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MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014
Volume 14 Issue 28
Santa Monica Daily Press
EARTH TALK SEE PAGE 7
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Council will consider registering lobbyists BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL Two member of City Council would like an ordinance created that would require lobbyists to register with City Hall. The ordinance would “require lobbyists representing clients who seek benefits or contracts from the City to register with the City and provide other information that will help promote transparency.” Mayor Pro Tempore Tony Vazquez and Councilmember Sue Himmelrich put the idea forward to be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting. If a majority of the council members support the idea, the city attorney will come back with a specific ordinance to be considered next year. In the city of Los Angeles, lobbyists are already required to register. “Any individual,” reads L.A.’s website, “who directly communicates with a City official for the purpose of influencing ‘municipal legislation’ (as defined in the ordinance) and who is compensated to spend 30 or more hours in any consecutive three-month period engaged in lobbying activities must register as a lobbyist with the City Ethics Commission.” Himmelrich had said during her campaign — she took office this month — that this was one of the first moves she’d make once on council “Different people have different interpretations of what a lobbyist is,” she said. “I think we want to capture as many people who are trying to get benefits from the city as we possibly can. In conjunction with that, I think we should be registering everybody seeking something for a client, including nonprofits, including — to the extent they aren’t practicing law — lawyers.” Himmelrich is concerned that residents aren’t aware who is being paid by whom. “This is not about anything other than transparency for the people who live here so they know who’s in and out of City Hall and how much they’re being paid to do it,” she said.
THE 10 DAYS LEFT ISSUE
100 years ago: Santa Monica Noir BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer
SEEDY BAY CITY In Raymond Chandler’s murder-filled mysteries, often the strangest and coldest crimes were carried out in Bay City, the writer’s stand-in for Santa Monica. One hundred years ago this month, about a year after Chandler first moved to Los Angeles, the Santa Monica police were busy. “HEAD OF AN UNKNOWN MAN IS BURIED AFTER YEAR,” reads one Los Angeles Times headline from December 1914. The man was found dead, hanging from the rafter under the burned-out Dragon’s Gorge at Ocean Park, the report says. Dragon’s Gorge was an impressive
multi-block structure, built right on the water, that included, among other things, “The House of Mystery” and a roller coaster called the “Scenic Railroad.” It burned down with the rest of Fraser’s Million Dollar Pier in 1912. The hanging man was identified as the husband of Minta Jordan, who collected a $5,000 insurance policy on his life — valued at more than $100,000 today. The body of the supposed Mr. Jordan was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery until a few months later when the real Mr. Jordan mailed in his insurance premium. The body was exhumed and the head, which didn’t look much like Mr. Jordan, removed.
A fraud case was brought against Mrs. Jordan but later dismissed after she returned the money. The head was nicely preserved in hopes that family of the man would come forward and identify it but, after a year of no takers, the District Attorney decided it needed to be reburied. Undertakers were unable to locate the rest of the body and so it was interred alone. SPATS OF MILLIONAIRE FAMILY
In what seemed to hold the place now occupied by reality television, the Times produced thousands of words on dramaSEE HISTORY PAGE 9
FESTIVE FERRIS WHEEL
Melissa Walker-Scott editor@smdp.com Melissa Walker-Scott photographed the Santa Monica Pier while watching her daughters middle school surf team practice. “I thought it looked like the ferris wheel was very festive for the holidays,” she said.
SEE LOBBYIST PAGE 9
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