Written Comments — Santa Monica City Council, July 26, 2022

1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jodie Escobedo <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:02 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - I support the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please support 16D to assure a living wage in Santa Monica. Real estate speculators take advantage of rising property values to build and add nothing for those most in need of housing.

They are going to build regardless. The profits are just too huge. Making sure those lowest on the rungs of pay receive a livable wage is just, equitable and good policy.

Please see through the against specious arguments this is somehow about raising rents. That is baloney. Whenever equitable wages are fought for those taking profits scream they will have to raise prices. The more money In consumers pockets in our local economy the more liveable and vital Santa Monica is. Please approve this important measure.

Jodie Escobedo
[email protected]
3114 Urban Ave
Santa Monica, California 90404
Item 16.D
07/26/22
1 of 47 Item 16.D
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Juan Matute <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 11:59 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

The only practical effect of this ballot initiative would be at least $5,000,000 in city funds going to legal costs. This money should be used to restore city services that support working families, like CREST, rather than a political battle with the state.

Juan Matute
[email protected]
1435 26TH ST UNIT 10
Santa Monica, California 90404
Item 16.D
07/26/22
2 of 47 Item 16.D
07/26/22
3 Vernice Hankins
From: Tracy Bromwich <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 11:58 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Tracy Bromwich
[email protected]
2424 7th Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
3 of 47 Item 16.D
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4 Vernice Hankins
From: Sara Gersen <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 11:51 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
I am appalled that the City would consider a measure that would make it impossible to develop new housing for the middle class. My father is a retired letter carrier and my mother is retired from a career in the school district where they raised me in Florida. I can afford a home in Santa Monica because I am a lawyer, but it's maddening that our housing policies exclude people like my parents from finding homes in Santa Monica today. Please take us forward in addressing the housing crisis productively rather than taking us backward.

Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica.

Sara Gersen
[email protected]
1537 16th St #102, Santa Monica CA 90404
, California
Item 16.D
07/26/22
4 of 47 Item 16.D
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5 Vernice Hankins
From: Abby Arnold <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 11:37 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica. What we really need is to build MORE housing in Santa Monica for the people who work in our local businesses, schools, and the City itself. That means housing for people of ALL incomes! Abby Arnold
[email protected]
668 Marine Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
5 of 47 Item 16.D
07/26/22
6 Vernice Hankins
From: Sean Youssefi <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 11:34 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Sean Youssefi
[email protected]
1422 19TH Street Apt. B
Santa Monica, California 90404
Item 16.D
07/26/22
6 of 47 Item 16.D
07/26/22
7 Vernice Hankins
From: Jacob Wasserman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 11:33 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D: Please Oppose the Proposed Anti-housing Charter Amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment, Item 16D. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica.

Jacob Wasserman
[email protected]
1027 11th Street, Apartment C
Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
07/26/22
7 of 47 Item 16.D
07/26/22
8 Vernice Hankins
From: Gregory Wendt <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 11:33 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Gregory Wendt
[email protected]
2441 Beverly Ave
Santa Monica, California 90405-3743
Item 16.D
07/26/22
8 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Joseph Pagliaro <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 1:03 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Joseph Pagliaro
[email protected]
1007 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
07/26/22
9 of 47 Item 16.D
07/26/22
2 Vernice Hankins
From: Ilya Haykinson <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:54 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Proposed changes

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear council members,
The currently proposed amendment is not congruent with our housing needs — I recommend that the city not adopt the proposal unless one of the following changes are added:
a) A sunset provision, if insufficient housing is built with this in place over the next two years b) Automatic bypass of zoning regulations, or some other significant reduction in regulatory cost or complexity, in exchange for the requirements placed on developers under this proposal.
c) Reduction in "prevailing wage" multipliers to be no more than 1.5x the prevailing wage. It is unreasonable to expect to pay electricians $150/hr or more.

In general, I feel that using punishing labor rates to force affordable unit construction is unreasonable. If the city needs to create that kind of housing stock, the city should find the money for it — through taxes, bonds, etc — rather than expect developers to pay for all of it.

Ilya Haykinson
[email protected]
2308 Hill St
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
10 of 47 Item 16.D
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3 Vernice Hankins
From: Matt Stauffer <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Matt Stauffer
[email protected]
908 South Hobart Boulevard, 504
Los Angeles, California 90006
Item 16.D
07/26/22
11 of 47 Item 16.D
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4 Vernice Hankins
From: George Gleason <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:23 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Legislation should be written to solve problems. There isn't a problem with construction wages in Santa Monica. It's already extremely expensive to build in our city. This proposal creates a much larger problem that already exists.

Please, please, please oppose this amendment. It is ridiculous.

Thank You,
George Gleason
George Gleason
[email protected]
811 20th St
Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
07/26/22
12 of 47 Item 16.D
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5 Vernice Hankins
From: Jason Avishay <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:21 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

The incremental costs that this measure would place on housing construction would make the development uneconomic, and therefore, make the housing crisis much worse.

If the City Council is interested in making housing more attainable in Santa Monica, the City should streamline the approvals and permitting process and reduce the fees excised on developers and their investors.

Sincerely a concerned Santa Monica resident,
Jason Avishay
Jason Avishay
[email protected]
856 Princeton St
Los Angeles, California 90025
Item 16.D
07/26/22
13 of 47 Item 16.D
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6 Vernice Hankins
From: Debbie Mulvaney <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:17 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Debbie Mulvaney
[email protected]
2524 Washington Avenue
Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
07/26/22
14 of 47 Item 16.D
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7 Vernice Hankins
From: Gil Leib <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:14 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Gil Leib
[email protected]
601 California Ave
Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
07/26/22
15 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Kathy Seal <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 1:23 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Kathy Seal
[email protected]
2431 32nd St
Santa Monica, California 90405-2029
Item 16.D
07/26/22
16 of 47 Item 16.D
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Amber Kain <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 1:23 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

We need MORE affordable housing in Santa Monica, not less. And many people who will live in these homes rely on public transit (like me) so affordable housing does not equal more traffic. Anyway, solving homelessness is far more important than reducing traffic. This is so important. Thank you.

Respectfully,
Amber Kain, Santa Monica Renter
Amber Kain
[email protected]
632 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
17 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Sebastian Felbeck <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 2:09 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Sebastian Felbeck
[email protected]
1054 3rd ST
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
18 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Timothy Macker Jr. <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 3:12 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

There is a lack of housing in the City and this is another anti-growth initiative that will continue to limit the supply and drive up housing costs.

Please OPPOSE!
Timothy Macker Jr.
[email protected]
1515 S. Sepulveda Blvd.

Los Angeles, California 90025
Item 16.D
07/26/22
19 of 47 Item 16.D
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Stephanie Speights <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 4:02 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Stephanie Speights
[email protected]
648 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
20 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: ben Swett <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 2:41 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 16D - Come on, guys ...

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Team:

The big problem in santa monica right now is not underpaid construction workers on big projects.

We are in a housing crisis - and we have to do our share. "Pull up the Drawbridge" might feel like what the most vocal residents tell Phil -- but it's not viable in even the medium term, nor does it recognize that we are part of a larger community - This plan makes new affordable housing too expensive to build.

Please be sensible.

And please support Sue's (bigger) transfer tax ... again, a higher transfer tax is not going to discourage anyone from buying a $10,000,000 home in santa monica.

Thank You,
Ben Swett - RESIDENT
614 San Vicente Blvd Apt G
ben Swett
[email protected]
614 san vicente
santa monica, California 90402
Item 16.D
07/26/22
21 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Daniel Hall <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 10:55 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Phil Brock; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra
Subject: Yes on 8A, No on 11A, No on 11B, Yes on 11D, No on 16D

EXTERNAL
Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tem McCowan, and City Councilmembers, I urge you to consider the following for July 26th's Agenda Items:
8A ‐ Vote YES ‐ 10,000+ Santa Monica voters have said through the Citizens' Initiative that they want to tax extremely high‐value real estate in order to subsidize rent‐burdened, low‐income Santa Monicans to prevent homeless, ensure our community does not become economically gated, and to continue to guarantee high quality schools following Malibu unification. This measure is critical to establishing long term and substantial funding for deed restricted affordable housing and our school system.
11A ‐ Vote NO ‐ Removing the Personnel Board from the Charter will subject what ought to be non‐political work to the whims of a political Council. This was not the recommendation that the Personnel Board themselves brought forward, which sought only to allow greater participation from non‐resident community stakeholders on an oft understaffed commission. I do not think risking the politicization of the Personnel Board is wise and encourage you to vote against the staff recommendation as written.
11B ‐ Vote NO ‐ This measure is in direct competition with the Citizens' Initiative which 10,000+ Santa Monica residents have indicated their support for as indicated by the poison pill which would allow for this measure to win out with one more vote, even if both measures get majority support. As written, there are too many carve outs and, my main concern, too few rules about how the funds would be spent. We need a dedicated stream of funding for affordable housing construction; this measure simply adds to our General Fund, where the advisory measure could be entirely ignored by future Councils.
11D ‐ Vote YES ‐ While I am disappointed Council did not work with their sister body, the duly (and independently!) elected Rent Control Board and adopt their full requested Charter Amendment, the proposed measure will still help Santa Monica renters now and in the future. We are a city that is majority renter; we must support our renters in order to prevent our community from becoming economically gated. 16D ‐ Vote NO ‐ The measure proposed in 16D shows a basic lack of understanding of how the market economy works and masks anti‐housing policies in the language of social justice. As someone who volunteers and leads in diversity, equity, and inclusion‐oriented organizations, this is incredibly disappointing and disturbing. I am pro‐labor; I support collective bargaining and higher minimum wages for workers. This proposal, however, will block economic feasibility for any new development projects... benefitting the very landlord Councilmembers bringing this proposal forward. No projects equates to no construction jobs. Let's be realistic about what the market can bear.

Thank you for your consideration,
Dan
Daniel Hall
Santa Monica Mid‐City Resident
Item 16.D
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2 Pronouns: he/him
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Catherine Gentile <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 4:58 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Catherine Gentile
[email protected]
1128 Ocean Park Blvd., #312
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
24 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Joanne Leslie <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 5:52 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica. I believe we can and should have more housing, especially more affordable housing in Santa Monica. In my Sunset Park neighborhood there could be many 4-plexes built on lots that currently have a single family home without changing the look or character of our neighborhood. The busier streets such as Pico and Ocean Park could certainly have larger apartment buildings. Flexible rents with lower rents for those who do not own a car would help increase use of public transportation and mitigate increases in traffic. It is pure selfishness to say that those of us fortunate enough to already live in Santa Monica should make it as difficult as possible for anyone else (except the very rich) to move here.

Thank you for your attention,
The Rev. Dr. Joanne Leslie
Joanne Leslie
[email protected]
1351 Grant St.

Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
25 of 47 Item 16.D
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Daphne Dennis <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 5:51 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Daphne Dennis
[email protected]
2240 6th St
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
26 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Hank Koning <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 1:49 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica.

I am a 40 yr resident of Santa Monica and believe more housing is urgently needed. A greater supply of housing will reduce the spiraling increases on market rate housing costs and provide much needed affordable housing. As a former Planning Commissioner, I was actively involved in the 2012 LUCE which provided protections in the residential neighborhoods and encouraged housing development on the commercial boulevards adjacent to transit. The intent was to create complete neighborhoods were folks don't need to drive a car for daily activities.

Yes, we can have more housing without a huge traffic increase.

If housing is not built in Santa Monica, where there are 3 times the number of jobs as residents, it will be built elsewhere and this will only worsen the morning and evening traffic situation. The environmental impact of that will be huge.

Thank you,
Hank Koning
Hank Koning
[email protected]
909 25th St
Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
07/26/22
27 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Grace Phillips <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:38 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please stop NIMBY landlords Brock and de la Torre! Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose Phil and Oscar and all the other self-dealing landlord NIMBYs by voting against the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica.

Grace Phillips
[email protected]
2442 33rd Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
28 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: John Given <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 8:02 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
The proposed ballot measure is a cynical and abysmally low brow moment. Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica.

John Given
[email protected]
2240 6th Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
Item 16.D
07/26/22
29 of 47 Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Ali Moghaddas <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 9:20 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please SUPPORT the proposed charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please SUPPORT the proposed charter amendment. Under the prior council’s leadership we have overbuilt and Santa Monica is losing its charm. Increasing wages for laborers not only supports workers’ rights, but also limits development in Santa Monica to a reasonable amount.

You can’t even drive through Lincoln and Broadway anymore with all the new units. Something needs to change as the way Himmelrich et al have been operating for the last several years hasn’t worked!!
Ali Moghaddas
[email protected]
858 21st St
Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
07/26/22
30 of 47 Item 16.D
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Tara Barauskas <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 8:44 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 16D- council agenda for 7/26/22
Importance: High

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Himmelrich and members of the City Council,

Community Corp. is very concerned about Item 16D on the agenda for July 26th. Although affordable housing already pays prevailing wages (State or Federal) for all of its projects, there are a variety of provisions in the Charter amendment that could negatively impact affordable housing and our projects. We have several inclusionary projects connected to market rate projects; these projects would likely become infeasible with these new prevailing wage requirements.

Currently, due to lack of funding in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, inclusionary projects are among the only new projects in our pipeline. In addition, moderate income projects would be overburdened with these requirements.

Moderate income projects are already extremely difficult to make pencil, which is why there are so few of those unit types. And finally, we have several mixed use projects with affordable small business space, including our 1819 Pico marketplace. If these requirements are imposed on the commercial spaces, we will not be able to make them affordable to local small businesses.

I strongly urge you to pull this item from the agenda and study the ramifications of these potential new requirements.

We are concerned that the provisions may be in conflict with Housing Element law as well, which could jeopardize the City’s ability to produce affordable housing.

Thank you,
Tara

Tara Barauskas, LEED AP
Executive Director
Community Corporation of Santa Monica
1423 2nd Street, Suite B
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 394‐8487 ext. 133
[email protected]
www.communitycorp.org
I acknowledge with respect and gratitude the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples on whose traditional territory I live and work.

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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Dustin Herrmann <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 10:01 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Dustin Herrmann
[email protected]
2438 5th St
Santa Monica, California 90405-3702
Item 16.D
07/26/22
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Daniel Hall <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 10:55 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Phil Brock; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra
Subject: Yes on 8A, No on 11A, No on 11B, Yes on 11D, No on 16D

Thank you for your consideration,
Dan
Daniel Hall
Santa Monica Mid‐City Resident
Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Patricia Hoffman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 7:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: No on 11B and 16D, Yes on 8A and 11D

EXTERNAL
July 26
Mayor Himmelrich, Councilmembers:

I am updating my letter to you regarding the July 12 agenda to make it appropriate for the July 26 agenda. The issues remain the same but the item numbers have changed.

I again want to add my voice to the chorus of hundreds who have asked that you vote against putting Item 11B on the ballot. Please vote no on 11B. 11B is in direct competition with and could kill the people’s initiative in 8A. I also hope that you do not move forward with Item 16D.

It is too late to adequately study the consequences, both intended and unintended, of this item.

As a reminder, more than 10,000 Santa Monica voters have said that they want to tax extremely high-value real estate in order to subsidize rent burdened low-income Santa Monicans to keep them from becoming homeless, to build more affordable housing for our local work force, and to continue to guarantee high quality schools even if Malibu takes its money and runs. I strongly support Item 8A. I know you will be voting yes on it but I hope you will do so enthusiastically and that you will enthusiastically support the measure since you will be helping so many of your constituents by doing so.

Right now you will also have the opportunity to help many of the tenants of Santa Monica by voting yes on Item 11D. You can also place a 3% cap on general adjustments to the maximum allowable rents, in addition to the other components of Item 11D.

You have a rare opportunity to be heroes to thousands of struggling Santa Monicans in this very scary moment of uncertainty. Please vote no on Item 11B and 16D. Please vote yes on Item 8A and Item 11D.

Thank you,
Patricia Hoffman.

Item 16.D
07/26/22
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Jeremy Bamberger <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 6:44 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

Thank you.

Jeremy Bamberger
[email protected]
140 Julian Ave, 306
San Francisco, California 94103
Item 16.D
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Dwight Flowers <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 10:24 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica. The cost of construction has risen significantly due to both materials and wage rates. Item 16D would drastically reduce housing construction in general, and especially the low/moderate income sector. As an architect and urban planner I have observed the construction industry and want to hold down costs to produce more desperately needed housing, and encourage builders and developers to produce it. Sincerely, Dwight E Flowers AICP
Dwight Flowers
[email protected]
1400 California Ave.

Santa Monica, California 90403
Item 16.D
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July 26, 2022
Santa Monica City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
1685 Main Street, Room 250
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Re: Charter Amendment Item 16 D from July 26 Agenda – OPPOSE Dear Members of the Santa Monica City Council:

SCANPH is a nonprofit membership association representing affordable housing developers across the five counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura. Our members develop permanent, high quality below market rate homes for low and extremely low income residents. They focus on individuals and families in most need of affordable housing – and our members are very active in Santa Monica.

SCANPH opposes Item 16 D, the proposed charter amendment on today’s Santa Monica City Council agenda. This amendment would dramatically increase project costs and make building affordable housing infeasible for many developments in Santa Monica.

SCANPH members strongly believe in paying their construction workers prevailing wages.

Their hard work and sweat makes building affordable housing here in Southern California possible, so they deserve a fair living wage. But the proposed charter amendment would require wages sometimes double and almost triple the standard prevailing wage. This substantial cost increase would balloon budgets and kill many affordable projects.

The proposed charter amendment has other problems as well. First, it proposes paying 0.8 and 0.9 times the prevailing wage in some instances. Paying less than prevailing wage is generally not even allowed, due to public funding obligations, project labor agreements, or other incentives that require prevailing wage. Second, many inclusionary projects – including some currently underway in Santa Monica – are budgeted with separate considerations for the affordable units than the market rate units. Mandating wages for the entire project would destabilize the entire project and jeopardize its completion.

We encourage the Santa Monica City Council to oppose this charter amendment. It would harm the production of affordable housing in Santa Monica, which is greatly needed.

Section 2401 of the proposed charter amendment cites this great need as described by the recent Regional Housing Needs Allocation – almost 9,000 affordable units. To begin to meet this need, Santa Monica needs to move forward, not backward.

Sincerely,
Francisco Martinez
Policy Director
Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Nicole Norori
President
California Housing Partnership
Joss Tillard-Gates
Vice President
Enterprise Community Partners
Lesley Hampton
Secretary
National Community
Renaissance
Jesse Slansky
At-Large
West Hollywood Community
Housing
Ezra Bolds
Treasurer
Innovative Housing Opportunities
Tara Barauskas
Ex-Officio
Community Corporation of Santa
Monica
Manuel Bernal
Cesar Chavez Foundation
Kelsey Brewer
Jamboree Housing
Beulah Ku
Century Housing
Joan Ling
UCLA
Faizah Malik
Public Counsel
Monica Mejia
East LA Community Corporation
Lara Regus
Abode Communities
Mee Heh Risdon
A Community of Friends
Victoria Senna
Hollywood Community Housing
Karen Michail Shah
Fisher Broyles
Luz Soto
Cabrillo Economic Development
Corporation
Heather Vaikona
Lift to Rise
Mark Wilson
Coalition for Responsible
Community Development
Denice Wint
EAH Housing
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July 26, 2022
Santa Monica City Council
c/o City Clerk
1685 Main St., Room 250
Santa Monica, CA 90401
RE: Agenda Item 16-D (Proposed Charter Amendment re Prevailing Wages) Dear Hon. Councilmembers,
While I support the goals of protecting neighborhoods from gentrification and displacement, as well as the important goal of ensuring that all workers are paid fair and livable wages, I feel compelled to call attention to the fact that the proposed charter amendments under consideration under Agenda Item 16-D likely conflict with certain state laws.

For one thing, if the Charter Amendments conflict any of the numerous statewide prevailing wage statutes,1then the amendments could threaten state funding for critical infrastructure improvements (many of which may be necessary to protect public health and safety). Per Labor Code section 1782(a): “A charter city shall not receive or use state funding or financial assistance for a construction project if the city has a charter provision or ordinance that authorizes a contractor to not comply with the provisions of this article on any public works contract.”
Furthermore, if the amendments make housing developments economically infeasible, then they may be an impermissible constraint on the production of housing. (See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 65583(c)(3).) And in any event, a developer subject to the proposed wages may be able to use a concession or waiver under California’s Density Bonus Law to sidestep the wage requirements. (Gov. Code, § 65915.)
I suggest re-examining the issue of prevailing wages at a future study session so that the City Attorney’s office and the Planning Department can have an opportunity to study all potential implications of potential legislative reforms.

Best,
Ellis Raskin

1 For a list of prevailing wage laws in effect on Feb. 1, 2020, see https://www.dir.ca.gov/publicworks/californiaprevailingwagelaws.pdf.

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From: Cris Gutierrez <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 12:33 PM
To: Sue Himmelrich; Kristin McCowan; Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; councilmtgitems
Cc: David White
Subject: 7/26/22 Agenda: Oppose 16D, proposed charter amendment ballot measure

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Himmelrich and Santa Monica City Council Members:

I write to express strong disappointment about and opposition to putting on the ballot a city charter amendment that would increase labor costs for housing construction.

I was born in Santa Monica and have lived in our beach city for 45 years. As a resident and renter, as well as a youth, peace and climate advocate, I have been happy to see our city's openness to nourishing a multicultural, diverse, thriving community. As you seek now to identify wise ways to increase our housing stock for Santa Monica, we need you to continue welcoming diverse and thoughtful new residents to our city, meet our state responsibilities, and reject ideas that would undermine the city's goals to be socially and environmentally just, sustainable and inclusive.

The proposed city charter amendment's new formula for construction labor costs would be excessively out of line with both our prevailing (carefully crafted) living wage and reasonable market expectations. Amending our city charter to "encourage" an increase of labor costs for housing construction would strangle the city's aspirations and mark Santa Monica as encouraging exclusivity.

Additionally, the City could be subject to potential costly lawsuits given the questionable legality of such a move.

The charter amendment looks to stop building the housing, indeed the future, that we need. I urge you not to place on the ballot this charter amendment on labor costs presented before you tonight.

Sincerely,
Cris Gutierrez
Santa Monica resident
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From: Frank Greenberg <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 1:54 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

This would further Santa Monica’s resident and business unfriendly policies.

While I am completely against this, it is also silly to be introducing another law which would not be enforced. Before you do anything, make our streets clean and safe.

Frank Greenberg
[email protected]
Ashland
Santa Monica, California 90405
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From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 1:42 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment

EXTERNAL
Councilmember City Council,
Dear Councilmembers,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica, and is a flagrant violation of state housing law. Our housing element is already out of compliance, and I doubt that HCD will give us an in-compliance determination with city council openly flouting state housing law like this.

Jason Mastbaum
[email protected]
4th St
SANTA MONICA, California 90403
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From: Natalya Zernitskaya <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 2:06 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: SM City Council Agenda 7/26/2022 Item 16D- Oppose

EXTERNAL
Good Afternoon Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tem McCowan, and City Councilmembers, I strongly urge you to vote NO on Item 16‐D on this evening's agenda, the item to put a proposed charter amendment on November's ballot regarding wages for the construction of affordable housing in Santa Monica.

First, I want to clarify that I am strongly supportive of living wages for all people and of affordable housing.

This proposal would not result in better wages for construction workers nor sufficient affordable housing. Additionally, there is a strong possibility that the proposal may actually be illegal under state law, although I would defer to the City Attorney or other appropriate legal resource to ascertain its legality.

The concerns that I have with the proposed charter amendment fall into two general categories: concerns with the process and concerns with the content. I have briefly summarized some of my concerns below:

Concerns with the Process:
 The City Charter is like the City's constitution and it can only be changed by a vote of the people, if something like this were to be added to the charter, any changes could only be done through the ballot box  Submitting a proposed charter amendment with less than 4 months until the election does not allow sufficient time for community members, City Staff, or community organizations to analyse the best ways to meet the stated objective(s) of providing sufficient affordable housing while also supporting sufficient wages for those who build the housing
 There may be other laws in Santa Monica's municipal code (or City Charter) in conflict with the proposed charter amendment and to the best of my knowledge, there has not been any analysis performed of how this amendment would interact with those laws
Concerns with the Content:
 The proposed charter amendment appears to have a completely different definition of affordable housing (a unit subject to a deed restriction requiring that the rent charged for the unit does not exceed 24% of AMI for LA County) as compared to standard categories used by California HCD, HUD, or even the City's own tables (which set forth different levels of affordability such that a specific unit would be affordable to households making certain percentages of the AMI, as adjusted for Santa Monica's cost of living)  The language excludes projects where the total square footage would not exceed 2,500 square feet and lot sizes of less than 7,500 square feet, which may have certain equity implications  Much of the City's affordable housing is built through inclusionary zoning and is subject to the requirements that the City sets. This proposed charter amendment would actually make it more expensive to build sufficient affordable housing that our community needs and that we are required to demonstrate can be built per RHNA  It would also impact non‐residential projects as it would require "at least 1.5 times the prevailing wage" for mixed use or commercial‐only projects which could negatively impact our local economy by harming opportunities for local businesses
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2  The true implications of the proposed amendment would have the opposite effects from what the language appears to support‐ it would not result in higher wages for construction workers if there are no construction projects for them to work on. Any multiplier of the prevailing wage times 0 would be 0.

As this item was only added to the Agenda on Friday afternoon, the potential issues with the charter amendment proposed in Item 16‐D are wider and further reaching than I was able to describe above and I once again urge the Council to please vote no on Item 16‐D.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Best Regards,
Natalya
Natalya Zernitskaya (she/her)
[email protected]
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From: Cynthia Rose <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 1:18 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica.

Cynthia Rose
[email protected]
1453 Stanford
Santa Monica , California 90404
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From: Neal Payton <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 8:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: City Council Item 16D - Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment Councilmember City Council,
Dear Mayor Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tempore McCowan, and members of the Santa Monica City Council,
Please oppose the proposed anti-housing charter amendment. It is nothing more than an absurd attempt to eliminate almost all new housing in Santa Monica.

Neal Payton
[email protected]
1211 GRANT St
Santa Monica, California 90405
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Santa Monica City CouncilJuly 26, 2022

Santa Monica City Council
July 26, 2022