Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Following in the footsteps of its neighbors, the Santa Monica City Council this week voted to require all city employees, volunteers and contractors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But the vote was not unanimous at Tuesday night's meeting. Councilmember Lana Negrete abstained, stating that, though she is vaccinated, she respects people who don't believe in vaccines. Voting against the measures was Councilmember Oscar de la Torre. He said he supports "people getting vaccinated" but he...
Gavin Newsom, a rich white guy from the Bay Area who is backed by some of the richest people in the State, faces a real challenge from the Recall Campaign. This has galvanized since June, when former Talk Radio host Larry Elder announced that he was running for the Golden State's top job. Some say the establishment is running scared. "There's real anger at Sacramento, real anger at Gavin Newsom. Larry Elder, temperament wise, symbolizes that, In a way that Kevin Falconer and John Cox don't."...
Courts & Rulings Judge halts Newsom's planned closure of Northern California prison A Lassen County judge this week granted the city of Susanville a temporary restraining order halting the state's work to close a Northern Californian prison that employs about 1,000 people. Superior Court Judge Mark Nareau found Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration did not comply with requirements cited in the California Penal Code when it announced plans in April to close the California Correctional Center....
The Santa Monica City Council this week approved the employment contract with its newly-appointed City Manager David White. White will earn an annual salary of $340,000 plus benefits and start his new post on October 11, city officials said. Under the negotiated contract, Santa Monica will also reimburse White's moving and relocation expenses, provide up to seven months of temporary rental assistance (maximum of $21,000) as well as use of a city car and "make available a home loan not to exceed...
The City Council unanimously voted this week to pass an amendment to the city's noise ordinance to "reduce prolonged noise from protest activities in residential neighborhoods." The move was in in response to the fall 2020 protests that targeted the Santa Monica residence of County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and disturbed her neighbors through the prolonged use of amplified sound. At Tuesday night's meeting, the Council admitted that Supervisor Kuehl never complained about the protests nor the...
Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder has won his fight to be on the September 14th recall ballot. The son of a restaurant owner, Elder has electrified Republicans with the possibility that they could defeat Gov. Gavin Newsom and replace him with the first statewide Republican officeholder since Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Elder sent out the following email: "Huge news, fellow conservative! We won our lawsuit against the California Secretary of State and are back on the governor ballot in...
The Santa Monica City Council announced on Thursday that it has selected David White to serve as Santa Monica’s next city manager. White’s employment contract – including an October 11 start date and salary – will be considered at the July 27 Council meeting, said city officials at last night’s special Council meeting. White currently serves as deputy city manager for the City of Berkeley, where he oversees internal service departments, public safety reform, economic recovery, and special p...
Governor Newsom has signed AB 150 – a budget trailer bill – which includes the groundbreaking California Homeless Hiring Tax Credit. State officials said the tax credit "simultaneously confronts the homelessness crisis facing California while also addressing the job losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic that have disproportionately harmed low-income communities." Under this plan, a qualified employer can claim up to $30,000 in tax credits annually, assisting both individuals experiencing ho...
A petition for the recall of the controversial, Los Angeles Councilman Mike Bonin was approved for circulation, the City Clerk announced this week. Bonin, who represents many Westside neighborhoods, including Venice, was served with a recall notice on June 15. Petitioners against Bonin cited his failed attempt to handle the Westside's homelessness crisis and his continued "failure to follow through on promises he made to his constituents." According to Recall Bonin 2021, the group behind the...
Legislation to address the growing epidemic of hate crimes has just passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill, AB 1126, authored by Assembly member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), would establish the first statewide commission in California to not only accurately monitor and track hate crimes and incidents, but to formally recommend policy to the Governor and State Legislature. Bloom previously sat on the Santa Monica City Council for 13 years, serving as mayor three times and mayor pro...
The Santa Monica City Council voted this week to establish a pilot program that will give priority on the city's affordable housing waitlist to the households who were displaced by the Civic Auditorium or I-10 Freeway projects in the 1950s and 1960s. It is unclear how the City plans to identify such people. Documents from the 1960's may be rather scarce. At its Tuesday night, meeting, the Council approved changes in priority to the city's Affordable Housing Production Program "in response to...
Courts & Rulings Judicial misconduct requires reversing murder conviction The Court of Appeal for this district on Friday reversed a conviction for second degree murder based on judicial misconduct on the part of then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edmund Willcox Clarke Jr. It is a foregone conclusion that defendant Phillip Dorsett, convicted of a second-degree murder, will not be retried in light of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s stated aversion to lengthy sentences. Me...
June 30, 2021 - Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon held a press conference on Wednesday to explain to the public how he is going to address the surge in violent crime in Los Angeles, a surge that coincidentally began around the time he assumed the position of chief law enforcement officer in the county. "Public safety strategies have traditionally been reactive and reactionary, instead of proactive and preventative," Gascon said at the presser. "Traditional" methods, such as policing,...
There are an estimated 2,000 homeless people inhabiting the streets of Venice, California. News outlets reported 200 tents on the Ocean Front Boardwalk as of June 27. And on June 28, Los Angeles Councilman Mike Bonin boasted in an email blast about housing 19 individuals. Bonin attempted to play up the importance of this insignificant dent in the crisis, brought about in large part by public policies put in place by himself and others like him. That's "someone's mother, father, brother, sister,"...
In a 4 to 2 vote, the Santa Monica City Council appointed Lana Negrete to take Kevin McKeown's seat on the 7 member Santa Monica City Council. The Council selected Negrete from 34 eligible candidates who submitted their interest for the appointment to the seat vacated by Kevin McKeown in June. Her term lasts until November 2022. “Lana Negrete was born and raised in Santa Monica and is the owner of the Santa Monica Music Center. As a mother, she has long been active in the local PTA and cares d...
The City of Santa Monica has announced the seven appointees to the newly-formed We Are Santa Monica Fund Board. They include business executives, a RAND analyst and a social services commissioner. The We Are Santa Monica Fund – a donor advised fund (DAF) – was established last year, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide a pathway for the community to donate emergency goods, services, and monetary funds to aid recovery efforts, city officials said. The seven-member board will adv...
The Santa Monica City Council this week reviewed and provided input to the draft Housing Element update, which "prioritizes 100% affordable housing in city-owned land" and "addresses historic discrimination and satisfies affirmatively furthering fair housing." The Council discussed and approved the various changes to the plan – some of which were recommended by the Planning Commission – and directed staff to transmit the draft Santa Monica Housing Element to the state's Housing and Com...
When in the Course of Human Events, a guy who grew up in San Gabriel Valley applies for the top job in Santa Monica, and gets offered it along with $440,000 a year, health care for himself and his family and a full pension for life in five years, and then said guy turns it down; you gotta ask why, right? “Stepping into Santa Monica city government doesn't look like the career move anyone would want,” posted one local resident on social media. “We are bankrupt, crime is escalating, tourism will...
Let's face it, being appointed Santa Monica City manager is kind of a $430,000 a year booby prize. The City's progressive residents demand contradictory things of its government. Embrace all and be diverse, but move the homeless people out of my backyard. Provide a safe environment, while at the same time bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors and build public housing on every square inch of available land. No surprise that this hasn't worked out particularly well historically. Rene...
May 21, 2021 Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Registrar approved the petitions for the recall of LA County District Attorney George Gascon. The Recall George Gascon Campaign may now legally begin the process of collecting the 579,062 signatures necessary for a recall election against the controversial head of the prime law enforcement agency for the county. The number is derived from 10% of the county's registered voters. The deadline for arriving at that number is October 27, 2021, 160 days aw...
It is oxymoronic for anyone to believe he can simultaneously support HAMAS and consider himself a champion against antisemitism. These two positions are mutually exclusive. Yet, that is exactly the turf staked out by Congressman Ted Lieu, who represents coastal Los Angeles County. Earlier this year, Lieu touted his efforts on the House Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism. But actions speak louder than committee assignments, and Lieu's actions over the past decade speak volumes. In 2012, Lieu...
Local residents and visitors – including those vaccinated – must continue to wear face coverings indoors and around crowds in Santa Monica, city officials declared this week. Interim City Manager Lane Dilg signed on Wednesday morning the 36th supplement to the local emergency aligning Santa Monica's guidance for face coverings with Los Angeles County and the State of California, which will keep its mask mandate until June 15. "This supplement further signals the return to normal we've wor...
The California Assembly's Public Safety Committee recently passed for additional consideration a bill that would gut the state's sentencing enhancements for the use of a gun during the commission of a felony. Current state law provides sentencing enhancements of either 10, 20, or 25-years-to-life, depending on the nature of the gun use. 10 years are added for simply brandishing a gun during the commission of a felony, 20 years are added if the gun is discharged, and 25-to-life if great bodily...
On Monday, May 10, a federal judge modified an earlier injunction restricting the Los Angeles Police Department's use of less lethal 40-millimeter and 37-millimeter projectile launchers as a means of crowd control. Headlines around the region proclaimed that U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall had granted Black Lives Matter LA's request for the injunction against this arsenal in the police's use of force. In reality, the judge expanded the circumstances already allowed under the original, A...
May 3, 2021 In what is probably not the smartest move by a state official facing a recall election during a year when violent crime is spiking across the region, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order giving extra time off of violent prisoners' sentences for "good behavior." Newsom's order changes a rule that has been in effect since 2017 that shortens sentences by one-fifth for good behavior. Now sentences can by shortened by one-third. There are currently 76,000 incarcerate...
