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MONDAY, MAY 19, 2014
Volume 13 Issue 156
Santa Monica Daily Press
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THE COOLING DOWN ISSUE
Union pressures DoubleTree through Board of Ed BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer
SMMUSD HDQRTRS What started as complaints from hotel workers about labor conditions at the DoubleTree Suites has led to an investigation into the hotel’s finances by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education. The district owns the land on which the DoubleTree sits and, while they have no proof of financial wrongdoing, the board has requested clarification on how certain lease payment calculations were made. The board’s scrutiny is the result of questions raised by Unite Here Local 11, a hospitality union. Unite Here led a protest at the DoubleTree earlier this year with 50 hotel employees who claim that they aren’t getting the two 10-minute breaks they’re entitled to during every shift. A hotel general manager told the Daily Press at the time that they were unaware that
this was occurring. It’s up to the workers to take their breaks, the general manager said. DoubleTree Suites is not a union hotel but Unite Here helped workers file official complaints with state and federal labor agencies. Investigations are ongoing. Union officials then turned to the district, which owns the land. The district is owed a monthly base rent that rises with inflation. The Procaccianti Group, which bought the hotel a few years ago, has always paid on time. The district is also entitled to 5 percent of the hotel’s net cash flow, which has a complex definition. From this provision, the district has never seen a penny. The net cash flow takes into account the hotel’s development and operating cost which, according to the hotel owners, has always exceeded revenues by tens of millions of dollars. Since the contract was signed in 1987, the hotel owners (there have been three) always reported this cash contribution to the district with little explanation as to how it’s been reached.
At the request of the board, district officials sent a letter to the hotel owners, asking for more information on the calculation. Many of the board members were dubious about this reported deficit given Santa Monica’s booming tourism industry ($1.63 billion generated last year). Dean Pappas, the district’s real estate attorney, explained that the lease could have been “better drafted.” It does not explicitly require the lessee to explain how it reached its final calculation, nor does it give the district the right to audit the lease. Pappas was not responsible for drafting the lease. Boardmember Ben Allen noted that the lessee should have to cooperate in explaining its calculation, even if the contract doesn’t specifically require it. The contract is up for an adjustment in 2021. Hotel workers, Santa Monica High School students, leaders from two school employee unions, clergy members, residents, and the incoming Parent Teacher
Association president spoke during the public comment portion of the item, asking the board to take action. Boardmember Laurie Leiberman recused herself from the discussion because her husband, an attorney, previously represented the hotel owners. Boardmembers Maria LeonVazquez, Ralph Mechur, Oscar de la Torre, and Ben Allen were direct in their opinion that the labor violation allegations, if true, are unacceptable for a district lessee. If the state or federal agencies do find that the hotel is violating labor laws, the hotel will have an opportunity to appeal. If they lose an appeal, they have 30 days to remedy the violations. Mechur suggested that future district contracts should require lessees to pay employees a living wage. On the issue of net cash flow, board members agreed to wait until their next meeting to consider taking action, allowing the hotel owners time to respond. dave@smdp.com
Nazarene welcomes new pastor BY MATTHEW HALL Editor in Chief
18th STREET There’s a new face at one of Santa Monica’s oldest churches. Pastor Scott Savage has formally taken the reins at the Church of the Nazarene, located at 18th and Washington, following the retirement of former pastor Clarence Crites. Crites served the community for 35 years and Savage said he also hoped for a long tenure. “I expect to be here for a while,” he said. “My approach as a pastor is to put down some roots.” The church is one of the oldest religious institutions in Santa Monica and a 1908 history text, “Ingersoll’s Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities,” lists the church as opening in 1906. The congregation has a history of working with the community including Crites’ significant work for the Santa Monica Police Department’s chaplaincy program. Matthew Hall matt@smdp.com Savage said part of his job would be NEW GUY ON THE SCENE: Scott Savage is the new pastor at the Church of the Nazarene. He joins guiding the congregation through a refoa long line of pastors that have worked at the congregation for more than 100 years. cusing process that will help church mem-
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bers decide how they will practice their faith and develop wider connections to the neighborhood. “You can’t help your friends if you don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “I want to nurture the local area and I want us to be connected.” He said his hope is that the church will find its community service work radiating out but that he expects the initial focus to be in the immediate area. “I want us to be pretty mobile but you have to begin somewhere and I want us to begin at 18th and Washington,” he said. He said he hopes to bring in a diverse audience to the church that will spark interesting and meaningful discussion around important questions. “One thing that excites me about the church is I’m interested in people who want to have a different conversation about who God is,” he said. Savage and his wife are Southern California natives but the family, including two young children aged 4 and 2, were living in Kansas prior to moving to Santa SEE PASTOR PAGE 7
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