Santa Monica Daily Press, February 24, 2014

Page 1

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Volume 13 Issue 85

Santa Monica Daily Press

SAMOHI MOVES ON SEE PAGE 3

We have you covered

THE GAINING STEAM ISSUE

Samohi rides on to second round

Paul Alvarez Jr. editor@smdp.com

HERO FOR THE DAY: Samohi's boys' basketball team hoists Matthew Tapia into the air after the Vikings beat Montebello in the first round of the playoffs on Friday at home.

BY WAYNE NEAL Special to the Daily Press

Paul Alvarez Jr. editor@smdp.com

INKED UP: A woman signs a petition during the citywide referendum signing party outside of Surf Liquor on Saturday. Activists are seeking to nix a City Council approval of a major development on Olympic Boulevard. Some in the community say the development is out of scale for the area.

Local activists gather referendum signatures BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer

CITYWIDE How many signatures have been gathered on the petition to fight off Hines’ Bergamot Transit Village project? We don’t know. Perhaps no one does. Repeated calls to the founder of Residocracy, the website leading the referendum charge, went unreturned. The Hines development project at Olympic Boulevard and 26th Street, with its 427 apartments, 374,434 square feet of office, 15,500 square feet of restaurant, and 13,891 square feet of retail across five build-

PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS HERE! Yes, in this very spot! Call for details (310) 458-7737

ings, was approved by City Council in a 4 to 3 vote earlier this month. Those opposed to the project believe it should be smaller with less office space and more residential, fearing that it will create more traffic in an already-congested area. Those in favor of the project point to Santa Monica’s creative office space shortage and the $32 million Hines will spend in community benefits. Anti-Hines groups are shooting for a referendum vote — a special election that would allow the residents to decide whether or not to green light the development. In order to pull it off, they have 30 days from

SEE HOOPS PAGE 12

the second reading of the ordinance (which occurred on Feb. 11) to gather about 6,200 signatures from registered Santa Monica voters or 10 percent of local voters. But signature gatherers have their work cut out for them. It’s not as simple as getting 6,200 John Hancocks on some scrap paper. The City Clerk’s Office oversees the petition and the Los Angeles County RegisterRecorder and County Clerk verifies the signatures. Of course signatures can’t be from any old resident; they have to also be register SEE SIGNATURES PAGE 12

Gary Limjap (310) 586-0339 In today’s real estate climate ...

Experience counts! garylimjap@gmail.com www.garylimjap.com

SAMOHI In the final minutes of the game, Santa Monica head coach James Hecht did something that will go down as one of the highlights of the season. With a minute left, Hecht made a substitution and put in senior guard Matthew Tapia. Tapia took a pass from Ray Mancini and put in a two-footer as time expired to help the Vikings defeat Montebello 74-45 in

Water, ethics bills play big roles in 2014 session FENIT NIRAPPIL Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Drought and water issues will play a prominent role in this year’s legislative session as most of California is dealing with the consequences of one of the driest periods on record. Since the Legislature reconvened in January, 1,929 bills were introduced in SEE BILLS PAGE 8

TAXES ALL FORMS, ALL TYPES, ALL STATES

BACK TAXES • BOOKKEEPING • SMALL BUSINESS

SAMUEL B. MOSES, CPA

(310) 395-9922

100 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1800Santa Monica 90401


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