ACTION Apartment Association

Your Column Here – Will City Council Cave to Another Big Developer?

09/23/2020 8:13 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This project doesn’t give the commensurate level of community benefits to justify approving its DA as opposed to approving a smaller project under current zoning standards. The 48 units of affordable housing are not nearly enough. It also doesn’t mitigate the known community burdens that will be caused by eliminating the existing Wilshire entrance and adding new entrances on neighboring streets ill-designed to accommodate the increased traffic.

Councilmember Seeks Opinion on Potential Conflict in Miramar Vote

09/23/2020 8:02 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Councilmember Gleam Davis has asked the City Attorney whether she should recuse herself from voting on the Miramar project the Council will consider Tuesday night.

Davis' husband, John Prindle, has been a high ranking official for eight years with Dell Technologies, whose founder and CEO Michael Dell owns the Miramar through his private investment firm MSD Capital.

SMa.r.t. Column: Spending and Pension Policies Are Undermining Our City’s Future

09/22/2020 11:49 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Potential Non-Resident Spending Could Hit $1.5 Billion…or More

Potential climate and pension spending works out to between $1.25 to $1.5M BILLION, to be funded over approximately 10 or so years as the climate initiative has been delayed, but not cancelled. This, from a city with total annual revenues averaging ~$650M pre-Covid, and which will be $535M this year.

Santa Monica Extends Eviction Moratorium

09/22/2020 11:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica on Monday paved the way for outdoor events at City sites that include concerts, drive-in movies and "commercial fitness activities."

The order -- the 26th supplement issued over the past six months -- also extends the City’s eviction moratorium and local emergency orders through the end of the year.

AND: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2020/09/21/expanded-covid-safe-outdoor-opportunities-eviction-moratorium-and-local-emergency-orders-extended-to-december-31

Here’s Why This Is a Highly Unusual Council Race

09/21/2020 9:16 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This year there’s something highly unusual going on with the five incumbents. Only one of the four incumbents running for a 4-year term on the city council identified themselves as a councilmember in the ballot designations submitted to the City Clerk.

In prior years, take 2016 for example, all sitting councilmembers designated themselves as such. We can’t remember an election cycle in recent memory in which any sitting Councilmember didn’t highlight their elected position.

Chief discussing May looting with community groups

09/18/2020 8:12 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

With the official report analyzing the city’s response to the May 31 looting delayed by at least six months, Police Chief Cynthia Renaud has begun touring local community groups to provide details on the delay and answer community concerns over public safety.

Lawsuit Seeks Reimbursement For Unpaid Rent During COVID Emergency

09/18/2020 8:06 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A group of rental companies has sued eight Southern California cities -- including Santa Monica -- seeking reimbursement for unpaid rent deferred during the coronavirus emergency.

Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, the lawsuit -- which also names the County and State -- claims the eviction moratoriums imposed by the defendants over the past half year constitute a takings without just compensation.

Malibu Gives Initial Approval To Short-Term Rental Ordinance

09/18/2020 7:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Malibu City Council gave initial approval to a temporary short-term rental enforcement ordinance Monday night. If approved at a later meeting, the enforcement ordinance will take effect Jan. 15, 2021.

Nine in Ten Renters Expected to Pay Full Rent

09/16/2020 10:03 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Nine in ten U.S. renters paid their rent in full last month and are expected to do the same in September, although many will once again pay late, according to a nationwide survey by Apartment List.

The apartment rental site -- which has been surveying more than 4,000 tenants nationwide every month since the coronavirus emergency began -- found that 68 percent of renters made an on-time payment in the first week of September.

Santa Monica City Council Enacts New Chinese Exclusion Law

09/15/2020 8:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By Mathew Millen

On September 8, the City Council enacted a new ordinance governing the rental of housing in Santa Monica ("Santa Monica Council Approves Measures to Spur New Housing," August 26, 2020).

Under the ordinance, "a landlord and tenant may enter into a lease only if the tenant will use and occupy the rental housing unit as the tenant’s primary residence."

The new law also requires that the lease be for at least one year and prohibits a property owner to lease furnished housing, a feature college students and medical interns at our hospitals frequently look for.

In effect, rental housing providers can no longer rent to foreign students under the ordinance.