Santa Monica Mirror 2.10.23

REFLECTING THE CONCERNS OF THE COMMUNITY

INSIDE Four-Year-Old

Mountain Lion P-81

Found Dead on PCH PAGE 4

With a Quarter of Retail Spaces on Promenade Vacant, Arts & Entertainment District is Discussed as Revitalization Strategy

Santa Monica City Council discussed revitalization options for the Third Street Promenade

By Dolores Quintana

Over a quarter of the retail spaces on the Third Street Promenade are vacant, a troubling sign for what was once one of LA’s premier shopping destinations. At a recent Santa Monica City Council meeting, strategies were discussed on how to revitalize the area, including the potential establishment of an arts and entertainment district within the Promenade.

During the Santa Monica City Council meeting on January 24, one of the last items raised on the agenda was a request from Mayor Pro Tem Lana Negrete and Councilmembers Christine Parra and Oscar de la Torre.

The request asked that City Manager David White set up a meeting with Downtown Santa Monica (DTSM), which, according to the DTSM website, is a private 501c(3) non-profit organization that works with the City of Santa Monica to manage services and operations in Downtown Santa Monica while promoting economic stability, growth and community life within this unique neighborhood and the stakeholders in the area. While DTSM also manages the Property-based Business

Assessment District bounded by Ocean Avenue to the west, Wilshire Boulevard to the north, Lincoln Boulevard to the east and the Santa Monica Freeway to the south, the most important mission for the 501c is the revitalization of the Third Street Promenade area of Downtown Santa Monica.

This discussion item was put to a voice vote and passed unanimously which will allow the issue to be added to a future city council agenda as an actionable item.

According to the Mayor Pro Tem and the councilmembers’ request, the focus of the meeting would be discussing and strategizing plans to revitalize the Third Street Promenade that would include the establishment of an arts and entertainment district in the 1200 block of the Promenade, expanding outdoor dining opportunities, promoting available spaces and developing opportunities, zoning code amendments, expand allowable uses and opportunities to partner DTSM with street performers.

Mayor Pro Tem Negrete said that she did not mean to imply that such plans were not in the works already, but that she and the other council members felt that there needed to be a process put in place and that they wanted to state what they have been hearing from the community members who have spoken about on the issue especially since the occurrence of vacancies hasn’t stopped on the Promenade.

“We want to bring everybody together to the table because we know there are

separate meetings and separate groups that have different ideas so that we can really be innovative and do what we can as a city to make anything possible to get back our promenade as we move forward in this quest for economic recovery. We need to lean into this partnership to reinvest in the Promenade so we can continue to evolve and be the iconic destination that is beloved by Santa Monica residents and visitors from across the region and globe,” Negrete said.

Negrete also said that all the options that were on the table like making the last block of the Promenade an entertainment block or lowering prices on rent to make the spaces more affordable. She wants to make sure that

businesses are aware of that because she only recently learned that landlords were lowering prices and she realized that many businesses might not yet be aware of the opportunities that this represents for businesses to open in the space.

Councilmember Christine Parra thanked staff and said that they want to continue to think outside of the box and knock down the barriers and really invigorate the Promenade. She added that she wants the city council to be the conduit to help bring new businesses into the Promenade and do it within the parameters of the law. She also stated that she would like to get regular updates on the progress and

Revitalization Strategy, see page 5

Woman Arrested

for Attempted

Kidnapping of Four-Year-Old on Santa Monica Beach

The boy suffered no physical injuries, police say

By Sam Catanzaro

A woman attempted to kidnap a fouryear-old boy on Santa Monica Beach this week.

According to Santa Monica Police Department Public, around 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7, officers responded to assist Los Angeles County Lifeguards regarding an attempted child abduction on

the 2400 block of the beach, near Hollister Avenue.

“When officers arrived, they discovered a female who attempted to grab and walk away with a four-year-old boy. The boy’s mother was able to regain control of him,” the SMPD said.

The boy suffered no physical injuries, police say.

According to the SMPD, officers took custody of the suspect, 51-year-old Susan Johnson, and transported her to the Santa Monica Jail where she was booked for kidnapping. She is currently being held on a $100,000 bail and is expected to appear in court Thursday.

Photo: Sam Catanzaro

Sofia Klatzker Named Cultural Affairs Manager of Santa Monica

Klatzker to replace Shannon Daut in role to oversee arts, culture and creative policies in the City

Sofia Klatzker has been appointed as the new Cultural Affairs Manager of the City of Santa Monica.

“The City of Santa Monica has a wonderful history of artistic expression, strong leadership and a deeply engaged arts community. I am thrilled to be joining the Community Services Department and the Cultural Affairs Division team,” Klatzker said. The City’s commitment to ensuring that arts and culture will thrive in the future is impressive and I appreciate that the arts are seen as a platform for celebration, healing, learning and economic stability. I look forward to being of service and working with the local arts community, the Arts Commission and staff to continue to embed arts and culture across all aspects of life in Santa Monica.”

Klatzker comes to the city having held positions at many institutions and organizations including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Arts for LA, Sirius XM/Stitcher/99% Invisible, and most recently vice president of strategy for Award-winning podcast 99% Invisible.

Klatzker, who holds a Masters in Arts Administration from Goucher College and Bachelor of Music from Oberlin College, and is set to begin her new role on May 8. In this capacity she will collaborate with city staff, along with the Arts Commission and community members, to further cultivate cultural, creative and arts policies that play a huge role in shaping Santa Monica’s character.

“Sofia has a rich and diverse background in leading and producing arts programming, advocating for and supporting arts and cultural organizations, arts education and cultural equity and inclusion,” said Acting Director of Community Services Danielle Noble. “She has served on local and State arts and culture councils and boards, is wellversed in governmental, non-profit and private operations and is passionate about creating innovative arts and culture experiences and

Santa Monica History Museum Announces Access Program for LowIncome Families

Program provides those receiving food assistance (SNAP) visiting the Santa Monica History Museum free admission

The Santa Monica History Museum has announced that it has joined Museums for All, a signature access program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), administered by the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM), to encourage people of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum-going habits. IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums

The new program in Santa Monica provides those receiving food assistance (SNAP) visiting the Santa Monica History Museum free admission, for up to four people, with the presentation of a SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card. Similar free and reduced admission is available to eligible members of the public at more than 850 museums

across the country. Museums for All is part of the Santa Monica History Museum’s broad commitment to seek, include, and welcome all audiences.

“We’re thrilled to be part of this program to make museums accessible to the communities they serve,” said Santa Monica History Museum Executive Director Rob Schwenker.

Museums for All is a program that helps expand access to museums and also raise public awareness about how museums in the U.S. are reaching their entire communities. More than 850 institutions participate in the initiative, including art museums, children’s museums, science centers, botanical gardens, zoos, history museums, and more. Participating museums are located nationwide, representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Virgin Islands.

possibilities.”

Among her notable achievements include transforming ArtsDay into a month-long celebration throughout Los Angeles County and designing groundbreaking grants programs that have supported arts nonprofits dedicated to health and social services. She also spearheaded efforts toward achieving diversity, equity and inclusion goals at 99% Invisible podcast.

She begins with an annual salary of $176,648.

Klatzker will be replacing Shannon Daut, who has been the City’s Cultural Affairs Manager for nearly seven years. Daut will be moving back to her roots in Colorado for her partner’s career.

“I will greatly miss the wonderful Cultural Affairs team and the arts community here, and will always cherish the work we were able to accomplish together. When the world turned upside down in March of 2020, our work changed significantly—but even through the upheaval I am proud we were able to create new initiatives and approaches to how and why we do the work we do in service to our community. From developing the generative

Art of Recovery program that put artists to work on the City’s recovery efforts, to creating the Acknowledge and Reframe Together (Reframe) initiative, which produces public art and civic memory projects that center community voices with the aim of creating a more just and equitable Santa Monica, we have built impactful programs that serve artists and the community in new ways,” Daut said in a farewell note.

Santa Monica Nonprofit WISE & Healthy Aging Launches Advocacy Website

WISEOmbudsman.org

designed to provide tools s to

who are looking to get better care in a skilled nursing or residential care facilities

WISE & Healthy Aging, the Santa Monicabased nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for older adults, has announced the launch of its new advocacy website, WISEOmbudsman.org. The site is designed to provide information, resources and tools to those who are looking to get better care in a skilled nursing or residential care facility.

“Whether you’re a professional, a family member or a facility resident who wants to understand their rights or know how to report a complaint about their care, our new site can help you find the information and resources you need,” said Molly Davies, LCSW, President and CEO of WISE & Healthy Aging.

The site includes a range of features, from helping individuals know their rights, filing complaints, providing resources and guides for professionals, offering the latest news on care facilities and giving details about how people can get involved in the fight against elder abuse.

“Whether you’re a professional, a family

member or a facility resident who wants to understand their rights or know how to report a complaint about their care, our new site can help you find the information and resources you need,” said Molly Davies, LCSW, President and CEO of WISE & Healthy Aging.

A key component of the new website is its “Facility Locator Map” which enables users to select criteria for pinpointing just the right type of nursing or assisted living facility for their needs. This feature covers facilities in both Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties and can generate a customized report detailing all options available.

“Whether you’re a professional, a family member or a facility resident who wants to understand their rights or know how to report a complaint about their care, our new site can help you find the information and resources you need,” said Molly Davies, LCSW, President and CEO of WISE & Healthy Aging.

WISE & Healthy Aging has been supporting disabled and older residents’ rights in longterm care facilities throughout Los Angeles County for over 40 years while also overseeing the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program since April 2022 in San Bernardino County. The organization hopes that with this new advocacy website, they will be able to reach even more people and make an even larger impact on elderly lives across both counties.

those

Arrests Made in Daylight Armed Robbery of Rolex in Downtown Santa Monica

Leroy McCrary and Donta Baker arrested in connection to September robbery

By Sam Catanzaro

Two men have been arrested for the broad daylight armed robbery of a man’s Rolex in downtown Santa Monica last fall.

According to the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD), on September 25, 2022, around 4:35 p.m. officers responded to the 200 block of Broadway regarding an armed robbery. The victim told officers that he was walking eastbound on the sidewalk when two males pointed handguns at him and robbed him of his Rolex watch. The suspects were last seen fleeing in an awaiting vehicle.

The case was assigned to SMPD’s Robbery Homicide Division. Detectives reviewed and followed up on the evidence which subsequently led them to identify two subjects involved in the robbery. On January 31, 2023, while at court on

Four-Year-Old Mountain Lion

P-81 Found Dead

on PCH

an unrelated court case, suspect Leroy McCrary, a 24-year-old man from Compton, was arrested by SMPD Detectives. His accomplice in this incident, Donta Baker, a 29-year-old man from Los Angeles, was already in custody at the Los Angeles County Jail for an attempted homicide incident that occurred in Los Angeles.

McCrary and Baker were arraigned on February 1, 2023, at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office – Airport Branch where they were charged with Robbery. McCary’s bail has been set at $1 million and Baker’s current bail is $2 million.

P-81 found on Pacific Coast Highway near Las Posas Road

On Sunday, January 22, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) sadly confirmed the death of P-81, a fouryear-old mountain lion. The animal’s body was collected on Pacific Coast Highway near Las Posas Road in the western Santa Monica Mountains. A necropsy will be performed to confirm the cause of death.

P-81 was significant due to his physical abnormalities – a kinked tail that formed an “L” shape and only one descended testicle –which marked the first evidence of potential

inbreeding depression due to lack of genetic diversity since 2002 when biologists began studying mountain lions in the park. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 Freeway – currently under construction in Agoura Hills – is key for connecting wildlife populations within the Santa Monica Mountains, including mountain lions, with other populations to the north.

Vehicle strikes are unfortunately leading to a large number of deaths among mountain lions; nine have already been reported between March 2022 and today (January 22nd). Of these nine deaths, six were radio-collared animals including P-81, bringing their total number of deaths from road mortality since 2002 up to 34.

Tishman Speyer Announces Basis Investment Group as Equity Partner for Santa Monica Collection

BIG’s $30 million commitment — 11 percent of total equity — to the 3.1-acre mixed-use development will help create 617 apartments

Tishman Speyer, a global leader in real estate development, has announced that it has secured Basis Investment Group (BIG) as an equity partner for the Santa Monica Collection. BIG’s $30 million commitment — 11 percent of total equity — to the 3.1-acre mixed-use development will help create 617 apartments, 116 of which will be designated as affordable, and approximately 31,000 square feet of retail space. Entitlements are in place and Tishman Speyer says it plans to begin work on the first four buildings in early 2023 with the remaining four commencing in 2024.

“We are pleased to be partnering with Basis Investment Group to cultivate a thriving mixeduse community in the heart of Downtown Santa Monica. This partnership illustrates our commitment to embedding diversity into all aspects of our business,” said Rob Speyer, CEO of Tishman Speyer.

Tammy K Jones, CEO and Founder of Basis Investment Group (BIG) expressed her excitement regarding the opportunity in a press release. A certified minority and womanowned commercial real estate investment manager, BIG has successfully closed over $4 billion in transactions across multiple strategies and asset classes.

“Inclusive capital matters and we are excited to partner with Tishman Speyer in their commitment to providing investment opportunities in large-scale development projects for MWBE capital providers like Basis,” Jones said.

No stranger to conscious investments toward minority representation, earlier this year NYC-based Tishman Speyer raised $30 million from 161 individual Black and Latinx investors for its 14-acre mixed-use project Enterprise Research Campus — overshooting their initial five percent target allocation from an overall $500 million equity investment by a wide margin.

Since its inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 484

properties across 30 markets worldwide. Its current portfolio includes the Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai and TaunusTurm in Frankfurt. The Santa Monica Collection is the company’s first development in Los Angeles.

would give additional direction if needed.

Councilmember de la Torre said that “We saw the airport presentation, we looked at it on an international scale, what’s working throughout other parts of the world. I think we need to do the same thing here with the Third Street Promenade; what’s working on a regional level, a national level and an international level and bring those best practices to the Promenade.

The next council member to speak was Phil Brock who said, “I think, first, we need to think innovatively and act innovatively. And in this motion, we cannot forget the role of safety and cleanliness, of making sure that not the Promenade and that 1200 block feel safe, but the transit corridors and the walking corridors for our residents to that block be safe. Again, the Promenade is, first and foremost, for our residents.

Over a quarter of the retail spaces on the promenade are currently vacant, however DTSM CEO Andrew Thomas is optimistic that a public-private partnership could help revitalize the Promenade.

“Any vacancy on the Third Street Promenade is a concern, and the levels we are experiencing today are certainly higher than we’ve experienced in the recent past. However, the Promenade has had dips in the past and it has successfully reinvented itself thanks to the private-public partnership between our commercial property owners and the City of Santa Monica,” Thomas said.

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What’s wrong with this picture?

The picture shown above is the future of Santa Monica. Large tall buildings along the Boulevards and Avenues plus Downtown and in the Bergamot Area will be massed to completely shade adjacent low-rise smaller homes and businesses. This results from the State of California forcing cities to substantially up zone their urban areas for unprecedented over development. The main effect of these new State of California laws mandating up zoning, with its attendant overdevelopment, is to create more value and profit for property owners and investors who are large organized donors to the political class. Essentially the more you can build on a piece of land the more valuable it is. Suppose today a property is zoned for a 32’ (2-3 stories) height, like many of our commercial streets, then its up-zoned to say 55’ (5 stories), again as proposed for most of our avenues and boulevards. It is now worth approximately twice as much, since twice as many square feet of housing or business can be built on it. With that much profit to be made with a stroke of Sacramento’s pen, it’s almost impossible for local legislators to fight the well funded real estate/ construction/ finance lobby to maintain local control of their city’s zoning.

Naturally such mandated over development will have many unwanted side effects. Large buildings will start to randomly parachute in next to two-story neighborhoods. At first, these buildings will stick out like sore thumbs, and cause immense pain ( wind tunnel effects, traffic overload, no light, all day shadows and lack of privacy) to their immediate neighbors. How big that arc of pain will be can be understood by the attached sketches which focus just on the shadow effects among the many downsides of large tall buildings.

Naturally, for simplicity sake the sketches ignore the shading effect of other buildings and trees etc.. Eventually, over the years, the sore thumbs will proliferate and create entire interconnected zones of shadow with deep canyons of buildings along the Boulevards as you see now already forming along Lincoln Blvd north of the freeway. Specifically if we place a sample 88’ (84’ base height plus 4’ parapet) tall building on just one typical 50’x150’ Santa Monica mid block parcel, we easily can see how far the shading of that building will extend. The 88’ height was selected as a sample height because it might be a typical height for a mixed use (ground floor commercial plus upper floors of housing) along the boulevards (45’ to 70’ base height) or Downtown (32’ to 84’ base height) or at Bergamot (32’ to 75’ base height). When such a nominal project uses the density bonuses advocated by State law, which allow typically 2 or 3 extra floors for extra affordable units or for 100% affordable housing projects; that base height balloons from possibly 65’ up to 117’. If 88’ towers sound farfetched, one of the first new projects out of the starting blocks in the Downtown Area is a proposed 100’ high mid-block tower for 75 units on a single 50’X150’ lot at 1238 7th street. The neighbors on each side of that project are just two stories high. There are also the outliers, like the 12 story Frank Gehry hotel or the 15 story Builder’s Remedy project in the 2-3 story Mid Cities area.

As you can see from the sketches showing the extremes of shading: it is worse on the shortest day of winter while less so on the longest day of summer. The shadows shown in the sketches are from 9:00 am to 3;30 pm which are the prime functioning hours for rooftop solar collectors. Unfortunately, the shading effects are worse in winter just when all buildings need the additional power provided by solar collectors because of the need for more space and water heating and

SMa.r.t, see page 7

SMa.r.t,

from page 6

the need for more lighting to compensate for the shorter days.

But the thing to notice is that the shadow sweep of just one 88’ tall building effects about a half block area in passing but puts in almost permanent winter shade the two adjacent northern 50’ wide lots. They pay the greatest penalty. Those businesses and residents are doomed to live in perpetual gloom half the year and can never, even if they wanted to, put roof top solar collectors on their existing building to reduce or eliminate their power requirements. Unless of course, they were willing to demolish their existing building to make an equally tall 88’ building to oppress the next two lots perpetuating the damage down the block.

During the extreme summer, the shadow damage is much more constrained typically effecting just one parcel on either side of the proposed building:

So the idea is vey simple: tall buildings negatively effect the quality of life and value of their immediate neighbors. We could generally ignore this penalty when buildings in our City overall were much lower, and spread out, separated by parking lots, sideyards etc.. Even in the Downtown, and particularly on the boulevards many buildings were one and two stories.

But now four things have changed. First the City has densified with taller buildings with most of their parking moved under ground. These taller buildings are closer together creating shadow”walls” darkening their neighbors. The second thing is that sunlight has become a useful asset that can generate power via photovoltaic (usually) roof top collectors. This means that when neighbors shade each others’ roofs they are pre-empting their neighbors ability to generate power. In an ideal world they would have to pay their neighbors for this theft. Third the State needs to generate all its building power needs from renewable sources by 2045. This means we have to reduce our gas, coal and oil consumption 4.5% each year for the next 22 years. All buildings are thus being pushed to become

net zero (producing all their needed power from onsite renewal sources), which means essentially from solar collectors. The last thing that has changed is that roof top solar collectors, with today’s technology, have progressed to the point that they can entirely power 3 story buildings (excluding the power loads needed to recharge electric cars). Therefore, as long as buildings stay at about 3 stories, no one needs to “steal” power from each other. When buildings go over 3 stories the power wars start. You can see where this going. Unfortunately virtually all the up-zoning required by the State will create buildings over 3 stories high making it increasingly impossible to meet the state’s very own 2045 global warming mitigation goals.

This not a new problem. Tall buildings have been stealing the photo voltaic potential of their neighbors for years. Thats

what’s wrong with the picture at the top of this article. A new four story building is completely shading the one story building on two sides so its effectively prevented from ever effectively using solar collectors. This situation will become increasingly the norm for many more buildings to the entire City’s detriment. Consequently we will be cooked by global warming due to our inability to generate renewable power where we need it the most which is in our buildings.

So now is the time to start writing Santa Monica’s solar access codes to restrain the “solar bullies”, buildings that steal their neighbor’s sunlight, and to encourage wider adaption of rooftop collectors. This won’t happen unless owners are certain that a taller future neighbor wont neuter their new collectors. There are many tradeoffs to consider here, but for example, buildings that will or already have effected negatively a neighbor’s solar access might have to pay a fee or provide batteries sufficient to compensate for the theft. This solar

access code should also include constraints to preclude owners from perversely installing collectors to stop future adjacent construction. So this code will have to be a sophisticated instrument that can’t be created without concerted City participation by all the affected parties.

We already require all new single-family buildings to be net zero. Now it is time to extend this to our entire built environment with a new Solar Access Code for Santa Monica.

By Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA

S.M.a.r.t Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow

Thane Roberts, Architect, Robert H. Taylor AIA, Ron Goldman FAIA, Architect, Dan Jansenson, Architect & Building and Fire-Life Safety Commission, Samuel Tolkin Architect & Planning Commissioner, Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA & Planning Commissioner,, Michael Jolly, AIR-CRE. For previous articles see www. santamonicaarch.wordpress.com/writing

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