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WEEKEND EDITION
05.06.17 - 05.07.17 Volume 16 Issue 150
@smdailypress
Non-profit hosts Reality Party to prevent tragedy
@smdailypress
WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 BURGER KING HACK ......................PAGE 4 AIRPORT BATTLE ............................PAGE 5 POLICE LOG ......................................PAGE 8 WEEKEND CROSSWORD ................PAGE 9
Santa Monica Daily Press
smdp.com
Despite City agreement with FAA, legal challenges to closing SMO persist
MARINA ANDALON Daily Press Staff Writer
Santa Monica parents, educators and concerned residents are invited to take part in an event Saturday intended to educate them about the current realities of underage drinking and drug use at teen parties, other wise known as a Reality Party. According to the California Healthy Kids Survey 2014 – 2015, an SMMUSD survey showed 50% of high school juniors say they drink at least one per month. Similarly, the Santa Monica Cradle to Career Youth Wellbeing Report Card in 2014 said 1 in 3 students reported binge drinking in the last 30 days. Those are just the numbers. Since Jan. 2017, there have been two local Santa Monica teens who have passed away, Andre Zuczek and Leslie Hernandez. Zuczek, 15, was experimenting with LSD when he fell off an apartment building. Hernandez, 17, was found along the bank of the Los Angeles River in Long Beach. Authorities say her death is being investigated as a possible drug overdose. The two tragic losses has lead to the Reality Party. The event will offer parents a tour of a mock teen house party. Students from Santa Monica High School will depict scripted yet realistic scenes of overindulgent drinking games, the pressure to binge drink and the availability and accessibility of popular drugs. The party is meant to simulate a high school party and allows tour participants to view various scenes at a mock house party depicting binge drinking, drinking games, marijuana, prescription drug use and the risk of alcohol and sex. This is the third annual Reality SEE NON-PROFIT PAGE 7
Matt Hall
AIRPORT CONTROVERSY: Two lawsuits challenge the City’s agreement with the FAA to eventually close Santa Monica Airport.
BY KATE CAGLE Daily Press Staff Writer
A Los Angeles pilot and a Santa Monica pilot-in-training have filed a lawsuit alleging the City’s agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to shorten the runway and eventually shut down SMO violated the Brown Act. James Babinksi and Kate Scott filed a complaint in the Los Angeles Superior Court that alleges the secret meetings and closed session discussions between the City Council, the City Attorney, other
staff members and the FAA showed “lack of compliance with the Brown Act (and) utter disrespect for the open meetings laws and Constitution.” Conversations between City staff, the Council and the FAA were kept under wraps until the Council publicly voted on the terms of the agreement in January at a special Saturday meeting. The Council narrowly approved the settlement with a 4-3 vote. The Brown Act is California’s sunshine law, which governs local government meetings. The Act
permits closed-session meetings for pending litigation and situations involving significant exposure to litigation. Scott lives in the Sunset Park neighborhood just west of SMO and has invested in aviation lessons at the airport. Babinski works at the airport for one of the aeronautical service providers and is a private pilot. Both content they were denied their right to testify, speak and scrutinize the settlement agreement and eventual closure of the airport. Neither Scott nor Babinski
responded to the Daily Press’ request for comment. The City believes the lawsuit will be dismissed. “The City takes compliance with the Brown Act – the state’s public meeting law – seriously,” Interim City Attorney Joe Lawrence said. “Transparency is a core value of the City. We believe the lawsuit does not have merit and is contradicted both by what actually happened and the Brown Act itself.” SEE FAA PAGE 5
Todd Mitchell
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