Treesavers to Hold Candidates’ Forum

Tweet Treesavers, which was founded to prevent the City from removing ficus trees from two downtown streets as part of an “improvement” project, has scheduled an evening of “tree speech” for all qualified Santa Monica City Council candidates. Treesavers delayed the trees’ removal for five months, but ultimately the City prevailed. The candidates’ forum, “On Our Urban Forest and Tree- Related Issues,” will be held Thursday, August 14, from 6:30 to 9... Read More

More PCH Closures

Tweet The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will close northbound Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) at the McClure Tunnel on Thursday, August 14, and possibly, Friday, August 15, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. One lane of PCH in alternating directions also will be closed at spot locations between Malibu and the Tunnel from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly from Monday, August 11, through Thursday, August 15. Work will include pavement markings and striping. The closures are part of a... Read More

Whither the Weather 8/11 – 8/15

Tweet By Ava Tramer Beaches Warm and partly cloudy Highs: 74-78; Lows: 64-67 Inland Hot and mostly sunny Highs: 94-98; Lows: 59-64 Deserts Clear and hot Highs: 103-110; Lows: 80-84 And Santa Monica… After months, no, years, of training, Sun finally has a chance to show what it’s made of. In intense competition with weather from all over the world – Rain, Snow, Hail, Wind, Thunder, Heat, Breeze, and more - Sun will vie for top honors over the upcoming week at the Weatherlympics.... Read More

SMRR Leaders Overrule Members

Tweet Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), the town’s dominant political organization for three decades, functions democratically— except when it doesn’t. Last week, as we reported, a reliable source told us that the SMRR steering committee was considering giving Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District incumbent Board member Jose Escarce the SMRR endorsement, though, in several votes, the membership had rejected his bid. Saturday, the steering committee... Read More

Tony Russo Dies

Tweet Tony Russo, who helped Daniel Ellsberg copy and release the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and other papers died Wednesday, August 6, in his home in Suffolk, Virginia. Russo, 71, had been in poor health Since suffering a heart attack three years ago. Suffolk was his home town, but he lived in Santa Monica fir many years. Russo and Ellsberg were friends and colleagues at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. which was known to be one of the architects of the Vietnam... Read More

City Electoral Races Attract Crowds

Tweet If it’s not a record, it must be a near-record – as of Tuesday afternoon, 22 people had pulled papers to compete in the November election for the four open seats on the Santa Monica City Council. Among the 22 are the four incumbents –Mayor Herb Katz, Mayor Pro Tem Richard Bloom and Council members Ken Genser and Bobby Shriver. Bloom, Katz and Shriver have also submitted the requisite 100 signatures, as have candidates Jerry Rubin and Jon Mann, both of whom have... Read More

SMRR Leaders Consider Promoting Escarce

Tweet Less than 24 hours after Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights’ (SMRR) members endorsed candidates for all the local offices in the November election, the group’s powerful steering committee was “considering” a line-up change, according to a reliable source. The committee is said to be talking about adding Jose Escarce to their “support” list, which would be coupled with endorsements on mailers — with an asterisk denoting “support” rather “... Read More

SMRR Endorses Lots of Incumbents, Few Newcomers

Tweet At its convention Sunday, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), which has dominated Santa Monica politics for three decades, endorsed a flock of candidates for the open seats on the City Council, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, the Santa Monica College Board of Trustee and the Rent Control Board. SMRR currently holds a majority of seats on the Council and all the boards. SMRR incumbent Council members Richard Bloom and Ken Genser... Read More

Coming Soon: More Traffic Trauma

Tweet According to the Malibu Surfside News, “the City of Santa Monica is crowing that ‘years of persistence have paid off,’ and a new traffic signal will be installed this fall on Pacific Coast Highway midway between the California Incline and Chautauqua Boulevard. “The signal will be placed next to the city’s new public beach-front recreation center at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, a stretch of road that bears 80,000 cars per day and is the main route into Malibu from... Read More

1994 in Fantasyland

Tweet This week, Surf Santa Monica’s fantasy historian Frank Gruber turns the clock back to 1994. He writes, “The advice I would give the anti-RIFTers is to study the 1994 campaign that defeated the anti-Civic Center plan initiative that a group of residents similar to the group that has promoted RIFT put on the ballot. They tried to make the vote turn on the issue of the 24,000 daily car trips they said the plan would engender. “Everyone expected the initiative to pass... Read More