The rise in pension costs begins in the 2018-2019 fiscal year with an extra $2 million, City officials said. By 2021-2022, pensions alone will be responsible for $13 million of the $19 million deficit the City is projecting.

City Manager Rick Cole cautioned that if the City can’t reduce those rising costs, it will need to start looking at its workforce.

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/May-2017/05_23_2017_Employee_Costs_Pose_Major_Fiscal_Challenge_for_Santa_Monica_Officials.html

The City of Santa Monica has released a landlord incentive to encourage landlords to “invest in your community.” The H.O.U.S.E program (Housing Opportunities Utlizing Subsidy Enhancements) promises to pay the first 45 landlords $5,000 when they accept a tenant using a Santa Monica Housing Voucher. 

Read More: http://smmirror.com/2017/05/landlord-incentive/

The growing housing crisis is a hot topic in Santa Rosa these days. Rent control is on the Santa Rosa city ballot in a June 6 special election and voters will decide whether or not to pass Measure C, a 3 percent cap on annual rent increases for around 12,000 rental homes in the city built before 1995.

Read More: http://www.theoakleafnews.com/news/2017/05/18/rent-control-vote-divides-santa-rosa/

The Downtown Community Plan (DCP) never adequately answers “why” so much more rapid development – more than 3 million sq. ft., an excessive amount – much of it luxury hotels and very expensive rentals, and more office space, is good for residents or the City. We are not a big city and our downtown is relatively small. Wouldn’t more moderate growth be better?”

It is simply unclear how the DCP, as currently proposed, is an adequate representation of a solution based on an analytically defined set of problems that needed a solution. It appears to be a proposal guided more by a set of specified wants and desires (by whom?…doesn’t seem to be the residents), and that in itself is a wicked problem.

Read More: http://smmirror.com/2017/05/sma-r-t-why-indeed/

While the Santa Monica’s fiscal outlook looks strong for the next two years, a dramatic rise in pension costs threatens the City’s ongoing stability, according to a nearly 400 page budget released by the City Manager’s Office Wednesday.

Even if national economic growth continues over the next two years, the City faces a $3.8 million General Fund deficit in 2019 that balloons to $19 million in 2021, according to current estimates. Pensions and workers’ compensation present the most significant pressures on the budget.

Read More: http://smdp.com/city-anticipates-deficits-in-coming-years/160993

AND: http://www.smobserved.com/story/2017/05/18/news/city-of-santa-monica-proposes-spending-20-more-money-next-year-than-this-year-calls-it-sustainable/2907.html

The City of Santa Monica continues to be a leader in moving toward water self-sufficiency, promoting water conservation, and reducing potable water use.  During National Public Works Week, on May 23rd, the City will officially open the Los Amigos Park Stormwater Harvesting and Direct Use Demonstration Project, a collaboration with the Santa Monica-Malibu School District and the Metropolitan Water District (MWD).  This project marks another first in infrastructure advancement.  

Read More: http://smmirror.com/2017/05/santa-monica-announces-another-first-in-stormwater-harvesting-and-water-self-sufficiency-during-national-public-works-week/

May 17, 2017 -- A sweeping plan to add up to 3.2 million square feet in new development to Santa Monica's downtown heads into the final stage of a bitter longstanding battle tonight.

Almost seven years in the making, the Downtown Community Plan (DCP) goes before the City Planning Commission as a final draft in a 6 p.m. meeting in City Hall, the first of three new public sessions it has scheduled.

Another is on Thursday and the third is May 31. Same location (City Council chambers) and same start time. All end at 11:30 p.m.

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/May-2017/05_17_2017_Final_Battle_Over_Plan_for%20Downtown_Santa_Monica_Begins.html

The City’s aggressive pursuit of leaf blowers in Santa Monica seems to be paying off – cases were down in 2016 and in the beginning of this year. At the moment, 86 leaf blower cases are under investigation, according to an information item posted on the City’s website.

Of 163 cases opened during the first quarter this year, 8 tickets have been written and 85 remain under investigation. The rest of the cases have been closed because the violation couldn’t be verified (the officer has to actually catch the leaf blower in the act).

It is illegal to operate any kind of leaf blower in the City whether gas, electric or battery powered. The local law allows Code Enforcement to cite either the property owner, management company, landscaping company or the operator. In practice, it’s usually the man or the woman caught holding the blower who gets hit with the $500 fine.

That’s because of a 2015 case where a property owner was written the ticket after an officer observed a gardener operating a leaf blower on the property. The property owner appealed the citation and won because the City couldn’t prove he knew the blower was being used.

Read More: http://smdp.com/city-crackdown-silences-leaf-blowers/160972

AND

https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/May-2017/05_17_2017_More_than_3500_Violations_of_Santa_Monica_Leaf_Blower_Ban_Reopted_in_Three_Years.html

Proposed Amendment to the City’s Water Shortage Response Plan which sets water use allowances, water conservation thresholds, a process to adjust water use allowances, and penalties for non-compliance. DATE/TIME: TUESDAY, May 23, 2017 AT 6:45 p.m. LOCATION: City Council Chambers, Second Floor, Santa Monica City Hall 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, California

Read the notice on page 5: http://backissues.smdp.com/051617.pdf

The City has approved a $48,000 settlement in a slip-and-fall lawsuit to a woman who was badly hurt when she fell on Wilshire Boulevard near 18th Street two years ago.

To win a slip-and-fall lawsuit, the victim must be able to prove that the property owner knew or should have known the condition was dangerous. An investigation into the sidewalk’s history showed an inspector in August of 2014 reported the height differential on that portion of sidewalk to be less than an inch.

“We suspect that the last inspection prior to the incident was not done properly,” Cholodenko said.

Read More: http://smdp.com/woman-wins-slip-and-fall-lawsuit-against-city/160936