FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012
Volume 11 Issue 179
Santa Monica Daily Press
BOSTON IS THE PLACE TO BE SEE PAGE 13
We have you covered
THE KINDA FIGURED ISSUE
Drama plagues Wilmont election BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
WILMONT A coalition of residents are accusing the governing board of a neighborhood group of voter fraud if their names do not
appear on the organization’s ballot in an upcoming board election. The vote would determine the new leadership of the Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition, popularly known as Wilmont, an organization that represents
residents between Montana Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, 21st Street and Ocean Avenue. The group says that the board members created new rules days before the election, originally scheduled for Wilmont’s annual
meeting on Saturday, specifically to invalidate the slate of candidates and prevent the group’s first contested election in recent memory. They argue that’s a violation of the SEE WILMONT PAGE 11
Necropsy finds mountain lion died from gun shots
Santa Monica Auctions hits end of the line
BY DANIEL ARCHULETA
Huge summer event caps 19-year stint at Bergamot
Managing Editor
PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITY The results of a necropsy has determined that the mountain lion killed in Downtown on May 22 died from gun shot wounds, the Santa Monica Police Department reported Thursday. The finding ends early speculation that perhaps the animal died from smashing its head against a glass enclosure. The necropsy conducted by the California Animal Heath and Food Safety Laboratory System in San Bernardino ruled that out. The killing of the big cat prompted public outcry in the form of letters to local media outlets and even a demonstration on the lawn of City Hall denouncing the handling of the situation. The mountain lion was found in Downtown last month, prompting safety officials to come up with a plan to detain the cat. A responder from the Department of Fish and Game tried to sedate the cat, but to no avail. After what was essentially a three-hour standoff it ended when police officers shot the animal. It died at the scene. As a result of the shooting, the SMPD is reviewing its policies regarding the handling of wild animals in an urban setting. It had been 30-plus years since the last time a mountain lion was spotted within city limits. The police department has planned a meeting with representatives from nonprofit animal groups and government agencies to hash out a new plan to handle like situations in the future. The meeting is schedule to take place later this month.
BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
BERGAMOT
SPREADING SAFETY
Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com Gary Marshall, an engineer with the Santa Monica Fire Department, shows Maria Morrison (right) how to properly perform CPR Thursday on the Third Street Promenade. During the three hours the department was doing the demonstration they reported helping nearly 300 people learn how to perform the potentially life-saving technique.
STATION Santa Monica Auctions has reached the end of the line after 19 years at Bergamot Station, but it’s going off the rails with a bang. The auction, an institution on Los Angeles’ Westside, will have its final event this weekend, a three-day affair that will feature over 500 works of contemporary and modern art including pieces by Pablo Picasso and the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. The soiree is a send-off to the business, which will be displaced when the building in which it’s housed, with the clinical title of Building C, is demolished later this year to make way for arrival of the Exposition Light Rail Line in 2015. “Demolished, liquidated, leveled, kaput and then rebuilt as a train station,” said Robert Berman, the owner and curator of Santa Monica Auctions. Berman has occupied a space at Bergamot Station for almost two decades, and will continue to do so until the entire arts center closes, he said. He moved there from a row of galleries on Broadway. Wayne Blank, the entrepreneur who created Bergamot Station, tempted him to join the fledgling arts community. In that time, he built a company with a SEE AUCTION PAGE 10
daniela@smdp.com
Gary Limjap (310) 586-0339 In today’s real estate climate ...
Experience counts! garylimjap@gmail.com www.garylimjap.com
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