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WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 LETTER TO THE EDITOR ..............PAGE 3 TOASTMASTERS ............................PAGE 4 SPORTS PHOTOS ........................PAGE 6/7 POLICE/FIRE LOGS ........................PAGE 9
TUESDAY
02.07.17 Volume 16 Issue 74
@smdailypress
Anti-airport activists find little to celebrate in deal to eventually close SMO
Kate Cagle
PROTEST: Airport opponents gathered over the weekend to protest the city’s agreement with the FAA.
BY KATE CAGLE Daily Press Staff Writer
A thin, wispy contrail overheard and the nearby rumbling of plane engines served as a backdrop for Saturday’s protest against the Santa Monica Airport. About 300 people from surrounding neighborhoods gathered in a corner of Santa Monica Business Park to voice their frustration over a deal struck between the City and the FAA to shorten the runway and potentially close the airport for good. To many activists who have been fighting the jet noise and flight patterns of the airport for decades, twelve years is too long to wait for a closure, especially one that is not guaranteed. While the settlement frees the City of all existing FAA contracts in 2029, it does not guarantee closure. “Justice delayed is justice is denied,” Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin told the
crowd. Bonin represents the neighborhoods of Venice, Mar Vista and West Los Angeles with are under the flight path. He was not included in settlement negotiations with the FAA. “To keep this airport open for twelve more years is wrong,” he said. When Santa Monica’s City Attorney and Manager unveiled the consent decree a week earlier, they knew both sides of the debate over the airport would be unhappy. Nonetheless, the FAA is not known for capitulating to community pressure. The unprecedented deal allowed both sides to avoid years of litigation and a substantial amount of risk. On Friday, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta defended the consent decree to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), a group representing thousands of SEE ACTIVISTS PAGE 6
@smdailypress
Santa Monica Daily Press
smdp.com
Police shooting and armed robbery investigations shutter Pico Blvd. BY DAILY PRESS STAFF In a pair of unrelated incidents Monday, California Highway Patrol officers killed a suspect and local police officers locked down Samohi during the search for armed robbery suspects. CHP officers shot and killed a man who came at them with a knife near the intersection of Pico and Interstate 10 yesterday. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Lisa Jansen said the shooting happened around 12:20 a.m. Monday. Jansen said CHP officers initially responded following reports of a pedestrian walking on the interstate. They later spotted the man on surface streets and approached him. Officers opened fire when the man, armed with a knife, approached them and refused orders to stop. The suspect was hit by gunfire and pronounced dead at a hospital. He has not been identified and no officers were hurt. A stretch of Pico Boulevard was closed during the investigation. In an unrelated case, Santa Monica High School was placed on
temporary lockdown yesterday while police search the nearby area for armed robbery suspects. The Santa Monica Police Department received a call for an armed robbery on 6th and Bay at about 12:15 p.m. Officers put the school in lockdown at 12:30 p.m. following reports of multiple suspects running into an apartment building on the 700 block of Pico Blvd. According to SMPD, at least three individuals were involved in the armed robbery and officers decided to preemptively lockdown Samohi to prevent students who might be exiting the campus for lunch from wandering into the search zone. The school was reopened at about 1:30 p.m. One suspect was identified and detained at the scene. Lt. Saul Rodriguez said the other two suspects are male and in their mid to late teens. No additional information was available at press time. The Associated Press contributed to this story editor@smdp.com
Anti-Trump protests New arrests in deadly 1993 Los Angeles complicate start of apartment arson his presidency BY LISA LERER
BY CHRISTOPHER WEBER
Associated Press
Associated Press
Scrappy as ever, Donald Trump on Monday dismissed polls showing low approval ratings as “fake news.” But whatever his opinion, active opposition to his go-it-alone presidency appears to be widening. From corporate boardrooms to the halls of Congress, Trump is facing an unprecedented effort to disrupt even the most basic of his
Detective work decades after fire swept through a Los Angeles apartment building filled with poor immigrants has led to arrests of alleged gang members and the prospect of murder charges for the deaths of seven children, three women and two late-term fetuses, authorities said Monday. “They just would not let this
SEE PROTESTS PAGE 7
SEE ARRESTS PAGE 6
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