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THURSDAY
Volume 21 Issue 245
09.01.22 Samohi Volleyball
From fitness classes to street performers, city works to regulate public space EMILY SAWICKI SMDP Staff Writer
The highly visible parklet program, which allows for outdoor dining patios located in parking spaces outside Santa Monica restaurants, is perhaps the most visible facet of the Santa Monica Outdoors Pilot Program, but it is just one piece of a more comprehensive temporar y COVID-19 measure City Council is now working to translate into post-pandemic life. In July, Council voted to make parklets permanent; now, Council has also approved permanent
Triple police patrols scheduled for Labor Day weekend MATTHEW HALL Daily Press Editor
Grace Inez Adams
SPIKE: The Samohi varsity volleyball team fell to Notre Dame Academy in their first non-league match of the season Wednesday night. The team plays against Malibu on Friday Sept. 2 at 3:30 p.m. Their first league match will be Sept. 13 against Redondo Union.
The Santa Monica Police Department will triple patrol resources this weekend in anticipation of large holiday crowds. SMPD will have additional patrols deployed on the beach, Pier and Main Street in the next few days and while a heat wave is expected, officials said the resources would be needed regardless of the weather SEE LABOR DAY PAGE 8
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changes to the way it issues permits for outdoor fitness training programs in public parks. The onset of COVID-19 caused indoor gyms to shut down for months, but it also triggered a cultural shift toward more organized outdoor fitness training and away from traditional indoor gyms and studios for the long term. “I myself will never go back to an indoor gym,” Councilmember Lana Negrete said during a hearing on the program at the Wednesday, Aug. 24 meeting. “I’m totally, fully committed. We live in beautiful Santa Monica. So, I’ve been enjoying the outdoor gym.”
Offering permits in an effort to regulate outdoor fitness programs in public spaces around the city is seen as “an opportunity to preserve and activate parks, mitigate risks, support the local economy, enhance community wellbeing and health, and diversify training locations,” according to Santa Monica city staff. That’s why it has been a program since Jan. 1, 2014. In June 2020, following the start of COVID-19, the City began waiving quarterly use charges for permit-holding businesses. SEE CITY COUNCIL PAGE 2
Defendants in criminal tenant harassment case could end prosecution for $102,000 MATTHEW HALL
Daily Press Editor
The defendants in a criminal case alleging tenant harassment, public nuisance, and zoning violations at a pair of apartment buildings have agreed to a 12-month diversion program that will dismiss all charges against them if payments totaling $102,000 are made. On July 29, a judge for the California Superior Court placed defendants Adam Shekhter, MySuite, LLC., 1238 10th Street, LLC., and 1433 Euclid Street, LLC., in a diversion program that will result in all criminal charges being dropped
if the defendants pay $80,000 to the City of Santa Monica for tenant protection enforcement and outreach, $20,000 to a former tenant, and $2,000 to a current tenant. The case centers on a pair of buildings at 1238 and 1242 10th Street that were sold in the summer of 2015 for $8 million to Neil Shekhter, the CEO of NMS Properties, Inc. However, the properties were not initially part of the NMS inventory and were managed under the MySuite company owned by Neil’s son Adam. The new owners began extensive SEE HOUSING PAGE 3
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