INSIDE SCOOP
COMMENTARY
NATION
TIME TO TALK TRASH PAGE 3 IT’S TERRIBLE TO MISS THE HOLIDAYS PAGE 4 UFO CENTER TAKES OFF PAGE 16 Visit us online at smdp.com
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
Volume 6 Issue 299
Santa Monica Daily Press DEALING WITH EMPTY NESTS SEE PAGE 6
Since 2001: A news odyssey
The sun also sets BY KEVIN HERRERA I Daily Press Staff Writer CITY HALL While it likes to promote Santa Monica as a sustainable city that goes out of its way to embrace alternative fuels, for nearly two years, City Hall has failed to find a fulltime employee responsible for signing off on solar projects, according to interviews with contractors and city staff. The lack of a permanent plan checker, coupled with the lack of experience with green building requirements on behalf of contractors and building inspectors, has created a backlog of projects needing approval. This has reinforced
Santa Monica’s reputation for being a bad place to do business, contractors said. “I think Santa Monica has very good intentions, but like always, they have developed a system that is so complex and administratively burdensome,” said Noah Golden of Golden Energy, a Santa Monica-based solar energy-systems consultant. “They want to be supporters of solar, but they go about it in a very contorted way, relying on contract employees.” Or in the case of mechanical, electrical and plumbing, just one contract employee. Dan Macy left Santa Monica in December 2005 for a sim-
THE SILLY MISFITS ISSUE
New solar technology hits City Hall in the pocketbook ilar job in Newport Beach. Macy said that he would have preferred to stay in Santa Monica, but City Hall refused to match Newport Beach’s offer, so he left. The following month, City Hall came calling. They were in desperate need of a plan checker with Macy’s qualifications, given that the position was very technical and demanded a lot of expertise. Macy was one of a handful of people in the state who could perform all the tasks required, city officials said. SEE SOLAR PAGE 11
EDUCATION
MAKING A COMEBACK Webster Elementary in Malibu reopens after fire
STORY BY MELODY HANATANI PAGE 10
Melody Hanatani melodyh@smdp.com
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