ACTION Apartment Association

Santa Monica rent grows in November

12/13/2024 10:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

According to the November rental report by Apartment List, Santa Monica median rent grew by 1.3% in the month, with the median one-bedroom apartment now going for $2,338 and the median two-bedroom listed at $2,803.

Hot Topics on New Council's First Agenda

12/13/2024 10:17 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Discussions of the voting rights case against the City -- which will include four newly seated Councilmembers -- will resume after last-ditch efforts to settle the lawsuit failed ("Push to settle Voting Rights Case Fail," December 2, 2024).

Santa Monica rent prices fall once more

12/12/2024 10:21 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

According to Apartment List, Santa Monica rents dropped by 0.2% in October, down to $2,310 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,769 for a two-bedroom. Overall, rents in the city have decreased for 10 straight months per the website, with the overall 5.5% drop year-to-year being the largest among the 25 Los Angeles metro area cities listed in the report.

Lana Negrete Named Mayor

12/12/2024 8:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The newly constituted City Council appointed Lana Negrete as mayor for a one-year term. Caroline Torosis will serve as mayor pro tem for 2025, followed by Jesse Zwick in 2026.

New Council to Take Up Amended Projects

12/12/2024 8:35 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The amended proposal from the Hollywood Community Housing Corporation (HCHC), which was narrowly approved by the previous Council, scraps one of three proposed developments, reserving one of them for seniors.

Under the proposal, two of the three sites near the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center would be combined into an 82-unit development for seniors at 1211 and 1217 14th Street that includes 42 parking spaces.

City Manager to Leave Post

12/11/2024 11:11 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

White he will leave his position in February to assume the deputy manager post in Berkeley he held before coming to Santa Monica. There was no reason given for his unexpected resignation.

AND: https://smmirror.com/2024/12/santa-monica-city-manager-david-white-announces-february-2025-departure/

Liberal Establishment Back in Power

12/11/2024 11:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

After sweeping into office last month, Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya gave the city's liberal establishment the commanding control it had lost nearly four years earlier.

Fence, wall and hedge heights in multifamily zones

12/10/2024 1:37 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The city is seeking input from Santa Monica residents and property owners on potential municipal code updates that would increase fence, wall and hedge height limits in the front yard setback for certain multifamily zones.

SM.a.r.t Column: Climbing The Vertical Learning Curve

12/10/2024 12:01 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

It’s important to understand that the city didn’t arrive at this crisis overnight. The issues—declining tax revenues, rising employee benefit costs, aging infrastructure, and fiscal mismanagement—have been building for years. It’s like inheriting an old house where the original owner had been ignoring maintenance for decades. Now the roof is leaking, the foundation is cracking, and you’re scrambling to figure out which problem to address first.

The decisions the council makes now will shape the city’s future for decades.

Stop Wasting Our Tax Dollars

12/10/2024 11:33 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Maria Loya

Our residents deserve fair elections and we demand that the new City Council take their fiduciary responsibility seriously and stop wasting our tax dollars fighting the CVRA case.