coronavirus crisis, under a law passed Wednesday by the City Council.

Read More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-law-allows-tenants-to-sue-landlords-over-violating-l-a-restrictions-on-evictions/ar-BB13HHVX?ocid=hplocalnews

Over 400 city employees set to lose jobs, $203.2 million in budget cuts approved

At an over seven-hour meeting Tuesday, City Council authorized the abolition of 337 permanent positions and 144 part-time positions while approving $203.2 million in budget cuts.

The plan approved Tuesday frees up $117 million in one-time funds while slashing $86.2 million in ongoing expenses via cuts to city services, programing and staffing.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/05/santa-monica-city-council-approves-sweeping-cuts-layoffs/

AND: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-budget-cuts/190547