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# Wood chuck: Council to pay for Pier boards
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/group-says-drivers-not-in-good-hands/
- Published: 2005-08-09T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:33:45.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Government & Politics, Pier, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

(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 leaders are expected to approve the spending of more than $2 million tonight, on such items as furniture for the new library, radios for fire-fighters, repairs to the Santa Monica Pier and soil contamination cleanup at the airport.

A total of $2,071,115.43 is expected to be approved, close to half of which will go toward repairing the Santa Monica Pier.

The night’s largest expense — if approved — would set aside more than $1 million for the venerable pier, a project City Hall hopes will improve access for emergency vehicles.

The $1,071,378 will go toward repairing and replacing the pier’s wooden deck boards and stringers — the second phase of a three-part pier repair plan.

The plan — expected to cost more than $6.5 million in its entirety — was approved by the City Council during the 2003-03 fiscal year. The contract for phase two of the plan was awarded to John S. Meeks Construction, Inc., which just completed other pier repairs in Santa Monica and has led similar projects at municipal piers in Newport Beach and San Clemente.

Past clients said the company finished projects efficiently, according to a City Council staff report.

Currently, emergency vehicles are forced to drive single-file across the pier, with at least a 50-foot gap between each vehicle.

Pier repairs would allow emergency vehicles to deploy more rapidly, according to a City Council staff report.

HAVE A SEAT The City Council is also expected to approve $692,612 for workstations, seats and tables for the new Main Library, set to open this fall at Sixth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.

The purchase, which was contracted out to three separate groups, would be made at discount rates ranging from 40 to 60 percent, according a city staff report.

CAN YOU HEAR ME, NOW? Local firefighters should expect a boost in their communications technology, as councilmembers are expected to tuck away nearly $65,000 of city money and earmark it for new hand-held and mobile Motorola radios.

Though the purchase rounds out to more than $215,000, a federal grant will cover 70 percent of the costs.

The Santa Monica Fire Department hopes the 31 hand-held radios and 16 mobile radios bought with city and federal money will improve emergency communications, according to a city staff report.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 9, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/080905.pdf?ref=smdp.com)