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THE LOW-DOWN ON THE TOWN
Impudent
,
uncensored account
By
C. Castle

Kudos for Jalili and a Rally for Janitors

Friday, June 18--Kudos to City Manager John Jalili. He was the recipient Thursday night of the prestigious Dykstra Award for Public Excellence in Government presented by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.

The award is a fitting tribute to Jalili's 15 years as Santa Monica's City Manager, which will end when he retires in November. Jalili will leave behind a city that is one of only four in the nation with a triple A bond rating and a booming tourist-and-entertainment-based economy he has helped shape.

Tuesday will be Jalili's final budget session, and the council is expected to pass its biggest budget yet - a whopping $340 million. Still, the council finds itself facing the unenviable task of coming up with $1 million for local schools.

"We are working very hard at city hall looking where to find the money," one council member said.

Word has it the council is exploring several options, including using $500,000 in funds earmarked for the Convention and Visitors Bureau. That could be a problem, however, since the funds, which come from the Civic Center, could be restricted to tourism-related uses.

And speaking of tourism, the city's restaurants and hotels are in a tizzy over a proposal by SMART (Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism) to impose a living wage on the city's Coastal Zone.

The Chamber of Commerce is expected to take up the matter during an executive board meeting Monday, and the Bayside District will follow suit Thursday when the folks from SMART make a presentation to its board.

Meanwhile, Councilmen Michael Feinstein and Kevin McKeown, staunch union supporters, attended a Justice for Janitors rally in Century City Thursday. The peaceful rally (a fleet off buses prepared to haul away unruly demonstrators was never needed) drew hundreds of janitors in red shirts with black lettering.

"It looked like a Sandinista rally," said Feinstein. "You had people making speeches in Spanish and hundreds of people saying 'Si se puede, si se puede.'"


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