Beginning in 2010, after the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United decided corporations and unions could raise and spend unlimited money, in elections, Political Action Committees (PACs) have dominated spending in national and local elections.

In Santa Monica, PACs have spent between $160,000 and $458,000 to re-elect City Council incumbents in every election over the past ten years.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2020/10_14_2020_Will_Special_Interest_PACs_Get_Incumbents_Re_Elected.html

Along with the alarming issues on the California State ballot there are a few alarming issues to be decided at the city and county level. In addition, you must choose who you want to run various local institutions and think hard about the environment that has been provided by incumbents. 

Read More: https://www.smobserved.com/story/2020/10/14/news/how-to-vote-on-our-local-santa-monica-issues-if-you-want-to-climb-out-of-the-toilet-were-in/4971.html

At its meeting on October 8, 2020, the Santa Monica Rent Control Board amended Chapter 16 of the Board regulations, respecting the withdrawal of accommodations from the rental market, to bring those regulations into conformity with recent changes to the state law Ellis Act, made by the 2019 Assembly Bill (AB) 1399, which became effective on January 1, 2020.

Read More on pg. 5: https://s3.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/101320.pdf

Three years ago, the city of Santa Monica completed a peak-hour bus-only lane that stretched along the Lincoln corridor — and since the project’s completion, Santa Monica has requested that the City of Los Angeles study a continuation of the southbound peak-hour bus-only lane on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Los Angeles Department of Transportation officials recently said. The proposed upgrades have been dubbed the “Lincoln Fast Forward” project and the project area consists of a 1.1-mile segment of Lincoln Boulevard.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/community-input-on-prospective-lincoln-improvements-wanted/197423

Editor’s Note: There are 21 candidates running for City Council, eight for School Board, four for College Board and four for Rent Control Board. Below readers will find brief descriptions of each candidate. 

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/2020-candidate-list/197417

The Santa Monica Rent Control Board ended its last budget cycle with a small projected surplus of about $42,000.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/rent-control-board-talks-budget/197387

Most Civil Trials Continued Until January 2021; All Other Civil Non-Jury Trials May Resume on or After November 16, 2020

Read More: https://www.smobserved.com/story/2020/10/12/news/unlawful-detainer-trials-family-law-hearings-and-2-day-trials-allowed-to-proceed-in-los-angeles-superior-courts/4962.html

I am a long term Santa Monica resident, and can remember the bad old days of “vacancy control”. It was horrific.

Prop 21 would return vacancy control to Santa Monica, and so cap the price of rents to new renters, often at very low levels – and over time inflation will send those capped rents lower and lower.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/your-column-here-no-on-21/197372

A city with competing values and conflicting priorities. Public safety increasingly managed to a non-resident agenda. Resident quality of life subordinated to unrelenting economic development. Economic development justified by the need for public investment in sustainability. Sustainability initiatives that actually have virtually no impact on the residents’ daily quality of life.

Conflicting priorities makes for conflicted policymaking. 

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/10/column-santa-monica-a-broken-system/

The City announced Friday that it has hired a consulting firm specializing in law enforcement oversight to investigate the Police Department's response to the May 31 riots.

Under the contract, OIR Group will be paid no more than $75,000 to complete the independent after-action report and evaluation of SMPD's response within six months, City officials said.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/October-2020/10_09_2020_City_Hires_Firm_to_Probe_Police_Response_to_Riots.html

AND: https://www.smdp.com/oir-group-selected-to-lead-may-31-after-action-report/197356