S A N TA M O N I C A
REFLECTING THE CONCERNS OF THE COMMUNITY smmirror.com
August 23 – 29, 2019 Volume XXII, Issue 5
INSIDE Federal Court Upholds SM Home-Sharing PAGE 3 Ordinance
Security Shoots at Knife-Wielding Suspect Man who approached armored truck shot. By Sam Catanzaro A security guard opened fire at a knife-wielding suspect who approached an armored truck near a crowded Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica last Friday morning. According to the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD), on Friday, August 16 at approximately 11:15 am near the area of 3rd Street and Arizona Avenue, a male suspect approached a Brinks armored truck wielding a knife and attempted to stab the security guard who then shot at the suspect three times. The SMPD responded to the scene immediately after gunshots were heard. Witnesses directed the officers to the area of Parking Structure 4 at 1321 2nd Street. A perimeter was set up and a systematic search of the structure and area was conducted. SMPD officers located the suspect around 12:10 p.m. in the area around Structure 4.
“The suspect was found to be in possession of the knife used, money and a money bag was found in the vicinity of the suspect. The suspect was positively identified as the perpetrator and was arrested. All evidence was recovered by the Police Department,” said Candice Cobarrubias, SMPD Lieutenant. “The security guard and the suspect were not injured in the incident. The investigation is ongoing and further information about the suspect will be released at a later time.” The Santa Monica Observer reported that the Brinks security was arrested by the SMPD, but in an email to the Santa Monica Mirror, the SMPD said that the security was not arrested. In addition, there were reports on social media that the incident took place on Santa Monica Boulevard and 3rd Street, but the SMPD confirmed that the attempted robbery took place in the area of Arizona Avenue and Third Street. If anyone has any information pertaining to the robbery, please contact SMPD Detective Cooper at (310) 458-8478 or Sergeant Christopher Skogh at 310-458-8992.
Photo: Sam Catanzaro
Santa Monica Police Department presence near the Third Street Promenade after reports of shots fired.
Square Footage Cap for Hotel Housekeepers Santa Monica City Council to consider hotel worker protect regulations By Sam Catanzaro As host to over eight million visitors annually Santa Monica’s tourism industry employs over 2,000 hotel housekeepers across 41 hotels and motels. To address vulnerabilities that hotel workers face in the workplace, Santa Monica City Council will consider establishing regulations pertaining to hotel worker safety, fair compensation and retention at their August 27 meeting, but some stakeholders worry that one component of these new rules go too far and could hurt the industry. To date, the cities of Long Beach, Oakland, Emeryville and Seattle have adopted similar ordinances through ballot measures approved by voters. Consideration for Santa Monica to develop hotel worker protection began in 2018 when representatives of hospitality union UNITE HERE!
Local 11 (Local 11) presented a set of recommendations related to hospitality worker protection to Santa Monica's Commission on the Status of Women (COSW). After engaging with local stakeholders and other cities, Santa Monica City Staff has developed regulations to address the safety and working conditions of hotel employees that City Council will consider on August 27. The scope of these regulations is as follows: Protection for hotel workers from sexual violence by providing panic buttons among other measures; training for hotel housekeepers to ensure knowledge and skills to protect their rights
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and safety; hotel worker retention in instances of change in ownership provisions; required education and training to identify instances of human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual violence; provisions to ensure hotel housekeepers are compensated fairly when required to perform unreasonable workloads. It is this final component regarding workload that has some in the hotel industry worried. City staff is recommending that Council adopt a daily square footage cap of 4,000 square feet of cleaning space per hotel housekeeper while requiring a 1.5x compensation rate for all hours worked when the workload exceeds the square footage maximum. This aspect of the regulations was proposed by Local 11, who pushed for a 3,500 square footage cap with 2x compensation for overload work. While supported by 674 housekeepers in a signed petition, some hotel managers and hospitality workers worry a square footage cap will have negative consequences. "Our hotels offer a variety of room sizes and shapes. Daily cleaning depends on a multitude of factors. Some rooms have more beds, lamps,
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and desks than others. Some have more mirrors and windows. And let’s face it: some guests are messier than others! No hotel in Santa Monica assigns housekeeping tasks by counting square feet because every square foot of a hotel is different," said Laurel Rosen CEO and President of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce. Cyrus Nourafchan, whose family has owned the Cal Mar Hotel Suites on the corner of 3rd Street and California Avenue for over 50 years, says such a cap will cause his housekeepers to lose their benefits. Cal Mar Hotel Suites’ rooms average 900 square feet each, and if the proposed limit on housekeeping work is passed housekeepers will be unable to clean more than four rooms in a day. “They will finish their work in three hours and then I will have to send them home. As a result, I will need to employ three times as many housekeepers to work three-hour shifts and my current housekeepers will lose their medical, dental insurance and other benefits due to being part-time
HOTEL, see page 7
Samuel Moses, CPA 100 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica
310.395.9922