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04.15.16 Volume 15 Issue 129
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WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 LAUGHING MATTERS ....................PAGE 4 LETTER TO THE EDITOR ..............PAGE 5 MOVIE REVIEW ................................PAGE 11 MYSTERY PHOTO ..........................PAGE 13
Santa Monica Daily Press
smdp.com
Time of transition at Early Years School Retiring preschool co-director passes torch to daughter BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN Daily Press Staff Writer
For decades the Early Years School has facilitated transitions for others, helping children learn about the world around them and preparing them for kindergarten and beyond. These days, the Santa Monica preschool is going through a transition of its own. Co-founders and longtime directors Tama Taub and Joy Siegel are retiring at the end of the school year. Taub’s daughter, Lisa Taub, is currently on staff and will officially take over directorial duties next school year. It’s the start of a new chapter for
the school, which was established in 1982 and which has operated on Montana Avenue near 3rd Street for more than 30 years. “Transitions are hard,” Tama Taub said. “It’s been our main work for so long, and it’s hard to have that come to an end. It’s a big transition. But I’m excited about it. I’m looking forward to a more leisurely pace.” The transition also yields an opportunity that her daughter envisioned seizing one day. “It feels like coming full-circle,” said Lisa Taub, a licensed clinical social worker who studied child development at Cal State Northridge before earning a master’s degree from Boston
Promenade welcomes young entrepreneur UCLA grad brings multipurpose beach towels to Third Street
University. “I have always been focused on early childhood, and I’ve worked at lots of different schools and child care centers. I was in college when they first started the school. It was the beginning of my career. I’ve had my professional journey, but I always had this goal as a touch point.” When Tama Taub met Siegel, both were working in education. They eventually decided to go back to school together, earning their master’s degrees in human development from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena. “We wanted to use our education and work experience, plus our Courtesy Photo
SEE SCHOOL PAGE 6
SMC, Uber partner on carpool service BY MATTHEW HALL
BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN
Daily Press Editor
Daily Press Staff Writer
On regular visits to Santa Monica’s beaches during college, Katie Everds had a routine. She’d plop down near the shore, bunch sand together to build a makeshift pillow and then place her towel down. She and her boyfriend at the time got to thinking: What if beach towels came with built-in pillows? That question now has an answer in the form of the Tillow, a product that Everds is bringing to a Third Street Promenade kiosk this week as she deepens her foray into entrepreneurship. It’s the next step on what has been a whirlwind journey in business for Everds, a UCLA alumna and current Santa Monica resident who hails from San Diego. “I always looked up to women who started their own businesses,” she said. “It was kind of like, ‘If anyone can do it, why can’t I?’”
KATIE EVERDS
Everds often explored her entrepreneurial side during her childhood, buying a variety of products and reselling them for profit. In college she started a charity recycling program, collecting used bottles from fraternities and sororities and exchanging them for cash that SEE TOWEL PAGE 9
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FAMILY TEAM: Tama Taub will retire and her daughter, Lisa, will take over.
Santa Monica College and Uber have announced a new partnership to promote carpooling as a viable method of transportation for students, staff and faculty. The new partnership has created dedicated drop-off/pick-up locations on campus, provided financial incentives to try the program and is contributing to a new environmental studies scholarship on campus. Ferris Kawar, sustainability project manager for SMC, said the college has a history of promoting alternate transit options, including past efforts to promote carpooling, but the new program capitalizes on existing student behavior. “Students were using Uber for social meet-ups, taking it out on a Friday night or a Saturday,” Kawar said. “We said lets harness that power that Uber has created, which is using technology to know where one person is and where they want
to go and match it up with other people that are on the same path.” With uberPool, riders share a ride - and the cost - with others who happen to be traveling along a similar route. Michael Amodeo, with Uber’s public affairs division, said the company can see that many Uber trips have a “lookalike” trip - a trip that starts near, ends near, and is happening around the same time as another trip. He said most of these trips transport a single or dual passenger, leaving up to three empty seats. With uberPool the company can match those lookalike trips together, reducing the cost to all passengers while adding minimal time to the ride. The system also benefits drivers who spend more time per hour earning money on longer trips without the downtown of waiting between passengers. Kawar said the college is offering a financial incentive to first time riders that is having a real impact beyond the first ride.
“We’ve actually found there was a really high rate of redemption, using that code to try it for free for the first time,” he said. “After it was used for the first time, there was a 70 percent repeat rate so we’re seeing a pretty high usage of uberPool specifically.” He said the system is one of several SMC promotes. “It’s just another tool in our tool box of things people can use,” he said. “It’s not going to always work for everyone. We’ve got Expo opening up, Big Blue Bus, our shuttles connecting the campuses, we also have traditional carpool and vanpool hookups and we have a website where any student or staff member can log in and insert home address and then the school address and be given personalized transportation options. “ Ridesharing companies, like Uber, have had a significant negative impact on traditional cab companies, slashing the number of SEE CARPOOL PAGE 6
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