FR EE
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2002
Volume 2, Issue 22
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Pavillions charged with overcharging customers
Getting festive!
By Daily Press staff
A Santa Monica judge has denied a local grocery store’s motion to dismiss criminal charges alleging that it overcharged customers. Pavillions on Montana Avenue, which is owned by Vons, is accused of charging customers more at the check-out line for products than what was advertised in the store. A routine undercover scanner inspection conducted on Oct. 31, 2001, at Pavilions by an investigator from the Los Angeles County Department of Agricultural Commissioner/Weights and Measures found that six of the 20 items
Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press
‘Jade’ (left) and Tom Nolan of the Tom Nolan Band, jam out on Sunday during Main Street’s Get Festive! celebration. The numerous bands weren’t the only ones jamming over the weekend — Main Street was packed with people for the events.
Downtown L.V. residents don’t want homes labeled historic By The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Mike Ganson lives in a 3,200-square-foot house in downtown’s John S. Park neighborhood. He bought it two years ago thinking he could one day sell it for a profit if a developer came along with plans to build a shopping center and the right price. Ganson may lose that option if the city designates the neighborhood its first historic district — and he’s unhappy about that prospect. “If I could flip the property and get an extra $150,000 for the property, I should have that right,” Ganson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Similar to some Santa Monica residents who are pushing a measure called the Homeowners Freedom of Choice Initiative, which aims to give homeowners more say in the landmark designation process of their homes, a group of Las Vegas citizens think a historic district would erode their property rights. And now what began almost three years ago as an earnest neighborhood planning effort has begun to divide residents. It’s a squabble that helps highlight the difficulties of preserving history in a valley that’s long been defined by its insistence on looking forward.
“It is more difficult here than in any other American and Western city,” said Hal Rothman, chairman of the history department at UNLV. “The reason is we’re the city of reinvention. We’re not interested in the past. We’re really not interested in the present. We’re more interested in the future.” Last month, the city’s Historic Preservation Commission approved a petition nominating the neighborhood. Next month, it goes before the planning commission and then the city council. A building generally has to be at least 50 years old to be considered historic. Listing the neighborhood as historic would not automatically veto a switch to commercial zoning, but it would likely make such changes more difficult to obtain. It also would erect a bureaucratic hurdle for property owners who want to change the outside appearance of their homes. Any such changes would have to be approved by the Historic Preservation Commission, an 11-member panel of experts and citizens appointed by the city council. Mary Hausch, a commission member and a John S. Park resident, said preservation is needed to prevent exactly the type of commercial zoning that Ganson wants to obtain.
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selected were incorrectly scanned, resulting in overcharges. Vons officials were unavailable for comment. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins on Friday ruled that Von’s should go to trial on the charges. The Vons Companies, Inc. is charged with six counts of violating the business and professions code for charging higher than the posted price on sale items. Vons also is charged with one count of violating of the business and professions code for disseminating false and misleading advertisements. See PAVILLIONS, page 6
City attorney and landlords settle over harassment suit Settlement gives tenant more than $6,000 BY ANDREW H. FIXMER Daily Press Staff Writer
A tenant with a Santa Monica, rentcontrolled apartment received more than a $6,000 settlement because her landlords allegedly violated city law. Landlords Mary Brittany Stevenson and Anthony T. Wells agreed Thursday to pay their tenant, Hamlin — a woman who asked her first name not be used — $6,371 to settle a harassment lawsuit brought by the city.
The city’s Tenant Harassment Ordinance allows renters to file complaints through the city if their landlord refuses to make repairs, blocks access to their apartment or treats them unfairly. Hamlin alleges in August 2001, when Stevenson and Wells bought the apartment building at 2633 Lincoln Blvd., the landlords refused to accept her rent payments. Hamlin had leased a rent-controlled unit at the building since 1984. The tenant said she tried to send a check by mail, but it was returned. She said she then tried to send it by certified mail, but again it was returned. And, finalSee SETTLEMENT, page 6
Gunfire wakes up community By Daily Press staff
Shots were fired early Sunday morning in a Santa Monica neighborhood, but no one was injured, police said. Santa Monica police were called to 17th Street and Delaware Avenue at 2:05 a.m. on Dec. 8 after several residents reported that shots were being fired. When officers arrived, they spoke to several witnesses who said two Hispanic men were seen in the area when they heard two to three shots, police said. No vehicle was seen or heard leaving the area. Officers checked the area and found pieces of evidence, including empty gun casings, said SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega. Officers assigned to the Pico Neighborhood Taskforce contacted other agencies in surrounding cities to determine if similar incidents had occurred elsewhere. Nothing had been reported as of Sunday afternoon, Fabrega said. The area, which is known as the Pico Neighborhood and is located on the eastside of Santa Monica, has been rife with gang and drug activity for years. There have been several shootings in the neighborhood this year. Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the SMPD’s Robbery/Homicide Unit at (310) 458-8451.