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Volume 11 Issue 142
Santa Monica Daily Press
HUMMINGBIRDS RULE SEE PAGE 5
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THE HMMM ISSUE
Fairmont hotel redevelopment gets past council Residents concerned about its size, scale BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
for by City Hall, already provides âdoorthrough-doorâ service, but the program is at capacity, Davidson said. Expanding the service by 1,000 hours would help 50 more seniors stay in their homes. One of Dial-a-Rideâs main weaknesses is that it stops running at 6 p.m., at which point seniors have to fend for themselves. Under the new plan, seniors over the age of 80 who are registered with Dial-a-Ride would also get access to taxi rides prearranged by WISE & Healthy Aging after Dial-a-Ride shuts down. Finally, officials proposed taking advantage of the door-through-door service by taking seniors out on social outings to restaurants that offer steep senior discounts. While the transportation offerings were
CITY HALL Negotiations between City Hall and developers of a Downtown hotel will begin after the City Council voted to move ahead with the project in the wee hours of Wednesday morning despite widespread concerns about its design and imposing size. The proposed revitalization of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows would double the size of the hotel to 556,000 square feet with between 265 and 280 hotel rooms, up to 120 luxury condominiums and almost 45,500 square feet of food, meeting, retail and spa space. Councilmember Kevin McKeown, the single âno voteâ on the dais, felt that the developer, Ocean Avenue LLC., which is owned by Michael Dell of Dell computers, was trying to fit too much on one site, and had effectively ignored direction given in previous meetings by not bringing a smaller project on Tuesday. âItâs clear to me youâre trying to put 10 pounds of stuff into a 5-pound bag,â McKeown told Alan Epstein, a representative of the developer, Tuesday night. McKeown tried to push planners to bring back an alternative design removing 25 percent of the square footage as a test, but the rest of Santa Monicaâs council members did not get on board after Planning Director David Martin told them that a reduced project would be studied as a part of the environmental analysis. McKeownâs comments were largely in line with complaints from both the Planning Commission, which had strenuous objections to the size of the hotel, and community members both for and against the project. Over 80 speakers lined up for public comment, and while it was split evenly between proponents and opponents, even those in favor of the hotel had reservations about the look of the project. Most proponents backed the project on
SEE SENIORS PAGE 13
SEE HOTEL PAGE 10
Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com
ASSIST: Dial-a-Ride driver LB Brown (right) helps senior Aurora Vasquez board his bus on Wednesday outside of WISE & Healthy Aging.
Council gives OK to Senior Center change BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL Under a plan approved in concept by the City Council Tuesday night, seniors in Santa Monica will have more ways to get around, but will have to give up a cherished activities space at the Senior Recreation Center in Palisades Park. The proposal, put forward by the Human Services Division, looks to expand three forms of on-call transportation for seniors to close gaps in a network meant to ensure that Santa Monicaâs aging population can get around. At the same time, it presented a plan to transition control over the senior center operations to WISE & Healthy Aging, a nonprofit that serves seniors, and eventually consolidate a meal program currently offered at the 1450 Ocean Ave. site to the nonprofitâs headquarters at the Ken
Edwards Center on Fourth Street. The building would then be repurposed as an âadult activities center,â open for use by a wider array of Santa Monica residents. Officials presented both changes as important steps to fill in gaps in services to the senior community, first by helping the elderly stay relatively independent and second by creating a âone-stop-shopâ at the Ken Edwards Center to make it easy for them to get the help they need. âWe believe strongly that the best way to service seniors is to create a one-stopshop,â said Robin Davidson, an administrator with the Human Services Division. In terms of transportation, staff recommended expanding a program that takes seniors from their pick-up location to their home and helps them get into the building. Dial-a-Ride, a service provided to seniors by an independent contractor and paid
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