The Council Plays for Change
As Sung by SMRR In 1981, the first elected SMRR City Council majority’s first major act was to put a moratorium (something courts don’t allow now) on commercial development until new Land Use Plans...
Category: Affordable Housing
Rent Control Board Limits Rent Surcharges
By Rent Control Board Commissioners Nicole Phillis and Steve Duron The Santa Monica Rent Control Board recently passed key regulations that provide significant relief to tenants burdened by excessive pass-throughs based on bonds and...
Keep Our Neighbors Housed
By Mike Soloff, SMRR Executive Committee member and Housing Commissioner Can you imagine trying to survive on your own in Santa Monica if, after paying your rent and utilities, you had $20 left each...
Protecting Your Rights
By Councilmember Kevin McKeown When I hear that rent-controlled households are being frog-marched out of their homes with gags in their mouths, I get angry. So do my SMRR colleagues on the City Council....
Hines Development Agreement
By Sonya Sultan, SMRR Steering Committee On February 4, the Santa Monica City Council voted 4-3 to approve the controversial Hines Development Agreement (DA) with only minor revisions and certify the environmental impact report...
Rent Control Report
By Marilyn Korade/Wilson, Rent Control Board Commissioner Thirty-four years old and still counting! When the newly organized Santa Monicans for Renters Rights placed Proposition A on the April, 1979 ballot, rent control was born....
Keeping Affordable Housing Affordable
By Denise McGranahan, Senior Attorney, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) Over the past year, LAFLA attorney Denise McGranahan, Western Center on Law & Poverty attorney Sue L. Himmelrich, the SMRR Housing Committee,...
Elections Matter
By Councilmember Kevin McKeown Elections matter. SMRR-recommended candidates won every Santa Monica seat in November 2012, adding two of our fellow SMRR members to the City Council: Tony Vazquez and Ted Winterer. Tony returns...
SMRR’s Top Achievements
At least a dozen By Denny Zane, Genise Schnitman & Michael Tarbet 1. Bringing Rent Control to Santa Monica & Maintaining our Diverse Character: In the late ‘70s, an era of rampant speculation, seniors &...