ACTION Apartment Association

Santa Monica Ranks Third in County for City Employee Compensation

06/23/2016 7:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 23, 2016 -- Pay and benefits for Santa Monica City employees were the third-highest in Los Angeles County last year, averaging $152,050 annually for the municipality’s full-time workforce, a new survey has found.

And at: http://smdp.com/overtime-pay-looms-large-on-santa-monica-books/155945

Santa Monica Ballot Could Feature Three Tax Measures

06/23/2016 7:30 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 23, 2016 -- Santa Monica voters will face a large number of decisions at the federal, State and local levels in November, including possibly three tax measures.

Potentially going on the ballot are a half-cent or quarter-cent sales tax from the City and a half-cent sales tax from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Also, Santa Monica College (SMC) has proposed a bond measure that would be funded through a property tax averaging about $8.65 per month for Santa Monica homeowners and $1.59 for renters.

Santa Monica Planning Commissioner Announces Council Bid

06/23/2016 7:28 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 23, 2016 -- Planning Commissioner Jennifer Kennedy, who made an unsuccessful bid for City Council two years ago, announced Tuesday that she would run again for a seat in November.

Kennedy was endorsed by the city's powerful tenants group Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights in 2014 and finished sixth among 14 candidates vying for three open seats.

And at: http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/Jennifer-Kennedy-Announces-Run-for-Santa-Monica-City-Council/45702

Possible tax could benefit Santa Monica-Malibu schools

06/22/2016 6:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

“While the impetus for this measure is to generate additional local funds that can be used to support affordable housing,” the memo reads, “the City is also aware that the school district also has a number of needs for which there is no source of funding, since state funding is woefully inadequate when compared with much of the nation.”

Is Santa Monica’s LUVE initiative a threat to City Council?

06/20/2016 1:22 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The fall election is still five months off and already a number of issues are getting plenty of pre-election buzz.

The major issue is the Land Use Voter Empowerment (LUVE) initiative that will be before Santa Monica voters Nov. 8. In a nutshell, the citizen-backed measure (which might not appear on the ballot as “LUVE,” but under some other designation) promises to stop the new, oversized construction projects such as the kind we see sprouting up all over our fair city.

The truth about LUVE, money and housing

06/20/2016 6:30 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By SMa.r.t. on June 18, 2016

The Land Use Voter Empowerment (LUVE) Initiative will stop oversized projects while protecting rent controlled and affordable housing in Santa Monica. Our current City Council believes dense, tall, and ill-designed projects are a worthwhile exchange for a handful of affordable units and other minimal “community benefits.”

SMa.r.t. Thinking

Santa Monica Council Orders Study of LUVE Initiative

06/16/2016 7:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 16, 2016 -- Faced with a November 8 ballot measure that places most new development in Santa Monica in the hands of voters, the City Council on Tuesday rejected calls to adopt the LUVE initiative and instead ordered a 28-day study of the measure.

and at:
http://smdp.com/city-council-asks-for-study-of-luve-initiative/155845

Santa Monica Rent Board Wants Study on Ellis Act Eviction “Predictors”

06/14/2016 7:28 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 14, 2016 -- Nicole Phillis, chair of Santa Monica’s Rent Control Board, said nobody knows for sure how measures such as the LUVE Initiative, likely going before voters in November, and the Downtown Community Plan, currently under review, will affect the future of the City’s rent-controlled units.

But she wants City officials to find out through a formal study.

Phillis’ colleagues on the rent board supported her proposal Thursday that the City Council be urged to conduct a study on whether conditions could be identified that cause landlords to evict tenants as a method to get out of the rental business

This method of eviction is allowed under the rules of the State’s Ellis Act.

Proposed Raises Push Many Santa Monica Employees Well into Six-Figure Salaries

06/14/2016 7:24 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 14, 2016 -- From the head of Santa Monica’s cemetery to its bike-share coordinator, librarians, civil engineers and lifeguards, many Santa Monica City employees could get raises that would make six-figure salaries the norm for many workers.

Santa Monica Rent Control Board Sets $25 Monthly Rent Increase

06/13/2016 7:02 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

June 13, 2016 -- Monthly residential rent charges in Santa Monica could increase as much as 1.3 percent or $25, whichever is smaller, beginning in September.