1760 Ocean Avenue Santa Monica, CA 90401 Parking | Kitchenettes | WiFi Available
310.393.6711
BOOK DIRECT AND SAVE SeaviewHotel .com
BRIAN MASER
Starting from
88
$
+ Taxes
THE CONDO SALES LEADER • 310.314.7700 CONDO SALES
CALL US FOR A FREE APPRAISAL • MASERCONDOSALES.COM
WEEKEND EDITION
07.08.17 - 07.09.17 Volume 16 Issue 204
@smdailypress
Tax exemptions among services available at local nonprofit MATTHEW HALL Daily Press Editor
City officials have updated the requirements for senior citizens to receive an exemption on a local utility tax. Santa Monica charges a 10 percent tax on gas, electricity, water/wastewater, video and telecommunication services known as the Utility Users Tax. Prepaid wireless services pay a tax of 9 percent. However, the city has a longstanding policy of exempting seniors based on income qualifications. When the exemption program was established in 1976, Council adjusted the income requirements periodically but the system changed in 1987. To this day, the adjustment is now an administrative decision
WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 COMMUNITY BRIEFS ......................PAGE 3 YOUR COLUMN HERE ....................PAGE 4 CRIME WATCH ..................................PAGE 8 MYSTERY PHOTO ............................PAGE 9
@smdailypress
Local teen takes program to the international level
SEE NONPROFIT PAGE 6
Courtesy Photo
INTERNATIONAL VISIT: Santa Monica native, Luca Pistor took JSES to Samoa to teach kids entrepreneurship skills.
MARINA ANDALON Daily Press Staff Writer
Inland Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley faced another round of high heat Friday as firefighters around the state worked to contain wildfires and the dairy industry dealt with livestock deaths. A National Weather Service excessive heat warning said daily highs between 100 and 110 degrees, with some locations reaching 115, would be common away from the south coast through Saturday while some coastal sections could see highs into the 90s. A heat advisory in the San Joaquin Valley warned of temperatures from 103 to 107 both days. The source of the heat is a
smdp.com
based on the December to December change in the Los Angeles-RiversideOrange County Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). This year, that increase is 1.7 percent. The eligibility limits for this year are $29,619 for a single person household (up from $29,178 last year) and $33,941 for a household of two or more people (up from $33,436 last year). The City has contracted with WISE & Healthy Aging to help seniors apply for the exemption. WISE is a Santa Monica based nonprofit that offers a variety of services to seniors. According to WISE Service coordinator Jenny Melgar, screen-
Inland Southern California faces more blistering heat Associated Press
Santa Monica Daily Press
strong upper-level high pressure system over the southwestern U.S. along with breezy northerly winds at the surface. Those winds triggered a red flag fire danger warning for the south Santa Barbara County mountains and coast, where the gusts are known as “sundowners.” Forecasters said gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph) could last through Saturday morning and possibly into Sunday. On fire lines around the state, a nearly 3-square-mile (7.7-sq.kilometer) blaze near the Yolo County community of Winters west of Sacramento was 25 percent contained. Evacuation orders remained in
Luca Pistor is taking his Junior Social Entrepreneurship Summit program to the international level by adding new oversea locations. The local 16-year-old founded JSES in 2010, and the program is a student created, university sponsored weeklong summer camp for children 11 – 17 years of age who are interested in entrepreneurship and building a business to help create a sustainable earth. “I was 10 years old, and in third grade I was asked to create a passion project of something that meant a great deal to me. A think – tank for kids, where we could bring our ideas together and work on them, was my project, “ said Pistor. Pistor made a family trip to Europe and attended school in Berlin. He found that Berlin and Santa Monica were pretty similar.
“Santa Monica and Berlin are both known as entrepreneurial tech start up cities, and are both environmentally conscious,” said Pistor. Throughout the program students work in teams and are paired with project mentors where they create a business plan, learn an elevator pitch and bring their ideas into the marketplace. In 2013 he decided it was time for the program to take its first steps and go international. He directed JSES Berlin with kids from Berlin, Santa Monica and Mumbai. Not long after he met with USC professors who agreed to sponsor JSES, which helped JSES continue to be an international program. The program has traveled internationally for the last five years and Santa Monica youth has brought their ideas to the Annenberg Community Beach House and USC where they SEE PROGRAM PAGE 7
SEE HEAT PAGE 6
Happy 4th of July! from Todd Mitchell
NOWHomes.com CalBRE# 00973400 ©2016 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved.