CITY HALL — After six years of work, Santa Monica’s general plan update — the document that will guide real estate development in town during the next 20 years — is headed for final approval tonight, culminating a month of sometimes contentious public hearings.
CITY HALL — The City Council won’t finalize its plan to overhaul Santa Monica’s taxi cab permitting system until this fall, but cab companies are already raising concerns about the level of transparency in City Hall’s proposal to greatly reduce the number of cabs and cab companies in town.
CITY HALL — In a series of votes late on Monday, the Planning Commission supported allowing developers to build taller projects in most areas of the city, sparking criticism from neighborhood activists and their allies on the commission.
CITY HALL — Santa Monica could take a step toward repealing its beekeeping ban on Tuesday, as the City Council is set to discuss a proposal that also calls for setting up a bee sanctuary on City Hall-owned land.
CITY HALL — Having failed, so far, to convince the City Council to enact a ban on smoking inside apartment units, Rent Control Board Commissioner Robert Kronovet is planning to take his pitch for stricter smoking laws directly to the voters.
CITY HALL — In their roles representing the residents of Santa Monica, some members of the City Council occasionally find themselves far from home, conducting what’s considered “official City Hall business” in places as distant as France, Denmark, Mexico and Norway.
CITY HALL — For City Hall planners, it’s time for a toast. Having worked for more than four years on the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) — a general plan update that will govern development in Santa Monica over the next 25 years — they’re billing the final two workshops on the voluminous doc
CITY HALL — Dead bees typically don’t get much sympathy. For most humans, the buzzing, stinging creatures just don’t have the appeal that mammals like, say, bunny rabbits or whales do.
CITY HALL — Following a two-month delay, the City Council is again set to approve a “deal in principle” to bring billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad’s proposed art museum to Santa Monica’s Civic Center.
CITY HALL — Federal prosecutors Wednesday filed criminal charges against a chef and the owners of The Hump, a highly-regarded sushi restaurant at the Santa Monica Airport, for allegedly selling banned whale meat.
CITY HALL — Santa Monica’s most influential political party, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, has weighed in on City Hall’s long-term planning blueprint, knocking the proposed Land Use and Circulation Element for allegedly favoring job creation over housing.
CITY HALL — Environmentalist Terry O’Day, a former chairman of the Planning Commission, was selected by the City Council Tuesday night to fill the seat vacated by the death of Mayor Ken Genser last month.
