S A N TA M O N I C A
REFLECTING THE CONCERNS OF THE COMMUNITY smmirror.com
February 4 – February 10, 2022 Volume CXXVI, Issue 130
INSIDE
FORMER SANTA MONICA HOME OF LATE ARTIST JOHN BALDESSARI SELLS FOR $3.9 MILLION PAGE 4
Judge Hands Down Ruling Allowing Parking Structure 3 to be Demolished Technicality leads to Judge Mitchell Beckloff ruling By Sam Catanzaro
A parking structure in downtown Santa Monica is one step closer to destruction after a judge issued a ruling last week tossing out a lawsuit intended to halt the city from tearing down the garage to replace it with affordable housing. On Friday, January 28, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff ruled that the City of Santa Monica could proceed to tear down Parking Structure 3, located on Fourth Street between Arizona Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. According to the City of Santa Monica, demolition is expected to begin February 14. Beckloff’s ruling was based on a technicality surrounding a state law: the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The law requires that after filing a lawsuit, petitioners must request a hearing within 90 days. Attorneys for the petitioners, a group of business and property owners
called the Bayside Owners Association, missed this deadline by 22 days. “I don’t really know that there’s any way around dismissal,” Beckloff said at Friday’s hearing, conducted via phone, explaining he was bound by previous case law. “I’m bound by all these cases. I don’t have the discretion to say I don’t agree with them.” “There’s something that really bothered me working on this,” he added. “I certainly don’t take this decision cavalierly.” Ellia Thompson, an attorney for the petitioners, took responsibility for the error during Friday’s hearing. According to Thompson, she was without a secretary for much of the pandemic and the filing deadline “slipped through the cracks.” “I have struggled during COVID to stay on top of everything. I find it difficult to handle my cases,” Thompson said. “This requirement to file for a trial-setting conference, it slipped through the cracks.” “In my 17 years of practice, I have never made such a mistake,” she added. At the hearing Friday, petitioners argued that “for all practical purposes, the court’s notice of a trial setting conference and Petitioner’s service of same eliminated the need for the technical hearing request.” Beckloff however, called this argument “not
Parking Structure 3 in downtown Santa Monica.
persuasive.” “Petitioner did not initiate the trial setting conference notice. The court generated the notice. Pursuant to the court’s local rules, the court set the matter for a trial setting
Photo: Sam Catanzaro
conference and served Petitioner with notice,” reads the ruling. “The court cannot attribute its own actions as demonstrating substantial compliance by Petitioner. Moreover, there
Parking Structure, see page 2
Santa Monica College Freshman Suing School Over Vaccine Mandate January 11 lawsuit alleges violation of religious freedom and right to privacy By Sam Catanzaro
A Santa Monica College freshman is suing the school, claiming the college’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate violates their religious freedom and right to privacy. The college’s counsel, however, says these claims are flawed. On August 3, 2021, the Santa Monica Community College District Board of Trustees voted to mandate that students get a COVID-19 vaccine before attending in-person instruction during the fall semester. Carter Sparks–an SMC freshman denied a religious exemption– filed a Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuit, on January 11 seeking a court order stating that the mandate is unconstitutional and that it overreaches the district’s jurisdiction. Sparks is also seeking injunctive relief preventing
SMC from enforcing the vaccine mandate, in addition to compensatory damages. Sparks, a Catholic, submitted a request for both religious and medical exemptions, stating his belief that he has already had COVID-19 and therefore has natural immunity. The request also included a letter from a doctor. The lawsuit also lists Susan Fila, SMC’s health services officer, as a defendant. According to Sparks, Fila was among those who denied his request for a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate. “The board gave vague reasons for this policy, stating, for example, that the shots represent the best way to slow the spread of COVID-19,” the suit reads. “Moreover, forced vaccination policies violate Californians’ right to privacy, an express constitutional right that protects an individual’s freedom of bodily integrity.” The lawsuit also claims the state Legislature only has the authority to impose a student vaccine mandate, which lawmakers have not done.
Santa Monica College.
A September 9 letter from SMC counsel Robert Myers, however, to one of the Sparks’ attorneys, John Howard, argues that Sparks does not qualify for a religious exemption. “Carter’s application for a religious exception did not articulate a sincerely held religious opposition to vaccination,” reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by City News Service. “All the college knows about Carter’s religion is that he is Catholic and went to Catholic school. However, being Catholic
Photo: Sam Catanzaro
does not entitle someone to a religious exemption from vaccination.” The letter also cited Pope Francis’ support for the COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, Myers claims that the doctor who wrote the letter on behalf of sparks did not contain information that was supported by medical evidence. “The fact that she did not do so undermines any claim that Carter has a bonafide medical condition that would prevent receiving the COVID-19 vaccine,” the letter reads.