Briefly...
CITY HALL, 1685 MAIN STREET,
is open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.,
and every other Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with payment
and permit services available every Friday. “Closed Fridays”
for most city offices (reducing car trips and improving air
quality) for the next two and a half months are August 3, 17
and 31, September 14 and 28 and October 12. All city offices
will be closed on Monday, September 3 for the Labor Day
holiday.
EUCLID PARK IS NOW OPEN Come check out Santa
Monica’s newest neighborhood park at 1525 Euclid Avenue!
Designed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios and artist Abbie
Baron, this delightful little park is only .3 acres but
beautifully incorporates a swing set, climber, rolling lawn,
storytelling spot, birdhouse sculptures and a trellis—all
meant to encourage “back yard” activities that complement
the neighborhood. The park also includes an area for
gardening classes and ten community garden plots.
In
accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act,
SeaScape
is available in alternate formats by calling the City
Manager’s Office at (310) 458-8301 (TDD/TTY 917-6626). |
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SANTA
MONICA IS A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY |
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THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR WATER USE
 Water
is the primary building block of life, our economy
and civilization itself, but you would hardly know
it in these United States. Often divorced from its
sources, water has become an abstraction, especially
for many Southern Californians. Flowing as an
odorless and colorless commodity through an
essentially invisible infrastructure, water is an
undervalued resource. Although in times of drought
Santa Monica residents have cooperated with strict
conservation efforts, the last time residents were
asked to reduce their water consumption was in the
early 1990s. As Southern California enters its
driest year on record, it appears likely
conservation measures will become the new norm. That
is because there is no magic fix. No new rivers left
to dam. This means we are finding the water we need
not by capturing more from nature, but by using it
more efficiently at home and at work. We simply need
to look at how we use water, and find even small
ways to reduce our consumption. The City of Santa
Monica is joining its sister water agencies across
the southland in promoting the “20 Gallon
Challenge,” a public outreach initiative that
provides tips on how individuals can reduce their
personal water use by 20 gallons each day. Look for
“challenge” information in your local paper or
on-line at
www.smgov.net in the coming weeks. In the
meantime, here are some things the experts say can
get us off to a good start:
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Plant
California Friendly® landscaping. |
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Cover pools
and spas to reduce evaporation. |
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Find and fix
all leaks—a potential saving of 2,000
gallons per property each year. |
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Convert to
high-efficiency toilets (HETs), the new
international standard. |
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Purchase new
front-loading, water-efficient clothes
washing machines and save 40% of water use
and 60% of energy. |
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Replace
conventional spray irrigation with drip
systems and smart controllers and save 60%
on water use. |
Despite the city’s goal and our efforts to reach
it, water managers have limited influence and
limited ad dollars with which to shift the way tens
of millions of Americans think about this resource.
To bridge the gap between the status quo—which is
not sustainable over time—and our water future, we
must each begin with ourselves.
To find out about rebates,
grants and other water-saving ideas
visit
www.smepd.org or call 1-866-728-3229. |
IT’S NOT JUST
ANY DAY AT THE BEACH!
COASTAL
CLEANUP DAY
Saturday,
September 15, 2007 9 a.m. to 12 noon
More than
12,000 volunteers are expected to participate at more than
50 sites throughout Los Angeles County for the 23rd annual
Coastal Cleanup Day—will you be one of them? Quite possibly
the largest volunteer effort on the planet, this
international event (conducted in 50 states and 91
countries) includes a number of locations in Santa Monica,
and folks of all ages are invited to help remove the trash
and recyclables that degrade our coastline and endanger
marine life. Last year’s volunteers collected more than
80,000 pounds of waste from LA County’s, rivers, lakes,
creeks, wetlands, beaches and ocean floor!
The City of Santa Monica teams with Heal the Bay for this
event, in conjunction with the California Coastal Commission
and L.A. Department of Beaches and Harbors. We hope you will
come out, and encourage your family, friends, neighbors and
co-workers to join the thousands of volunteers around the
world in taking a stand against pollution on Coastal Cleanup
Day. To be part of the action, visit
healthebay.org or call the city’s volunteer program at
(310) 458-8300. |
