Let there be light: Council to illuminate pedestrian zone
The salary hike of 4 percent is for the fiscal year 2005-06 and will be retroactive from the first day of the new fiscal year, which is July 1, 2005. The new raises will stay in effect until the City Council votes on the salaries of City Hall employees again, according to city staff.
The City Manager will be able to decide which employees can have their retiree medical insurance before they complete the now-required five years tenure with the city or have the requirement waived alto- ROAD REPAIRS The City Council is expected to allot $99,000 for street repairs on Yale Street, between Montana Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.
The money will pay the company city officials have chosen for the project — RBF Consulting — for their engineering design of road repairs and resurfacing, city staff said.
The discussion over street improvements between residents who live on Yale Street and city staff go back to September 2003 when there was talk of cutting down the trees so the pavement and sidewalk could be repaired.
The talks resulted in the decision to preserve some of the trees and try to address some of the parking and traffic problems. Yale Street residents were in favor of widening the parkway, according to city officials.
A year later, Yale Street property owners completed a petition that outlined their interests in street repairs and their support for an assessment district on Yale Street, city staff said.
In March, the City Council approved the formation of an assessment district between Montana Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, and decided to continue with the Yale Street Improvement Project.
MORE MONEY FOR PUBLIC ATTORNEYS Public attorneys would get a 4 percent raise with the $70,038 the City Council will vote on tonight.
City Hall is expected to renew its contract for two more years with the Public Attorney’s Legal Support Staff Union that expired in June, according to city officials.
Public attorneys would get a pay increase of 4 percent the first fiscal year, 2005-06, and a minimum of 2 percent and maximum of 4 percent for the 2006-07 fiscal year, city staff said.
They also will have city-paid short-term disability insurance coverage.
PEDESTRIAN ZONE OUTSIDE THE PROMENADE The remaining $39,700 will give additional pay to the company designing the pedestrian project on Second and Fourth streets.
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, which already has a $522,700 contract with City Hall, was chosen to design the project more than a year ago. The company is now in its third phase of the downtown urban plan that was adopted in 1997, city officials said.
The project will expand the pedestrian zone downtown and include more lighting on the streets and mid-block crosswalks, according to city staff.
The actual construction costs of the project are an estimated $3.5 million, which available grant funds can partially pay.
The new project will add $61,300 in yearly maintenance costs like replacing light bulbs and street poles.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 11, 2005. Read the original PDF.