This week, the City Council will consider what to do with the no-growth L.U.V.E. initiative, planning begins on Santa Monica’s newest park, and Santa Monica Spoke hosts “Dinner & Bikes + Cupcakes.”
City Council Looks at No-Growth Ballot Measure
The Santa Monica City Council will discuss the no-growth Land Use Voter Empowerment (L.U.V.E.) initiative at its Tuesday meeting. Since proponents of the initiative, which would require a popular vote of nearly all new construction over two stories, submitted at least the minimum number of signatures required to put the initiative on the ballot, the Council on Tuesday will have to decide to do take one of three steps on Tuesday.
- The Council can decide to adopt the initiative as law;
- the Council can opt to put the initiative on the November ballot; or
- the Council can direct staff to study the initiative and return within 30 days with a report, at which point the Council will then decide between options one and two.
In all likelihood, the Council will probably call for a study before eventually deciding to put it to a vote. The first option — adopting it as law — is unlikely given that even one-time allies of Residocracy on the Council have denounced the initiative as too extreme. Even the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Santa Monica has come out against the initiative, certain elements of which the organization has called misleading after undertaking a thorough study of the initiative’s language.
When: Tuesday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Spoke Hosts “Dinner & Bikes + Cupcakes”
Joshua Ploeg, Elly Blue, and Joe Biel of Dinner & Bikes are teaming up with Santa Monica Spoke for a free evening of delicious food and a celebration of grassroots community activism this Friday, June 17 at Breeze Bike Share HQ.
“You’ll be treated to chef Joshua Ploeg’s seven-course gourmet buffet spread. Elly Blue and Joe Biel co-present a new interactive discussion and presentation that includes eight short films about groundswell movements where people have demanded better neighborhood conditions and successfully implemented them,” according to Santa Monica Spoke’s website. “Throughout the evening there are plenty of opportunities for discussion, questions, and browsing the Microcosm pop-up book and t-shirt store.”
Santa Monica Spoke Director Cynthia Rose will also be baking vegan cupcakes for the event and people will have a chance to win one of two cruiser bikes (plus other stuff) in a raffle.
When: Friday, June 17 at 6 p.m.
Where: Breeze Bike Share HQ, 1631 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica , CA 90404
Help Plan the Airport Park Expansion
Landscape architect Mark Rios will lead a city-sponsored workshop on Saturday, June 18 to discuss the planned expansion of Airport Park.
“Rios, the landscape architect chosen by the city to design the conversion of the first 12 acres of the airport into a park, will present his initial ideas and ask for feedback,” according to a press release put out by Airport2Park, a nonprofit advocacy group working to convert Santa Monica Airport into a park.
In March, the city cleared a section of the airport used for aircraft parking so that it would eventually be converted into park space.
When: Saturday, June 18 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Airport Park (parking lot off Donald Douglas Loop South), 3201 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica, CA
