CITY STAFF TINKERS TONIGHT

Tweet Odds are everyone knows at least one person who can’t be in a room without rearranging things – moving a vase, plumping a pillow, straightening a painting. There are signs that a great many people in City Hall are dominated by that same impulse – only the adjustments they make end up costing millions of dollars, inevitably require consultants, and subject residents to “public outreach,” “visioning,” workshops run by “facilitators.” At tonight’s City... Read More

OWNER OF TWO LANDMARKS VS. THE CITY

Tweet During the City Council hearing on the City’s proposed Urban Forest Master Plan, Susan Connally, who owns the Charmont and Sovereign Apartments, two of Santa Monica’s most distinctive landmarks, was attempting to show the ways in which the City trees in the parkways adjacent to her buildings diminished them, when Mayor Richard Bloom cut her off in mid-sentence, saying her time was up. Soon after that, Connally was awarded a Stewardship Award from the Santa Monica Conservancy... Read More

MoveON Delivers Petition Signed By 500,000 People Demanding Justice for Trayvon

Tweet MoveOn Reports: I’m a MoveOn member and a mother, and my two sons look like Trayvon Martin. As parents, we all have to warn our children about the dangers of the world—strangers, bullies, which streets not to walk down. But there’s a special pain in explaining to my sons the suspicion and dangers they face, simply by being young black men. One month ago today, Trayvon Martin was walking through a gated community in Florida with nothing more than an iced tea... Read More

CITY GOES BEYOND MIXED USE TO MIXED UP

Tweet LA Stage Times reported last week that “Just as Santa Monica-based City Garage is getting acclimated in its new residence within a 16,000-square-feet gallery, Track 16 at Bergamot Station, managing director Charles Duncombe and artistic director Frederique Michel learn the building is due for demolition to make way for the expanding Metro Expo Line. ‘This probably won’t happen for another year, but we certainly can’t make long-range plans,’ says Duncombe. Both... Read More

LATEST COMMUNIQUE FROM THE BATTLEGROUND

Tweet Cut & paste into your browser: http://0351d0f.netsolhost.com/WordPress/2012/03/24/where-is-the-tenant-impact-report/ I’m trying to make what we’re saying understandable to anyone. The first point is that what we would be losing here is what the developers would be gaining, as far as how many good qualities the site and the neighborhood/City have. They want this land for the same reasons we do, but we also have rent control and among the 60 of us, about... Read More

WE ARE ALL TRAYVON MARTIN

Tweet Trayvon Martin was a handsome 17-year-old African American boy with a wonderful smile. He was on his way to his father’s fiancée’s home from the store with some skittles and a glass of iced tea. He was wearing one of the hooded sweatshirts that millions of Americans wear. He was talking on his cell phone to his girlfriend. On that evening, 28 days ago, it would have been hard to find a less dangerous person on any street in any town than Trayvon Martin. But George... Read More

“What Children Know” Project On Display at Carousel

Tweet Images of “What Children Know,” the UCPlay Project, United Cerebral Palsy’s creative arts program for students with special needs, are currently on display in the Santa Monica Pier Carousel. The images not only document the classes that are held every week in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, but convey the beauty of the preschool students. This is the third year of the Project’s partnership with the district, and the exhibit celebrates the achievements... Read More

Unofficial Opening of Bike Corrals Is Sat.

Tweet The installation of Santa Monica’s first on-street bike corrals, at 2439 Main Street, in front of Peets at Edgemar, was completed last week and was unofficially marked by bike riders, members of the community and politicians On Saturday morning, the grand unofficial opening of the corrals will take place between 11 and 12 with coffee, muffins, balloons, music, ribbon-cutting, speeches, more politicians, drum rolls, bike activities, media coverage, lights and cameras.... Read More

City Completes Shared Streets Project

Tweet The City of Santa Monica and the Borderline Neighborhood Group will celebrate the completion of the Shared Streets Project with a brief ceremony and ribbon cutting on Friday, March 1, at the intersection of Ozone Avenue and Longfellow Street Finished earlier this year on time and within budget, the $2.1 million project transformed a narrow corridor with neither aesthetic nor sustainable appeal into an interactive “living street” with a communal feel. Previously, streets... Read More

IF YOU CARE ABOUT SANTA MONICA, YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM

Tweet A Santa Monica filmmaker has made a film of the Village Trailer Park that everyone who cares about Santa Monica should see. The trailer park, on Colorado Avenue, has been here longer than most of us have been alive. It’s an integral part of our history. It’s one of the most beautiful and serene neighborhoods in Santa Monica with its stands of trees and gardens. It’s affordable housing at its most affordable. It’s home to some longtime residents. It’s irreplaceable.... Read More