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.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/09/lawsuit-filed-against-plaza-development/

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.

Read More: https://calmatters.org/commentary/2020/09/california-housing-shortage-crisis-goals/

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.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/transparency-project-miramar-lawyers-donating-to-city-council/196814

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.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/September-2020/09_25_2020_Slow_Growth_Group_Sues_City_to_Halt_Plaza_Negotiations.html

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

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/September-2020/09_25_2020_Chamber_Endorses_Council_Incumbents.html

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.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2020/09/24/safe-voting-options-for-the-november-3-2020-election

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.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/09/sma-r-t-column-needed-a-heart-transplant/

Santa Monica lawmakers will soon decide whether to approve or reject plans that have been in the works for a decade to redevelop one of the city’s most iconic hotels. 

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2020/09/miramar-project-to-go-before-city-council-tuesday/

 If early fundraising is any indication, the race for four full-term seats on the Santa Monica City Council could be a close one, with a slate of challengers giving incumbents a race for the money.

The four incumbents have raised a combined total of $65,236, while the four challengers on the Santa Monicans for Change slate have countered with $55,338, according to campaign finance statements submitted Thursday.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2020/September-2020/09_24_2020_Council_Challengers_Narrow_Traditional_Fundraising_Gap.html

AND: https://www.smdp.com/city-council-incumbents-lead-campaign-contributions-in-unusual-fundraising-season/196742

The Santa Monica Transparency Project has written an open letter accusing SM City Council member Gleam Davis of a conflict of interest regarding the proposed expansion of the Miramar Hotel, a project which has been in the works for about a decade. 

"Ms. Davis' husband John Prindle is a highly paid, long-term senior executive at Dell Technologies. See Ms. Davis' Schedule C, Form 700 filings from at least 2013. Indeed, he is Global Accounts Manager," says the letter.

Michael Dell, the largest shareholder in Dell Inc., also has a large interest in the Miramar property at the northeast corner of Ocean Avenue and Wilshire Blvd., the group says.