New proposed legislation, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener and co-authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner, that would require California cities to allow denser, taller housing developments near transit hubs and bus lines, has ignited controversy in Berkeley and nationally.

With some limitations, SB 827 would eliminate restrictions on the number of houses that can be built within a half-mile of BART and within a quarter-mile of major bus routes, including Muni and AC Transit. It would also block cities from mandating parking requirements.

Read More: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/01/22/berkeley-mayor-wiener-skinner-housing-bill-declaration-war-neighborhoods/

January 22, 2018 -- The Santa Monica City Council will consider on Tuesday imposing temporary limits on the size and heights of proposed “monster mansions” as it searches for a way to permanently protect what is left of the city's quaint single-family neighborhoods.

Under consideration is a temporary ordinance which would cut the footprint of new outsize homes by 20 percent and require the height limit to be cut from the current 28 feet to 25 feet in neighborhoods zoned as R1, or for single-family homes, a report to the council said.

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/January-2018/01_22_2018_Santa_Monica_City_Council_to_Decide_Temporary_Fate_of_Monster_Mansions.html

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING 

Thursday, January 25, 2018 

A public hearing on the following topics will be conducted at the regular Santa Monica Rent Control Board meeting on Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chamber, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401:

 Consideration of whether to eliminate the pass-through to tenants of surcharges for landlords’ local tax liabilities in the following situations: 

1) An initial rent for a new tenancy was established on or after September 1, 2017; or 

2) The parcel was reassessed as the result of a transfer of ownership occurring on or after February 1, 2018; or 

3) An improvement on the parcel was reassessed pursuant to elective owner improvements on or after Feb. 1, 2018.

Copies of the staff report will be available prior to the hearing from the Board’s office in Room 202 of Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 Main Street, and on the Board’s website at: www.smgov.net/rentcontrol

Read Notice on pg. 4: http://backissues.smdp.com/012218.pdf

The Legislature’s long-delayed response to California’s housing crisis narrowly passed in September in a flurry of last-minute nail-biting and arm-twisting. Judging by the reception that has greeted one of the new year’s first housing bills, that was nothing.

The legislation, by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would overrule local zoning in favor of high-density residential development near mass transit. Sounds wonky enough, but fans of the idea have already declared that it would “change the shape of California housing” and, indeed, solve the housing crisis. Detractors, meanwhile, called it a “declaration of war on every urban community in California,” comparing it to the law that enabled Andrew Jackson’s Trail of Tears; and even posited that transit officials have been running empty buses up and down Berkeley’s Ashby Avenue just so developers can have their way with the surrounding neighborhoods once the bill becomes law.

In reality, of course, SB827 is probably not a conspiracy or a cure-all. 

Read More: https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-California-s-housing-wars-just-12511603.php

Oppose the Proposed Preschool at 2953 Delaware Ave.

“We had to destroy the village in order to save it,” an American major proclaimed during the Vietnam War. Sadly, albeit without napalm or B-52 strikes, that same twisted logic underlies a proposed preschool at 2953 Delaware Ave., which sits in the middle of a small R1-zoned residential community in the Gandara (formerly Stewart) Park neighborhood, part of the larger Pico District. On September 6, 2017, the Santa Monica Planning Commission rubber-stamped the proposed preschool with next-to-no consideration of the negative impacts this commercial operation will bring to our neighborhood in terms of traffic, safety, parking, noise, and environmental concerns. The residents of Gandara Park have appealed this approval to City Council, which will adjudicate the matter at the January 23rd council meeting. We urge all Santa Monicans concerned with commercial incursions into residential neighborhoods to join our opposition to the proposed preschool.

Read More: http://smdp.com/your-column-here-preserve-our-residential-neighborhoods/163992

Tuesday’s City Council discussion will have lasting repercussions for Santa Monica homeowners, as the Council decides whether to limit the size of new houses and the fate of the first preschool aiming to open in a neighborhood zoned for single family homes. The two separate issues have a broad impact on the character of local neighborhoods amid skyrocketing property values and an economic boom.

Read More: http://smdp.com/tuesday-council-meeting-will-shape-santa-monica-neighborhoods/164012

SMMUSD board member Craig Foster called for the retirement of fellow board member Maria Leon-Vasquez during a review of findings concerning a conflict of interest case at this week’s board meeting.

Leon-Vazquez has been accused of voting on contracts with companies that employed her husband, Santa Monica councilman Tony Vazquez. The couple have denied they were intentionally trying to circumvent ethics rules and Tony has stated the votes were the result of his wife failing to fully read dense agendas.

Read More: http://smdp.com/smmusd-boardmember-calls-for-fellow-boardmembers-retirement/164010

By Samuel Tolkin for SMa.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow)

Although we all know that the issue of homelessness is a national crisis, we here in Santa Monica and in all of Southern California experience it on a daily basis.

There are now, by some estimates, more than a 100,000 chronically homeless in the United States. Roughly, 6 percent of those live in California, and 900 to 1,000 by some counts are in Santa Monica. (While body counts, such as the Annual Homeless Count scheduled for Jan. 24, are meaningful up to a point; they don’t suggest solutions.)

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2018/01/sma-r-t-homeless-crisis-toward-solutions/

The City of Santa Monica is holding its annual street-by-street homeless count Wednesday evening from 10.30 p.m. The City is joining the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and communities across the county in conducting the count.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2018/01/homeless-count-wednesday-night/

February 1, 2018

5:00pm – 7:30pm 

Soka Gakkai World Peace Auditorium

525 Wilshire Blvd

Read More: http://smchamber.com/stateofthecity/