From: Jason Mastbaum
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Phil Brock; [email protected]; Christine Parra
Subject: item 11A 7/23/2023 council meeting
Date: Tuesday, July 18, 2023 12:28:51 PM
EXTERNAL
Councilmembers, please remove the line "Oppose legislation that erodes the City’s local autonomy over land-use decisions or weakens the City’s ability to ensure the future welfare of its residents through local control of the planning process" from the state legislative platform draft (attachment 11.A.a). For the first time in decades Santa Moncia is set to make serious progress on its housing crisis, and it's precisely because of state law that forced us to face reality on our housing crisis.
Per the recent guidance from Attorney General Bonta the state is going to continue to be serious about enforcing state housing law (https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorneygeneral-bonta-issues-legal-guidance-local-governments-attempting-skirt). Santa Monica should be leading the way on being a national example of how to get out of the housing crisis, not going back to the exact same reactionary instrasigence that got us here in the first place.
Do we really want to be known as a city raging against state housing law in the name of trying to make ourselves a gated wealthy-only community?
ITEM 11.A.
JULY 18, 2023
ITEM 11.A.
JULY 18, 2023
From: Natalya Zernitskaya
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: David White; Gleam Davis; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Attorney Mailbox
Subject: City Council Agenda 7/18/2023- Item 11A Public Comment Date: Tuesday, July 18, 2023 1:47:24 PM
EXTERNAL
Good Afternoon Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, and City Councilmembers, I appreciate Santa Monica’s high-level priorities in setting our legislative platforms at both the federal and state levels. We are a community that seeks to be proactive in supporting reforms that will strengthen our efforts in addressing homelessness, improving the cleanliness and safety of our public spaces, cultivating economic recovery and expanding community & cultural offerings, making strides towards racial justice, equity, and social diversity, and become a more sustainable and connected community.
In addition to many laudable policy positions, I am proud that several of the proposed platform positions at the State level are already underway, including:
Supporting legislation that repeals Article 34 of the State Constitution Our representative, Senator Ben Allen was a co-author of SCA 2 (2022), a proposed state constitutional amendment to repeal Article 34, which passed both houses of the state legislature last year and will appear on the ballot in 2024
Supporting legislation that will allow for disabled tenants to swap units in their building if they have a mobility-related disability and live in a building without an elevator Our representative, Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur introduced and coauthored AB 1620 (2023-2024) which would amend the Costa-Hawkins act and authorize a tenant with a physical disability in a rent controlled unit to move to an available comparable unit on an accessible floor at the same rental rate and terms of their existing lease.
Supporting legislation that requires the state Department of Education to finalize the development of training programs/platforms to support LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for teachers and certificated employees, as well as ongoing annual training for teachers and certificated employees
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Our representative, Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur introduced AB 5 (2023-2024), the Safe and Supportive Schools Act which would require the State Department of Education to develop an online delivery platform and online training curriculum to support LGBTQ+ cultural competency for teachers Although support of individual pieces of legislation is not part of this agenda item, I urge you to consider formally supporting AB 1620 and AB 5 at a future City Council meeting.
The proposed legislative platforms are thorough, but there are certain priorities that could further be improved. I have listed them by topic below:
State Legislative Platform:
Homelessness
Funding for street teams and wrap-around services should also include physical health, as well as the noted behavioral and mental health treatment.
People experiencing homelessness have a higher prevalence of preventable and treatable physical health issues.
Treatment of substance use disorders should utilize a harm reduction framework
Reforms to the definition of “gravely disabled” in order to expand the ability to place an individual in a conservatorship should take into account individual liberties and ensure that an individual’s constitutional rights are protected In supporting legislation that would “require the appointment of local educational agencies to identify homeless youth,” care must be taken to ensure that privacy concerns are addressed
When we support legislation that allows for appropriate data sharing between municipalities and treatment providers, we should also include data sharing among municipalities
In supporting legislation again the criminalization of homelessness, we should also support a review of current laws at the state level and locally with the ITEM 11.A.
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intent of repealing laws that criminalize homelessness (such as the local prohibition against sleeping in your car)
Supporting legislation that would allow first responders to take those experiencing acute behavioral health crises to alternate destination healthcare facilities would also require that we expand our ability to create and expand those “alternate destination healthcare facilities” which we colloquially call “mental health beds”
Housing
In protecting renters from discrimination and eviction, we must focus on renters who are most at-risk of displacement which does include low-income renters, many of whom are significantly rent-burdened. However, as we’ve seen our housing crisis continue to get worse, we also see many middle-income renters such as teachers, police officers, firefighters, and municipal employees being pushed out and living paycheck to paycheck partly due to the high costs of housing.
If we read between the lines of the listed priority to “Oppose legislation that erodes the City’s local autonomy over land-use decisions or weakens the City’s ability to ensure the future welfare of its residents through local control of the planning process,” this is directly in opposition to several other priorities that would make it easier to construct new housing and utilize adaptive reuse to create new homes. I strongly recommend removing this as a priority, unless it is amended in a way that does not preclude support for legislation that would streamline approvals and permitting for new housing projects.
In the creation of legislation for a fair and equitable formula for RHNA allocations, the formula should take into account the environmental impacts of sprawl and prioritize infill housing in high-opportunity areas Public Safety
Legislation to develop and implement “mental health courts” should also include a requirement that individuals brought before such courts have adequate legal representation
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While we should absolutely support legislation that seeks to eradicate human trafficking, we should also support legislation that prevents victims and survivors of human trafficking from being charged (or threatened to be charged) with violations related to their being trafficked, for example survivors of human trafficking who were forced into sex work should not be charged with prostitution or the like. If there are not sufficient protections for victims and survivors, they may not come forward and their traffickers may not be held accountable.
Legislation that prohibits law enforcement agencies authorizing a carotid restraint or chokehold should also include other dangerous uses of force as well
We should support legislation that promotes alternatives to incarceration that aim to end systemic racism and disparities in the treatment of people of color within the criminal justice system and we should also support legislation and programs that help formerly incarcerated individuals transition back to life outside of the carceral system so that we break the cycle of incarceration that has harmed so many of our fellow Californians
Business Assistance
In addition to the listed legislative priorities, we should also support legislation and programs that provide funding to municipalities to improve and streamline business permitting processes
I appreciate your consideration of these suggestions and look forward to listening to a productive discussion at this evening’s City Council meeting.
Sincerely,
Natalya
Natalya Zernitskaya (she/her)
[email protected]
ITEM 11.A.
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ITEM 11.A.
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From: Alex Ludlum
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: July 25, 2023, Santa Monica City Council Agenda Item 11 - Downtown Santa Monica Date: Tuesday, July 18, 2023 3:47:55 PM
EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, and honorable Council members; I support Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.’s Budget, Work Plan, and proposed amendments to the Services Agreement between DTSM, Inc. and the City of Santa Monica. Approval of these important items will allow for the deployment of private security officers in Downtown Santa Monica to supplement services provided by the Santa Monica Police Department.
Please approve these items at the July 25, 2023, Santa Monica City Council meeting so these services can be implemented.
Thank you.
Alex Ludlum
SPI Holdings, LLC
650.759.6131
ITEM 11.A.
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ITEM 11.A.
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