ACTION Apartment Association

Budget trims 17.3M in city spending

05/31/2019 9:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The bulk of new spending in the City of Santa Monica’s proposed budget will go toward improving transportation and fighting climate change.

The biennial budget City Manager Rick Cole released last Thursday proposes spending $38 million on various mobility projects and $29 million on water sustainability and electric vehicle charging next fiscal year. Under the proposed budget, the City would also spend $4 million on park safety enhancements, a criminal prosecution case management system and a staging facility for the Santa Monica Police Department.

Council rejects appeal of neighborhood garden project

05/30/2019 9:05 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A proposed educational garden and kitchen at 4th Street and Montana Avenue will be able to hold frequent classes and fundraisers despite concerns from neighbors about noise, light and traffic.

City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to double the number of small events the Rainbow Garden will be allowed to hold, rejecting an appeal from residents that asked the garden to hold only classes and fundraisers, go dark by 9 p.m. on weeknights and 10 p.m. on weekend nights, and close on weekends and holidays. The appeal also argued that the garden’s fence should be transparent for better integration with the neighborhood and requested that parking for events larger than 50 people be provided offsite.

Pets or Wild Animals Could Transmit Typhus to People in Los Angeles County

05/30/2019 8:59 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Dept of Public Health, confirms two cases of typhus in Santa Monica in the last year. He said they have found typhus in Santa Monica in the past, on rats, feral cats and opossums. It has not recently found cases in people.

There is a concern that they could be transmitted from the animals to people sleeping in the park, by way of fleas. Another concern is shelter workers, who could contract disorders from animals.

City Officials Propose Trims to Community Programs

05/30/2019 8:40 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica will likely tighten its belt by scaling back or eliminating underused programs at community centers, swimming pools and schools, City officials said Wednesday.

The cutbacks are part of a strategy for the proposed 2019-21 Biennial Budget that calls for using general fund money to pay $16.6 million towards the City's pension debt.

Santa Monica City Council Decides to Spend $800 Million to Fight Global Warming Locally

05/30/2019 8:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

It's more money than it would take to build an aircraft carrier, or 1600 units of housing.

Almost without fanfare or notice, the City of Santa Monica has voted to spend $800 Million over ten years to reduce its carbon foot print. This is $8,000 per resident, or about 3 times the City's annual budget. It's more money than it would take to build an aircraft carrier, or 1600 units of housing.

"Last night, the Santa Monica City Council adopted the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), the City's roadmap to achieving an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching community-wide carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner", said City information czar Constance Farrell, in a press release.

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http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/May-2019/05_29_2019_Santa_Monica_Adopts_800_Million_Plan_to_Fight_Climate_Change.html

California can’t solve its homelessness crisis without protecting renters

05/30/2019 8:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Editorial

Across California, cities and counties are reporting that homelessness — already at crisis levels in some communities — has only gotten worse.

Los Angeles County leaders are expected to announce soon that their county also saw double-digit growth in its homeless population. This, despite the county spending more than $600 million last year to ease the crisis.

Why, when counties and the state are pouring money into shelters and services, is homelessness growing? Because, even as regions are moving thousands of individuals off the streets, more people are becoming homeless, primarily because of rising rents and the lack of affordable housing.

Ellis act evictions driven by new owners

05/29/2019 10:45 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica could halt the loss of its housing supply by prohibiting developers from replacing rent-controlled apartment buildings with single-family homes and small condominiums, according to a new City of Santa Monica report.

Developers are buying small rent-controlled buildings and making swift use of the Ellis Act, a 1985 state law that allows landlords to evict tenants if they want to get out of the rental business, to replace them with single-family homes, duplexes or triplexes, capitalizing on Santa Monica’s skyrocketing home prices and eroding the city’s housing stock.

Santa Monica Addresses Climate Crisis

05/29/2019 10:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Building on early successes, Council sets goal for an 80% greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030 in new plan. Staff estimate that implementing the plan would cost over $800 million over the next decade.

Last night, the Santa Monica City Council adopted the Climate Action & Adaptation Plan (CAAP), the City’s roadmap to achieving an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching community-wide carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner. The CAAP also includes comprehensive plans for adapting to climate change and developing community resilience to more frequent hot days, coastal smog conditions, and impacts from wildfire, and those that are likely to occur in the future, such as sea level rise. This comes as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced earlier this month that global atmospheric carbon reached 415 parts per million surpassing levels not seen in recorded history.

The Homeless Industrial Complex

05/29/2019 7:11 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Every major city in California is spending tens of millions or more on programs for the homeless.

Los Angeles could be at risk of a deadly typhus epidemic this summer according to Dr. Drew Pinsky, an outspoken celebrity doctor and specialist in addiction medicine. Pinsky, a Los Angeles native, recently quoted on Fox News, said: “We have tens and tens of thousands of people living in tents. Horrible conditions. Rats have taken over the city. We’re the only city in the country, Los Angeles, without a rodent control program. We have multiple rodent-borne, flea-borne illnesses, plague, typhus. We’re going to have louse-borne illness. Measles could break into that population. We have tuberculosis exploding.”

Montana garden project appealed to City Council

05/28/2019 8:25 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Plans for an educational garden project at 4th and Montana could get pruned this week when City Council hears an appeal of the project.

The Rainbow Garden has been trying to take root at 401 Montana Ave. since 2015 and the project recently went before the Planning Commission who approved the use with several conditions. A group of residents have filed an appeal that doesn’t oppose the project opening but does ask for additional restrictions on opening hours and allowed events.