The electric slide
By KEVIN UEDA Special to the Daily Press
(Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures which appear on the upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.) CITY HALL — Elected officials are expected to spend more than $1.3 million tonight on various agreements and contracts, the most expensive of which — at $580,197 — will go towards revamping one of the city’s parking structures.
According to city staff, two agenda items — a modification to an agreement with the county of Los Angeles for the use of 325 parking spots at the Civic Auditorium, and the purchase of 100 percent renewable energy from a different company — are intended to increase revenue for the city by close to $510,000.
Among the other items Council will vote on relate to the purification of the Santa Monica Bay,, new equipment for the police department and outsourcing services for waste management.
A parking structure’s alleys will be made safer and its bathroom lines shorter,that is,if its design goes as planned.
City Council plans to modify a contract with the Black and Veatch Corporation to improve the design of parking structure No 4, located on 2nd Street between Arizona Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. The new and improved design, at $120,197, brings the total amount of the design contract to its maximum of $851,697, according to a city staff report.
Changes to the structure will include a new central bathroom, with 26 stalls — 13 for men, 13 for women — as well as a “state-of-the-art” trash bin room, to feature 13 trash bins and other amenities geared towards creating a better experience for pedestrians in the alley.
The structure’s larger bathrooms and trash room will require that the storage-and-maintenance room there presently be moved to parking structure No. 2, located one block north on 2nd Street, between Arizona Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.
Further, structure No. 4 is slated to have larger headroom clearance over the lobby entrance near the alley to provide greater visibility for the sake of pedestrian security.
Creating a new central restroom has for years been a high priority of the Bayside District, which manages downtown Santa Monica in conjunction with City Hall, according to the staff report.
THE ELECTRIC SWITCH Switching electric providers may just provide a shocking amount of savings for the city.
The City Council recommends purchasing renewable energy from Commerce Energy to power city facilities from July 1 to June 30, 2007, which will save an estimated $250,000 per year, according to staff reports.
The agreement contract will replace contracts with Southern California Edison, whose electricity is 17 percent from renewable sources.
In 2005, the city spent a total of $2.5 million to power city facilities and municipal operations.
BROWN BAGGIN’ IT FOR REAL Calling all packrats: No less than $25,000 could be forwarded to support a nonprofit agency that teaches how to design art with recy-clable materials, according to a city staff report.
Environmental and Public Works Management, along with Community and Cultural Services, will partner with nonprofit agency Rediscover to apply for funding to the California Waste Management Board’s Reuse Assistance Program. The agencies will create a sustainable arts program that will provide recyclable materials from city-based businesses to city youth programs, teachers in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and Santa Monica artists.
The city is required to match at least 50 percent of Rediscover’s grant amount, $50,000, through city staff support of the program.
Rediscover will host informational workshops, design and produce marketing and education materials and train the school district teachers. Funds will also go toward financing Rediscover’s staff efforts to collect materials, including cloth, plastic forms, wood scraps and other materials from participating companies.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 27, 2006. Read the original PDF.