Ndeighborhood Council - Minutes for September 26, 2009 meeting

[Z]

Santa Monica Neighborhood Council

September 26, 2009 --- 10 AM

Ken Edwards Center

The meeting was chaired by Wilmont Chair Jeanne Dodson.

1. Neighborhood Updates

a. PNA - Catherine Eldridge suggested an alternate location for the
Expo maintenance yard. She also reported on an Expo block party that
was held in Stewart Park and on a tour of existing light rail
maintenance yards. Expo is holding a meeting on October 14 re the
Final EIR.

b. FOSP - Zina Josephs discussed the Santa Monica College 2009
Master Plan Update. With 37,000 students enrolled this fall, the
college is spending nearly $700,000 this year to recruit additional
students. She also stated that the city has asked the DC Court of
Appeals to review the latest FAA ruling regarding S.M. Airport, and
noted a recent article in the Daily Press about the Ocean Park Blvd.
re-striping pilot project, which has still not been evaluated.

c. OPA - Mary Marlow stated that more than 300 OPA members
volunteered for the Beach Clean-up, which netted 118 pounds of trash/
recyclables and 2,700 cigarette butts. She also noted that some local
realtors have offered to donate 10% of profit on sales in Ocean Park
to OPA.

d. Wilmont - Jeanne Dodson stated that the Daily Press, L.A. Times,
and five TV stations have covered the parking situation with the local
Methodist church. A Wilmont member has raised the issue of multiple
phone books, wondering if residents can "opt out."

e. Mid-City - Kenny Mack discussed the neighborhood's problems with
St. John's Health Center.
The hospital's sewage "design flaw" is expensive to fix, so the
mitigation was pumping sewage into tanker trucks every 72 hours -- 8
hours of pumping per week, with the odor permeating the neighborhood
and nearby McKinley Elementary School. A recent leak resulted in raw
sewage flowing down 23rd St. from Arizona to Santa Monica Blvd. A
second mitigation measure was to use a treatment chemical to mask the
smell, but the chemical apparently made hospital nurses and nearby
residents ill.

Re parking, the St. John's Development Agreement with the city
acknowledged 29,000 new daily car trips, and the hospital was required
to construct 422 subterranean parking spaces. It was noted by an
attendee that by not building the parking, the hospital has been in
violation of the Development Agreement, which is a city ordinance.
Eleven years later, the hospital is now asking for a further 10-year
deferral on building those parking spaces. Meanwhile, hospital
construction workers have apparently been using handicapped placards
while parking on residential streets, and parking for residents is in
extremely short supply in that neighborhood.

f. Pico neighborhood (cont.) - Linas Baskauskas spoke about an
October 21st Planning Commission agenda item in which he and the Pico
Euclid Neighborhood Coalition are appealing an ARB approval of the
FAME affordable senior group housing projects on Euclid and 18th
Streets. Nearby residents complain that the projectss do not fit the
definition of senior group housing, and that the project received
expedited "fast track" approval without the required prior
administrative approval. The Planning Commission can only look at the
aspects considered by ARB, not whether the common kitchen meets
requirements (developers apparently plan to arrange for Meals on
Wheels rather than have staff cook meals for residents), whether there
is sufficient loading zone space for Dial-a-Ride and Access vans,
i.e., whether the projects actually meet the Senior Group Housing
Standards which allow them to exceed height and density limits. It was
noted that when a Zoning Administrator approves a project (ministerial
approval), there is no appeal process. It was also noted that the
Planning Commission could ask the City Council to clarify the zoning
ordinance and the definition of Senior Group Housing.

g. Mid-City (cont.) - Gregg Heacock and Ruth Sarnoff discussed
their progress in re-activating the Mid-City Neighbors organization.
They've collected 85 signatures so far and plan to set up a Board of
Directors, adopt bylaws, and apply for non-profit status. An October
3rd "Kids with Cameras" event at McKinley Elementary School will
provide an opportunity for them to gather more members. Ilda Jimenez y
West discussed the "Kids with Cameras" process, which involved a PAL
summer class in which students tried to visually represent what
"community" means to them.

2. Citywide issues

a. Jonathan Club lease -- it was extended by the Council, but will
expire for good in 10 years.

b. New downtown parking plan -- Kevin McKeown noted that some
structures sit empty while drivers circle the area. The new pricing
structure will motivate downtown employees to park on the periphery,
with only one hour free parking and $1 for the second hour.

c. LUCE/Planning -- Catherine Eldridge commented on a new LUCE
Powerpoint that was presented at the September 2nd Planning Commission
meeting. It will be presented to the City Council in November. The
Planning Commission allowed a parking variance for a restaurant on
Main Street, which will remain in effect even though the property was
subsequently sold. The city is attempting to force Promenade employees
out of the Promenade parking structures to make more room for
shoppers. Meanwhile, it is trying to get a new theater built on
property the city purchased for a new parking structure. This is based
on a parking analysis that assumed that the Criterion will not be
leased by another company to screen movies when the current tenant
moves out. Also, the deadline is approaching to comment on the
Consolidated Annual Performance Report. The Housing Element includes a
state mandate to maintain seniors in mobile parks.

d. Senior Seminars -- The Wilmont Board is considering organizing a
seminar on the lack of senior housing and assisted living facilities,
and it would like to involve all the neighborhood organizations.

[gale feldman]

Hi Zina,

Thanks so much for keeping me in the loop. Because I married into a farming family, I often spend my Saturdays shilling dates and almonds at the Farmer's Market - it's been a long time since I've been to a neighborhood council meeting.

Just a couple of thoughts:

a.) 37,000 students at SMC??? I had no idea that the college was that large. Isn't that equivalent to the number of students at UCLA, which I believe has a much bigger campus? Wow.

b.) I was shocked to hear about the sewage issues with St. John's hospital. I believe (but without 100% recall) that they were one of 13 LA hospitals receiving a citation for lack of adherence to some medical regulation. Already bad publicity - but, if this information about sewage issues was more widely published, it would be really bad publicity for them. I can't imagine that they would be interested in that - perhaps, they could be encouraged to fix their problems before this happens. Also, I was surprised to read about the application for an additional 10 year deferral on building the required parking.

c.) Very very disappointed to hear about the continuation of the Jonathan Club lease. I had gone to speak against it at the first city council meeting, which postponed until another meeting, and wrote a letter, with Diana Gordon's input, on behalf of SMCLC. Although I couldn't say it in a council forum, I find that Club's history of discrimination against African Americans, Latinos and Jewish folks really painful. I realized that discontinuing their lease would not make them go away, but making them share their beachfront property would have gone a long way to honoring more egalitarian principles.

d.) Catherine's report on the city's attempt to push Promenade employees out of the parking structures to make room for shoppers was disturbing on many levels. Of course, living two blocks North of the Promenade on 3rd Street, I'm very aware that this just pushes Promenade employees into our neighborhood (our permit parking is for evening hours only, since we're in the coastal zone, leaving daytime employees to park for entire shifts on our street). But, in addition to that, I also think that the city is picking on another minimum wage class of workers - retail employees - who don't have the same representation as some of our union represented minimum wage employees. Higher paid management will be able to afford to purchase monthly parking permits, while minimum wage workers will not. I also think there are safety issues involved. Especially for female employees who have to walk extensive distances to their cars (or take the bus and walk from the
stop home).

Siiiggghh...sorry for the long diatribe without any proposed solutions. I'm supposed to be on vacation in Argentina right now, but missed my flight because of a severe case of H1N1. Which leaves me with a little bit of unscheduled time to sit around and grumble a little more than usual.

How are you doing Zina? Hopefully, you're enjoying the beginning of our fall season. Once again, thank you for sharing such great minutes.

With many thanks,

Gale Feldman

--- On Mon, 10/19/09, Z <zinaj...@aol.com> wrote: