ACTION Apartment Association

Virus Proving How Disastrous SB 50 Could Have Been

05/05/2020 7:14 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

As Californians shelter at home, eagerly awaiting the eventual reopening of myriad businesses and hoping for the quick rehire of millions of the virally unemployed, at least they can be thankful state legislators had the good sense early this year to bury a proposed law called SB 50.

That was the effort by San Francisco’s Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener to make most of this state as densely populated as the Castro District he has long called home, filled with aged wooden walk-up apartment buildings.

Over 400 SM City Jobs, Services set to be Eliminated

05/04/2020 6:08 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On Tuesday, Santa Monica City Council will vote on eliminating over 400 positions and a reduction in services as part of budget cuts brought on by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Using a combination of one-time funds and ongoing budget reductions, the city is proposing reductions totaling $86.2 million, including 337.2 permanent full-time positions and around 150 as-needed full-time positions. In the General Fund, the staff has identified $60.6 million, 159 permanent, and 125 as-needed full-time positions for elimination.

City Hall cuts 481 staff with large program reductions

05/04/2020 9:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The city of Santa Monica is planning to cut $203.2 million from its budget and about 337 permanent and 144 temporary jobs as the coronavirus shutdown devastates the sectors of Santa Monica’s

economy that sustain city revenues. With a projected general fund deficit of $224 million through June 2022, City Council will vote Tuesday on a budget plan that proposes freeing up $117 million in one-time funds and cutting $86.2 million in ongoing costs through radical cuts to city programs, services and

staffing. Many in-person services would be shifted to a redesigned city website, both to facilitate physical distancing and to save money.

1,400 apartments coming to Lincoln

05/04/2020 9:51 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

With 14 mixed-use developments planned or under construction, the stretches of Lincoln Boulevard and Colorado Avenue on the edge of downtown Santa Monica will soon be home to nearly 1,400 new households.

Santa Monica’s Land Use and Circulation Element directs taller and denser multifamily development downtown, along major corridors and near transit. All three conditions apply to the stretches of Lincoln and Colorado bordered by Santa Monica Boulevard, the 10 Freeway and the terminus of the Metro E Line. For developers looking to build in Santa Monica, the area that until recently was mostly home to older, low-rise buildings has become a go-to location for ambitious projects.

#CancelRent Is New Rallying Cry

05/03/2020 10:11 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

From New York to Los Angeles, tenant groups are encouraging millions of renters to withhold May rent, which landlords warn would be devastating.

Editorial – No more blood to give

05/02/2020 10:25 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The COVID-19 crisis sweeping our city and the world is an unprecedented challenge to our accepted way of life but it’s also a rare opportunity to reflect on the foundations of our systems and make changes. Vital, if hard, changes.

Our entire culture is experiencing a moment of reevaluation. What do we really need? What do we want most? What makes life a joyous experience?

Affordable housing has long been cited as a beloved community priority but it’s an expensive and burdensome pursuit has failed to meet goals while a glut of market-rate units have diluted the city’s architectural personality into a generic blur.

City Releases Proposed Plan for Santa Monica’s Future

05/02/2020 10:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Last night, the City of Santa Monica posted its staff report outlining a proposed plan for restructuring City operations in response to the public health emergency and related economic impacts caused by COVID-19. The plan will be considered by the City Council at a special meeting on Tuesday, May 5 at 3 p.m.

AND: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-to-lay-off-337-permanent-employees-cut-77-7-million-in-ongoing-costs/190393

Costa Hawkins: the California law renters want repealed, explained

05/02/2020 9:59 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

For for first the time in history, California has implemented rent control statewide. But it has an old law on the books that curbs how individual cities and counties implement rent control at the local level.

That law is known as the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Established in 1995, it sets limits on the kind of rent control policies cities are able to impose. Right now, more than a dozen places statewide have their own rent control policies—many of them stricter and more comprehensive than the new state law.

City Plan Eliminates Nearly 500 Jobs, Scraps Programs

05/02/2020 9:58 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Slammed with a projected deficit of $224 million by July 2022, the City Council on Tuesday is expected to eliminate nearly 500 positions, shutter facilities and drastically scale back programs and services.

The elimination of 337 full-time and 144 temporary positions will help Santa Monica absorb the impact of a coranavirus shutdown that resulted in a $48 million budget gap through June alone.

The proposed cuts the City Council will take up on Tuesday are only an initial step to prevent further cutbacks, but they will alter the daily lives of Santa Monica's 93,000 residents.

AND: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-to-lay-off-337-permanent-employees-cut-77-7-million-in-ongoing-costs/190393

Cronavirus Crisis Fuels Development Debate

05/01/2020 1:37 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The financial crisis triggered by the cornavirus shutdown is reigniting a longstanding debate between pro-development and slow-growth forces in Santa Monica.

Developers and their allies argue that planning and zoing impediments must to be immediately lifted for the city to recover from a financial blow that, according to City officials, has resulted in the loss of $72 million in revenues over the past six weeks.

Critics question the revenue bounty promised by new projects and counter that developers are exploitng the crisis "to accomplish long sought but unpopular goals."