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Volume 10 Issue 41
Santa Monica Daily Press BADGER DOES DOUBLE DUTY SEE PAGE 12
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THE HERE COMES 2011 ISSUE
TOP 10 STORIES OF 2010
Santa Monica might be located on the coast, but it is anything but a sleepy beach town. Here are the stories that shaped the city by the sea this year.
Photos by Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com
BY NICK TABOREK Special to the Daily Press
DOWNTOWN You could say Santa Monica had a little bit of everything in 2010. From the bizarre — like the revelation back in March that celebrated local sushi restaurant The Hump was illegally selling whale meat — to the heartwarming — like the successful grassroots effort to save the financially chal-
lenged Twilight Dance Series concerts last summer — there was hardly a dull moment. The city was also visited by epic public spectacles like the popular art event GLOW and the L.A. Marathon. The economy dominated the national discussion for much of the year, and it was a local focal point as well in 2010. All in all it was a mixed economic bag for Santa Monica, with the long-awaited reopening of
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the Santa Monica Place mall providing a high point, but with many local businesses continuing to struggle and the state’s fiscal crisis leading to the first Big Blue Bus fare increase in years. The City Council, for the first time in memory, passed a budget that included reductions in grants to social service providers, though big cuts, layoffs and SEE TOP STORIES PAGE 8
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