S A N TA M O N I C A
REFLECTING THE CONCERNS OF THE COMMUNITY smmirror.com
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June 14 – 20, 2019 Volume XXI, Issue 47
Children Confess to Vandalizing SM Schools Five 11 to 13-year-old children confess to damaging Muir, SMASH, Will Rogers and Roosevelt By Sam Catanzaro Five children have confessed to vandalizing four Santa Monica elementary and middle schools over last weekend. According to Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati, five children between the ages 11 to 13 confessed Monday to vandalizing the shared campus of John Muir Elementary and Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH) the evening of Saturday, June 8. In addition, three of the children confessed to vandalizing Will Rogers Learning Community, at 2401 14th Street, and Roosevelt Elementary School, at 801 Montana Avenue. According to Drati, four out of the five children are students at SMMUSD schools. Tips and leads, including social media
posts, were shared with the SMMUSD and Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) leading to the identification of the perpetrators. The vandals caused substantial damage by expelling numerous fire extinguishers indoors on books, walls, flooring in classrooms and the library, breaking windows, destroying furniture, technology and materials, dumping cans of paint on exteriors and flooding rooms by turning on the sinks. “The damage is significant. We are deeply troubled by this criminal act against our beloved schools. We are working today to clean it up as much as possible, but unfortunately, a few rooms and spaces will not be usable for the last week of school,” Drati said in a statement. “It does not appear that
Photos: SMMUSD.
John Muir Elementary School, June 9.
anything was stolen.” Before the incident occurred, Muir was cleaned and set up in advance for their fifthgrade graduation scheduled for Monday morning, with programs set on chairs and banners hung in the cafetorium.
This is the third time the Muir/SMASH site has been vandalized this year; however, according to Drati, the most recent incident is the worst. It’s unclear if the five children will face charges for the actions.
Airport Runway Removal to Begin By Joe Fasbinder
Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Removal of excess pavement on the Santa Monica Airport runway is set to begin June 16.
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“If you’re lucky,” said John Page, “you’ll never have to use that part of the runway, anyway.” He keeps his Evenflo Symphony, two-passenger, single-engine personal aircraft parked at Santa Monica Airport. For now, anyway. The nearly 100-year-old airstrip, in one of the most desirable parts of Santa Monica, is going to be moving to permanently remove “excess pavement” at the end of each of the now 3,500foot runway. The City is paying for it, because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) won’t. “It’s all overgrown with weeds, anyway,” he said. You only hit it if you’ve seriously underestimated your piloting skills. Like, if you’re about to crash. The ground uncovered by the work will be seeded in grass, pilot and plane owner Page said. Maybe. “We are working with the FAA to assess” whether the green areas might attract wildlife that could pose a safety threat to air-
TAX
craft, said Alex Gertsen, director of airports and ground infrastructure for the National Business Aviation Association. The changes are going to take some time, and cause disruptions at the single-runway airport. The project is to begin on June 16 and continue through September 6. The airport will be closed entirely on two separate four-day periods: July 8 to 11 and August 5 through 8. Small planes, which include private jets, will have to land at other, nearby airports and pilots and passengers will have to get on the freeway, in a ground-based vehicle, if they want to get to Santa Monica. A reader at Aviation News was the only one to post a comment on the situation. He didn’t sound happy. A reader calling him or herself Proclaim Liberty said: “Apparently the Santa Monica Council does not want any of the services provided by aviation, including its economic activity. I wonder if there is any way to demonstrate to them their
RUNWAY, see page 11
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