Getting blindsided back in September when flocks of Birds were dumped randomly around Santa Monica, the city is now working to regulate and restrict the devices from cluttering and overrunning its streets. A pilot program will be proposed that would restrict the total number of dockless vehicles to 1,500 to be split between the three companies. Should the pilot program prove successful the cap would be able to increase upto 2,250.

A post shared by Jeff Tanner (@jeff_tanner) on Jun 3, 2018 at 7:18pm PDT

However, the restriction on vehicle numbers would not be the only regulation the pilot program presents. The program goes on and requires the companies to meet a minimum standard in education, maintenance, safety, customer care, data sharing and insurance.

The city has struggled to get riders to adhere to the laws in place for the scooters which are run by Bird and Lime currently. According to the city, SMPD has conducted over 623 stops and issued 302 citations from January to March 2018 and 809 stops with 366 citations in the month of May alone. Citations and stops can be made for various reasons including but not limited to underage riding, riding without a helmet, partner riding and disregarding traffic regulations.

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But this is not the first time Santa Monica has worked to regulate the scooters, filing a lawsuit against Bird for $300,000 plus concession in regarding its educational outreach and distribution operations. The city soon after enacted a temporary emergency ordinance on the dockless vehicle to enforce vending regulations as well as impounding vehicles that obstruct access or pose an immediate hazard to others, clarifying a $60 impound fee.

The city council will meet on Tuesday, June 12, at City Hall to discuss the proposed pilot program. The closed session begins at 5:30, followed by the open session at 6:30 p.m. The doors will open to the public precisely at 6:30 p.m. and no earlier.

Feature photo courtesy of Reuters. In post photos courtesy of Santa Monica City and Jeff Tanner’s Instagrams.

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On Monday, Jan. 29, 2017, the process began in Santa Monica to add term limits to its city council. Now, over year later, the process is finally coming to a close and will be limiting the number of terms officials on the city council may serve. Currently, city council members can serve an unlimited number of four-year terms until choosing to step down from their role.

Santa Monica City Council is, in fact, one of the few board not limited to terms, and a couple of members have taken full advantage of that fact. The city council currently has two members who have served the council for five terms and only had two reigning members lose their re-election in the last 25 years. Two other members died in office and were replaced by council appointment.

However, residents of Santa Monica may find the limitation of terms beneficial to their endeavors as council members become less and less engaged to voting as their terms lengthen. The proposed charter will restrict members to three terms of four years before having to resign from their position. A limit of terms could assist in new ideas being developed or further progress with current proposals to tackle current hot topic discussions such as homelessness and overdevelopment.

Homelessness is one of the most complex and heartbreaking issues impacting our society. #SantaMonica is committed to finding solutions together. Read more about these solutions using the link in our bio!

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General Municipal Elections will be held on Nov. 6. To register to vote, go to smvote.org. For a full list of of election events and dates, check out the election calendar.

Photos courtesy of the City of Santa Monica’s Instagram.

SANTA MONICA- The Santa Monica City Council has passed a new noise ordinance that better allows for citizens to exercise their right to free speech.  The ordinance will now allow for non-commercial noisy protests to occur from 7 am to 10 pm on public property (as long as it is not close to a residential property, school, hospital or at 3^rd St. Promenade, or Santa Monica Pier).

In the wake of a shaky political climate where protests are becoming citizen’s choice way to speak out, many felt that Santa Monica’s current laws did not fully support citizens right to free speech and limited their ability to protest.  This new amendment is being celebrated by many local activists and citizens.

However, the new ordinance does not come without opposition.  To name a few, the City manager, Chamber of Commerce, along with many in the restaurant industries have concerns about what this new amendment could mean for residents.  They took to speaking to the City Council to voice their concerns, fearing that this would detract from the city by possibly allowing citizens to be bombarded with loud sounds and protests when they go out in public for something as simple as a bite to eat.

SANTA MONICA

At the meeting, the Council agreed 5 – 2 to move toward allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, reports the Santa Monica Daily Press.

Our staff called and e-mailed the members of the City Council with six relative questions (below) regarding this hot topic.

1. What is the overwhelming factor to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in Santa Monica?
2. How will you decide who gets to have a license to open a dispensary?
3. What benefits will Santa Monica receive if dispensaries are opened?
4. What drawbacks are associated with medical marijuana dispensaries?
5. For citizens who support the dispensaries – when do you expect the first dispensary to open?
6. For citizens who oppose the dispensaries – how can they petition against it?  How many signatures are needed?  Where can the form be obtained from and submitted to?

Mayor Kevin McKeown responded to our e-mail requesting information.  He supplied a link to the Minutes of the Meeting that was held on April 14^th.  Anyone wanting to open a doobie shop in Santa Monica would have to, he said, “apply for a conditional use permit.”

His busy schedule didn’t allow for further elaboration.

In search of more information, we asked the Mayor of a smaller city in liberal Washington State what he thought about the Mary Jane dilemma.

“It is really a problem for the children,” the unnamed Mayor said.  “We don’t want to give them the wrong message about controlled substances.”

He was referring to the Federal Government’s classification of cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug.  The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) defines Schedule 1 drugs as, “drugs that have no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”  The Federal Government believes Schedule 1 drugs are the “most dangerous drugs” and may cause “severe psychological or physical dependence.”

Schedule 1 drugs include:  heroin, LSD, cannabis, ecstasy, meth, and peyote.

“Despite voters approving marijuana for recreational and medical use in Washington State, we don’t have any dispensaries in our city.  The main reason being there isn’t a cohesive law between Federal and State.  For example, even though some cities allow dispensaries, the Feds can shut them down at any time because marijuana is still considered an illegal drug.  We have decided to wait and see what Washington will do,” he said.

Regarding the benefits his city would reap if they opened a dispensary, he said, “We expect to see a $30 – $40,000 increase in sales tax receipts.”

Santa Monica obviously has more people.  The population is almost 93K according to some estimates.  The population of the city in Washington State is around 18K.  We can imagine that Santa Monica will generate more tax revenue, but is it all about money?

“What about the drawbacks?” I asked the Washington State Mayor.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of raw data yet available. We don’t know what the long term effects will be.    In our city, we are going to have hire additional Police Officers and spend money to educate children about drug use if a dispensary is allowed.”

Considering the 93,000 inhabitants of Santa Monica and the larger population of Los Angeles, how many Police Officers will Santa Monica have to hire to deal with what some say is a “marijuana epidemic.”

Moreover, how much tax money will it take to educate children about the current belief of marijuana use?

Many of you can recall the Twilight Series Concerts were like two years ago.  Dusk settled over the sand in the form of a purple pot haze before the sun kissed the sea.  Parents and tax payers didn’t want to take their children to the beach and enjoy the music at the Pier because there was so much smoking and drinking.

Mayor McKeown and the City Council have marked Mid-City Santa Monica as the location for the potential marijuana shops.  Mid-City is defined by Centinela in the east, 5^th street in the West, and Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards in the North and South.  There is some overlap at 20^th Street near Broadway and Colorado as well.

A quick look at Google maps show at least 25 schools or places that care for and teach children in the Mid City area where the pot shops could potentially be located.

The question becomes, “Why here?  Why do we need pot shops in Santa Monica?”  There are plenty of shops in West Los Angeles and in Venice where card carriers can purchase the Schedule 1 drug.  Shouldn’t there be one city on the West Side that has decided to take the high road :-).  After all, Santa Monica is supposed to be a city that promotes health and wellbeing.

If you have questions – you can contact the City Council at:  council@smgov[dot]net.

Please feel free to comment on this article as your opinion matters.

Marijuana plant picture courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net