Mayor's Roundtable Episode 2 : The Budget
Who's Next Santa Monica
The second episode of our Mayor's Roundtable podcast features Former Mayor Gleam Davis and activist and researcher Juan Matute. While the focus of this podcast is the city's annual budget, there's also a really interesting mini-discussion at about the eighteen minute mark where we discuss the future of the Civic, Airport (and Airport Park) and how either or both of those properites could be part of the solution for the city's ongoing budget deficit. A full, but lightly edited, transcript of the podcast can be found below. Damien Newton - I'm here with Juan Matute and Gleam Davis, and we...
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Mayor's Roundtable : Santa Monica in the Age of Trump
Who's Next Santa Monica
The first episode of our “Mayor’s Roundtable” series at Santa Monica Next features Former Mayor Ted Winterer and local activist Chris Guitierrez to discuss what the city can do to protect its residents and the environment during a Trump presidency. In 2017, Wintermer was mayor at the start of the first Trump presidency. Winterer led Santa Monica's response focusing on protecting undocumented residents and maintaining local climate action. The city organized meetings, created safety networks, and provided legal referrals to support undocumented residents. Santa Monica also joined...
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Who's Next w/ Dr. Paul Drew
Who's Next Santa Monica
This week's episode of Who's Next features an interview with Dr. Paul Drew, familiar to Santa Monia Next readers as the editor/publisher of The Swish, the YMCA's youth basketball newsletter. Every issue, Drew profiles some of the people (players, coaches, refs, etc...) that make the hoops program work. We thought we'd turn the microphone around and point the microphone at Dr. Drew himself so listeners could meet Doc. Drew and find out more about the great program he runs at the Y. Signup for the summer session that begins on July 20th is underway. Boys and girls of all skill level ages 5-14...
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Who's Next Episode 2: SMMUSD Now Powered by Renewable Energy and What Our Guests Will Miss About Samo (and Samohi) as They Head to College
Who's Next Santa Monica
Damien welcomes back Maya, Emery and Willa for our second “Who’s Next” podcast. The three guests are all seniors at Santa Monica High School and leaders of the environmental group Team Marine. On Wednesday, SMMUSD celebrated becoming a school district completely powered by renewable energy, and in the first ten minutes or so of the podcast, we talk about what achieving that goal means for the District and what these three leaders did to push the district to make that change happen faster. The second two parts of the podcast are more fun. Emery, Maya and Willa are departing for...
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Who's Next Episode 1: Previewing the March 5 Primary
Who's Next Santa Monica
Welcome to our new podcast series, Who’s Next, where we talk to youth leaders in Santa Monica about the issues that are most important to them. With California’s primary election next Tuesday, I had a chance to talk with three co-captain’s for Samohi’s Team Marine. The conversation jumps back and forth between a discussion of the election and issues that youth are concerned about nationwide and a discussion of their personal advocacy efforts and those of Team Marine. I don’t want to ramble on too much, so to learn more you can listen to the podcast immediately below, or a...
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What's Next Special Episode : Dr. Toloudis Boycotts APSA
Who's Next Santa Monica
This weekend the American Political Science Association (APSA) rolled into Los Angeles for its annual conference. But this year, the annual confab was roiled in controversy as the association was moving on with its conference after Unite Here Local 11 asked them to cancel the conference or move it online in a show of solidarity as their strike and picketing against hotels in the region continued. APSA's board voted 17-4 to move on with the conference, but move the meetings, lectures and everything else out of the hotels and into the convention center. This was not enough for Unite Here...
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What's Next Episode 8 : Katie Neginskiy of IWRC
Who's Next Santa Monica
This week's podcast features Katie Neginsky with the . IWRC is a "community of learning, support, and resources for refugee and immigrant women and their families focused on building joy and momentum." It offers plenty of ways for people to get involved with helping refugees adjust to American culture from teaching classes online, to helping at events, to fundraising. To get more involved, there's plenty of resources on their website. This podcast is the first of a new series we'll be doing to introduce readers and listeners to non-profits in the region where they can volunteer time and...
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What's Next Episode 7: Jon Katz
Who's Next Santa Monica
The What's Next podcast is back, and this interview is a doozy. Featuring Democratic Club President Jon Katz, we have a wide ranging conversation discussing everything from how the Dem. Club makes endorsements and gets involved in issues, how Santa Monica IS safe, and even why Leslie Nielsen does a great job playing the President of the United States in Scary Movie 3. If you prefer to read a transcript, a lightly-edited (for clarity) copy of our discussion . The audio is embedded at the bottom of this post. And of course, we also discuss the Unite Here! and other hotel strikes happening...
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What's Next Episode 6: Daniel Ivanov
Who's Next Santa Monica
A discussed the Rent Control Board and how next week they are expected to vote to increase the rent by up to 2.8% for properties governed by the city's rent control laws. To explain the process by which increases are set, the value of rent control for a city such as Santa Monica and other matters related to the vote; we brought on Rent Control Boardmember Daniel Ivanov for this week's episode of What's Next. If you have any issues with your rent, or questions for the Rent Control Board, Daniel asked that we print his email address so you can get in touch with him directly. You can do so,...
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What's Next Episode 5 : Cynthia Rose
Who's Next Santa Monica
Welcome to What’s Next, Episode 5 featuring SM Spoke’s Cynthia Rose. Cynthia has been involved in mobility, street safety and environmental politics in Santa Monica for decades and we’re happy to have her join us as part of our coverage of Bike Month! If you’re just joining us, you can catch up on past episodes of Santa Monica Next: , , and earlier this week we dropped . A full transcript of today’s podcast can be found right here: Damien: Welcome to Episode 5 of the What's Next podcast for Santa Monica Next. May is Bike Month and we are celebrating by having Cynthia Rose, the...
info_outlineThe What's Next podcast is back, and this interview is a doozy. Featuring Democratic Club President Jon Katz, we have a wide ranging conversation discussing everything from how the Dem. Club makes endorsements and gets involved in issues, how Santa Monica IS safe, and even why Leslie Nielsen does a great job playing the President of the United States in Scary Movie 3.
If you prefer to read a transcript, a lightly-edited (for clarity) copy of our discussion can be read here. The audio is embedded at the bottom of this post.
And of course, we also discuss the Unite Here! and other hotel strikes happening throughout Southern California. Our next podcast will feature a worker explaining why they are striking and what they hope to achieve through direct action.
But in the meantime, the local dem club is making waves itself. The club announced this weekend that five members of its executive board were appointed to Standing Committees in the California Democratic Party (CADEM). These include:
Dan Hall, SMDC Vice President for Political Action, was appointed to the Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI) Committee,
Susan Sheu, SMDC Vice President for Communications, was appointed to the Platform Committee,
Natalya Zernitskaya, SMDC Recording Secretary, was appointed to the Rules Committee,
Caroline Torosis, Santa Monica City Council Member and elected CADEM Executive Board Member, was reappointed to the JEDI Committee,
Anastasia Foster, a Santa Monica Rent Control Board Commissioner, was appointed to be the Vice Chair of the Credential Committee.
If you’re just joining us, you can catch up on past episodes of Santa Monica Next: Episode 1 with Jesse Zwick, Episode 2 with Kate Cagle, Episode 3 with Rick Cole, Episode 4 with Abby Arnold, Episode 5 with Cynthia Rose and Episode 6 with Daniel Ivanov.