Mark your calendars, Santa Monica. There are few important events coming up, including FutureBuild2015: Powershift, a chance to have a hands-on role in saving Santa Monica’s historic Civic Auditorium, and yet another SMPD crackdown on reckless road users.
FutureBuild 2015: Power shift
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Los Angeles presents FutureBuild2015: Power Shift on Tuesday, January 27.
“FutureBuild and its partner conference, VerdeXchange, are the premier opportunity in Los Angeles to connect with sustainability professionals across the globe,” said Santa Monica City Councilmember Terry O’Day, who is a featured presenter at the event.
“It combines technology, land use and policy and explores the critical global and local issues of our time,” said O’Day, who is also the vice president of California business development for eVgo, which specializes electric vehicle infrastructure, including charging stations.
Also scheduled to speak at FutureBuild 2015 are L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti; Gabe Klein, COO of Bridj; Seleta Reynolds, GM of LADOT; Renata Simril, Los Angeles Times Chief of Staff; Toni Atkins, California Assembly Speaker; Bruce Baltin of PKF Consulting, hospitality trends; and Sarah Neff, Sustainability, VP of Kilroy Realty.
“FutureBuild is where experts from all sectors share their visions for the next generation of infrastructure and development,” says FutureBuild Co-chair Silvia Saucedo. “And the unique partnership with VerdeXchange makes FutureBuild a stimulating encounter with the most influential local, state, national, and global private- and public-sector leaders.”
The topics speakers will cover include:
- The Internet of Things: The Intelligent Built Environment: New technology pin-points which energies are used and how to maximize efficiency.
- Small Places, Big Changes: How smaller commercial buildings are using efficiencies and economies of scale to dramatically reduce energy use.
- Robo Parking: The revolution in how we store and deliver cars.
- Alternative Energy Financing: Making buildings more profitable by investing in efficient energy.
- The Future of Hospitality: Sustainability as a corporate strategy, with millennials a major target.
- Cracking the Codes: New energy codes are here now. What will development look like in 2020?
To buy tickets or to find out more, visit http://la.uli.org/event/futurebuild-2015/
When: Tuesday, January 27, 2015, 7:30 am to 1:30 pm
Where: The LA Hotel Downtown, 333 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Help Save the Santa Monica Civic
Whether you are a fan of music, history, music history, or just funky mid-century architecture, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium might hold a special place in your heart.
Now, the defunct venue, once host to the Academy Awards and concerts by Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, and other iconic performers of a bygone era, is hoping to get a second life, but the City needs your help.
On January 31 and February1, City officials are asking for residents to participate in a workshop to determine the future of the historic Civic Auditorium and the surrounding area.
At the workshops, which run from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day, attendees will get a chance to discuss possible uses for the Auditorium and the surface parking lot that surrounds it. Then, using software designed specifically for the event, they will get a chance to see what it would take to translate those ideas into reality.
The Civic Auditorium is in major need of an overhaul, which the City estimates could cost about $50 million, depending on the extent of the work. But there are still plenty of questions about where to get the money, how to spend it, and what other uses could happen in the area immediately surrounding the Auditorium to activate was is currently a surface parking lot.
Those who can’t make the event in person will be able to participate in the hands-on planning online at www.santamonicacivic.org on or after February 2.
SMPD Crackdown on Reckless Road Users, Again
It seems as though almost every week now the Santa Monica Police Department is cracking down on reckless and unsafe road users with special enforcement operations. Not that any of our readers need a special enforcement operation to remind them to ride, walk, and drive safely.
The most recent of these ongoing operations is scheduled for Friday, January 23. As with the past half-dozen or so of these enforcement operations, officers will target locations in the city with a history of collisions. Officers will also target drivers, people on bikes, and people walking, equally.
“Officers will be looking for violations engaged by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians alike that can lead to life changing injuries. Special attention will be directed toward drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in cross walks and similar dangerous violations,” SMPD officials said in a press release last week.
“Additionally, enforcement will be taken for observed violations when pedestrians cross the street illegally or fail to yield to drivers who have the right of way. Bike riders will be stopped and citations issued when they fail to follow the same traffic laws that apply to motorists,” the release said.
When: All day Friday, January 23
Where: City-wide
