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Council clashes in debate over housing bills Feb. 11, 2021 at 6:00 am Santa Monica City Council voted Tuesday to formally oppose two bills that are currently proposed in the state legislature, despite concerns the City would be seen as anti-affordable housing. Councilmembers voted 5-1 to oppose SB 9 and SB 10 as they are currently written. Councilmember Gleam Davis was the only no-vote and Mayor Sue Himmelrich recused herself from the vote prior to discussion of the two items. Councilmembers Phil Brock and Oscar de la Torre introduced the items in separate discussions Tuesday evening while they both explained why councilmembers should break from tradition and oppose the two bills before they have had an opportunity to set the City’s legislative agenda. ....
City Manager search set to begin after Council meeting Feb. 09, 2021 at 6:00 am Santa Monica City Council is set to begin the search for a new City Manager, according to Tuesday night’s meeting agenda, which also includes a pair of new items pertaining to housing. At the request of Mayor Sue Himmelrich, Councilmember Gleam Davis, and Councilmember Oscar de la Torre, staff could be directed to retain Lamont Ewell of Ralph Andersen & Associates to provide executive search services for the position of City Manager for the City of Santa Monica. Ewell has more than 35 years of experience in the public sector after formerly managing the cities of Santa Monica, San Diego, and Durham, North Carolina, according to the biography on the company’s website. Ewell has also been called upon to serve as Interim City Manager for the cities of Culver City, Oakland, and Compton. ....
Fast Food Ban passes second reading Feb. 01, 2021 at 6:00 am Fast food restaurants are once again prohibited in the Third Street Promenade, but Santa Monica’s Planning Commission still hopes for renewed discussion on the ordinance some time in 2021. Santa Monica City Council retroactively reestablished an Interim Zoning Ordinance last Tuesday that was previously passed in Nov. 2018 to prevent the proliferation of fast food restaurants on the Promenade. The ordinance defines a fast-food restaurant as a place where orders are taken at a walk-up window, counter or machine; payment is completed prior to food consumption; and food is served with disposable, one-time, or limited-use wrapping, containers, or utensils; and also banned restaurants and cafes that have more than 150 domestic locations. ....
Reply In a letter to the editor, two Santa Monica city commissioners ask the public and council to consider doing better to address racism and equality. (Scott Anderson/Patch) If anything, decades of American opportunism, combined with vast opportunity to those who can access it, have resulted in two things in America; white supremacism; plus, mountains of researched knowledge dismantling it. Where those in America with power used to pretend that science had their backs at the expense of BIPOC and women, humanity can no longer justify such disgraces. The verdicts are in, and white supremacy, as well as sexism, are viably bullshit. ....
Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem retain positions Jan. 14, 2021 at 6:00 am Councilmembers Sue Himmelrich and Kristin McCowan retained their positions as Mayor and Mayor Pro Tempore in a vote Tuesday that occurred as a result of alleged Brown Act violations. Himmelrich and McCowan were reelected to their respective positions for two years in two separate unanimous votes, but not before Counncilmember Oscar de la Torre attempted to persuade the two to split the terms with one of Council’s newest elected representatives. “The Latino community has waited for 300 years for us to get the first Latino mayor ever, and that Mayor only served one year… he had to share that year. And I’m thinking how many white women have served as mayor in the City of Santa Monica; I think there’s quite a few, but we only had one Latino or Latina in the city’s history,” de la Torre said after Councilmember McKeown nominated Himmelrich and McCowan. “I’m just thinking that it would be ....