Sr-120407-1A~i~
~;tYo, City Council Report
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: December 4,.2007
Agenda Item: ~~
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Barbara Stinchfield, Community and Cultural Services Director
Subject: Adoption of a Resolution of Support Authorizing Grant Application For
Federal Preserve America Grant Funds.
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a Resolution of Support authorizing the
City Manager to submit a Federal Preserve America grant application to the National
Park Service for a cultural mapping project to be located at the Annenberg Community
Beach Club, documenting the cultural history of Santa Monica State Beach.
Executive Summary
The Preserve America grant program is administered by the National Park Service, U.S.
Department of the Interior, and provides designated Preserve America Communities the
ability to compete for grant funds to support planning, development, and implementation
of activities and programs in heritage tourism such as surveying and documenting
historic resources, interpreting historic sites, planning, marketing; and training. City staff
will prepare an application seeking $100,000 in grant funds for the development of a
cultural mapping project that will include oral histories, a permanent display at the
Annenberg Community Beach Club and a cultural marker program highlighting the
people and events that shaped Santa Monica State Beach history and. significantly
influenced popular culture in the world. If awarded, the grant will require adollar-for-
dollar, non-federal match which will be provided using funds currently approved for
cultural programming at the Annenberg Community Beach Club.
Background
In 2004, the City submitted a successful application to designate Santa Monica as a
Preserve America Community by emphasizing the City's accomplishments and ongoing
efforts in recent years to enhance the economic and cultural vitality of the City's
Landmark Santa Monica Pier. Benefits of receiving designation as a Preserve America
Community include recognition as a national leader in preservation efforts, and the
eligibility to compete for Preserve America Community grant funds.
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Staff advised Council in an Information Item dated February 16, 2005, City Council -
2005 Information Items -City of Santa Monica that the National. Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation designated the City of Santa Monica as a Preserve America
Community, making Santa Monica at that time only the third California community to win
this designation.
The FY 2008. Preserve America grant cycle provides an opportunity for the City to seek
funding to support documentation of Santa Monica's colorful and historically significant
beach history, including the role it has played in shaping popular culture and its direct
links to heritage tourism. The new Annenberg Community Beach Club provides a
perfect opportunity to launch such a project and to serve as its "home base."
Anticipated components of the mapping project will include oral histories, permanent
displays and development of a cultural marker program identifying key sites along Santa
Monica State Beach.
Discussion
During the last several years, interest in preserving Santa Monica's beach culture has
been increasing. City staff has been contacted by numerous community members who
have expressed concerns that the history of important beach icons, such as Muscle
Beach and Ink Well Beach, will be lost. In addition, participants at the numerous
community workshops for the new Annenberg Community Beach Club emphasized the
need to preserve the site's important history and the role it has played in Santa
Monica's beach culture -first as the Marion Davies Estate and later as a hotel and the
popular Sand and Sea Club. These participants also felt that the new beach club
should serve as the cornerstone of a broader effort to document the role that Santa
Monica has played in the birth of now popular sports such as skateboarding, surfing,
and beach volleyball.
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The recent notice of fund availability through the Federal Preserve America grants
provides the City with an opportunity to expand the planned interpretative program at
the Annenberg Community Beach Club to include these other aspects of Santa Monica
beach culture. A completed application package must include the attached Resolution
of Support showing the City's willingness to accept the Preserve America funding if
awarded and demonstrating its commitment to the project. The application is due to the
National Park Service by December 12, 2007. Grants will be awarded based upon
funding availability. A Preserve America Grants Selection Panel, a panel of experts
representing the partner agencies, will review applications and make funding
recommendations. The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Advisory
Council on .Historic Preservation, .will select successful applicants and forward
selections to the White House and to the House and Senate Committees on
Appropriations for concurrence. Awards will be announced after the White House and
Committees concur.
Public Outreach
If funded, City staff will provide opportunities for community input at meetings of relevant
City Commissions and will solicit the participation of local organizations involved in
cultural and historic preservation and cultural tourism.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
If the grant of $100,000 is awarded, the City must provide dollar-for-dollar matching
funds. These matching funds will be available in the Annenberg Community Beach
Club base operating budget that was approved in the City's FY 2008-09 Budget Plan in
account 11522.544390. $102,500 in cultural programming funds have been including in
the beach club's annual operating budget projections and will be available to sustain
and update beach. culture programming in future years. A subsequent Council action
may be required to accept the grant and make appropriate budget changes. Revenue
and expenditure accounts would be established at that time.
Prepared by:
J
Karen Ginsberg, Assistant Director
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
Barbara Stinchfield ~--''P~Camont Ewell
Director, Community & Cultural Services Manager
Attachment A: Preserve America Grant Resolution
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Reference
Resolution No.
10263 (CCS).