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Long-time
landlord activist Chet Hoover passed away recently. The
family has requested in lieu of flowers that insults be
sent to the Santa Monica Rent Control Board.
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City
Hall was closed on Friday. Only services deemed critical
by the City Council continued: Police, Fire and Parking
Tickets.
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By
a 5-2 vote the City council approved a ban on smoking on
the city’s beaches. The ordinance passed after a compromise
measure failed that would have allowed beachgoers to light-up
provided they didn’t inhale.
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It
was disclosed that last year the city had 20 employees who
earned from $155,000 to $220,000 with 33 days of paid vacation,
plus every other Friday off. Can someone say “outsourcing”?
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The
Santa Monica City council is concerned with the proliferation
of national chain stores at the popular Third Street Promenade.
To manage the crisis, the city has appointed a new Director
of Central Planning, Uri Notgoodenov.
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The
City of Santa Monica is the only city in California with
a triple-A bond rating from all three rating agencies. To
determine their ratings, the companies look at three criteria:
1) The amount a city collects from suing companies doing
business in the city; 2) In-lieu fees collected from developers;
and 3) Building permit fees collected when someone rats
on a neighbor doing repairs.
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The
city is considering the acquisition of two properties that
could be made into parking garages. Giddy at the prospect
of more parking tickets, council members chanted in unison,
“The more meters the merrier.”
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Downtown
development guidelines were debated by the City Council
on Tuesday. At issue is the scale of allowable development,
the degree of public input and where to locate the Statue
of Lenin.
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The
two unions representing local teachers announced that they
will be endorsing candidates on the November Ballot. For
their screening interviews candidates must arrive on time,
may not chew gum and must wait for the bell to ring before
leaving.
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Stealing
a page from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s playbook, a group
of local school activists forced the City to agree to allocate
$6 million per year from the general fund to the school
district. The group had threatened to take a charter amendment
to the ballot unless the City agreed to its terms. Outraged
Councilmember Pam O’Connor huffed, “The schoolyard
bully approach to public policy is one of using misrepresentations
and threats. Hey, extortion is no way to make public policy”.
Hmmmm, it seemed to work OK for SMRR in getting rent control.
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The
council warned of dire budget constraints that would be
imposed as a result of the $6 million that must now be set
aside for schools. There goes the idea of paid vacations
for the homeless.
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It
was a bad week at City Hall. In addition to having its budget
setting power challenged by school activists, the City had
to call off inspections by its “hedge police”
as a result of angry protests from homeowners. There was
some good news, however. One council member saved $200 per
year on his car insurance by switching to GEICO.
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There
is a reason they are called non-profits. Three local social
service groups have combined resources to sponsor a web
site to provide the local homeless population with news
about available food, shelter, job opportunities, and medical
services. The next time you see a homeless person you might
check to see if they are logged onto www.smhomeless.org
on their laptop.
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Santa
Monica city employees receive written annual performance reviews.
At the close of the interview they are put into one of four
categories:
a) Demonstrates quality
performance
c) Below satisfactory
b) Further development
needed
d) Not acceptable
A fifth evaluation category was recently dropped: “Typical
government bureaucrat” |
