911, from page 1 Museum may be relocated
(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.) The city is getting a new 911 emergency system and only $1,987 in local tax dollars will be used to pay for it.
The Santa Monica City Council is expected to approve an agreement tonight with Verizon California, Inc. to install a new system for $319,875. Because the state provides funding to police and fire departments to replace their systems every five years, the purchase will largely be funded by the state.
About $300,000 will be paid for by the department of general services, telecommunications division of the state, and another $17,887 will be paid for by a law enforcement block grant funds. The city’s general fund dollars will come in the form of matching funds for $1,987.
The system should be up and running by the time the new Public Safety Building behind City Hall opens early next year.
The council also is expected to approve a new lease for the 28-year-old Museum of Flying, which was forced to close its doors this past summer because of escalating insurance and operational costs. Museum officials also said funding sources were no longer adequate to keep the operation going.
The landlord of the property, Supermarine of Santa Monica, leased the museum’s 44,000-square-foot space to Simi Valley-based Volkswagen of America to use as a design studio.
If approved by the council, the museum would be relocated to Supermarine Hanger #33 directly across from its present location. The proposed location is 12,000 square feet, which is dramatically smaller than the original site.
But city officials say that even though it’s smaller, it’s expected that the new location will give greater interaction with aviation activities and more flexibility to provide the public access to aviation memorabilia through a regular program of rotating exhibits.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 17, 2002. Read the original PDF.