SANTA MONICA COUNCIL APPROVES MEASURE TO BAN LARGEST PRIVATE JETS

Dear all,   Below is a summary of the Council action at the Nov. 27th meeting regarding airport safety. ***********************************************************************************************************************    SANTA MONICA COUNCIL APPROVES MEASURE TO BAN LARGEST PRIVATE JETS 

   (Santa Monica, Calif., Nov. 27, 2007) — Years of community effort to make the Santa Monica Airport safer for residents and pilots paid off when the City Council unanimously approved a ban on the largest, fastest, jets currently using the airport.
   The move came Tuesday night on the first reading of an ordinance that will become law after a second reading in January.
    The 7-0 vote to approve the ban came despite a last-minute threat from the Federal Aviation Administration to use “all available means” to fight the ordinance so that “no aircraft is denied access to SMO (Santa Monica Airport).”
    The FAA’s Kirk Shaffer, Associate Administrator for Airports, used that phrase despite acknowledging that having homes at each end of the runway “increases the potential for injury from an aircraft accident off the end of the runway.” 
   That prompted Councilman Ken Genser to say the council no longer knows “which Mr. Shaffer, which FAA, we’re dealing with.” Other council members expressed their exasperation over the FAA’s continued promises to “keep the lines of communication open,” while communicating only demands and threats. 
   Shaffer’s letter reiterated his belief that the optimum solution would be for the city to buy and tear down the many homes that are in danger, a notion Mayor Richard Bloom called “offensive and absurd.”
   Councilman Bob Holbrook said such a buy-and-demolish policy would lead to even bigger planes using the airport, which would create a need for more homes to be leveled, ad infinitum.
    Shaffer has repeatedly emphasized SMO’s alleged role as a “reliever” for LAX, as if ignoring safety problems at SMO would solve  LAX’s problems.
   His letter mentioned nothing about a tragedy at a similar Arkansas airport this summer in which a smaller jet roared off the end of the runway and smashed into a house. Less than two months later, the FAA agreed that airport should be relocated, something the city, Conway, had asked for repeatedly.
    Friends of Sunset Park board members thanked the Council and the staff for using tough language in the ordinance. They called on the FAA to stop its five-year-plus history of non-responsiveness and offers of half-measures that would do little or nothing to lessen the overrun danger.
   Council members warned (and FOSP members acknowledged) that the city could face long and costly court battles from the FAA or jet owner/operators. It’s also possible a court would allow the larger jets to keep using SMO in the meantime.
   But Council member Herb Katz said, given the FAA’s stubbornness, dropping the C and D aircraft (the bigger jets) is “the only way we can go.”
   Pressure on the FAA is being brought to bear on another front. At a Dec. 5 meeting in Washington, D.C., City Manager Lamont Ewell, with city attorneys, will sit down with Reps. Henry Waxman and Jane Harman, along with the two top-ranking members of the House Transportation Committee and the FAA. Waxman and Harman both back the city’s stance regarding the danger from overruns. They are looking at the possibility of legislation or an agreement with the FAA that would recognize SMO’s unique situation and allow it to address the safety issue apart from the FAA’s general regulations.
   Thanks so much, FOSP members! The City Council recognized your concern, hard work and perseverance as having been extremely important in its unanimous decision to confront the FAA on the issue of safety at SMO.

***********************************************************************************************************************   

by Brian Bland, FOSP Board member 

Brian Bland will be interviewed on Warren Olney’s “Which Way L.A.?” tonight (Wednesday, Nov. 28th) at 7 PM on KCRW, 89.9 FM.    

loans ambulancemoney hard denver 15 loanmonth 84 car loan newloans ada72 month rates loan interestloan minneapolis advance cashloan $600060 loan month car used Map

bangkok girlsfuck cunthardcore hentaisex zooltoy adultmature sexystory spankingsimply nudes Map

NO PLANES FASTER THAN 121 KNOTS - AIRPORT SAFETY ORDINANCE TO BE INTRODUCED NOV. 27TH CITY COUNCIL MEETING - ITEM 7-C

From: ZinaJosephs@aol.com [mailto:ZinaJosephs@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 3:06 PM
To: ZinaJosephs@aol.com
Subject: FOSP: Council - Nov. 27 - 1st reading of Airport safety ordinance  

 Dear all,   1. On Tuesday, November 27th, City Council agenda item 7-C will be the introduction and first reading of an ordinance requiring that aircraft operations at Santa Monica airport conform with FAA design standards for Category A and B aircraft, those with approach speeds of less than 121 knots.     I.e., the ordinance would prevent planes that land at speeds faster than 121 knots (Category C and D) from using the airport. If the Council favors the ordinance, it would come back to them for a 2nd reading and vote, then would go into effect 30 days after the 2nd reading.    The 10-page staff report, which is quite informative and lays out the history of the city’s attempts to limit the use of Santa Monica Airport by faster aircraft, is at the following url:  http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/cityclerk/council/agendas/2007/20071127/s2007112707-C.htm   There is a link to the ordinance language at the bottom of the staff report.  

1740 Ocean Park Blvd. Going….

Thank you all for your interest in our property at 1740 Ocean Park Blvd.

  We are now getting offers. Hooray for us and HAPPY THANKGIVING to everyone.

 MIXED USE IN SANTA MONICA
1738-1740 OCEAN PARK BLVD., SANTA MONICA, CA 90405
Asking price: $3,250,000

    Exceptional mixed-use compound in the commercial heart of Sunset Park, Santa Monica.  Zoned SMC2 ~ 1738-1740 Ocean Park Blvd. offers 3 storefronts, 1 duplex, 1 bungalow and 2 garages.  Aprox. 4,000 sf on a 6,996 sq. ft. lot. Current yield more than $132,000.00 annually.  Great property, great location. Current leases are month-to-month.  Property is Zen, tranquil and well-maintained.
 

SHOULD URBAN PLANNING INCLUDE DESTROYING HEALTHY TREES?

http://www.smdp.com/site/archives/011608.pdf”> color=”#0000ff”>http://www.smdp.com/site/archives/011608.pdf

SAVE THE TREES
TO TREE OR NOT TO TREE

The efforts of a group of environmental activists to historically preserve 153 ficus trees in downtown Santa Monica was dealt another blow this week, and there are possibilities that legal steps will be taken to stop the City’s contentious tree removal plan.

The Landmarks Commission rejected a request by the Santa Monica Treesavers to historically and culturally designate a series of large canopied ficuses on Second and Fourth streets, an attempt by the ad hoc organization of residents and business owners to keep the trees from being uprooted.

The Treesavers have been mobilizing the past four months to pull the plug on the removal of 54 ficus trees from the downtown area, part of City Hall’s plans to improve and beautify Second and Fourth streets from Colorado Avenue to Wilshire Boulevard. The streetscape improvement project calls for the transplantation of 31 ficuses to elsewhere in the city and the destruction of 23 trees that have been identified as structurally deficient and unlikely to survive a move.

As the trees were not supported for landmarking in Monday’s morning, there are thoughts that the Treesavers are likely to revive a lawsuit which alleges City Hall violated state law by failing to submit an environmental impact report.

A few days before the project was set to start in October, a Los Angeles County judge issued a temporary injunction against City Hall, halting work crews from removing any of the trees. The environmental activists put the lawsuit on hiatus after they filed a petition to designate the trees as landmarks late last year.

The Treesavers recently met with attorney Tom Nitti, to discuss the possibility of filing an appeal to the commission’s decision.

A court hearing is scheduled on Feb. 22 and City Hall has promised not to touch the trees until then, Nitti noted, the commission had postponed discussing the trees at least twice since it first appeared on its agenda in November. The Treesavers requested the postponements because they wanted more time to prepare an argument.

The Landmark commission was near unanimous in denying the landmarks application, with Ruthann Lehrer being the sole voice in support of designation, persuaded by a revelation of a possible tie-in between the planting of the trees in the early 1960s and the women’s and environmental movements. City staff had recommended that the commission deny the request, finding that the trees did not meet any of the six criteria necessary for a designation.

Apart from promoting the ecological virtues of the ficuses, the Treesavers dedicated a bulk of their argument on the story of former Santa Monica resident Jacqueline Girion, a long-time community activist who was considered to be instrumental in getting the trees planted. Girion resided in the Ocean Park neighborhood for 16 years and for a period of time served on the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce’s City Beautification Committee. It was on this committee that Girion, a mother of five children, fostered a
relationship with downtown business owners and helped secure the planting of the
ficus trees, according to the Treesavers.

“Not one of those trees represents a historic site,” son Shephard Girion said. “As a collection, they represent Santa Monica.”

Under the landmarks ordinance, a structure can qualify for designation if it is associated
with a historic person or significant event. While Girion might have been instrumental in planting the trees, some commissioners said they didn’t believe she was an historic figure and couldn’t find enough significance with the trees to warrant a designation.

“These special trees have a groundswell of public support, there’s a reason for it because they’re individually important,” said Commissioner Roger Genser. “As a group, I don’t think they come to a level of being landmarked trees.”

Lehrer disagreed and said while Girion might not fit the traditional description of a
historic person, her contributions to the civic life of Santa Monica was significant.
“I was quite taken and amazed by her contributions,” Lehrer said.

Information taken from a story by Melody Hanyati that ran in the January 16^th, 2008 Santa Monica Daily Press.
http://www.smdp.com/site/archives/011608.pdf
 

ALAN GREENSPAN TELLS TOKYO THAT HIGH U.S. HOUSING INVENTORY IS AN ISSUE FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Greenspan: High U.S. Housing Inventory Key Global Issue

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Tokyo businessmen that the most important global financial issue is reducing the excess home inventory in the United States.