FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2012
Volume 11 Issue 90
Santa Monica Daily Press
SAMOHI FACES FAMILIAR FOE SEE PAGE 3
We have you covered
THE NEW KICKS ISSUE
Staff recommends end to nativity scenes BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL Spring has not yet sprung, but City Hall is already thinking about 2013’s winter holiday season, and what won’t be under the Christmas tree.
Staff is expected to recommend that the City Council end a six-decade tradition of holiday displays in Palisades Park after a controversial contest for display space between atheists and Christians put Santa Monica under the national spotlight. For the first time in 57 years, a group of
organized atheists took over space traditionally allotted to a coalition of 13 churches for nativity displays, prompting calls by the community to reserve the spaces for the churches in the name of tradition. According to a report by the City Attorney’s Office, Santa Monica officials
cannot pick and choose which displays to approve or deny because they’re considered free speech under the U.S. Constitution, tradition or no tradition. City Hall either must continue to allocate SEE SCENES PAGE 9
Rendering courtesy of Fairmont Miramar Hotel
IN DEVELOPMENT: A rendering of a remodeled Fairmont Miramar Hotel.
Planning Commission not sweet on Fairmont Miramar BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL Planning Commissioners sent a clear message to the development team working on the revamp of a seaside luxury hotel Wednesday night: We’re not impressed. Commissioners stopped short of recommending that the City Council not approve the direction that the development agreement is taking at this early stage in the process, but gave a laundry list of concerns that they hoped council members would look at when the item comes before them in coming weeks. The architecture proposed for the revamp of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows
was uninspired, the massing disproportionate to its surroundings and its package of community benefits lacking for a project of its size and scope, commissioners said. Commissioner Ted Winterer summed up his colleagues comments on the look and feel of the complex simply. “When you said it should be iconic, you have a long ways to go,” Winterer told Alan Epstein, an executive with the hotel’s owner, MSD Capital. The hearing consisted only of the commissioners’ comments and questions about the project. Over four hours of public testimony had
Gary Limjap
TOUGH WAY TO GO
Morgan Genser news@smdp.com Santa Monica High School’s Kevin Eyler (left) gives chase as Cathedral goalkeeper Brian Paredes makes a save on Thursday at Samohi. Cathedral would go on to win the game, 3-2, in overtime and advance in the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 playoffs.
SEE HOTEL PAGE 8
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