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Dear Editor, The recently-expired monthly federal Child Tax Credit payments cut child poverty dramatically in California by over 33%.1 California has an opportunity now to step in and keep those children from falling back into poverty. California has a budget surplus in the tens of billions of dollars this year.2 Providing low-income California families with $2,000 per child would cost the state less than $5 billion. Data shows that in January, right after the Child Tax Credit expired, the...
A homeless man sleeps on the corner of 6th St. and Calif. Ave. Opinion By John Alle May 13, 2022 - The Ambassador program is a waste, and in the words of Councilmember Phil Brock, DTSM, Inc. itself must be dissolved. We need real law enforcement during the hours of 11 pm and 8 am. Private security has not worked and puts us all at physical and legal risk. The following was witnessed and photographed from this morning. 1) Ambassador following a City Maintenance street sweeper and power washer,...
By David Ganezer “The continued prosperity of California’s richest taxpayers is filling state coffers with a $97.5 billion surplus, bringing the state’s next budget to a record $300 billion, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday,” writes the LA Times. “It’s California’s largest budget and biggest surplus ever.” So. California has a massive budget surplus of nearly $100 billion. This is a good thing, of course. But it also creates a problem for the liberal Democrats who have run the State for the last 20 years: What to do with the money? One obvi...
Is the city not sending out parking enforcement on street cleaning days to enforce the No Parking during the posted hours? It seems that is the case on the 4000 block of Huron Avenue. I called the Culver City police and asked the question to which the person that answered replied “I don’t know. Let me transfer you to the Front Desk”. Which brings me to my second thing. When being transferred the automated message said “For English press 1”. If you don’t press 1 the message proceeds in Spanish. S...
Dear Editor: I live in R-1 Carlson Park. I love my neighborhood and my neighbors. Adding denser housing to our neighborhood might take a little getting used to. It might mean a few more cars on my street. It might mean a little more construction. It might mean a few more joggers and bikers, a few less McMansions, a few more volunteers at my kids’ public schools, more Girl Scouts selling cookies, and a few more people planning and attending our Block Party. I think I can get used to these c...
Dear Editor, Those of us who oppose racism, must also support more housing in Culver City. Did you know that housing inequality is one of the major reasons there is a large wealth gap between Black or Hispanic households and white households in the U.S? And did you know a typical white family has ten times the wealth of a typical Black or Hispanic family? In other words, on average, for every one hundred dollars a white household has, a Black or Hispanic household will have ten dollars. And,...
By Jon Coupal and Scott Wilk During the past two years, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has paid billions of dollars in secretive no-bid contracts with little to no transparency. Now Newsom is deploying his same secretive approach to a growing number of other public contracts. All Californians, irrespective of party affiliation, should be deeply concerned. Especially troubling is the Newsom administration’s perverse penchant for no-bid contracts, many of which renew automatically. Since 202...
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a brief in defense of Senate Bill 10 (SB 10), which allows local governments to rezone certain neighborhoods for denser housing, irrespective of local restrictions. SB 10 was part of a package of bills passed by the Legislature last year to alleviate California’s housing crisis. Following its passage, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court arguing that the law is unconstitutional. In today's brief, Attorney General Bonta argues that the nonprofit's petition s...
By Jon Coupal In George Orwell’s 1984, there is a particularly gripping scene where the protagonist, Winston, is being interrogated by O’Brien, a member of the party leadership. O’Brien shows Winston a photo that proves that three party members who were executed for treason were, in fact, innocent. O’Brien then drops the photo into what is called a “memory hole” and the photo is incinerated. “Ashes,” O’Brien says. “Not even identifiable ashes. Dust. It does not exist. It never existed.” The book is meant as a cautionary tale, but one that wa...
The following is public input offered by Ann Thanawalla, before the City Council on April 12, 2022 By now you've received time sensitive notice of misconduct by City staff. I am here to amplify that notice. For months, staff in several offices have been making unilateral decisions that enable professional misconduct by a Housing Commissioner and appear to intentionally impede good work. These shenanigans happen to coincide with your new Housing Commission appointments-folks who are deeply committed to transparency and fixing problems at the...
By John Alle, Local Business Owner I am responding to the Opinion piece co-authored by City Manager David White and Police Chief Ramon Batista. They responded to the "recent local and regional news coverage of a report portraying Santa Monica as unsafe". I have lived, played and/or worked in Santa Monica since the 1970's. My son attended and graduated from from school here in Santa Monica. The City Manager's and Police Chief's only factual statement is that the "messages (from the media) are...
By Jon Coupal As a participant in capital politics for more than 30 years, I’ve observed many abuses of power. Corruption, pettiness, gross narcissism, and dirty tricks have all increased in recent years both in terms of frequency and shock value. The latest incident, and honestly one of the more disturbing I have seen, occurred in the Assembly Transportation Committee last week. Californians are reeling at the pump as our gas prices are the highest in the nation. The working poor and middle class are begging the Legislature for relief, w...
Opinion by Corva Corvax The reform-minded district attorney no longer holds a plurality of voters in his camp March 24, 2022 - A poll commissioned by the Los Angeles Police Protective League shows a plurality of voters would vote to recall controversial LA County District Attorney George Gascon. The same poll conducted last year showed an opposite result, with strong plurality supporting the district attorney. Over the last year, more voters grew undecided and sentiment against Gascon shifted 18 points. The poll, conducted by New Bridge...
The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020-21 Annual Report, which reported that the total net statewide county-assessed property value was $7.1 trillion, resulting in $79.9 billion of local property tax levies. Those property tax levies contributed $43 billion to schools and $36.9 billion to local government. This is an additional $4.5 billion, or a 6% increase, in property tax levies from FY 2019-20 of $75.4 billion. “The increase in property tax l...
Melissa Toomim, Candidate for Congress On Monday, March 14, 2022, the City of Santa Monica began the process of tearing down Parking Structure 3 in downtown Santa Monica. Santa Monica Bayside Owners Association (SMBOA) lost its court battle to preserve the parking garage located on 4th Street, between Arizona Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. The demolition is the culmination of the city's battle to destroy small businesses along the Promenade and downtown, which are served by the garage. Mayor Sue Hi...
By Alyssa Erdley, Observer Staff Writer Photo: Santa Monica Bayside Owners Association is appealing the decision to close and demolish the garage 3.18.22: The City of Santa Monica prevailed against local business owners in its goal to demolish Parking Structure 3 on 4th Street downtown, but the site remains embroiled in litigation. The Santa Monica Bayside Owners Association still has a lawsuit pending against the transformation of the site from parking into supportive housing. Originally, Superior Court Judge Michael Beckloff granted an...
By Mark Thies Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are scrambling to find a way to amnesty illegal immigrants in their nearly $2 trillion budget bill. The Senate parliamentarian, who decides what provisions can and can't be included in the bill that's being advanced under the filibuster-proof "reconciliation" process, shot down their first two proposals. So now, lawmakers are proceeding with "Plan C" -- which would grant illegal immigrants "parole," a status that gives illegal immigrants work...
Editor, It’s the same old theme since 1916. In your head, in your head, they’re still fighting. With their tanks, and their bombs, And their bombs, and their guns, In your head, in your head, they are dying…” — The Cranberries, from their anti-war #1 smash hit song “Zombie” released in 1994 “Z” stands for Zelenskyy. F**k whatever Vladimir Putin and his Russian zombie military thinks “Z” stands for! KGB Count Dracula Vlad the Impaler can go shove a “Z” right up where the sun don’t shine, in o...
By David E. Mastagni and Taylor Davies-Mahaffey In 2019, a California appeals court held that Proposition 57 allowed those convicted of multiple violent and nonviolent crimes to qualify for early release after serving only the sentence for one of the nonviolent crimes. The California Supreme Court found that the language in Proposition 57 was ambiguous and, upon reviewing ballot materials, concluded that the initiative did not require the early release of violent felons. Voters were told that Pr...
Dear Editor, When we purchased our home in Culver City in 2015 there were many reasons why: proximity to work and family, a location that afforded a walkable lifestyle with plenty of parks and very important while expecting a child - a highly regarded school district. This was our first home, but even in 2015 we thought of the purchase as a forever home, not a starter, given the explosive growth in California home costs happening then and before that have only accelerated. Now with our first...
By Jeff Prang Los Angeles County Assessor This month I’m going to share information about a delicate subject, but also a very important one---dealing with property taxes and what should be done upon the death of a property owner. Needless to say, the death of a loved one is a traumatic event, to say nothing of putting their affairs in order - dealing with inheritance, insurance, finances, and property. The following information generally covers what needs to be done if they owned property in L...
By Amber Jackson, Lucky Lifer As the days go by, I never cease to be fascinated by the dynamics of prison staff behavior. I've learned so much about the psychology of human behaviors. And the more I learn, the more I want to know. I've become a bit if a mentalist throughout my prison journey. I'm obsessed with watching people and discerning why they do whatever they do. Prison staff are an endless source of material to study. At first thought you might assume that prisoners might be more interesting to watch. On the contrary, I assure you,...
Stanley Dunn Special to the Observer Think back for a moment to the place you grew up. You may be living elsewhere now yet when you go back to where you are from, a rush of memories spring about. A state of nostalgia may be induced, remembering the 'good old days.' There may be some major changes such as new buildings and old hang out spots that are no longer there; yet a sense of community - what it meant to grow up there - remains. Nestled just west of the hustle and bustle that is Los...
By Alyssa Erdley, Observer Staff Writer 2/15/22: At their meeting tomorrow, the Audit and Finance Committee for Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. will discuss hiring a "communication firm to handle board communication and crisis management." DTSM is the quasi-governmental agency that assesses business owners in the downtown and Third Street Promenade area fees that are supposed to be used to promote "economic stability, growth and community life within this unique neighborhood." Six of DTSM's 13 board members are appointed by the city council. Six ar...
2/18/22: Last evening I listened to a City commission zoom meeting, then tuned in 20 minutes late to the "Developer-hosted zoom meeting" regarding the large development proposed for Ocean Park and Lincoln. The meeting was recorded and was scheduled to be made part of the City's public record for presentation to our Council. This was the developers' second attempt at a meeting. The first was sparsely attended and scheduled at the same time as a City Council Meeting. There were just 4 images on...
