FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2002
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Volume 1, Issue 46
Santa Monica Daily Press Serving Santa Monica for the past 54 days
It’s budget time for SM City Hall Council must set priorities in a year that’s financially challenged BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON Daily Press Staff Writer
Dealing with a severe budget shortfall, the Santa Monica City Council will begin next week the daunting task of setting priorities and possibly cutting back services for 2002. Depending on what the end-of-theyear sales tax revenues produce, the city could come up short anywhere between $8-$17 million. And for the past few months, city department heads in City Hall have been looking at ways to cut the fat off their own budgets to trim down the deficit. Tuesday marks the first public meeting when the city council will begin setting financial priorities. The Jan. 8 public hearing also will give residents a chance to offer their suggestions on issues and funding relating to the 2002-03 budget, which will be adopted in the spring. Mayor Mike Feinstein recently told the Daily Press that while none of the
essential services will be cut, some capital projects may have to be deferred to make up for the shortfall.
“We are confident that we can trim and not cut deeply.” — MIKE FEINSTEIN Santa Monica Mayor
“We are confident that we can trim and not cut deeply,” he said, adding the big emphasis will be on how the city can operate more efficiently. One could to look at the city’s $54 million public safety building being constructed behind City Hall as an example of a capital project that has run over budget. The project has been delayed months and is $10 million See BUDGET, page 3
New year off to violent start in Santa Monica
Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Damatri Crayton and Burns Security guard Vernel Williamson leave their post at the Santa Monica Courthouse Thursday to raise the flags representing the United States, California and the city of Santa Monica.
BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON Daily Press Staff Writer
Local police started off 2001 by nabbing an armed robber and a rapist, resulting from two separate incidents on New Year’s Day. The alleged armed robber, identified as David Alanzo Batiz of Culver City, was captured by Santa Monica Police in the Pico neighborhood after he threatened a gas station attendant with a knife. Batiz allegedly pulled a knife on an employee at UNOCAL gas station on Pico Boulevard and 20th Street after the attendant refused to fill gas into Batiz’s plastic water bottle. He put the knife to the attendant’s stomach before running north on Pico Boulevard. Police found him on the 2100 block of Court 20. The gas station employee identified him and Batiz was booked for attempted armed robbery. His bail was set at $35,000. Earlier that morning, police arrested a San Francisco man for allegedly raping a woman in a Santa Monica hotel room. Semj Deshields, 32, was arrested on charges of sexual assault, oral copulation
DMV says former Redskin’s license plates are in poor taste By the Associated Press
MANHATTAN BEACH — Dale Atkeson, who played fullback for the Washington Redskins in the 1950s, has been asked to surrender the vanity license plates proclaiming that fact. Calling Atkeson’s 1REDSKN and RDSKN2 plates offensive, the DMV is demanding them back. “Who thought this up?” asked Atkeson, 71. “I think this is pretty ridiculous. I think it’s infringing on my rights. ” See PLATES, page 3
See CRIME, page 3
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