The City on Friday asked a California Appeals Court to stay an order in the voting rights lawsuit that would prohibit sitting Council members from serving after August 15.

The appeal was filed one day after Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos on Thursday denied the City's request to confirm that the prohibition was mandatory, which would have resulted in an automatic stay.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/March-2019/03_11_2019_City_Asks_Appeals_Court_to_Allow_Council_Members_to_Serve_After_%20August_15_Prohibition.html

AND: https://smmirror.com/2019/03/city-crva-stay-denied/

Three defendants were convicted Tuesday of violating Santa Monica's homesharing ordinance, marking the third such court victory for the City in the past three weeks, resulting in a total of 29 rental units being returned to the market.

The defendants -- Globe Homes, Ari Can Eryorulmaz and Sebastian Pieter Dekleer -- were prosecuted under the City's 2015 homesharing ordinance, which bans leasing residential property for fewer than 31 days unless the owner is present.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/March-2019/03_07_2019_Santa_Monica_Wins_Three_Homesharing_Cases.html

AND: https://smmirror.com/2019/03/litigating-short-term-rental-abuse/

Santa Monica taxpayers will have to wait until the voting rights lawsuit ends to learn what the City has spent fighting the nearly three-year-old case.

Last week, City officials declined to provide The Lookout with the total fees paid to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, the law firm hired to defend the City.

In response to the Lookout's request, City officials on Thursday cited attorney client privileges in the ongoing litigation.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/March-2019/03_05_2019_City_Officials_Wont_Reveal_Cost_of_Voting_Rights_Litigation.html

SPEED READ:

• Oregon is the first state to adopt statewide rent control for all rental properties.
• Support for rent control is building in Colorado, Illinois and New York.
• While the U.S. median household income has remained relatively flat since 2001, the median rent has shot up by more than 40 percent, according to a new report from PolicyLink.

Read More: http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-oregon-rent-control-statewide-affordable-housing.html

When most people think of landmark voting rights cases, places like Alabama or North Carolina, not Santa Monica, usually come to mind.

But last month, a judge in the affluent, left-leaning coastal enclave ruled that Santa Monica’s system of at-large City Council representation “intentionally discriminated” against its growing Latino population.

Read More: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santa-monica-california-voting-rights-act-20190303-story.html

A three-story building will replace Coogie’s Cafe in Mid-City and a four-story building will rise near CVS downtown according to proposals before the Architectural Review Board Tuesday night.  

The mixed-use building with 46 units and 12,080 square feet of ground floor commercial space will supplant Coogie’s, a squat diner that has occupied 2906 Santa Monica Blvd. since it was built in 1969. The owner of Coogie’s, Lawrence Rhee, died last week, the restaurant’s manager said, but the project has been in the works for some time. The corner site at Yale Street and Santa Monica Boulevard is owned by producer and director Marius Markevicius.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/more-mixed-use-buildings-moving-through-development-pipeline/173147

by Robert Kronovet

What we're dealing with in the City's recent appeal in the voting rights lawsuit is quite a simple phenomenon ("Santa Monica Council Votes to Appeal Voting Rights Ruling," February 21, 2019).

What we're dealing with is called the tight control of power that the Santa Monica Renters' Rights (SMRR) City Council possesses.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2019/03_01_2019_LETTERS_%20Its_Time_to_Break_SMRRs_Iron_Grip.html

City Council will discuss ways to make Santa Monica’s parks and beach safer and cleaner at its meeting Tuesday in response to complaints from residents about crime and hazardous waste at several public parks.

Community members and the Parks and Recreation Commission told Council last November that there was a safety crisis in the parks and at the beach, testifying that children have been finding hypodermic needles, bags of meth and open latrines. Residents also said children frequently encounter people living or prostituting themselves in park bathrooms.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/parks-safety-crisis-reaches-council-next-week/173134

Mount Hermon Baptist Congregation to be Razed for Affordable Housing. Isn't that special?

The fundamental question, however, is what purpose is served by the city government subsidizing people living in this beach city who can't afford market-rate housing. Such government-funded housing does nothing to relieve the crisis of substance-addicted and mentally ill individuals who inhabit and roam the public (and private) areas of the city. Such individuals would not qualify to live in affordable housing, and if they did, they would drive everyone else away by making the property unsafe.

So who profits?

Thefts of opportunity are out of control. Santa Monica is one of the wealthiest cities in America. One website states, you have a 1 in 130 chance of being a victim of a violent crime and that we are now safer than just 4% of California cities. If we gather 21 of us together in our town at least one will be the victim of a property crime. That’s astounding, especially when crime in the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County declined in 2018.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/03/no-excuses-stop-the-crime-wave/