ACTION Apartment Association

Opinion: SMa.r.t. The Alchemy Of Greed

10/21/2016 12:11 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Opinion: Our City is experiencing an identity crisis fueled by gluttony. The powers in the City of Santa Monica have apparently decided that bigger is better and that that this “bigger” needs to be fueled constantly by more…more development, taller and denser buildings, structures that are out-of-scale with our town…more people…more tourists…more workers…more residents.

City collecting new data to augment Wellbeing Index

10/21/2016 9:59 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City of Santa Monica gained numerous new insights about its residents — their needs, their experiences, their feelings — through the much-publicized Wellbeing Index. But the project isn’t over.

Officials are now collecting a second round of data to augment the grant-funded study, hoping to delve deeper into certain trends and target specific issues with better precision.

A letter to voters. John C. Smith

10/20/2016 7:35 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

ELECTIONS ARE A GREAT TIME FOR honesty and truth about issues. You won’t get much of either from the full-color brochures filling your mail box, so here are ten bits of both to guide you…

Housing Commission to debate rent subsidies

10/19/2016 7:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica is still struggling to refine a plan that would have City Hall subsidize rents for some tenants in rent-controlled buildings.

The budget for the pilot program is $200,000 for rent assistance with an additional $100,000 for administration that could include hiring a consultant to help manager, collect and analyze data to determine who should receive assistance as well as conduct eligibility screening.

To be eligible for the pilot program, renters must be extremely low-income (earn less than 30 percent of area median income), severely rent-burdened (pay more than 50 percent of gross household income toward rent), and have lived in a Rent Control apartment for at least 10 years.

New Santa Monica Tenants Should Receive Official Notice of Their Rights, Rent Commissioner Says

10/14/2016 12:52 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

October 14, 2016 -- Santa Monica landlords could soon be forced at the time of lease signing to present tenants with a written notice produced by the Rent Control Board about their rights and responsibilities.

Anastasia Foster, the board’s newest member, proposed at the panel’s meeting on Thursday that this new regulation be created.

Four-story Multi-Family Complexes Proposed on Santa Monica Ocean Front

10/13/2016 3:38 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Cleared for development by a City land sale four years ago, nearly 135,500 square feet of vacant land and surface parking on Santa Monica’s ocean front could become the site of two four-story mixed-use residential buildings.

The two projects -- at 1828 Ocean Avenue and 1921 Ocean Front -- are awaiting the conclusion of an environment review before progressing in the City’s jammed development pipeline.

LV Supporters, Santa Monica Councilmember Clash as Campaign Intensifies

10/12/2016 7:12 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A verbal clash this weekend between slow-growth campaigners and a Santa Monica City Council member who tried to oust them from a City park demonstrates how bitter the battle over Measure LV has become.

As it turned out, Council Member Terry O'Day -- who is running for re-election on November 8 -- was wrong when he told the volunteers that they were not permitted at the Clover Park youth soccer event, City officials determined.

City Clerk’s Office Serves as Ballot Drop-Off Location

10/11/2016 7:59 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City of Santa Monica City Clerk’s Office is partnering with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s (LA RR/CC) Office again to serve as a Ballot Drop-Off Location for the November 8, 2016 Presidential General Election.

Opinion: SMa.r.t. - When it Rains (Money) it Pours

10/07/2016 3:16 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

For a city of only 94,000 residents, million-dollar political contributions change the basic nature of the contest. Where before this was a battle between residents with opposing views on land-use matters, it now looks more like a struggle between a grassroots citizen effort and corporate behemoths bent on imposing their will.

Injunction Filed to Halt Enforcement of Santa Monica's Short-term Rental Law

10/06/2016 1:55 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The preliminary injunction is set for a hearing October 17 in federal court in downtown Los Angeles before Judge Otis Wright II, said attorney Robert L. Esensten, who represents retired Los Angeles public school teacher Arlene Rosenblatt and others renting space in their homes short-term through platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway.