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WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 RUSTY’S FINALISTS ......................PAGE 3 CURIOUS CITY ................................PAGE 4 SHARK BITE ....................................PAGE 5 MYSTERY REVEALED ....................PAGE 9
WEDNESDAY
06.01.16 Volume 15 Issue 162
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Right place, write time Creative types tap into community of support through local collective
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Santa Monica Daily Press
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Council authorizes budget increase for new City Services Building BY MATTHEW HALL Daily Press Editor
As Kermit the Frog knew, it’s not easy being green, and based on the cost of a new wing of City Hall, it’s not cheap either. Council approved an additional $17.6 million for the new City Services Building at their May 24 meeting, bringing the total of the proposed structure to $74.5 mil-
lion. Staff said a countywide construction boom and the use of cutting edge technology are the primary culprits for the cost increase, but the building could help the city save about $3 million per year in current lease costs. The proposed 50,000 square foot addition to City Hall would be built between the current building SEE CITY HALL PAGE 7
Community rallies around family of Will Rogers parent Fundraising campaign launched following mother’s brain aneurysm BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN Daily Press Staff Writer Courtesy Photo
WRITERS: Writers Blok provides regular support for local writers of all kinds.
BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN Daily Press Staff “Writer
The sound of fingers tapping on laptop keyboards reminds Paul Shirley that he isn’t alone. The former professional basketball player moved to Southern California about five years ago to pursue writing, but he found it a lonely enterprise. He’d go to coffee shops, buy a drink and a scone and see how much time would pass before he got sidelong glares from the staff. He figured he could do better. “I wanted to create a space — that sounds so millennial — a place where people would feel like they were welcome,” he said. “It’s hard to find people who care, and it’s helpful to be around other writers who know the struggle of sitting down and getting to work when you don’t know if the thing you’re working on is going to see the light of day.”
It led him to establish Writers Blok, a Santa Monica-based group of authors, screenwriters, poets and playwrights who meet twice a week to flesh out ideas, solicit feedback and commiserate. And the collective has spawned a variety of projects. The group includes author Scott Bly, a Santa Monica resident whose middle-grade suspense thriller “Smasher” was released in 2014. Earlier this year, Kerry Kletter released a young-adult crossover novel entitled “The First Time She Drowned” that was crafted partially at Writers Blok gatherings. The Moth storyteller Matteson Perry, a longtime member, will host a reading and Q&A session as part of the collective’s meeting June 6. “It really exists to build a community of writers,” member Katie Savage, a Santa Monica resident, said of the group. “It’s a place to write
Gary Limjap (310) 586-0339 In today’s real estate climate ...
Experience counts! garylimjap@gmail.com www.garylimjap.com
SEE WRITE PAGE 9
Parents at Will Rogers Learning Community were accustomed to seeing Silvia Crespo-Jarquin on campus, whether she was dropping off two of her four children for school, attending meetings or helping out at the annual Cinco de Mayo festival. SEE FUNDRAISER PAGE 6
Maez raise approved by SMMUSD board School district CFO to make more than $196,000 next year BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN Daily Press Staff Writer
As the Santa Monica-Malibu school district’s chief financial officer, Jan Maez manages millions of dollars in government funds, tax revenues, voter-backed bonds.
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CRESPO-JARQUIN
And she gets paid pretty well to do it. The local Board of Education last month approved a raise for Maez, who serves as the district’s associate superintendent of busiSEE CFO PAGE 8
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