Dumbest Remark of the Week — So Far

Tweet Responding to Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold’s plan to ask the Senate to censure President George W. Bush for his management of the Iraq war and his “assault” on the Constitution, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said,” The president already has the mark of the American people — he’s the worst president we ever had. I don’t think we need a censure resolution in the Senate to prove that.” SHARETHIS.addEntry({... Read More

Rowling Rules

Tweet This is a banner night for millions of people all over the world, for as clocks strike 12 midnight in city after city, the seventh and final volume in the saga of Harry Potter, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” by J.K. Rowling goes on sale. As we write, Harry Potter’s most avid English devotees are deep into the seventh volume, their counterparts in New Yorkers are already three or four chapters in, and all the Angelenos who lined up outside bookstores all... Read More

Whither the Weather July 20-27

Tweet By Ava Tramer Beaches Warm and sunny Highs: 72-75; Lows: 64-67 Inland Hot and sunny Highs: 91-96; Lows: 62-65 Deserts Scorching and sunny Highs: 104-109; Lows: 81-85 Read More SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Whither the Weather July 20-27", url: "http://www.santamonicadispatch.com/2007/07/whither-the-weather-july-20-27/" }); Read More

Caltrans Puts Santa Monica On Notice

Tweet According to a Malibu Surfside News story by Hans Laetz, “…Douglas Failing, the District 7 director of the California Department of Transportation, said Monday that Caltrans will not grant Santa Monica any permits to close lanes on state-owned PCH unless those closures are limited to light-traffic periods, which will likely require evening or overnight work… “Failing was asked if Santa Monica’s plan to close PCH lanes for the daytime-only replacement of the California... Read More

Good News!

Tweet The dedication of the refurbished facilities at Will Rogers State Beach will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, July 23, at the north end of parking lot #3. Enter the lot at Temescal and drive north, beyond the maintenance yard. The ceremony will be held immediately north of the site of the Lobster Pot, which is now gone. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Good News!", url: "http://www.santamonicadispatch.com/2007/07/good-news/" }); Read More

Drescherville Redux

Tweet The City will hold a workshop Saturday (see Dispatch story, “Future of Mixed Up Area”) on what it calls “The Industrial Lands. ” “The Industrial Lands.” It sounds like something out of a 10th century English novel: primitive gloomy factories, black smoke curling out of their smoke stacks, a ruined landscape choking on soot. But Santa Monica’s a Southern California beach town and it’s the 21st century, and the only real factories that were ever here were... Read More

What’s Going On Here?

Tweet It was George Santayana who said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Soon after California became a state, and before Santa Monica was founded, this locale was a port of sorts. Cargo ships came and went from jerrybuilt docks. Senator John P. Jones, who’d made a fortune in silver in Nevada, bought land here with an eye to building a railroad from the beach to Los Angeles. About the same time, Collis P. Huntington, one of the so-called Big... Read More

Future of Mixed Up Area Is on Table

Tweet On Saturday, July 21, the City will hold a community workshop to explore what the area it calls “the industrial lands” should become in the next 20 years. Once largely industrial, the target area has become the most mixed section of the city in the last 20 years. It lies more or less between Centinela Avenue to the east, the 10 Freeway to the south, Lincoln Boulevard to the west and Colorado Avenue/Broadway to the north. It is currently dominated by the cluster of luxe... Read More

Four People Shot During Argument

Tweet It’s not clear yet how it started, but it ended with four people being treated for gunshot wounds in local hospitals, and a suspect in custody. According to a Santa Monica Police Department press release, Sunday night at 1:50 a.m., SMPD patrol officers responded to a report of gunshots in the 400 block of 11th Street On arriving, the officers were told by guests at a party in a house on the block that some other partygoers were arguing in front of the house, when one of... Read More

SMCLC To Residents: Support Moratoriun

Tweet Representatives from Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC) and neighborhood organizations met several weeks ago with City Manager Lamont Ewell and City Attorney Marcia Moutrie to request that the City declare a moratorium on new development until the revision of the General Plan is complete. Subsequently, the representatives asked the Planning Commission to recommend that it recommend the moratorium to the City Council (See Dispatch stories, “City Hall Vamps,”... Read More