CITY STAFF TO INVESTIGATE CAMPAIGN PRACTICES
Tweet The campaign mailers that attracted the most attention during the recent contest were not only bogus, they were notable as much for what they didn’t say as for what they did say — and they backfired. Their “target,” incumbent Councilman Kevin McKeown, got more votes than any of the other Council candidates. The mailers stated that the City’s police officers and firefighters, paramedics, School District teachers, ... Read More
An Earlier Landmark Fiasco Recalled
Tweet The City Council’s rejection of 301 Ocean Avenue as a landmark is reminiscent of another bad Council call. In February, 2004, the owner of Christie Court, garden apartments at 125 Pacific Avenue, applied for a demolition permit. As the apartments were over 40 years old, the proposed demolition had to be reviewed by the Landmarks Commission. Christie Court tenants only learned of their landlord’s plans to destroy their apartments ... Read More
PROJECT THREATENS SANTA MONICA WAY OF LIFE: PART ONE
Tweet Santa Monica City Council summarily rejected the appeal by a group of neighborhood citizens on Tuesday night that would have required Texas developer Trammel Crow to obtain an Environmental Impact Report before beginning risky excavation at 301 Ocean Avenue, barely 100 feet from the decaying bluffs adjoining Palisades Park. That decision is the latest action by city officials in this controversial development project that will have dire consequences... Read More
IT ISN’T OVER — 5,954 VOTES STILL UNCOUNTED
Tweet 5,954 provisional and Vote by Mail ballots cast Tuesday in Santa Monica’s election have yet to be counted. They are in the L.A. County Registrar’s office in Norwalk, and, according to a spokesperson, the count didn’t begin until today (11/4), and must be completed by November 30. The additional votes will change vote totals, but the only outcomes it might change are incumbent Bob Holbrook’s slim lead over challenger Ted... Read More
TRUTH AND LIES
Tweet by Peggy Clifford Santa Monica is one of those legendary places that’s been on the world’s radar for decades. It’s an original, not a copy. It’s been here, on the storied Southern California coast for 135 years, and it’s been an icon for longer than most of us have been alive. It’s very small, intricately made. The ocean is the main thing. It’s in the light, the air, the soil, and the souls of its most... Read More
Planning is the Problem
Tweet “New Council Will Help Shape Downtown’s Future.” The mind reels at the very thought. The Council’s previous essays at “shaping” downtown Santa Monica have not gone well — in large part because it has followed staff’s lead. Staff wanted more than two dozen ficus trees removed from downtown streets. Over 10,000 residents opposed the removal. Staff prevailed. It also convinced the Council to impose... Read More
NO AND NO!
Tweet According to the lead paragraph of a story in the Daily Press (10/15), “The City Council on Tuesday got its first chance to formally weigh in on early-stage concepts for what is likely to become the most significant public space in Santa Monica — and the council’s most lasting legacy.” No and no. The subject of the story is the six-acre park that will be installed in the northwest corner of the Civic Center. “The most... Read More
Questions Without Answers
Tweet QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS 1. The City recently bought a 52,000 square foot parcel at Fifth and Arizona for $45 million. At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the parcel was described as the site of a new parking structure. Can you calculate the cost of each parking space (land +materials +labor), and how many cars will have to park in each space to pay off those costs? 2. Two decades ago, there was a Spanish language movie theater... Read More
Council Approves Jumbo LUCE
Tweet 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... Read More
City Council Strikes Out
Tweet 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... Read More
