This Tuesday’s City Council meeting features a potentially packed agenda, depending very much on whether any member of Council chooses to pull any Consent Calendar items, ‘cause there’s quite a few of them.
A cursory glance at the City of Santa Monica’s website unusually shows two agendas for Tuesday meeting. The 4:30pm meeting is a special meeting called in order to allow the ceremonial items to be completed earlier and manage the length of the meeting. Then the regular meeting begins at 5:30pm as normal.
Among the Consent Calendar items are the proposed adoption of a resolution for the 2024 Annual Water Shortage Assessment Report, the awarding of a contract to Global Power Group, Inc. as the primary source and Bay City Electric Works as the secondary source to provide emergency generator maintenance and repair at water and wastewater facilities and a second reading and adoption of an ordinance to adopt the 2022 California Green Building Standards Code and adopt a 2022 local amendment relating to concrete requirements for newly constructed buildings.
The sole Ordinance item is a request to add a section to the municipal code prohibiting the harassment of bicyclists and providing a private right of action in civil court for violations. The ordinance would not be enforced by City officials and would not require the expenditure of City resources, other than potentially some educational efforts.
Other highlights include the annual interdepartmental update on addressing homelessness — and a proclamation declaring a local emergency on homelessness. City Council voted in February of last year to declare the same emergency, but that’s set to expire at the end of May and sadly the situation remains, so this is a request to renew it for another year.
Under Discussion Item 16C, Mayor Phil Brock has requested that the City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Manager return with an amendment to the City Council rules to limit the time period for general public input (for example, 20 minutes) and to continue any remaining general public input to the end of the meeting.
Over the last 12 months or so, Public Input, especially on non-agenda items, while impassioned and important to hear, has often resulted in City Council meetings sailing into the early hours of the next morning.
For instance, a staggering total of 33 speakers came forward to speak in the April City Council meeting about the continuing war in Gaza. Most asked that the City Council pass a resolution calling on members of Congress to demand that the City of Santa Monica condemn the conflict taking place some 7,575 miles away and, among other things, call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
The City of Santa Monica has no legal authority over international relations, the resolution is a statement of opinion reflecting the Council’s priorities. Since other cities in California have in fact done this, those protesting hope that a critical mass of sorts might be achieved and ultimately influence other politicians at higher levels of government.
However, Discussion Item 16 on this week’s agenda is a request from Councilmembers Jesse Zwick, Caroline Torosis and Gleam Davis that the City Council adopt a resolution supporting the resumption of a negotiated bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and reiterating the City’s condemnation of all antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia and all forms of hate and incitement to violence.
Finally, following the vote during Council’s March 19 meeting and the subsequent protest organized at Reed Park in April, Vice Mayor Lana Negrete, Councilmember Christine Parra, and Councilmember Oscar de la Torre are requesting that the City Manager include language in contracts between the City of Santa Monica and the Venice Family Clinic that states, “Agency will not use Human Services Grant Program funds provided under this contract or renewals of this contract for the purpose of syringe distribution/exchange at or around parks and public open spaces.”
However, if public input once again dominates the evening, these local issues may have to be rescheduled for another date.
