City manager Rick Cole confirmed at City Council’s Tuesday meeting that the upcoming 2019-2021 budget will include a proposal for a new historic preservation planner position. The plan, which is not yet finalized, will eliminate another vacant planner position to be “budget-neutral,” said Councilmember Ted Winterer.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-considering-full-time-historic-preservation-position/175277

The Santa Monica Rent Control Board next week will review a proposed $5.3 million operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year that deviates little from the current budget.

The proposed budget for the fiscal y that begins July 1 calls for nearly $5.179 in operating expenses and revenues totaling nearly $5.312 million, resulting in a surplus of some $133,000, according to staff.

Most of the money -- $4.436 million -- will be spent on salaries and wages for 24 full-time workers, with $62,512 set aside for "as-needed employees."

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/May-2019/05_03_2019_Rent_Board_to_Review_Budget_for_Upcoming_Fiscal_Year.html

The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office has filed a criminal complaint charging Miesha Charnae Grant with five counts of tenant harassment in violation of Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC) Section 4.56.020, one count of operating an unlawful business in violation SMMC Section 6.04.020, five counts of grand theft in violation of Penal Code Section 487, five counts of criminal contempt in violation of Penal Code Section 166, one count of vandalism in violation of Penal Code section 594, and one count of battery in violation of Penal Code section 242.   The charges relate to actions taken with respect to tenants in rent-controlled units at 1914 18th Street.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/05/city-attorney-files-multiple-charges-in-tenant-harassment-case/

In 2020, Los Angeles County will transition from polling places to vote centers. This new model will allow voters to cast a ballot at any vote center location in the County over an 11-day period.

Read More: http://vsap.lavote.net/vote-center-placement-project/

Thanks to Jay Johnson

See stats: JAY JOHNSON - RETROFIT.pdf

SMPD Chief Cynthia Renaud gives crime update.

On January 30, SMPD Chief Cynthia Renaud released a video updating the public on the crime statistics from 2018. Not only did SMPD officers respond to more calls from service in 2018 than in the previous year, but the city saw an increase in serious crimes.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/02/crime-update/

A San Francisco billionaire is donating $30 million to the University of California, San Francisco, to research root causes of homelessness and potential solutions.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, a city native, has embraced homelessness as a philanthropic cause, pumping millions into a 2018 city measure to tax wealthy companies to pay for homeless services.

Read More: https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/san-francisco-billionaire-30m-study-homelessness-62754576

People don’t move like they used to.

This lack of mobility is often spun negatively in California because it suggests there aren’t enough good living alternatives, so folks “age in place” instead of relocating. Staying put in turn is blamed for limiting the supply of homes for sale. That slim inventory supposedly helps nudge up prices and lower so-called affordability.

Read More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/whos-moving-us-catching-up-to-southern-californias-lengthy-homeownership/ar-AAAO1K9

Santa Monica College will host a weeklong series of free panels, walking tours and a screening investigating how to prevent displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods.

The eighth annual Public Policy Institute (PPI) spring symposium begins Saturday with a walk through the Pico neighborhood, where gentrification has become a concern for longtime residents in recent years. The tour will explore how zoning shapes Pico Boulevard, which the City of Santa Monica’s Pico Wellbeing Project has been studying since last fall.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/smc-events-explore-gentrification/175209

This is an article about the decline of a city locked into a poorly conceived code, about a city controlled by developers and the money they bring to the table. It is also about one of the storied beachfront neighborhoods in Santa Monica and a project reflective of our permissive zoning code. The homeowners in this community of 100-year-old, one and two-story cottages asked our group for advice to maintain the character and scale on Vicente Terrace at the southern edge of their neighborhood.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/05/sma-r-t-column-so-sad/