ACTION Apartment Association

Santa Monica City Council Approves Miramar Expansion

09/30/2020 12:10 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica City Council has approved plans that have been in the works for a decade to redevelop the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, despite opposition from the mayor and a councilmember.

In a meeting that began Tuesday night and ended in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Santa Monica City Council approved the proposed redevelopment of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows with a 4-2 vote.

AND: https://www.smdp.com/city-council-approves-miramar-revitalization/196964

The Artful Dodgers By Mary Marlow

09/30/2020 12:06 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Miramar Hotel managed to use a loophole in 2006 when they purchased the Miramar property for $200 million to save approximately $1.2 million every year in property taxes.

That means the County of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Monica and the local school district lost needed revenue for the past 14 years of around $20 million dollars.

I bring these lost revenues up now because the Miramar is coming before our City Council with another revenue dodge -- a development agreement that offers meager community benefits in exchange for a massive new building that will bring them profits in excess the generous 12 percent expected of hotel projects.

Something's Not Right

09/29/2020 9:54 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

And in two minutes you’re going to know exactly what it is and what you can do about it. First the facts… —The Santa Monica City Council is set to vote THIS Tuesday, September 29th on the super-sized Miramar Hotel, owned by Michael S. Dell, whom Forbes says is the 39th-richest person in the world, worth $35 billion. —The hotel would essentially DOUBLE in SIZE.

Lawsuit Filed Against Plaza Development

09/29/2020 9:44 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A slow-growth group has filed a lawsuit to halt the development of an 11-story, 240-room luxury hotel proposed on publicly-owned land in downtown Santa Monica.

The proposed development, known as The Plaza at Santa Monica, is an 11-story, 240-room luxury hotel, with 106,800 square feet of creative office space, approximately 40,000 square feet of open public space and 48 units of affordable housing at 4th Street and Arizona Avenue in Downtown Santa Monica.

New housing goals stir opposition

09/29/2020 9:40 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Meanwhile, ambitious housing bills languished in a pandemic-truncated legislative session wracked by internal discord. Most spectacularly, Senate Bill 1120, which would have more or less erased single-family zoning to spur construction of multi-family projects, died in the final three minutes of the session despite being carried by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins.

Transparency Project – Miramar lawyers donating to city council

09/27/2020 8:55 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica Transparency Project issues this Report today on just disclosed recent donations from the Miramar Hotel’s lawyers and related family members to support the reelection of Councilmembers who will vote on the Miramar’s proposed massive luxury hotel/retail/condominium project this Tuesday.

After reviewing recently filed Campaign Disclosure statements the Transparency Project has discovered a pattern of the law firm of Harding, Larmore, Kutcher & Kozal, lawyers for the Miramar Hotel in its proposed project, and some family members, making a series of contributions to City Council incumbents’ campaigns as well as a PAC supporting them prior to Tuesday’s vote.

Slow-Growth Group Sues City to Halt Plaza Negotiations

09/27/2020 8:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A prominent slow-growth group filed a lawsuit against the City on Friday in an effort to halt negotiations over a mixed-use hotel development on publicly owned land Downtown.

The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Santa Monica Coalition for a Liable City (SMCLC), charges that the City failed to abide by the State's Surplus Land Act, which requires that the land be offered for affordable housing or use as open space.

Chamber Endorses Council Incumbents, Cites "Stability"

09/27/2020 8:51 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Saying "consistency and stability" are needed during "an unstable economic time," the Chamber of Commerce on Friday endorsed all five City Council incumbents.

Safe Voting Options for the November 3, 2020 Election

09/25/2020 10:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This election, Vote-By-Mail (VBM) ballots will be mailed to all registered voters in the County as a contact-less voting option. If voters choose to return their ballots by mail, the deadline to return them to the LA County Clerk/Registrar-Recorder’s Office was extended to 17 days provided that it is postmarked by Election Day.

SMa.r.t. Column: Needed, A Heart Transplant

09/25/2020 10:18 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

How has Santa Monica approached adaptive reuse? In the new zoning code adaptive reuse is mentioned only three times.

The council obviously needs a ‘heart’ transplant, and with 5 seats up in November, lets help our city get that new heart! And note that all five of the existing council members running for “re-election” were not “elected” by a vote of the public for their first terms, but rather appointed by ‘friendly’ sitting Council members in mid-term appointments. However, on the ballot they receive the benefit of being identified as ‘incumbent’. It is self-perpetuating, by and for, one political party’s control in Santa Monica for the past 40 years, and look what they have done, and are doing, in over-building our beach town and seemingly blending it into Los Angeles. No to incumbents.