Armen Melkonians and Kate Bransfield Visit City Clerk to Petition for City Council Race

Santa Monica for Renters Rights have had a near lock on City council elections since the group was founded in 1979. Are local voters finally fed up enough by the non stop construction, traffic and enormous block apartment projects, to choose someone else?

Armen Melkonians thinks so, The man behind the "Residocracy" page on Facebook, used that platform to announce last Sunday that he had pulled papers to run for Santa Monica City Council.

Joining him on a local anti development slate, will be local realtor Kate Bransfield. She is known both as a real estate agent, and also as a person who has spoken out against the amount of real estate development in Santa Monica.

Both of them have also criticized Santa Monica for allowing, even accommodating scooters, while Beverly Hills has banned the Bird and Lime craft.

The two will face Sue Himmelrich, whose first 4 year term expires at the end of 2018. She has also pulled papers.

"Pulling papers" means obtaining a petition to run for Santa Monica City Council from the City Clerk's office. 100 Santa Monica voters must sign to qualify the candidate. In the case of major candidates, it's mostly a formality.