Local student bringing warmth to homeless one hoodie at a time
Crossroads School freshman Nathan Ravitz has decided to take a lead from his family on the East Coast and distribute warm clothing to Westside homeless shelters. Over the past two years, Ravitz has become the Los Angeles representative of Hoodies for the Homeless, a nonprofit started by his cousin Zach Rosner in New Jersey. In the past 10 months alone, Ravitz has collected more than 2,500 sweatshirts, donating them to places like Upward Bound House and The People Concern in Santa Monica, as well as Venice Family Clinic, West LA Homeless and PATH. Ravitz was recently recognized for his achievements, receiving commendations from Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky during a ceremony.
Council takes first step in researching Silas White resolution
A recent meeting of Santa Monica City Council presented research focusing on the broad picture of reparations, a follow-up discussion from a March 19 council vote to research a resolution to the Silas White property controversy. City of Santa Monica Project Manager Lisa Parson explained several options of reparations to council, including "restitution" where people who experience harm should be restored to the condition they were in before harm took place, including things like return of property. Other options included "compensation" for loss opportunity or moral damages, as well as "rehabilitation" which gives medical and psychological care if needed to those that are harmed, plus legal service and access to social services. Parson said her team will return in a July council meeting with recommendations for how the city might proceed on the White case.
Would more money improve the quality of City Council?
Santa Monica City Council wants to know if it’s being underpaid and has asked staff to return to a future meeting with a study of compensation for council members in neighboring cities. Councilmembers Lana Negrete and Oscar de la Torre asked for the study saying the current base salary of about $17,000 didn’t provide enough compensation to account for the number of hours necessary to do the job, making council an unattainable role for working-class individuals. According to State of California figures, councilmembers made about $6,000 a year in Culver City, $7,000 a year in Malibu, $10,000 in Beverly Hills, $60,000 in Inglewood and $220,000 in Los Angeles. Negrete added that a seat on council was currently only acceptable to people who have the luxury of time and money, freezing out potentially qualified candidates who need to work full-time to pay their bills.
SMC shows its pride during annual parade
Santa Monica College students and staff came together on June 2 to show support to the LGBTQ+ community as part of the annual West Hollywood Pride Parade, an annual event that SMC stated was about "spreading joy and solidarity along the parade route." Using the phrase "Proud to be SMC," students were able to dress in cheerleading outfits for the high-energy occasion. SMC shared the route with a bevy of local institutions, along with celebrities like high-profile attorney Gloria Allred and pop music legend Cyndi Lauper.
Weekend crash is suspected DUI
A recent crash that hospitalized a driver is being investigated as a potential drug related DUI but officials said it could be up to a month before any conclusions are drawn. According to the Santa Monica Police Department, a section of Ocean Park Blvd. between 26th and 28th streets was closed for several hours on the afternoon of June 1 after a car careened across the street and into a tree. Officials said the damage to the vehicle and the tree was significant. While the driver was taken to the hospital, their condition was unknown as of this past week.
Vikings’ Ponce picks ELAC for college
Last month, Samohi Vikings baseball senior pitcher Tony Ponce committed to East LA College to advance his education and stay on the mound, where he excelled for the 2024 Vikings squad. In 12 appearances this season, Ponce became a key contributor in the bullpen, going 4-1 with an 0.68 earned run average and recording two of the Vikings’ three 2024 saves. In 31 innings of play, Ponce struck out 32 batters while giving up just 17 hits. Arguably the senior’s most crucial mound appearance was in the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs against Ganesha, where Ponce struck out eight of 11 batters faced while giving up just one hit in the 3-2 Vikings win.
Santa Monica celebrates its Most Loved businesses at annual awards
Santa Monica officials and businesses gathered at City Hall on June 4 for the annual Most Loved awards. Businesses competed in 85 categories and winners were chosen by a vote of the people. This past weekend’s edition of the Daily Press included an official magazine with a complete list of winners.
Seventh graders dress for success for Lincoln interview day
The seventh-grade class at Lincoln Middle School dressed for success on June 4 to take part in the 33rd edition of Worthwhile Life Interviews. At the Lincoln library, students were interviewed by local community members on the topics of "Who Am I?" And "What is a Worthwhile Life?," inspiring introspective thoughts about where the students may end up later in life. Students got ready for the event all year long, preparing for the mini-interview experience by building "Who Am I" folders with a host of written materials. Throughout the year, the "Who Am I" project included pieces of poetry, argumentative essays, informational essays and a collage of their interests; helping nail down potential career paths that are further broached in the professional-style interviews.
SMPD gains four new officers, but council cuts spending for road improvements
Santa Monica City Council prioritized public safety over streets at its last meeting by diverting money from road projects to the Santa Monica Police Department. The fiscal year 2024-25 proposed budget study session in a recent council meeting generated nearly three hours of discussion that was ultimately dominated by a trade off between a number of Capital Improvement Program items, such as essential sidewalk maintenance and CCTV camera upgrades, in favor of adding four additional police officers in addition to its full quota. The original choice, selected by city staff, to create funding for the four extra officers was to eliminate two one-time projects (sidewalks and security cameras), eliminate increases to city-wide facilities renewal program beyond base funding of $2 million, and usage of Measure CS funds.
Inclusive dance group gains GoFundMe support to stay afloat
This past month, Santa Monica-based non-profit Free2 Be Me Dance, which hosts dance classes for people with disabilities, launched a GoFundMe campaign to keep its doors open. Seeking funding for dance studio rentals and staff development, the initial goal of $10,000 to stay afloat this summer was reached in six days. The organizers, including founder Colleen Perry, then raised the goal to $25,000 to remain open into the fall semester, which the community also answered the call on. The GoFundMe stands at $33,766 collected as of June 5, something Perry called "unbelievable" support.
Amos brings the blues in blackbox performance
This past Saturday, NAACP award-winning author and Grammy-nominated producer The Reverend Shawn Amos took to the BroadStage Plaza stage as part of his curated "blackbox" series of blues rhythm performances. Now in its sixth year, Amos took up the blackbox endeavor as a responsibility to create a diverse space and bring artists of color to the BroadStage. The blackbox series eventually transitioned to the Plaza space due to successful growth, with the atrium space doubling as a place where the audience can grab drinks and hit the dancefloor.
Salvation Army celebrates National Doughnut Day with Downtown giveaway
The Salvation Army celebrated National Doughnut Day on June 7, giving away 2,000 doughnuts on the Third Street Promenade and holding a doughnut eating contest featuring Mayor Phil Brock. This year’s event was made possible with generous cooperation of Santa Monica-based Lionsgate Studios, who covered the cost of the doughnuts made by DK Donuts. Salvation Army’s Santa Monica corps Administrator and Pastor James Fleming added that the event was an opportunity to serve those on the frontlines, including the police department, all five fire stations, 911 dispatch and the Veterans Affairs center.
Cleanup of toxic soil at McKinley scheduled for July and August of this year
On June 4, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control held a public meeting for the McKinley Elementary School Removal Action Workplan (RAW), which aims to prevent "potential future risk to human [and] environment of the site" after results of soil and soil vapor samples showed detections of arsenic above regulatory guidelines and "volatile organic compounds" (mainly tetrachloroethylene, or PCE). For the soil, the best course of action was determined to be capping the surface of the site with pavement, eliminating the potential to come into contact with the elevated concentrations of arsenic. The PCE-containing soil vapors will be mitigated via installation of a soil Vapor Intrusion Mitigation and Migration Engineering Controls System. RAW implementation is anticipated to occur during July and August.
New restaurant Chelsea offers interesting eating to the top end of Wilshire
The northeast end of Wilshire Blvd. now has a newly-opened restaurant, Chelsea, brought forth by the talented father-and-son team of Moez Megji and Karim Megji. The two were also involved in the Los Angeles eatery scene at Wood & Water in Sherman Oaks, Zin Bistro Americana in Westlake Village, Fins Creekside in Calabasas and the Gallery in Westlake Village. The menu incorporates flavors and themes from around the world, and the atmosphere has been designed to loosely resemble a restaurant that might be found in London’s affluent west end suburb, where Moez lived for a time as a child.
Los Angeles takes a literal bite out of Post Office deliveries
The United States Postal Service is in the midst of a national awareness campaign highlighting the frequency of dog attacks on mail carriers and asking residents to keep Fido inside when the mail arrives. Incidents involving dog attacks on Postal Service employees rose to more than 5,800 cases last year, according to a recently released report. California was the most dangerous state with 727 total attacks and Los Angeles was the most dangerous city in the nation with 65 reported attacks. Santa Monica only reported three attacks last year but there were zero in Malibu, Venice or Pacific Palisades.
thomas@smdp.com
