City Hall to get involved in arts complex funding
By Daily Press staff
COUNCIL CHAMBERS — More than $1.5 million could be spent tonight by the Santa Monica City Council on everything from improved pedestrian pathways to fluoridated water and a $200,000 hydrogen-powered sports-utility vehicle.
Replacing the battered paths leading to the beach from Palisades Park will cost City Hall about $430,000. Stairway repairs at Broadway and Montana Avenue would include improved lighting, erosion control, landscaping and maintenance for two years. Even though the city owns the stairways and paths, the state government has agreed to chip in some money for the project.
The council might approve more than $340,000 in environmental services at the Big Blue Bus and the City Yard facilities. As part of its ongoing operations, the city undertakes environmental assessments, investigation and monitoring which requires highly specialized and technical services, city staff said.
The council also is expected to spend $300,000 to fluoridate the city’s water, which will be fully treated by 2006. Santa Monica’s water already contains a natural fluoride level of about 0.3 parts per million. But to achieve dental benefits, fluoride levels must be about three times the natural level. To reach that goal, the money will be used to fund a new water pump station that will transfer the water from one reservoir to another.
The City Council will likely lease for 30 months a new hydrogen-powered vehicle — the Toyota Highlander SUV — for City Hall use. While Toyota and others have agreed to split the bill, it will still cost City Hall $200,000.
Santa Monica will retire a 10-year-old sewer jetter used to remove tree roots and clean sewers. A replacement machine will likely cost the city $176,000.
City Hall is expected to invest more than $50,000 for those who want to build green. The City Council will partner with Santa Monica’s non-profit Global Green USA to establish the “Green Building Resource Center” for one year to allow designers, builders and other Santa Monicans to research environmentally friendly building methods. After a year, the City Council has the option to extend the project for up to five years for an additional $39,000.
While 18th Street Arts Center already has secured $20,000 from private sources, City Hall would match those funds to study how the arts complex can correct the shortage of affordable, cultural facility space in Santa Monica, and meet the needs of the city’s arts agencies and artists.
The study will examine the cost of building and operating affordable artist live-work housing by upgrading studio, gallery, theater, dance and office facilities, and developing on-site parking to generate revenue.
The arts center will provide opportunities for public input, and 18th Street hopes city agencies — including the Santa Monica Arts Commission and the Environmental Task Force — will weigh in.
Thirty percent of non-profit arts agencies in Santa Monica call 18th Street home, and another 20 percent are on the waiting list for office space. The only nine non-profit live-work studios for artists in Santa Monica reside in the complex.
The City Council also will likely approve $6,000 to improve Big Blue Bus’ maintenance training and programs.
The Big Blue Bus will participate in developing more efficient transit maintenance training, coordinate training materials and programs, share information within Southern California to improve existing transit maintenance practices and to keep pace with technology changes in the industry.
The United States lacks standardized procedures for transit maintenance, and the Big Blue Bus could become a model for regional coordination among transit agencies. director at Bayside, said she hadn’t been contacted regarding the pending lawsuits, but said Bayside doesn’t provide security for the twice-weekly market.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 13, 2004. Read the original PDF.