Year's Top Local Stories

By Lookout Staff

From a major land deal to a shocking budget shortfall, 1999 was a year when government actions took center stage. In most cases, they took place in the council chambers - or behind closed doors; in at least one instance, the initial action took place in Sacramento more than four years ago. Most of the stories - many of which were broken by The Lookout -- had a major impact on the face and soul of Santa Monica that should last for years to come.

1. A (G)RAND DEAL: It piqued our attention when it was just a item on the closed session agenda back in May. The city was negotiating with the RAND Corp. to purchase some excess land. By the time the council approved a $53 million transaction in October, it was the city's biggest real estate deal since it bought the land for Clover Park a quarter century ago. More significant than its size - 11.3 acres - is its location. The site covers most of the projected Civic Center property between City Hall and the beach, Santa Monica's last large chunk of prime real estate. The deal will spark long and heated debate over what to do with the land: Build affordable housing? A park? Both? Whatever plan the City Council eventually approves will leave a lasting legacy for generations to come.

2. "WHAT IS A SANTA MONICA RENT-CONTROLLED APARTMENT REALLY WORTH?": That was question we asked in the first local news story to analyze the impact of a 3 ½-year-old state rental law that took full effect on Jan. 1, allowing landlords to charge what the market would bear for vacant rent-controlled units. The answer: Plenty. Some tenants at Santa Monica Shores turned down offers of as much as $50,000 to give up their beachfront units. The impact of "vacancy decontrol" was felt citywide, as for rent signs blossomed for the first time since rent control was voted in 20 years ago. By the time the year neared an end, 2,300 units were no longer affordable to low-income and moderate-income tenants, with some units fetching double what they went for under rent control. City officials declared an "affordable housing crisis." No effort, however, has been made to determine if the tenants who vacated made low and moderate incomes.

3. "AN ABSOLUTE DISASTER": Those were the words used by School Superintendent Neil Schmidt to describe an unanticipated budget shortfall that now stands at $5 million. The shortfall was the result of overestimating the number of students who would enroll for the 1999-2000 school year. Nearly two months after school started, it became clear there would be some 400 fewer students than the board's number crunchers had predicted, Schmidt informed the board in an internal memo. The memo - which was leaked to The Lookout - came a little over a week after the board ratified a 5 percent salary hike for teachers. Now the board faces the painful task of cutting back on $5 million worth of programs and staff.

4. SMMR WINS SUPERMAJORITY: The city's powerful grassroots tenants group won a supermajority on the seven-member City Council in April, when Richard Bloom was swept into office in the state's first weekend election. The five votes gave Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights unprecedented power, which they quickly proceeded to wield. Though the SMRR members often broke ranks, it usually gave them the four votes necessary to pass key legislation that put Soviet Monica back on the national map. It also gave SMRR members the power to shape boards and commissions, which they quickly did by replacing three planning commissioners considered moderate with development foes. One of the commissioners, Green Party member Susan White, has since resigned.

5. SMRR COUNCIL WIELDS NEW-FOUND CLOUT: It didn't take long for the SMRR supermajority to go into action. Besides directing staff to negotiate the purchase of the RAND property, the council passed the nation's first ban on ATM surcharges, approved a precedent-setting ordinance that requires street performers to rotate their spots and directed staff to draft a trailblazing living wage ordinance. The council also angered the business community when it amended and announced it would enforce a 10-year-old auto repair shop ordinance and moved forward with the enforcement of a 15-year-old sign ordinance that kicks in next April. The council majority also catered to its tenant base, approving an emergency moratorium on the demolition and building of multi-family housing and passing a number of emergency measures to protect tenants from noise and harassment. Oh, and it killed "Solar Web," a 16-foot high sculpture on the beach (SMRR members, however, were split 3 to 2 on the issue).

6. LETS MAKE A DEAL: Real estate prices soared and development was back with a vengeance after a mid-decade slump. The Lookout's first major scoop was the sale of Santa Monica Shores for more than $93 million, the biggest residential real estate transaction in the city's history. It was the most prominent sale in the midst of a real estate boom triggered by "vacancy decontrol," a boom that saw for sale signs sprout up on apartment buildings across the city. The buying frenzy was accompanied by a building boom that saw the massive Arboretum project take shape around Colorado Avenue and Cloverfield Boulevard. The beachfront also was altered with the building of the Merigot Hotel, the renovation of Casa del Mar and the rebuilding of the massive Sea Castle Apartments.

7. MURDERERS ROW: There has only been one murder in Santa Monica this year, down from 12 last year, which only goes to show that policing has little to do with stopping someone intent on killing. But while murder was way down, the trials of some of last year's killers took center stage. Two of the most memorable local trials in recent memory began and ended this year. One was the trial for the murder of 14-year-old Shevawn Geoghegan, who was strangled to death in the basement of an abandoned mental health facility by Glen Mason, a self-styled Satanist, and his two accomplices. The other was the brutal killing of Nilda Raquel Arrabal, who was scorched, beaten and drowned by Amber Lee Williams and an accomplice who was never found. Arrabal's body was dumped in a garbage bin, disposed in a landfill and never turned up. Both trials ended with guilty verdicts.

8. COP TRIAL ENDS SORDID EPISODE: The second trial of Det. Linda Brown ended with a guilty verdict in April and an 11-year sentence for the veteran Santa Monica officer, who shot her lover and colleague Kevin Cummings four times after he broke off their affair. Brown's two trials exposed a series of sordid affairs inside Santa Monica's police department, tarnishing a polished image of the force. While Brown was sentenced to a prison term, Cummings, who threw away evidence and lied to authorities, was never charged with a crime. As of November, he had collected nearly $144,000 in salary while the department conducts an internal investigation.

9. JALILI RETIRES: After 15 years at the city's helm, City Manager John Jalili retired from his post. Known as low-key, diplomatic and financially shrewd, Jalili helped transform Santa Monica from "Oshkosh by the sea," a community for the newly wed and nearly dead, into a tourist Mecca and entertainment capital. It was fitting that his last major mission was to purchase the excess RAND property. Jalili was replaced by his second in command, Assistant City Manager Susan McCarthy. He left a lasting legacy on the city he worked for during the last quarter of the century.

10. STREETS, SEWERS AND THE BIG PROJECT: In 1999, the city embarked on a series of major public works; some of them will be invisible, some prominent, some are already controversial. Sewer lines were laid across the city and construction of a new pumping station near the beach was started. There was a major facelift for Pico Boulevard that required chopping down some 200 trees and planting more than 300, adding leaf-shaped lights, new sidewalks and curb extensions and a public art work under the freeway. And then there was the Beach Improvement Group (BIG) Project, which expanded the walkways and chess park on the beach, added a small grandstand around the resurrected muscle beach, renovated Palisades Park and added new bathrooms on the beach and in the park.