ACTION Apartment Association

Rent Control tenants will see 2.9 percent increase in September

05/09/2018 8:18 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Landlords may raise the rent in controlled units 2.9 percent Sept. 1st, according to a city report on the annual general adjustment allowed under the City Charter. Elected leaders will consider whether to place a dollar cap to limit the increase for tenants paying some of the highest rents in the city at a June 14 public hearing.

How Stupid Do You Think We Are?

05/09/2018 8:16 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Charles Andrews

FASTER, WITHOUT MORE SIX-FIGURE HIRES

To say now it is a priority to pull back on that is like adding “a safe city” to the list of five priorities the City Council came up with
three years ago. Which is what they did, that day. It should have been number one in 2015, an obvious given ,not left off the list.

Neighborhood Organization and Union-Watcher Join in Verbal Attack of High Pay

05/08/2018 1:58 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

May 8, 2018 -- A key neighborhood organization and a new ally, a group fighting the influential hotel-workers union, is pushing back against the City of Santa Monica after an outside audit of City finances.

The audit found City workers were among the highest paid in Southern California, but not necessarily the most productive ("Outside Audit of Employee Pay at Santa Monica City Hall Heads to Council," May 7, 2018).

"We are paying far more than residents of other cities for our local government," wrote Tricia Crane, who sent the report as an alert to all members of the Northeast Neighbors Association Tuesday morning.

SANTA MONICA RENT CONTROL BOARD NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

05/07/2018 8:45 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

SANTA MONICA RENT CONTROL BOARD NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Thursday, May 10, 2018
A public hearing on the following topic will be conducted at the regular Santa Monica Rent Control Board meeting on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chamber, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401:

1) Consideration of amendments to Regulation 3120, respecting limitations on surcharges that may be added to controlled rents.

Read Notice on page 3: http://backissues.smdp.com/050518.pdf

COSTA-HAWKINS Rent-control might just wreck housing markets

05/07/2018 8:43 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Steven Greenhut Columnist

SACRAMENTO» “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing,” opined Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck. He’s right on target given that rent control destroys housing markets because it takes away the incentive to build new apartments, reduces the willingness of landlords to upgrade and maintain their properties, and encourages tenants to squat indefinitely in their below-market units.

How the Developer Won

05/07/2018 8:40 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Three takeaways from Santa Monica’s approval of a block-long building on Lincoln Boulevard

By Tim Tunks

The outcome was never really in doubt. The victors had gained too much momentum before the opponents even took the field, and our goalie/referee was handcuffed during the final April 24 shootout.

Developer CIM Group’s plans to build a four-story apartment, restaurant and retail complex on the east side of Lincoln from Ashland Avenue to Wilson Place survived an appeal by neighbors, winning a unanimous Santa Monica City Council decision. 2903 Lincoln will move forward just as it was approved during a Planning Commission hearing on Jan.10, two years after the developer began working the approval checklists that various agencies and laws require.

Santa Monica pays top officials better than nearby cities

05/07/2018 8:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A recent report on Santa Monica public employee salaries found unelected city leaders are among the best paid in the area. The report from Moss Adams found the city’s senior leadership makes about 15 percent more than the median when compared among peers – an average of $215,000 a year compared to $188,000 per year.

Nearly two years after Santa Monica’s public employee salaries made headlines and irked residents, an independent agency has completed an exhaustive analysis of city compensation packages. The City Council will review the 150-page report from accounting, consulting and wealth management firm Moss Adams at their Tuesday night public meeting.

Opinion: SMa.r.t. “Who’s Listening!?”

05/07/2018 8:29 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This article was being written as our City Council was spending a weekend retreat in Virginia Park addressing the City’s five strategic goals using “data driven planning” to solve “mobility,” “inclusiveness and diversity,” re-purposing the “Santa Monica Airport,” “homelessness” and childhood “education.” Shouldn’t they also be looking at “safety” and “happiness”?

Are data driven decisions just a smoke screen to hide behind as they pursue an agenda driven primarily by the need to fund a huge pension shortfall? Is data driven decision making meant to replace resident driven priorities? Is “number crunching” a better way to establish policy than a human based approach? Apparently so, as the council is upset with residential backlash and is choosing to rely on staff and digital data, rather than residents! But aren’t they elected by the residents, not developers? Their job is to listen to the residents. That being said, there was little discussion about data driven analysis when the city manager emphasized moving from process to focus instead on outcome. The meeting ended with an entire wall of “stickers,” destined to be turned into yet another report?

Staff Recommends Santa Monica Council Scrap Idea of Development Ballot Measure

05/07/2018 8:25 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

May, 7, 2018 -- Planning staff is recommending that the City Council not place a measure on the November ballot that would require a "super-majority" approval for developments that exceed Santa Monica's height and density limitations.

In its report to the Council, staff argued that the City's Zoning Ordinance and the Downtown Community Plan already set strict zoning standards that make most Development Agreements (DA) "no longer either necessary or desirable."

Landlord group sues to block Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing law

05/04/2018 8:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The lawsuit seeks to overturn a law barring rental restrictions based on criminal convictions

The law, which went into effect this past February, prevents landlords from screening applicants based on criminal convictions; arrests that didn’t lead to a conviction; records that have been expunged, vacated, or sealed; and juvenile records. If a juvenile tenant is on the sex offender registry, that can’t be used for screening, either, but only juveniles—the ordinance cites a 2004 study that juvenile sex crimes have a low recidivism rate.