ACTION Apartment Association

Armen Melkonians and Kate Bransfield Visit City Clerk to Petition for City Council Race

07/27/2018 8:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

SMRR To Face Slow Growth Challenge for City Council

Santa Monica for Renters Rights have had a near lock on City council elections since the group was founded in 1979. Are local voters finally fed up enough by the non stop construction, traffic and enormous block apartment projects, to choose someone else?

Armen Melkonians thinks so, The man behind the "Residocracy" page on Facebook, used that platform to announce last Sunday that he had pulled papers to run for Santa Monica City Council.

City of Santa Monica’s Election System on Trial

07/27/2018 8:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Letter to the Editor

By Maria L. Loya

July 26, 2018 -- As a Latina mother raising two boys in Santa Monica’s Pico Neighborhood, I filed a lawsuit against the City of Santa Monica for violating the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) and the California Equal Protection Clause.

The reason for this is because Santa Monica maintains an at-large election system that works to dilute the vote of minorities with the intent to prevent candidates of color from winning a seat on the City Council.

Council abandons Prop 10 companion measure

07/26/2018 11:04 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Landlords and Rent Control Board members found themselves in rare agreement Tuesday night, as they urged the City Council to drop the idea of a companion measure to Proposition 10, the controversial statewide initiative that would give cities more power over rent control. While the two groups disagree on the merits of the Affordable Housing Act, both agreed an amendment to the City Charter in the event it passes would have been unnecessary and premature.

“Nobody wants it,” Action Apartment Association lawyer Rosario Perry said Tuesday.

Santa Monica Slow Growth Activists Forging Council Slate to Challenge Incumbents

07/26/2018 10:53 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 25, 2018 -- The battle lines are being drawn in Santa Monica's November race for three City Council seats with the forging of a slow-growth slate intent on unseating the incumbents.

Realtor Kate Bransfield -- a political activist on the City's north side -- pulled nominating papers for City Council on Tuesday.

She immediately joined forces with Armen Melkonians, a slow-growth activist who runs Residicracy, an online grassroots group that includes Bransfield among its leaders.

"Common sense needs to be broght into City Hall," said Bransfield, who sits on the board of the Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition (Wilmont). "I'm a pretty commonsense kind of person.

First candidate turns in signatures for City Council race

07/26/2018 10:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Five-time incumbent Kevin McKeown became the first official candidate for City Council Wednesday when he turned in paperwork and signatures to qualify for the November ballot. McKeown’s recently updated campaign website lists preserving “Santa Monica’s charm and character” as a key issue for the 2018 race.

The complete field of potential candidates has reached fifteen, including all three incumbents: McKeown, Sue Himmelrich and Pam O’Connor.

Jon Mann also pulled papers to run for Rent Control Board, along with incumbents Nicole Phillis and Steve Duron.

Santa Monica Sees 3 Months of Consecutive Rent Increases

07/25/2018 12:32 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Website apartment.com recently released their monthly report.

Here are some of this month’s highlights:

Rents in Santa Monica have increased 0.9% over the past month, and are up 0.6% year-over-year.

Compensation Study Helps Guide City Staff

07/25/2018 12:30 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica City Council approved a Compensation Philosophy for City of Santa Monica staff, Tuesday, July 24, during a regular City Council Meeting.

According to the City, council implemented a key recommendation of the Moss Adams independent review of staff compensation.

AND

https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2018/07/25/santa-monica-city-council-approves-compensation-philosophy

NO Rent Roll Back to April 1, 2018

07/25/2018 8:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

CITY COUNCIL VOTES DOWN

BALLOT MEASURE MODIFYING RENT CONTROL CHARTER IF COSTA-HAWKINS PASSES...

More to follow.

Curious City by Charles Andrews

07/25/2018 7:31 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Hard, complicated subject, this ruination of our once-fair City through reckless overdevelopment. But maybe not. I’ve tried to make it simpler for myself, and I pass those thoughts on to you. I hope they make you mad.

How about if we get inflamed, in our knowledge and righteous anger? There’s plenty to be mad about, right here in Santa Monica. And then GO TO THE POLLS. Local voting is pretty anemic, and just a few more taking the trouble to vote can make a big difference.

When there’s tons of money to be made — and there certainly is anywhere on a coast where the real estate is golden — tons of money will be spent on misinformation and contributions to those in office or those running who will do their bidding. They will enlist the entrenched political forces and you will get misleading phone calls and flyers and postcards in your mailbox. You have to remember that. I’ll say it again because it is so important –

DON’T VOTE WITH A POSTCARD IN YOUR HAND!!

Council to consider unprecedented Rent Control initiative to avoid catastrophe

07/24/2018 8:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

While most news stories lead with controversy, in order to avoid any confusion, let’s start with what city officials can actually agree on: the City Council debate tonight is not about Proposition 10, the controversial ballot measure that would undo a key rent control restriction in the State of California.

Rather, the debate is about how to stop a potential calamity here if it passes: 1978-level rent on new 2018 and 2019 leases. Officials worry the sudden collapse of Costa-Hawkins could be disastrous for rent-controlled landlords who rely on “vacancy decontrol,” the imperiled state policy that allows them to charge all new tenants market rate rent. Without the law, turnover could arguably plunge the rent on a unit to as low as $580 a month in some areas of the city.

Staff has drafted a local ballot measure that could set the base rent to 2018 levels in the event Prop 10 passes. Tonight the Council will consider whether to place it on the November ballot.