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FRIDAY
04.14.17 Volume 16 Issue 131
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WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 VACCINATION RATE CLIMBS ......PAGE 3 LAUGHING MATTERS ....................PAGE 4 MOVIE REVIEW ................................PAGE 6 CRIME WATCH ..................................PAGE 8
Santa Monica Daily Press
City reveals downtown plan years in the making BY KATE CAGLE Daily Press Staff Writer
There was a surprisingly large turnout for a public policy event that didn’t include free food. At the end of the unveiling of Santa Monica’s Downtown Community Plan (DCP) Wednesday night, City leaders revealed the head count had reached about 150 people inside Civic Center Auditorium’s east wing. Many of the attendees were City leaders or activists who have followed the evolution of the plan over the last five years. A few minutes before opening remarks, the DCP’s principal author, Peter James, was feeling optimistic. He mingled with a few activists and looked at a giant poster in a corner of the room where survey takers had scribbled what they love about Santa Monica. “It’s the beginning of the end – fingers crossed,” James said of upcoming discussion over the DCP, which will dictate zoning rules between the beach and Lincoln Boulevard for the next two decades. The plan encompasses the City’s urban core from Wilshire Boulevard to the north to the I-10 Freeway to the south. “I feel good about the content. For as big as it is, it’s a sensitive plan for Santa Monica.” It’s a sensitive plan after a heated election. Longtime residents fuming over a changing city railed against
Five people were injured, two critically, and a pet cat was killed when flames ripped through a hillside home and then spread to a neighboring house early Thursday in Los Angeles, authorities said. Nearly 90 firefighters responded
Bloom pulls controversial Rent Control Bill BY KATE CAGLE Daily Press Staff Writer
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BORDERS: The Downtown Community Plan will guide development within a defined border.
“overdevelopment” and pushed Measure LV in November, an initiative that would have required a public vote on nearly every new building in the City over two stories. The measure failed but the dialogue over development shifted. The final draft revealed Wednesday presented a scaledback vision for downtown – with
buildings limited to about four or five stories in the core areas near the Third Street Promenade. The City wants to encourage housing development, especially near the Expo Line, allowing mixed-use developments near the train to reach seven stories. “People talk about the controversy in the downtown plan and
it’s palpable,” James said. “Where we agree, I hope we can all get behind. We’re talking about a lower scale downtown. We’re not talking about Manhattan here. We’re talking about four or five stories.” Even with the height restrictions, new construction could SEE DCP PAGE 11
5 people injured, cat killed in blaze at hillside LA home By The Associated Press
smdp.com
when the blaze erupted shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday at a home in a Pacific Palisades neighborhood with winding roads and houses on compact lots, Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said. Crews found a couple and their two teenage daughters suffering from smoke inhalation, Scott said.
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The 53-year-old woman and her 67-year-old husband were hospitalized in critical condition, he said. One of the victims suffered second-degree burns. As firefighters battled the flames they discovered a fifth victim, a 90year-old woman, in the second home, officials said. Scott said she also suf-
fered from smoke-related injuries. Firefighters saved a dog and cat, but a second cat died in the fire. The flames were knocked down in about an hour. The cause is under investigation. Officials are looking at a grassy corridor between the two homes as a possible ignition point.
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Less than three weeks after the Rent Control Board voted unanimously to support an Assembly bill that would repeal the CostaHawkins Act, the bill itself is on life support. In fact, several sources familiar with talks in Sacramento say AB 1506 is dead. “No one is ready for it yet,” said the senior field representative for Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Tim Harter. Bloom recently made the decision to pull the bill for now. AB 1506 could still come back before the Assembly next year, giving Bloom more time to sell the idea to its many detractors. “In order to allow more time for us to dialogue with all stakeholders to address concerns and uncertainties, we have decided to not seek a vote on AB 1506 this year,” Bloom said in a statement to the Daily Press. “Allotting more time to this issue, will enable us to construct a policy that is responsible and addresses our specific needs today and not of decades past.” Without the 1996 CostaHawkins Act, cities would once again have the power to cap the rent rate on rent-control apartments. Under current law, landlords can reset rents to market rate after tenants move out. Once a tenant moves in, the Rent Control Board decides how much the rent can go up each year among other restrictions. Approximately 27,600 apartments in Santa Monica fall under rent control jurisdiction. “We thought we could get it through committee, but the votes just weren’t there,” Harter said. Bloom is currently sponsoring 11 bills relating to housing develSEE BILL PAGE 7
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