ACTION Apartment Association

Santa Rosa’s rent control law fails by fewer than 800 votes

06/19/2017 7:00 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Rosa’s controversial rent control law was defeated this month by just 781 votes out of more than 33,000 cast, according to final results released Friday by Sonoma County election officials.

City leaders put $45 million toward employee pensions

06/17/2017 8:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica is about to shell out $45 million toward tackling its biggest threat to long-term fiscal sustainability: its long-term unfunded pension obligations for staff members under CalPERS. The money will add up to about an 11 percent decrease in the City’s unfunded liability, according to estimates from PERS cited by the City.

The City Council approved the decision Tuesday to pay down a chunk of the City’s more than $380 million unfunded liability in order to save costs overtime.

Council Appoints Neighborhood Activist to Santa Monica Financial Oversight Panel

06/16/2017 2:16 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 16, 2017 -- Earlier this year Santa Monica neighborhood activists complained they didn’t have a representative on the Audit Subcommittee, charged with overseeing audits of the municipal budget.

Now they have one.

On Tuesday, the City Council appointed Elizabeth Van Denburgh, board member and treasurer for the Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition (Wilmont), to the subcommittee.

Corruption case against NMS Properties on hold but allowed to continue

06/16/2017 8:05 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A federal judge has allowed a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) case to move forward against Santa Monica’s largest developer, NMS Properties, its CEO Neil Shekhter and his wife, Margot. The RICO case is currently on hold while a dueling lawsuit makes its way through local courts but will resume when it’s over.

Bergamot plans move forward

06/15/2017 7:12 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Plans to redevelop the Bergamot Station arts complex remain track once following approval of a plan at the June 13 Council Meeting.

On Tuesday, the City Council voted to approve a preliminary plan that preserves several existing buildings, protects current tenants and extends an exclusive negotiating agreement with the developer, the Worthe Real Estate Group. A controversial hotel remains part of the project.

AND

https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/June-2017/06_15_2017_Santa_Monica_City_Council_Approves_Hotel_in_Redevelopment_Plan%20for_Bergamot_Station_Arts_Center.html

Judge Orders Voting Rights Lawsuit Against City of Santa Monica to Move Forward

06/14/2017 8:45 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The suit claims that citywide elections violate the California Voting Rights Act, which prohibits at-large elections if they can be shown to racially polarize voting. It says in doing so, the City’s at-large system also violates the Equal Protection clause of the state constitution.

Santa Monica Launches Program to Cap Water Use

06/14/2017 8:39 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 14, 2017 -- A new Santa Monica law that caps water use for developments to the historical use levels for the site will go into effect July 1, City officals said this week.

Approved by the City Council on May 9, the Water Neutrality Ordinance -- which caps water use to the site's historical five-year average -- is part of the City's strategy to achieve water self-sufficiency by 2020, officials said.

AND

http://smdp.com/water-neutrality-ordinance-rapidly-comes-online/161331

2017 General Adjustment (GA) and 2017 Annual Registration Fee Set

06/13/2017 7:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

2017 General Adjustment (GA) is 2% with a $40 Cap

The maximum increase of $40 applies to all maximum allowable rents (MARs) of $1,975 or higher. In late June, the Rent Control office will mail information to all tenants and property owners regarding the general adjustment, including a form owners may use to notice tenants of the increase. With proper written notice (usually 30 days), the general adjustment may be implemented by property owners no earlier than September 1st, 2017 for tenancies that started before September 1st, 2016. Tenancies that started on or after September 1st, 2016 are not eligible for the 2017 general adjustment. Further, all registration fees and penalties must be paid in full in order for owners to qualify for this year’s general adjustment.

2017 Annual Registration Fee Set at $198 per Unit

To cover the reasonable and necessary expenses of the Rent Control Agency, the Rent Control Board amended Regulation 11200 to increase the annual registration fee for a controlled unit from $174.96 to $198.00 per year. The upcoming fiscal year runs from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. Divided by 12 months, the annual fee per unit of $198 amounts to $16.50 per month. If all registration fees are paid by August 1st of this year, owners may pass through to qualifying tenants half of the monthly amount, which is $8.25, beginning September 1st of this year and continuing for the following 12 months. The registration fee pass-through is in addition to the maximum allowable rent and any surcharges from the tax bill that may be passed through. The Rent Control Agency will be sending registration fee bills to owners at the end of June.

Rent Control increases capped by Board at just $40

06/13/2017 7:12 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The monthly rent for anyone living in a Santa Monica rent-control apartment cannot be raised by more than $40 starting September 1. The Rent Control Board voted unanimously to pass the dollar amount cap during their July 8 public meeting.

Back in May, the Board set the 2017 General Adjustment at two percent. The adjustment is calculated to be 75 percent of the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for the greater Los Angeles area which the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported was 2.7 percent. Rent Control tenants saw their rents rise by 1.3 percent last year.

Let’s Stop The Bureaucracy Growth (David Pisarra)

06/13/2017 7:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This is a constant in the city. Companies that wish to open and grow and provide jobs, find it stifling to work with our enforcement agencies but that is what slows us down. For a city that is as technologically savvy as we are, it seems that our calcified bureaucracy makes it brutal to do business here, and I’m not against slowing things down a bit, but at what cost?

It seems like every time I investigate a new company there is a horror story of what it takes to get a company up and running here. But yet, we seem to always have time, money and the willpower to increase our staffing. I know I sound like a broken record, but what will it take for us to get a more responsive city government, not just a more bureaucratic one.

I’d like to see us put a moratorium on new staff hiring, and on new commercial and residential development. We need to return to our roots, as best we can, to being a small town that is focused on our residents. I know that the big dollars that have flowed in from tech companies, developers and the land rush barbarians are intoxicating. But if the entire city becomes one giant mixed use retail/commercial/residential building separated by nothing more than addresses, well we might consider changing our name to West New York.