By Niki Cervantes
Staff Writer

December 8, 2015 -- From raising the minimum wage citywide to regaining control of the municipal airport and curbing development, Mayor Kevin McKeown has spent a busy year confronting “non-stop” issues that will help shape the future of Santa Monica.

	McKeown, who steps down after serving one year in the mostly ceremonial post, will be replaced by Tony Vazquez, who will become the City’s first Latino mayor Tuesday night. McKeown’s tenure ended with a busy week marked by a major accomplishment, as well as a major setback.
	Mayor Kevin McKeown (photo credit, Santa Monica City Coucil's Website)

The mayor was part of a delegation of City officials that attended the United Nations Conference on Climate Change at the Parc des Expositions, near Paris to showcase a municipal project that will create an all-electric City bus fleet by 2030 (“Santa Monica City Officials Attend Paris Climate Summit,” December 1, 2015) .

At the conference, McKeown learned that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ruled Friday that the City’s century-old airfield must continue to operate as a commercial aviation facility through 2023 (“FAA Rules Santa Monica Airport Must Stay Open,” December 7, 2015).

City officials, led by McKeown, immediately vowed to fight the decision and continue fighting in and out of court to regain control of the municipal airport.

In addition to the conference near Paris, McKeown flew to Washington D.C. with other City officials in July for a face-off with FAA officials. The following month, he traveled to Fujinomiya near Mt. Fuji in Japan to celebrate 40 years as sister cities.

One of the biggest accomplishments under his tenure, McKeown said, was the hiring in May of Rick Cole as new City Manager. Cole, he said, is “bringing our community together with his vision for making Santa Monica an even greater place while keeping it human-scaled.”

McKeown, who was elected to the City Council in 1998, the eve of a failed battle to impose a living wage on private businesses along the coast, has also been at the forefront of an effort to raise the minimum wage citywide to $15 an hour by 2020.

The Council was poised to join Los Angeles and other regional cities by hiking the minimum wage in September, but decided to hold off until the City could address several related issues (“Santa Monica Sends Proposed Minimum Wage Law Back for Tweaking,” September 30, 2015).

As it now stands, City staff is expected to return early next year with a comprehensive ordinance that spells out how to deal with such issues as wage theft and enforcement, exemptions for seasonal workers and a way to ensure tips earned by hotel and restaurant workers go to the workers -- not employers.

As he steps down, “I leave us poised to pass a minimum wage ordinance that will make Santa Monica a reference city for workers’ rights,” McKeown said.

McKeown’s tenure also was marked by a continued drought that has required that Santa Monica, like other cities across the state, impose cuts in water use, even as it continues to struggle with a game plan for dealing with El Nino and the heavy rains that it could bring early next year.

After City Staff presented the El Nino plan to the Council last month, McKeown, who is known for his carefully chosen puns, took out an umbrella and opened it over his head. “Does the Council have any questions?” he asked.

Perhaps the hottest issue facing the increasingly upscale bayside city has been development, and McKeown, who is considered a champion of slow-growth, has been at the center of a battle waged by residents to rein in major projects.

After years of debate and planning, the City Council finally “came together” this year to give unanimous approval to a new citywide zoning code, McKeown said (“Residents Pack Hearing on Santa Monica Zoning Ordinance,” April 16, 2015).

The battle over development is expected to continue under incoming mayor Vazquez, with major projects, most of them Downtown, expected to come before the Council next year.

Preserving housing and protecting tenants have also been major concerns during McKeown’s tenure as mayor.

In May, the City began reining in Airbnb-type short-term vacation rentals, a booming trend that Santa Monica residents said unsettled neighborhoods with increased traffic, noise and other problems. The restrictions prohibit property owners and residents from renting their places unless they stay in the unit with their guests.

The City ban applies to approximately 1,400 — or 80 percent — of the listings on home-sharing on sites like Airbnb, City officials said (“Santa Monica City Council Bans Short-Term Rentals,” May 14, 2015). 

McKeown, who is a longtime member of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), continued his staunch support of affordable housing and tenants’ rights.
In May, the Council adopted “significant” changes” to its laws to prevent harassment of Section 8 tenants, McKeown said (“New Santa Monica Law to Prohibit Discrimination Against Section 8 Tenants,” May 8, 2015).

The City, he added, also “doubled down on our commitment to diversity and affordable housing, approving the first significant new multi-family housing starts in several years.”

McKeown’s year as mayor also saw the debut of the long-planned “Breeze” bikeshare program, the first of its kind in Los Angeles County (“Santa Monica Officials Release Early Bike Share Ridership Numbers,” December 3, 2015).

“The 2014 election gave us a Council that has already shown it can do great things together,” McKeown said. “I’ll work with incoming Mayor Vazquez to make sure we continue to fulfill our potential and provide leadership in making Santa Monica an even better place.”