Santa Monica Property Blog

SANTA MONICA PIER TWILIGHT DANCE SERIES ANNOUNCED

Edited by Jodi Summers

 The Twilight Dance Series was in question, but thanks to the generous support of the sponsors
 listed later in the piece, the Santa Monica Pier concert series returs for it’s 26th season!

Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series Schedule Summers 2010 

July 8 - Konono No. 1 (Congolese Trance Dance-tronica)

July 15 - Down Under Festival: Australia Sings (Artists TBA)

July 22 - Jovanotti (Italian Superstar) w/ Jace Everett & Ana Tijoux

July 29 - Kailash Kher's Kailasa (Indian Pop/Rock/ Bollywood)

August 5 - Rickie Lee Jones (Duchess of Coolsville)

August 12 - Soulive (Funk Jazz Organ Trio) w/ Breakestra

August 19 - Mick Taylor (Legendary Guitarist/Former Rolling Stone) w/ Tom Nolan Band

August 26 - Beatlesfest w/ Abbey Road and Lep Zepagain

September 2 - Dr. John & the Lower 911 (New Orleans Icon) w/ Eddie Baytos &
 the Nervis Brothers

Thank you thanks to generous donations from the City of Santa Monica, Pacific Park, the
Bayside District Corporation, Bloomingdale's, the Australian Consul General, the Office
 of Zev Yaroslavsky, the Santa Monica Pier Lessee's Association and numerous contributions
 from individual donors....

All concerts begin at 7:00 p.m. and are free to the public. This year, there will be a wine and
 beer garden for the convenience of concertgoers. For more information, please visit
www.santamonicapier.org or call 310-458-8901.

**

http://www.santamonicapier.org/newsletter/nl061010.htm

http://www.twilightdance.org/

Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series Needs Your Help

Edited by Jodi Summers

Budgets are being cut everywhere…and a number of the concerts may be cut from the Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series, unless you help.

The board of directors of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation has given a deadline of March 24, two weeks from now, by which to raise $93,000 to complete the budget of the ten concert series.

Donations are needed. The Santa Monica City Council has lead the fund raising challenge with a grant of $35,000 to the series. Currently, it’s believed that the City has funding for seven concerts – looking to reach funding for a full 10 performances.

$57,000 more to be raised. Respond to the city’s challenge by donating today! – Click here to make a difference. https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=fPWWbmwof1OyikLcka41ycsxvNWgd6K_ogtXeQWUtBCxRXjplLwAdnmtNhC&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f059ee17e99acf195b5f3a4b6a78dddb43ff8dd61b662c86b

**

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001u8SjZbUCyfNOSBaTTmRh9wNV84TISY85hcdwXG6k5HMs0IyBaXJC9QAFI5eesjrPf52nM0KKxJpSZH6z97VtH8OA-LpdNIzqlbvN0EDvhqywu4b0rWVdbWaCWmHMDZgPSHW-m8kAEaoNhiHQWXtJmuRL9c06ZEiu4Oy44OiGx7kPKvA6LTuhmJL2jnS2db1T-laZgYz9Pxk%3D

http://files.posterous.com/santabarbara/hlhGaRuwZ5GFAnTtI8rAsGT13aySOgOLs86qolWlKwVfvhAfGo2nioQ9GBYX/pic-1.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=1C9REJR1EMRZ83Q7QRG2&Expires=1268894085&Signature=pRyOWeeLA6TlGCEAzerGaz4TM9k%3D

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE’S GOLF COURSE GETS AUDUBON CERTIFICATION

THE GREENEST GOLF COURSE GETS AUDUBON CERTIFICATION

By Jodi Summers

Who has a great voice, umpteen million dollars, their own golf course and is socially conscious? Justin Timberlake, mega successful solo artist and all around good guy has opened up the nation’s first eco-friendly golf course in Memphis, Tennessee.

Originally called Woodstock Hills, the golf course is said to be the first place golf-enthusiast and former member of ‘NSYNC learned to hit a golf ball.

“…Last year we found out they were going to auction it off and turn it into a development,” Justin revealed. “So we thought it was such a landmark for the community, we’d scoop it and save it. And we did. We were able to before it was auctioned off.”

A couple of decades and $16 million later, the newly renamed Mirimichi Golf Course is the “greenest” golfing destination in the U.S….

“I’m excited about every aspect of the course,” Justin confessed. “We basically created a whole new course. It’s a completely different track and doesn’t look anything like what it did. It’s exciting. There’s literally a creek around the whole course. We’ve dug 7 new lakes—the construction we’ve done lengthened the course by almost 1000 yards. We’ll have a great first tee program for kids and families. We’ll have a 9-hole executive course, but it’s really to use for the first tee program out there. We’ll have junior tournaments to get more young people into the game. I like the values the game teaches like honesty, patience, focus, and tenacity. Also, it’s close to my house. And my parents had their wedding reception there.”

The Mirimichi Golf Course is the first project in the U.S. to receive the Audubon International’s Classic Sanctuary certification.The course features irrigation systems that maximize the use of rainwater, native landscaping and solar-powered electric golf carts.

“I love my new course Mirimichi,” Justin confessed. “I love it for so many reasons. I feel like we did something great for the community. And we ended up doing something great for the world—a lot of people will pay attention to how eco-friendly this establishment is and I hope it will make some waves.”

When asked about who his idea golf foursome would be, Justin confided,” Bobby Jones because he never took a dollar for the game and always loved the purity of the game. Tiger Woods because he’s without a doubt the best golfer of all time. And has taken every dollar for the game! And my dad because he taught me how to play. He’s my favorite person to play golf with.”

http://www.justintimberlake.com/news/a_quick_9_with_jt_a_golf_qa

http://earth911.com/blog/2009/07/23/justin-timberlake-opens-first-eco-friendly-golf-course/

http://allfunmusik.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/justin_timberlake_01.jpg

http://www.wreg.com/media/photo/2009-07/48038279.jpg

http://ontheredcarpet.typepad.com/.a/6a010536c12963970b0115723cb64c970b-pi

http://media.commercialappeal.com/mca/content/img/photos/2009/07/25/22mirimichi1.jpeg

NEW MARKET TERMS

NEW MARKET TERMS

We get lots of interesting email…this one, from Sanddra ay Costalife Services rollover@costalifeservices.com gives us a chuckle…

BULL MARKET — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.

BEAR MARKET — A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance and the wife gets no jewelry.

VALUE INVESTING — The art of buying low and selling lower.

BROKER — What my broker has made me.

STANDARD & POOR — Your life in a nutshell.

STOCK ANALYST — Idiot who just downgraded your stock.

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR — Past year investor who’s now locked up in a nuthouse.

PROFIT — An archaic word no longer in use.

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER AL GORE TO SPEAK ON GREEN CONSTRUCTION @ GREENBUILD

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER AL GORE TO SPEAK ON GREEN CONSTRUCTION @ GREENBUILD

Edited by Jodi Summers

Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore as the opening keynote speaker for USGBC’s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo being held Nov. 11-13, 2009, in Phoenix, Ariz.

“Al Gore’s impressive career and bipartisan outreach have helped elevate global climate change to the main street public consciousness,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “The role buildings play in our lives, our health, the economy and the global environment – including being responsible for 39% of the carbon emitted in the United States – means the built environment is a tremendous opportunity for us to make real change.”

Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs.

Former Vice President Gore’s keynote address will kick off Greenbuild at the Opening Keynote & Celebration, taking place Nov. 11 at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The evening celebration will feature a musical performance by nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow and an address from USGBC President, CEO & Founding Chair, Rick Fedrizzi.

Al Gore has championed awareness and action to confront global climate change since his earliest days in the U.S. Congress 30 years ago, and is regarded for his pioneering role in helping put one of the most important challenges of our time on the map, with his best-selling book and Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. In 2007, Gore was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his environmental activism. In 1992, Gore published Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit and instituted environmental policy and initiatives in the Clinton-Gore Administration to help safeguard the environment.

Gore is cofounder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and multiplatform media company Current TV. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc. and a senior advisor to Google, Inc. Gore is also Visiting Professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Greenbuild is the largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement. Previous Greenbuild keynote speakers have included former President Bill Clinton in 2007 and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2008.

For more information, visit www.usgbc.org and www.greenbuildexpo.org. To see presentations made at last year’s Greenbuild, visit www.greenbuild365.org.

http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/Greenbuild_Gore%20Keynote.pdf

http://www.usgbc-centraltexas.org/Docs/newsletter/January_2009/January2009.html

http://www.andrewblum.net/typepad/2007/01/index.html

http://www.makefive.com/categories/debate/social-change/most-inspiring-people-of-2007

SANTA MONICA PIER FIREWORKS

We had fun!

SANTA MONICA PIER CENTENNIAL TONIGHT! CELEBRATE WITH US

PIER CENTENNIAL TONIGHT! CELEBRATE WITH US

shared by Jodi Summers

Come one come all, Santa Monica’s throwing yet another party… The Santa Monica Pier celebrates its Centennial with the festivities starting at 6 PM tonight on the Pier.

The festivities include -

A Reopening, followed by a reenactment of the famous photo of civicleaders celebrating the Pier Sign with “fanfares and flourishes” played bythe Los Angeles Brass ensemble. The party continues with musical acts,Vybration, Big Bamboo Steel Band and Dick Dale, the king of surf guitar.Celebrity hosts include Joan Baez + Robert Redford.

FIREWORKS START AT AROUND 8:45PM AND WILL BE THE BIGGEST IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS. Best viewing is from the beach on either side of the Pier. Come early and stake out your spot for the show!

A note on parking - Santa Monica parking garages expect a big crowd and willRAISE THE FEE FROM $3 TO $15 TONIGHT ONLY FOR PARKING AFTER 6PM!

For the history of the pier check out:

http://www.santamonicalandmarks.com/landmk32.html

http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/?p=287

**

Ocean Park Association Home Page: http://opa-sm.org

MARKET SNAPSHOT - SANTA MONICA CONDOS + HOMES UP AND DOWN

by Jodi Summers

Are we coming out of our recession? Perhaps when it comes to condos. From July 2008 – July 2009 condo prices in Santa Monica were up by 11% to a current median sale price of $685,500.

But truly, is it just about the price of what sells in any given month? In the single family realm, for the same time frame, Santa Monica Home Prices dropped 25% to an average price of $1.5m.

A GLOSSARY OF GREEN LIVING TERMS

A GLOSSARY OF GREEN LIVING TERMS 

 by Jodi Summers

A glossary of green living terms. Be green + grow:

·         2000-watt society — The 2000-watt society (2,000-Watt Society) is a vision, originated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich at the end of 1998, in which each person in the developed world would cut their over-all rate of energy use to an average of no more than 2,000 watts (i.e. 17,520 kilowatt-hours per year of all energy use, not only electrical) by the year 2050, without lowering their standard of living.

·         Carbon Diet — A carbon diet refers to reducing the impact on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (principally CO2) production.

·         Carbon Footprint — A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels for our everyday living.

·         Carbon Intensity — The ratio of Carbon Dioxide to energy: a measure of the “greenness” of different fuels.

·         Chief Green Officer — A Chief Green Officer (CGO), or Chief Environmental Commitment Officer (CECO), is a corporate officer responsible for implementing and managing the corporation’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and protecting the environment.

·         Dual-flush toilet — A type of water-conserving toilet that is relatively common in the commercial sphere but is only now becoming available for the home. After each use you have a choice of low flush (using as little as 0.8 gallon) or a more powerful flush (about 1.8 gallons).

·         Earthcheck – An adaptable environmental benchmarking tool that measures an organizations environmental output. This is done across a variety of areas, including energy consumption, waste production and resource conservation for the core areas of an organizations operation.

·         Ecological Footprint — a measure of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate it. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste, given prevailing technology and resource management practice. Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how many planet Earths it would take to support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle.

·         Ecosharing – is an environmental ethic for people to live by: that their own impact on the Earth’s biosphere be limited to no more than their own fair ecoshare.

·         Energy Neutral Design - an Energy Neutral Design is a design of any type (Website, Multi-media, Architecture, Art, Music, Entertainment, etc) that has the environment and low energy consumption practices in mind during all stages of planning and production.

·         Energy Policy –  The manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy production, distribution and consumption. The attributes of energy policy may include legislation, international treaties, incentives to investment, guidelines for energy conservation, taxation and other public policy techniques.

·         Energy Star (www.energy star.gov) — An energy-efficiency rating system sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. A high Energy Star rating means that the product — from small household appliances to entire homes — is designed to minimize its energy consumption. The theory being, using as little energy as possible helps protect the environment, conserves fossil fuels and saves you money on the electric bill.

·         Forest Stewardship Council (www.fsc.org) — A third-party certification for wood, wood products and forests. The FSC tracks the wood from its forest of origin all the way through the chain of custody to where the product is sold. If a product is FSC certified, you can count on its having been harvested and produced in a stringently eco-sensitive manner.

·         Formaldehyde — A toxin found in many adhesives, such as those in plywood and panel board; it also can be found in paints, caulks and other building materials. The World Health Organization recently upgraded it from a possible carcinogen to a known one. When present in the home, it tends to “off-gas” and pollute the indoor environment.

• Global Warming — The increase in the average measured temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century, and its projected continuation. In media, it is synonymous with the term “climate change.”

·         Greenhouse Debt - The measure to which an individual person, incorporated association, business enterprise, government instrumentality or geographic community exceeds its permitted greenhouse footprint and contributes greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change.

·         Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design  (www.usgbc.org/leed) — Developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED rating is the most widely known and accepted green certification program.

·         Life Cycle Analysis — The process of tracing a product, material or practice from its origin through its final disposal or reuse, from factory to landfill or recycling plant.

·         Linoleum – A natural and eco-sensitive alternative to petrochemical-based vinyl. Linoleum is typically made from the renewable materials jute (used for backing), linseed oil, pine resin and sawdust. Eclipsed by vinyl in the 1960s and ’70s, it’s now experiencing a revival; it comes in both sheets and tiles, in a wide variety of colors.

·         Low Carbon Diet — A low carbon diet refers to making lifestyle choices to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy use.[1] More specifically, a low carbon diet refers to making choices about eating that reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) as a response to estimates that the U.S. food system is responsible for at least 20 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases.

·         Low-flow faucets and shower heads – Installing low-flow fixtures is a simple and cheap way to conserve water. If you’re in love with your current faucets and shower heads, you can instead choose to amend them by installing aerators, which slow the flow and disperse water. These simple steps can reduce water use by about 10%.

·         Off-gassing – Also known as outgassing, this is the emission of chemicals from building materials, furniture, textiles, bedding or other products in the home. Many of those “new house” smells that we’ve come to enjoy are actually hazardous to our health — they accumulate in the bloodstream and have been linked by some scientists to the increasing rates of asthma and some cancers, particularly in children. The best way to avoid off-gassing is to look for natural products that don’t contain toxins such as formaldehyde.

·         Recycled content — Refers to the amount of recycled (reused) material in a given product. There is post-industrial recycled content, which refers to the use of scraps from industrial manufacturing, and post-consumer content, which is the reuse of products that consumers have used and thrown away.

·         Solar — Simply put, solar processes harness energy from the sun. The solar panels that most of us associate with solar energy are called photovoltaic panels; they transform the sun’s rays into usable electricity. Solar thermal processes can be used to heat our hot water. Technological advances in recent years have made both photovoltaic and solar thermal systems amazingly effective. And prices are more affordable nowadays, in part because many utility companies and local governments offer rebate programs that lower the initial costs of purchase and installation.

·         Water Footprint — an indicator of water use that includes both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. Water use is measured in water volume consumed (evaporated) and/or polluted per unit of time. A water footprint can be calculated for any well-defined group of consumers (e.g. an individual, family, village, city, province, state or nation) or producers (e.g. a public organization, private enterprise or economic sector). The water footprint is a geographically explicit indicator, not only showing volumes of water use and pollution, but also the locations.

·         Weighted Average Cost of Carbon — A term used in finance to measure a firm’s specific cost of carbon. It expresses how much an organization is expending to either reduce carbon emissions internally (abatement) or offsetting externally (carbon offset). As such, the weighted average cost of carbon is the cost a company incurs to balance its carbon liability (carbon footprint).

·         Volatile Organic Compounds — The toxic or noxious chemicals that are found in or released from paints, stains, adhesives and sealants. Whenever possible, look for products labeled as having low, no or zero VOCs.

Please help us add to this list.

Info courtesy of:

http://www.globalgreen.org/gbrc/

http://wikipedia.org

SANTA MONICA PIER CONCERT SERIES ANNOUNCED

edited by Jodi Summers

We know you’ve been wanted the schedule for the 25th Annual Twilight Dance Series.

Allow us to present it to you without editorial comment…

July 2 - Playing for Change Band

Bushman (Jamaican Reggae)

July 9 - Joan Baez

with Special Guest Tift Merritt

July 16- Sergent Garcia

Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca

July 23 - LA MONICA REDUX BALLROOM >

Squirrel Nut Zippers

Johnny Vana & the Big Band Alumni

July 30 - Orchestra Baobao

August 6 - Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women

Paul Thorn

August 13- Idan Raichel Project

Elijah Emanuel

August 20 - Venice

Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real

August 27- Lila Downs

Very Be Careful

For more information about the Twilight Dance Series, visit www.santamonicapier.org

OR CALL (310) 458-8901.

http://www.santamonicapier.org/

http://www.santamonicalandmarks.com/landmk32.html

http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/?p=908