Jodi Summers = Santa Monica Real Estate

HOW TO STAY SAFE WHEN YOU’RE WALKING AROUND TOWN

edited by Jodi Summers

You’re lucky to live in Santa Monica. We all are. 2011 estimates show that Santa Monica has 90,377 fortunate residents. Tourists, workers, and beachgoers can increase the city’s daytime population to between 250,000 and 450,000 people. That’s a lot of humanity in 8.3 square miles, which is why, in 2009, Santa Monica reported 106 accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians.

The Santa Monica Police Department would like to share these pedestrian safety tips with you.

* Stop, look and listen before crossing. Just like when you were a kid, look right and left over your shoulder before crossing, look for cars and bicycles, bicycles are required to obey the rules just like the cars.

* Allow vehicles enough time to stop. Don’t assert the right of way with a fast moving vehicle, you could lose.

*  Make eye contact with drivers. But don’t assume they will yield.

*Cross at intersections. Crossing mid-block is unsafe; never cross from between two parked cars…drivers can’t see you and aren’t expecting you. When crossing at a signal controlled intersection, cross only on a green light OR when the “walk” sign is activated; the walk sign may change but the light is timed to give you enough time to continue on safely before opposing traffic approaches.

* Always cross in a straight line… the shortest distance between two points. Use extra care when crossing with children. Remember drivers may not see a little one… hold their hand while crossing.

* Unplug from your IPod and listen to what’s going on.
* Use the same rules of caution in a parking lot. Parking lots can be just as dangerous as the street.

Santa Monica leads the state in pedestrian accidents, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). In 2009, Santa Monica ranked first for pedestrian accidents out of 104 California cities of similar size. The top 10 most dangerous Santa Monica intersections for pedestrians, according to the Santa Monica Police Department, based on collision statistics from February 2006 to February 2011 are:

1. 1. Main St and Ocean Park Blvd
2. 2. 4th St and Santa Monica Blvd
3. 3. Lincoln Blvd and Pico Blvd
4. 4. 28th St and Pico Blvd
5. 5. 17th St and Pico Blvd
6. 6. 4th St and Wilshire Blvd
7. 7. 2nd St and Colorado Ave
8. 8. 4th St and Broadway
9. 9. 11th St and Pearl St
10. 10. Main St and Pier Ave

The proportion of vehicle vs. pedestrian accidents resulting in injuries is 94%.  The vehicle pedestrian accidents resulting in death has hovered between 2-4% between 2002 and 2009.

Stay safe. Be a defensive walker. Watch where you are going. Expect the unexpected. Don’t let cars surprise you… even if the motorist is wrong. Better to be safe than dead right.

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http://santamonicapd.org/Pedestrian_Safety_-_Tips_for_Pedestrians.aspx

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0670000.html

http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/?p=4739

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Monica,_California

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/ZFKnalftAlb/Tom+Hanks+Walking+Santa+Monica/PqguEhED6re/Tom+Hanks

http://www.santamonica.com/includes/docs/Santa-Monica-Fact-Sheet.pdf

http://www.smgov.net/Departments/OSE/Categories/Sustainability/Sustainable_City_Progress_Report/Transportation/Pedestrian_-_Bike_Safety.aspx

THE LIGHT RAIL IS COMING TO SANTA MONICA > AND DECONSTRUCTION MEANS RECYCLING

By Jodi Summers

With the light rail coming down Olympic Blvd. and then switching over to Colorado, you know there ‘s a whole lot of new construction going on in downtown Santa Monica. All this new construction means a whole lot of old buildings have to come down before the new buildings can be built and with all our deconstruction that means a while lot of waste.

As of 2011, the Cal Green Building Codes requires all structures built in California recycle 50% of the waste generated by construction. Santa Monica, green haven that we be, requires 65% of waste from construction and demolition sites to be diverted from landfills. That will move to 70% in the near future.

For the records, waste includes anything you discard from the site; wood scraps, cardboard, flashing, paint and finishing products, tools, drywall, concrete, asphalt, plastic bags, remnants of insulation, etc.

Key to repurposing old materials is the concept of “embodied energy,” or maintaining the resources needed to make the product in the first place, offers Brenden McEneaney, a green building program advisor with the Office of Sustainability and the Environment. “If you make a brick, clay had to get dug out of the ground and brought to a manufacturing facility kiln,” he elaborates. “A lot of carbon was expended to make that product in the first place, and a lot would be expended to make a new product.”

Reuse is a vital new business model, employing nearly 170,000 workers at an annual payroll of $2.7 billion and generates $14.1 billion in revenue, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Reusing existing materials saves on transportation impacts and other resources like water and chemicals needed to –let’s say – turn a brick into something like gravel or road base.

Failure to achieve the CalGreen recycling goals could result in delays in receiving Final Inspection Approval and a penalty equal to 2% of your project’s value. All penalties must be paid before Final Building Inspector Approval, so there’s no way around it.

In Santa Monica, one can find recycling solutions at locations like Bourget Brothers and the Reuse People’s program > who claim to be able to get between 80 and 90% of the construction and demolition waste diverted.

The Reuse People reach their recycling numbers by working with contractors to carefully take apart buildings to reclaim as much of the original materials as possible. They then transport them to local warehouses where they sell the products below market costs.

Locally, Bourget Brothers Building Materials has gotten into the business of selling recycled materials > be they doors, cabinets, or even old railroad ties. John Bourget has taken to scavenging the building site for desirable recyclables, like old bricks or railroad times.

Didja know A reclaimed brick can be resold for almost the same price as a new one, somewhere between 80 cents and $1.25 in Bourget’s estimation, and it prevents a brand new structural brick from being used unnecessarily.

What with the light rail under construction on the West Side, there is surplus material around everywhere. As city like Santa Monica as a prime market for recycling because builders, homeowners and other businesses have embraced the idea of adaptive reuse.

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http://www.smdp.com/Articles-local-news-c-2012-02-02-73412.113116-Reuse-of-building-materials-gets-play-in-Santa-Monica.html

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/DevServ/general/Cal+Green+Recycling+Requirements+for+Construction+Sites.pdf

https://www.google.com/search?q=santa+monica+construction&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

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http://www.santamonicaalliance.com/storage/be%20excited%20be%20prepared%20logo.bmp?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1317175580121

SANTA MONICA GETS LABOR BEFORE MASS TRANSIT

by Jodi Summers

Have you been part of the morning line of traffic waiting to get off the 10W freeway at Cloverfield? The jobs came to the beach before the mass transit. Think of how much easier the commute will be when the Bergamot Station stop on the Expo Line opens in 2015…just get a new place down the line…

Nationally, more than three-quarters of all jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan areas are in neighborhoods with transit service. Not that Santa Monica is one of the largest, we’re just a small metropolis…but between the Big Blue Bus, L.A. Metro Bus and the light rail line, you will be able to get pretty much anywhere in our 8.5 square mile city by mass transit…In Santa Monica, we are building lots of new apartments, townhomes and condos so you to live in along route.

A study by the Brookings Institute found that western metro areas like Los Angeles and Seattle exhibit the highest mass transit coverage rates. When combining bus and rail service, they exhibit near ubiquitous transit coverage rates and enable their jobs to access over half of their local labor pools. Los Angeles is better than average. Are we really up there with New York and Chicago? If so, just imagine trying to take the bus to work in Kansas….

Pundits say that the typical job is accessible to only about 27% of its metropolitan workforce by transit in 90 minutes or less. Labor access varies from the high of 64% in metropolitan Salt Lake City to a low of 6% in metropolitan Palm Bay, Florida. Studies conclude that city jobs are consistently accessible to larger shares of metropolitan labor pools than suburban jobs, reinforcing cities’ geographic advantage relative to transit routing. Hey, Santa Monica’s daily population is around 250,000 – more than double our nighttime population of 90,000. People are coming here for more than the beach. If you want to live here and join the fun, we can accommodate you in finding your new home.

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http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/07/11-transit-jobs-tomer

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/7/transit%20labor%20tomer/pdf/Los_Angeles.pdf

http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/?p=4570

http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=2359

http://reconnectingamerica.org/resource-center/browse-research/2012-2/where-the-jobs-are-employer-access-to-labor-by-transit/

http://www.socalofficerealestateblog.com/?p=2238

http://www01.smgov.net/cityclerk/council/agendas/2010/20100713/s2010071308-A_files/image032.gif

THE SANTA MONICA PIER IN A NEW LIGHT

by Jodi Summers

Old meets new. The century-old Santa Monica Pier has new millennium lighting. The City of Santa Monica recently updated all bulbs that light the Pier to LED versions, which are  heralded as being more energy efficient, last longer and provide more focused beams than their counterparts.

Nearly 1,600 fixtures on the carousel, “necklace” lights that surround the structure, flood lights, street lamps and globe lights will get the upgrade, saving 216,000 kilowatt hours per year compared to the traditional bulbs. A portion of the new LED lights will be replacing incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs that burned out some time ago, bringing new life to the pier.

“We will be making this jewel of the city brighter and more sustainable,” praised pier manager Rod Merl.

City Hall received $114,370 for the Pier Lighting Retrofit project and another $554,000 for the wider LED Street lighting project, which served to replace streetlights throughout the city with new bulbs. Savings on the Pier project work out to roughly $39,466 saved per year in energy costs, according to the Office of Sustainability and the Environment. In addition to saving electricity, the new fixtures are expected pier staff a lot of time….particularly when it comes to maintaining the necklace lights that loop around the pier deck, where the globe lights would burn out regularly.

LED lights are more expensive by the piece, but according to the U.S. Department of Energy, a high-powered white LED light can last between 35,000 and 50,000 hours. By comparison, the average incandescent light lasts between 720 and 2,000 hours, a compact fluorescent usually runs between 8,000 and 10,000 hours.

If the new LED lights were on 24 hours a day, they would last 5.7 years, calculated Carlos Rosales, an engineer with the public works department. “Since they only turn on at night, they should last 10 years,”

And they should all need to be replaced at about the same time.

Another benefit to the lights in the eyes of City Hall is how they project their beams.

Unlike incandescent bulbs which scatter light, LEDs are more focused, meaning they do not have the fuzzy “glowing” quality that many are used to.

“The old-fashioned kind of lights tends to cast a wide area,” Merl observed. “One of the things with the new lighting heads, the light pools where you want it to rather than dispersing in all directions.”

Shine on you crazy pearl necklace….

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http://www.smdp.com/pier-to-get-new-more-efficient-lighting/110795?utm_source=Santa+Monica+Daily+Press+List&utm_campaign=9cd6cf3bec-SMDP_Daily_Template6_10_2010&utm_medium=email

http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=2331

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http://cache.mojopages.com/images/business/10747279/santa-monica-pier-carousel1103543221.jpg

http://www.santamonicalandmarks.com/images/pic3-33b.jpg

NO NEW SMOKING IN SANTA MONICA APARTMENTS AND CONDOS

by Jodi Summers

Santa Monica has often been nicknamed the “Republic of Santa Monica” for the City’s rather unique stance on various social positions. Santa Monica’s latest set of rules may or may not be unconstitutional, but it will no doubt impact multiunit properties throughout Los Angeles. The City of Santa Monica has declared that all new occupancies after Nov. 22, 2012 are non-smoking. No ands, ifs, and certainly no butts.

Will this affect the desirability of one of the world’s best beach cities? We will need to watch. In September and October 2012 in Santa Monica, according to the MLS, 98 properties were leased in Santa Monica. The median lease rate was $4,000 or $3.31 per sq ft per month. The lowest lease rates were $1,500 for several studios and one bedrooms east of Lincoln Blvd., and the high being $14,100 for an Ocean Ave. penthouse. Properties averaged 38 days on the market.

Existing Santa Monica law already bans smoking in residential outdoor and indoor common areas, including balconies and patios and any area within 25 feet of any door, window or vent. The new smoking rules that affect all multi-unit housing in the City

include the following:

• All new occupancies after Nov. 22, 2012 are non-smoking: Anyone moving into an apartment or condo in Santa Monica after November 22 can’t smoke in the unit.

• Owners and condo associations are expected to conduct smoking surveys by January 21, 2013. Prior to this date, all landlords and condo homeowners’ associations must conduct a survey of current occupants, who must then designate their units either “smoking” or “non-smoking.” Current occupants are grandfathered in. Existing occupants can continue to smoke inside their units if they designate the units as “smoking.”

• Results must be distributed. Once the survey is done, landlords and HOAs are expected to give out the updated list of all units’ smoking status to all occupants. In the future it must be kept updated, and given to all prospective renters and buyers along with a copy of the attached information sheet, from www.smconsumer.org.

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NEW SMOKING LAW AFFECTS ALL SANTA MONICA APARTMENTS AND CONDOS

Important Info For Landlords, Tenants, And Condominium Owners

Santa Monica has passed a law with new smoking rules that affect all multi-unit housing:

- All new occupancies after 11/22/12 are non-smoking: Starting November 22, 2012, all newly occupied units in multi-unit residential properties in Santa Monica are declared non-smoking. This includes all apartments and condos. So, anyone moving into an apartment or condo after November 22 can’t smoke in the unit.

- Owners must start smoking survey by 1/21/13: Before January 21, 2013, all landlords and condo homeowners’ associations are required to begin a survey of current occupants, who must then designate their units either “smoking” or “non-smoking.” For details about this process, go to smconsumer.org.

- Current occupants grandfathered: Existing occupants can continue to smoke inside their units if they designate the units as “smoking.”

- Results distributed: Once the survey is done, landlords and HOAs must give out the updated list of all units’ smoking status to all occupants. In the future it must be kept updated, and given to all prospective renters and buyers along with a copy of this information sheet. (Also available at smconsumer.org)

- Common areas too: Existing Santa Monica law already bans smoking in residential outdoor and indoor common areas, including balconies and patios and any area within 25 feet of any door, window or vent.

Q: Are there exceptions to the law? If a property is already 100% smoke-free, the designation process is not required. The law also does not apply to temporary special needs housing for people with disabling conditions.

Q: How is the law enforced? Most compliance is achieved through communication. If that fails, and a person persists in smoking inside a non-smoking unit after getting a written notice, the person may be taken to small claims court and is liable to pay damages starting at $100. Any person can enforce the law by giving notice and eventually going to court.

Q: Are property owners required to enforce the law? No. They are only required to conduct the survey and keep updated lists available. They are not required to enforce violations of the no-smoking rules.

Q: What happens if a property owner refuses to conduct the initial survey and give out the required information? The owner can be prosecuted for violating the Municipal Code.

Q: Can a tenant be evicted for violating this law? No. But a tenant can still be evicted if the lease prohibits smoking.

Q: What about medical marijuana? If a unit is non-smoking, then medical marijuana can’t be smoked inside. If a doctor specifically requests that a disabled occupant may smoke marijuana indoors, and the occupant can’t take marijuana in non-smoked form, then the smoking might be permissible under the “reasonable accommodation” standard for disabilities. For more information call the City Attorney’s Office, 310-458-8336.

Q: Where can I get help with quitting? Go to nobutts.org, or call 1-800-NO-BUTTS.

Q: Where can I get more information? Go to smconsumer.org, or call the City Attorney’s Office, 310-458-8336.

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We’re here to help you with your property needs. Please contact Jodi Summers and the SoCal Investment Real Estate Group @ Sotheby’s International Realty – jodi@jodisummers.com or 310.392.1211, and let us move forward together.

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http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/Santa-Monica-Adopts-New-Smoking-Law-For-All-Multi-Unit-Housing-In-City/35858

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SANTA MONICA CITY HALL CONTROLS WATER CONTAMINATION FUNDS

By Jodi Summers

A toast to Santa Monica the City has won another lawsuit in the efforts to keep its water supply clean. Recently, City Hall took on the responsibility to treat the water it pumps from the Olympic Well Field, cleaning contaminants left behind by the former Douglas Aircraft Co. They will be  the beneficiaries of a $39.5 million settlement with the Boeing Corporation. The monies will be paid out over the next 10 years.

Locations included in the cleanup are 2902 Exposition Blvd., 1909 Centinela Ave. and 2341 to 2425 Michigan Ave. Additionally, Boeing will have to do any other clean up required by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board at additional sites.

The City of Santa Monica is not unaccustomed to going to court to clean the water supply. The City-owned Charnock Well Field, has been used for drinking water production and treatment since 1924  In 1996, the Charnock Well was shut down due to the detection of gasoline compounds (specifically methyl tertiary-butyl ether {MTBE}), in the water supply from nearby gasoline stations.

Litigation followed. Santa Monica won. City Hall opened the state-of-the-art Arcadia water treatment facility in 2011. Once again, the spring for which Santa Monica is named, began pumping fresh water to Santa Monica for the first time in 15 years. Huge!

The chain of title for the Olympic Well Field contamination can be traced back to the

Douglas Aircraft Co., a major player in the aircraft industry during World War II. Local historians note that World War II affected Santa Monica more than most places, as the Federal Government (for national security reasons) leased the Airport from the City to provide protection for Douglas Aircraft – then a major defense contractor located in Sunset Park. The government also participated in the expansion of the facility to accommodate the ever-growing production of military aircraft by Douglas Aircraft. At its peak, Douglas Aircraft, and Santa Monica Airport grew in size to its present 227 acres, employing 40,000 individuals.

Douglas Aircraft Co., used industrial solvents called PCE and TCE for degreasing, chemicals which were later discovered in the Olympic basin, observes Gil Borboa, the water resources manager with City Hall.

“That was back in the time where chemical handling processes were not as careful as they are today,” Borboa notes.

Douglas Aircraft was eventually bought by a company that came to be known as McDonnell Douglas. That company was bought by Boeing in 1997.  The settlement notes that contamination Boeing will not admit liability or responsibility for any claims.

Santa Monicans are already using water out of the contaminated well, which is treated using an “old school” process where the water is aerated, similar to running it through sprinklers, which turns the chemicals into vapor. That air is then sent through carbon scrubbers which removes the contaminants.

City Hall’s aim is to construct a water treatment facility that would not only take the solvents out of the water, but contaminants that might cause problems in the future…such as identified another solvent called 1,4-dioxane that is currently within acceptable levels, but may not be in the future.

The settlement is closely modeled after a 2010 settlement with the Gillette Corporation, the company that paid out for contamination of the Olympic Well Field caused by industrial processes at the former Papermate site. That deal involved similar chemicals and helped create the framework for the Boeing deal.

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http://www.smdp.com/Articles-local-news-c-2012-05-09-73993.113116-City-Hall-gets-395M-from-Boeing.html?utm_source=Santa+Monica+Daily+Press+List&utm_campaign=94728cf944-SMDP_Daily_Template6_10_2010&utm_medium=email

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