FAA vs. Us: Useful Information

July 27, 2010 – 1:44 pm

1. Agenda item 6C is a staff report on the status of the FAA test and on the City’s efforts to quantify the impacts from the test. (more info on the agenda below)

2. Online Petition — FAA test — http://www.ASafeSantaMonica.com/Petition_Form.html
This web site was set up by a group of Sunset Park and Ocean Park residents
who live under the FAA test 250 heading and oppose its being made permanent.

3. City Council — Tuesday, July 27, 5:45 PM — Agenda item 1-D –
Municipal Airport Pavement Rehabilitation –
$1,159,258 to re-pave and re-stripe the runway and taxiways to be consistent with
current FAA guidelines and planned airport operations. The airport will be closed at night only
for 4 nights during the initial preparatory work. Then, the airport will be closed for 5 consecutive days.
During subsequent phases, the airport will be closed at night only. Residents can communicate
with the City Council members via Council@smgov.net

4. Facebook — Another sunset Park resident, Susan Grant, has set up a page re the FAA test.
Go to www.Facebook.com and search for “Stop Santa Monica Airport Noise”

5. Airport website — www.smgov.net/departments/airport — On the right side are links for:
- Airport Commission,
- Links to FAA Contacts,
- Info regarding FAA test of piston-powered IFR departure procedures,
- Category C and D Airport Update, and
- Enter a noise complaint.
6. FOSP website — SM Airport — http://www.friendsofsunsetpark.org/apbulletin.html
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Whither…Whoa

July 7, 2010 – 10:13 pm

By Ava Tramer

Beaches
Partly cloudy
Highs: 67-68; Lows: 58-62

Inland
Mostly sunny
Highs: 87-90; Lows: 58-63

Deserts
Sunny
Highs: 102-109; Lows: 73-80

And Santa Monica…
It’s going to be very blustery this week, with a definite chance of icicles, hail, and possibly even a blizzard thunderstorm.  The National Weather Service is recommending heading to the grocery store and stocking up on provisions, boarding up your windows, and making sure you have plenty of flashlights and batteries for when the power inevitably goes out.  With wind chill bringing the temperatures down into record low territory, you can expect that the city will most likely be forced to shut down for at least several days this week.

Whoa, wait a second – excuse me, my bad; those last three sentences were a typo.  That should have read: It’s going to be mostly sunny this week, with highs in the upper 60s.

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Council Approves Jumbo LUCE

July 7, 2010 – 10:09 pm

Last night. the City Council approved the LUCE, the Jumbo version that Hank  Koning and .Gwynne Pugh sold it last  week.  (see story below)

But it continued to waffle on the moral issues raised by residents, ranging from elderly people to students. They want “social and environmental justice”for the Pico Neighborhood, beginning with the end of the ‘Toxic Triangle.’ which has ssaulted nearby residents for years.

The fate of the trailer park on Colorado has raised profound moral questions.
Two park residents have shot themselves at the prospect of being forced to leave the homes they loved.

Councilman Richard Bloom twice ended Council discussions of the matter, saying the City couldn’t tell people what to do with their land. Apparently he has not read the zoning code.and has forgot that  the City has taken private land for allegedly benefi cial purposes a number of times.

Finally, last night,.there was some discussion, but the park remains in limbo.

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City Council Strikes Out

July 5, 2010 – 10:48 pm
Having lost its way several years ago, on July 1, 2010, Santa Monica lost its collective mind.
City staff, innumerable consultants, developers, lawyers, other “special interests,” and residents spent seven years and untold millions of dollars revising the land use and circulation elements of the General Plan (LUCE). and Thursday night, the City Council succumbed to the blandishments and buncombe served up by architects Hank
Koning and  Gwynne Pugh, and voted  to reject  key provisions of the LUCE in favor of   the Planning Commission version, ” which gives more latitude to architects and developers. And so it was that a 10-minute presentation trumped a seven -year project.
Koning and Pugh are members of the Commission, but they weren’t representing it,
they were lobbying for ‘significant’ architects (see letter below) and developers. Jim Rees and Ted Winterer were the official representatives, but the Council didn’t ask them anything.
The Koning-Pugh thesis – that bigger architecture is better architecture – is utter rubbish.   .
The legendary Mies van der Rohe said, “Less is more,” and proved it again and again.
Frank Gehry. generally seen as  the world’s most influential architect, designed the original Santa Monica Place, and promptly renounced it. But he and his family have lived for decades in a homely  tract house that he “adapted.” The mall  is gone. The house is an icon.
The LUCE is deeply flawed, as we have said repeatedly, especially in its misapprehension of the nature of this place. But it’s better than the Planning Commission’s last minute bow to Koning and Pugh’s demand for MORE.
As you may have noticed, the Council is aesthetically challenged, but it has a profound understanding of the concept of  MORE, and this is an election year, and five of the seven are running.
The Council could reverse itself tomorrow night. The  meeting starts at 5:30. You might want to be there.

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Sticking to the Facts

July 3, 2010 – 10:11 pm
In his column today (Just Stick to the Facts, Guys) Mr. Chris
Harding says that “virtually every significant practicing architect in Santa Monica–including Frank Gehry– supports the..recommended
2-6 additional feet in height…” above the draft LUCE’s height
limits, ostensibly to provide “quality architectural design.”
The increased height proposed here may help increase building rents
but it will do nothing to improve the architectural quality of these
buildings. Anybody’s who’s been through architecture school and out
practicing architecture in the real world knows that it is precisely
these kinds of restrictions that often result in the best
architecture. The tough work needed to make a design work within
such limits will often stretch an architect’s imagination and
ingenuity, resulting in a building that is both good for the
occupants and the community, and an example of excellent design as
well. Architecture history is replete with examples of fabulous
architecture created within very strict guidelines.
There is nothing inherently wrong with modifying zoning codes to
allow for designs that increase building rents, and the community
may well benefit, ultimately, from a more profitable project. But
please don’t couch it in terms of “architectural quality.” To
suggest that removing (or stretching) height restrictions will
somehow spur higher-quality architecture is nonsense. There are real
and tangible costs to the community associated with increased
heights, ranging from deeper shadow coverage to creeping
canyonization of the urban environment, and these must be taken into
account just as significantly as increased building rents.
I wonder about “virtually every significant practicing architect in
Santa Monica” supporting the increased heights. Has Mr. Harding
taken a poll?
Dan Jansenson
Insignificant Santa Monica Architect

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Saint John’s Found Guilty

July 2, 2010 – 9:33 am

On June 21st, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) convicted Saint John’s management of breaking federal labor law and interfering with its Registered Nurses’ right to form, join or assist a union. The Administrative Law Judge found that hospital management illegally interrogated RNs, illegally prohibited RNs from wearing ribbons reading “Saint John’s RNs for Safe Patient Care,” illegally threatened RNs with discipline if they continued to wear the ribbons, illegally barred off-duty employees from campaigning for the union in the hospital, illegally threatened off-duty employees with calling the police and having them arrested, illegally created the impression that off duty employees’ union activities were under surveillance.

The judge also expressly ruled that the RNs testifying against management were telling the truth and discredited management’s excuses for their behavior.

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How to Make A Bad Land Use Plan

June 24, 2010 – 6:31 pm
1) At the outset, survey residents.
2) Report that a majority of residents want to restore the small scale and low  key beach town that was lost in the commercial building frenzy; which began in the 1980s and has not abated.
3) Call the report “Emerging Themes,” publish it, and ignore it.
4) Hire a regiment of uber consultants, including a traffic expert    from San Francisco.
5) Rig “community workshops.”
6) Make “intensified urban form” a top priority, over the objections of residents.
7) Load Planning Commission with architects.
8) Oppose residents’ ballot measures.
9) Truckle to developers.
10) Spend six years on the plan.
The Council is in the midst of “endorsing” the LUCE plan. The next session is Thursday, July 1.
The special interests will be there. Residents should be there, too.
We didn’t pay attention in 1984, and got over 9 million square feet of new commercial development and traffic nightmares.

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Whither…Whatever

June 21, 2010 – 10:17 am
By Ava Tramer
Beaches
AM clouds, PM sun
Highs: 66-69; Lows: 57-61
Inland
AM clouds, PM sun
Highs:72 – 87 ; Lows: 56-60
Deserts
Clear, sunny, and hot
Highs: 101-108; Lows: 70-76
And Santa Monica…
Happy summer, ladies and gentlemen!  I wish I had something more exciting to share with you, but unfortunately, it’s the same old boring weather news.  With the arrival of summer comes the traditional morning clouds and afternoon sun.  It is conducive more to sleeping in and then lazily tanning in the afternoon in your backyard or on your porch, rather than playing frisbee and swimming and having barbecues at the beach; if you want to do any of these activities, you either have to do them chillily in the morning (and who wants to go swimming under cold cloud cover?), or only do them for half the day once the sun comes out, and that doesn’t really feel like summer, now does it?  So I guess the moral is, wait for the fall, when it’s hot and then summer will feel like it’s here!

Whither…Wnatever   By Ava Tramer
BeachesAM clouds, PM sunHighs: 66-69; Lows: 57-61
InlandAM clouds, PM sunHighs:72 – 87 ; Lows: 56-60
DesertsClear, sunny, and hotHighs: 101-108; Lows: 70-76
And Santa Monica…Happy summer, ladies and gentlemen!  I wish I had something more exciting to share with you, but unfortunately, it’s the same old boring weather news.  With the arrival of summer comes the traditional morning clouds and afternoon sun.  It is conducive more to sleeping in and then lazily tanning in the afternoon in your backyard or on your porch, rather than playing frisbee and swimming and having barbecues at the beach; if you want to do any of these activities, you either have to do them chillily in the morning (and who wants to go swimming under cold cloud cover?), or only do them for half the day once the sun comes out, and that doesn’t really feel like summer, now does it?  So I guess the moral is, wait for the fall, when it’s hot and then summer will feel like it’s here!

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California Incline Up and Downdate

June 16, 2010 – 7:56 am
By George  Wolfberg,
President, Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association
The Draft Environmental Impact Report for the California Incline is scheduled for circulation within the next month or so. We are currently working with Caltrans, reviewing the document prior to circulation.  During the circulation of the DEIR, the City will conduct public meetings on the DEIR.  The best way to stay on top of the project developments and DEIR circulation is through the City’s engineering website http://www.smgov.net/departments/publicworks/civeng.aspx or PCH

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Our Schools Have a Problem Money Won’t Fix

June 16, 2010 – 12:38 am

A letter By Jean Sedillos published on Surf Santa Monica

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive.”

–Sir Walter Scott, 1808

March 29, 2010 –Since my oldest daughter started kindergarten in 1977, I have volunteered in probably 50 capacities (Stairway of the Stars, parcel tax and bond committees, PTAs, and Band Parents among them) for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. For the past 12 years I have chaired Restore Barnum Hall, a group that raised $1 million and monitored the restoration of Santa Monica High School’s auditorium. For several years, that was an unpaid full-time job.

Yet last December I walked out of a school board meeting wanting the SMMUSD to take a flying leap.

Read the rest of this entry »

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