11.21.2009

Suspects In Stabbing Plead Guilty

On September 25, around 9:45 p.m., a 17-year-old Inglewood resident was stabbed after a Santa Monica High School home football game.

On November 2, suspects Christopher Diaz and Kenneth Jones agreed to a plea bargain with the Santa Monica District Attorney’s Office. The charges agreed upon were misdemeanor battery as well as promoting a Street Gang. They were later sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years probabtion.

The two suspects were originally booked on attempted murder but the charges were reduced based on the plea araingments.

The stabbing took place just after Santa Monica High’s victory over rival Venice High at Santa Monica College’s Corsair Field.

Director’s Showcase at Santa Monica Library

The Santa Monica Library will be hosting a live theatre showcase today at 2 p.m. The Showcase will have four directors; Edward Edwards, Misti Barnes, Nancy Charles, and Louis Yansen.

Each will direct live scenes of approximately ten minutes in length. After all of the scenes are completed, the directors will take part in a Q&A session with the audience.

This even is free to the public and tickets will be made available at 1 p.m. nut will be distributed on a first come first serve basis.

Possible Ban on Smoking: In Your Own Home

Residents of Santa Monica may one day need to leave heir own house, just to have a smoke.

Rent Control Board Member Robert Kronovet, is going to sponsor a ban on smoking in all apartments in Santa Monica. The plan is to ban smoking in all apartments that share a common wall or ceiling with a neighboring apartment. This ban would also extend to any patios or balconies.

There is already a ban on smoking in common areas of apartment building. Many residents have reached out to the board in order to expand the ban to include actual individual apartments. Kronovet said, “in a nutshell, smoking in a multi family units has become in many people’s view a health issue.”

Kronovet hopes that the bard will adopt this ordinance during a Dec. 3 meeting. Hoping that the talks will lead to a new ordinance and regulations that at least cover mutli-family units.

11.14.2009

Film Festival Hits Dowtown

Today from 11 a.m. until midnight, downtown Santa Monica will host its annual Santa Monica Film Festival. The Ocean Avenue Screening Room will host entries from filmmakers, both local and international, in a competition that will have Feature Film, Documentary, and Short film Categories.

Henrietta Roe, the festival organizer, said that the day is going to be “picturesque and intimate.”

With efforts to promote new films and filmmakers to the movie industry and locals, a breakfast meant for networking and introductions will be held at 11 a.m.

One local entry, entitled “Work to Surf,” is a documentary about former Z-boy Sarlo during his days as a local skateboarder and surfer in the 1970’s.

There will be an award ceremony and VIP party that will begin around 9 p.m.

Woman Gives Birth in Laundromat

Patrons at the Clean People Coin Less Laundry, were in for quite a surprise Friday afternoon.

Just minutes after returning from UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, expecting mother Nancy Jimenez began to feel ill. Nancy had just returned from seeing her doctor at UCLA regarding her pending child birth procedures.

Nancy came to the Laundromat to visit her cousin, Rosalva Jimenez who is employed in the Laundromat’s fluff and fold section. Shortly after complaining to her cousin, Nancy entered the bathroom and began to scream. Rosalva jumped into action, first seeing what was the matter with Nancy. After realizing that Nancy was in fact going into labor, Rosalva gathered some towels and called 911.

While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Rosalva delivered a healthy baby boy around 1:30 p.m.

The mother and child were taken to UCLA medical center and are both in good health.

Get Your Kicks on the Pier

Wednesday November 11^th, marked the 83^rd anniversary of the historic Route 66. It also was the day, that the Santa Monica Pier became the official end point of the historic highway.

Route 66, the historic route from Chicago to Los Angeles, has unofficially ended at the Santa Monica pier for some time now, as the route ended at Santa Monica and Ocean Ave. Some believe that the history behind this, stems from a Highway sign put up as a movie prop. The original sign vanished about 50 years ago, but is now replaced by an official sign put up by the Route 66 Alliance.

On Wednesday there were 66 vintage cars and motorcycles in a procession that began on Lincoln and Santa Monica, and ended at Santa Monica and Ocean.

The Route 66 Alliance, an organization that works to preserve and promote the highway, has been working closely with the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corp., in order to make this possible.

11.7.09

Making it in Tough Times

With unemployment at an all time high of 10 percent nationally, one organization is working to lower that number.

Chrysalis, a non-profit organization, is helping the homeless and economically challenged find jobs. The office located in Santa Monica has seen an increase of 40 percent over the last year. With the tough economic times, and the rise in unemployment, Chrysalis has been seeing a different type of customer recently.

While the homeless and economically disadvantaged are still their primary customers, Chrysalis has seen an influx of customers who have either been recently laid off, or are under employed.

The customers they aide are not the only victims of the economy though. Donations to the organization have dropped, showing that the economic troubles are wide spread.

Chrysalis will be holding a fundraising dinner at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel on Tuesday, November 10^th.

Pico Man shot in ‘Brazen’ Attack

Residents of the Pico Neighborhood were shocked by the public and brazen attack that left one of its residents dead Tuesday night.

On Tuesday, November 3^rd, 20-year-old Richard Juarez was gunned down in an apparently gang related incident.

While leaving the Virginia Park Teen Center, Juarez and two of his friends were approached by two men. After a short exchange of words, one man opened fire on the group, but only hitting Juarez. Santa Monica Fire Department responded to the call but Juarez was pronounced dead on arrival.

The victim’s uncle, Frank Juarez, said that Richard was leaving an art class at the park when the incident occurred. He also went on to say that, “Richard liked people, and people liked him.” He also went on to say that while the police believe it may be gang related, Juarez’s family says that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Four suspects were arrested immediately following the attack. Patrick Birdsong, 18 of Los Angeles, Norman Cole, 33 of Los Angeles, Sean Mermer, 29 of Lancaster, and an African American juvenile were arrested by Santa Monica PD just minutes after the attack. Birdsong, the primary suspect, has had his bail set at 1.05 million dollars.

Tree People Bring the Cool

A non-profit organization, Tree People, was on campus Friday at Grant Elementary in Santa Monica planting trees in the children’s playground.

Kindergarteners and parents planted Australian Willows in a portion of the playground that as a whole has been undergoing renovations starting in 2008.

Originally, there were plans to add artificial shade to the playground, but when estimates for cost came back way over budget, the school scrapped those plans. But soon after, Kindergarten parent Jessica Luck, contacted the Tree People.

Luck had been working with the organization and was familiar with their work. The Tree People came to Grant Elementary in order to do more than plant some trees to provide shade. They also mean to educate the children. Not only did the children learn how to plant a tree, they also learned their environmental importance.

The Tree People have made Grant Elementary a little bit cooler, while helping the environment and educating students.