Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 83
The City Council this week approved a resolution establishing a registration fee for residential rental units in Culver City. The fee -- $167 per unit per year -- was “based upon the reasonable costs associated with the administration and enforcement of the city’s residential rent control program and tenant protection program,” adopted by the Council last September, city officials said. Some councilmembers said the new fee will severely affect “mom-and-pop” landlords but others contended that it a “reasonable and fair” business expense. Acco...
Culver City has announced that in-person city services at City Hall are now offered on a limited, appointment-only basis. City services will also continue to be available online, through email and telephone. The public is urged to make appointments for the following city services: Building Safety -- general assistance with plumbing, electrical, building and mechanical permits, making payments and picking up issued permits; City Clerk – pick-up services to retrieve documents; Planning -- zoning information, accessory dwelling units, a...
By Jack Simon Santa Monica is taking a tougher stance against landlords who have ignored the eviction moratorium and aggressively tried to force out long-term tenants during the pandemic. The SM City Attorney's office has filed a lawsuit against Youseph Golshirazian, Hanokh Golshirazian, and SoCal Investment Company, LLC – owners and managers of a multi-residential property at 153 San Vicente Boulevard – for violations of the city's Tenant Harassment Ordinance and the eviction moratorium, whi...
One would be hard put to find idle moments in Alex Fisch's day. Culver City's new mayor, who was elected to the City Council in April of 2018, brings considerable background to his position, as set forth in the city's website: https://www.culvercity.org/City-Hall/City-Council/Mayor-Alex-Fisch. Fisch has assumed the mantle of mayor during the most challenging time our city has known, a critical time on so many levels – health and safety concerns, homelessness, and economic disruption among t...
By Alyssa Erdley News with Attitude. As of Tuesday, a full week after the national election, California has only counted 82 percent of the vote. An estimated 2,740,846 ballots have not yet been counted. If this were a battleground state, important in determining a national election, we would be a complete laughingstock. Even under normal conditions, California allows county election officials nearly a month before they have to report their final results for presidential electors to the...
Two political newcomers and a former city commissioner are on the verge of winning the 3 seats on the Culver City Council while the controversial Measure B is headed for defeat. With mail-in ballots still being counted countywide, Yasmine McMorrin leads the Council race with 8,971 votes, followed by former Civil Service Commissioner Albert Vera with 8,889 votes and Freddy Puza with 7432 votes, according to preliminary results released yesterday. Mayor Goran Eriksson currently sits in fourth...
• Prop 14: Funding medical research that uses stem cells PASSED • Prop 15: Raising taxes on commercial properties worth more than $3 million FAILED • Prop 16: Bringing back affirmative action in public hiring, contracts and college admissions FAILED • Prop 17: Restoring the voting rights of people on parole PASSED • Prop 18: Letting some 17-year-olds vote in primary and special elections FAILED • Prop 19: Letting senior homeowners pay low property taxes if they move while raising taxes for p...
California rejected Proposition 21 which would have permitted stricter rent control laws. Proposition 21 was opposed by 59.8% of the voters, according to the state’s unofficial election tally Wednesday morning. “Yet again, California voters clearly understood the negative impacts Prop. 21 would have had on the availability of affordable housing in our state by clearly rejecting this radical ballot measure,” Tom Bannon, chief executive of the California Apartment Assn., said in a statement. “It is now time to move from ballot-box battles...
By David Ganezer It has been said that SMRR could run monkeys, and people would pull the levers. That’s usually true, but it was not true in 2020. In an historic repudiation of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, Phil Brock and Christine Parra appear to have won seats on the Santa Monica City Council. More incumbent city councilmembers (three) were voted out of office this week than in the past thirty years. The 4 members slate (Brock, Parra, de la Torre and Mario Fonda-Bonardi) had promised to slow the growth that has chewed up every parking l...
Culver City residents have until November 3 to vote on the candidates for the City Council and School Board as well as decide the fate of two separate measures dealing with rent control and property transfer tax. They'll also have their say on the candidates for the Presidency, County Board of Supervisors, state and federal offices and a multitude of state propositions. Voting by can be conducted by mail or in person at Early Voting Centers at West Los Angeles College and Four Points by...
MEASURE B - YES “Shall the measure adding Culver City Municipal Code Section 15.09.100 requiring voter approval of any ordinance establishing interim or permanent rent control or prohibition on residential rent increases in the City of Culver City, including any ordinance establishing rent control adopted by the Culver City Council after January 1, 2019, be adopted?” Private property rights have been under attack in Culver City for over one year. With the onset of government-ordered rent con...
What do you see as the most important issue affecting Culver City at this time? How do you plan to address it as a Council Member? Why do you feel you're especially qualified to deal with it? What is your position regarding Measure B, rent control? What is your position on the proposal to defund the Culver City Police Department by 50%? Those were the questions this publication posed to the nine candidates shown on the Culver City website as contending for three open City Council seats to be fil...
This year, after much conversation and discussion, we have chosen not to endorse any candidates for the City Council or School Board races. We appreciate the opportunity we had to host one of the City's only Candidate Forums that had all the candidates on at once, answering questions that impact the business community and are likely to have a deep impact on our community's future. At the same time, we felt rather than make an endorsement on any particular candidates, we will instead take a position of education throughout the remainder of the...
Leaders of Protect Culver City, the much-maligned, local political action committee that placed the rent control initiative on November 3 ballot, told the Observer this week that Measure B was never meant as a “statement for or against rent control, but as a simple demand: City Council let us (voters) have the final word on it.” Ron Bassilian, president of Protect Culver City (PCC), said his group -- composed of local business owners, residents and landlords, wanted to have “proper citywide conversation about the issue and let people decid...
By Ron Bassilian, president of Protect Culver City Shortly after midnight on June 25 2019, Councilmembers laid bare their plans to phase in rent control. At that late hour, a number of us gathered outside Council chambers, determined something must be done. That was the genesis of Protect Culver City. What should concern everybody is: nobody had run on this issue. Now, they were now fully obeying the demands of some obscure group nobody had heard of. It followed their infamous inauguration - a...
Print headline: by Alyssa Erdley Voting with Attitude There are many alarmingly radical propositions on the ballot this election. Please go through the many measures, educate yourself, and vote. Otherwise, you will be unpleasantly surprised with the results, which could include your favorite businesses closing, increased costs for everything - including ride shares - and uncontrollable crime on the streets. Proposition 14 - Bonds for Stem Cell Research NO Investors who are experts in calculating potential benefits should fund medical research,...
The City Council this week formally adopted a new comprehensive rent control ordinance, offering strong tenant protections to more than 7000 renters in Culver City. However, the new law, which takes effect on October 30, could be nullified if Measure B is approved by local voters on November 3. The initiative was placed on the ballot by Protect Culver City -- a group of local business owners and landlords -- giving voters the final word on any rental control laws in the city. At its Tuesday...
The City Council this week took one final step toward adopting a new comprehensive rent control ordinance in Culver City. At a marathon meeting Monday night, Councilmembers voted 4-1 to introduce two rent control and tenant protections ordinances. The dissenting vote was cast by Mayor Goran Eriksson. With the Council's action, Culver City reportedly becomes the last city in the greater LA area to offer tenants protections beyond the minimum measures mandated by the state. The Council is expected...
Re: Realignment of City Budget due to COVID-19 Shutdown and Losses in Revenue In light of the pandemic and its devastating impacts at all levels of society, the Culver City Coalition for Fiscal Responsibility (CCCFR), on behalf of local residents, tenants, business operators and housing providers, call upon our city leaders to expeditiously reevaluate funding priorities. With the city’s recent declaration of a Fiscal Emergency, which has been further exacerbated by a shutdown-induced d...
by Alyssa Erdley News with Attitude Declaring they were "building community," the Santa Monica City Council voted on additional rules to try forcing out Airbnb-type rentals. Under the new law, landlords could not offer a lease for less than a year. The lease would have to be made to a "natural person" rather than a corporation. And furnished units would be forbidden. To advertise any unit that does not comply with these regulations would also be prohibited. The stated goal of the new...
The City Council this week continued its effort to establish a permanent rent control ordinance in Culver City. At its Monday meeting, Councilmembers spent nearly 3 hours evaluating rent control and tenant protection policies for inclusion in a permanent program. The proposed policies dealt with no-fault evictions, permissible rent increases, rent registry, "mom and pop" landlords and "fair and reasonable return" analysis, among other items. The issue of permanent rent control was brought on...
Dear Editor, These are the ecomments I submitted to the city council regarding Action Item a last Monday evening, 8-17-120: "Honorable Mayor, vice mayor and members of the council. Given that permanent rent control program in Culver City is a virtual fait accompli, I’d like to address two issues which still may be considered and accommodated. One is a provision, which the city of Los Angeles has, to give some further rent cap relief to owners who provide all the utilities to their rentals. I hav...
The City Council this week continued its effort to establish a permanent rent control ordinance in Culver City. At its Monday meeting, Councilmembers spent nearly 3 hours evaluating rent control and tenant protection policies for inclusion in a permanent program. The proposed policies dealt with no-fault evictions, permissible rent increases, rent registry, "mom and pop" landlords and "fair and reasonable return" analysis, among other items. The issue of permanent rent control was brought on...
By Leonard “Guzz” Brophy IV We already know this year’s presidential campaign is a wild one, but how about at the local level? It could be big too. Twenty-two people as of Wednesday have pulled papers for potential campaigns for five open council seats. They have until August 7 to gather 30 signatures from Santa Monica residents to make their campaigns official. There will actually be two separate council elections. One for four seats, and all the incumbents elected to those seats in 2016--Gleam Davis, Terry O’Day, and Ted Wintere...
by Alyssa Erdley News with Attitude The State Legislature has been working hard to attempt to squeeze 1.8 million more units of housing into the state before 2029 by producing at least nine land-use proposals this year, each of which either enable, incentivize, or require cities to build more densely. Specifically, these bills end single-family-home neighborhoods. That is not an exaggeration. It is the stated goal of the proposed legislation. The authors of these bills and, presumably, the majority of state legislators who voted for them,...
