Ross Furukawa and Todd James talk about scooters and micro mobility, then Matt jumps into a conversation with Francie Stefan, Chief Mobility Officer for the City of Santa Monica. They talk about what the City is doing to regulate the micro mobility companies, how the pilot program worked, how they manage devices and how they plan to manage the programs in the future. 

Matt then interviews Karla Owunwanne head of Socal Community and Government Relations for Lime. They talk about how cities are regulating, how many people are riding, how some cities have done it right and why scooter companies are pulling out of some cities. 

Subjects discussed:

Violence.

Mental illness.

Relationship with the cops they don’t want to touch them or put them in the car.

Where you can put a tent down.

What the cops will enforce and not enforce.

Entitlement of some of the homeless with food.

Life is good on the beach in Venice, pastry trucks, shower trucks, hot dog trucks.

Some pretty awesome conspiracy theories about what’s next for the homeless population, among the homeless population.

Where the homeless get their free smart phone.

What services are available, but they are too lazy to go get them.

How is the dating scene on the streets?

Where they can take a shower.

Ross talks with Charlie about his years on the street, and how it all goes down. 

-Scooter charging and how to hack energy. 

-Where his homeless hangouts 

-Living with a prostitute roommate in a hotel room in the Valley

-Tells his story about how he became homeless, and how he got out of homelessness.

-Drug use, types of drugs and who's doing them.

-Safety on the streets, who is safe, how to stay safe.

-Homeless people don’t want to work, work is a 4 letter word to them.

-How to not appear homeless, stay clean and how to use some pretty interesting resources. 

-His homeless cabana on Venice beach

-His friend, a former model lives in front of trashy lingerie in a tent, has been there for years. 

-Why Legal Marijana is a gateway, and it's way too strong. 

-Why Vegan homeless living on Venice beach is pretty easy.

-Daily pastries and food is delivered every day on the beach.

-A Wedding dress and mannequin story.

-His homeless neighbor on the beach.

-How it got a couch from Erhewon on Wilshre to the Pacific Palisades to live in the bushes.

-Where the hot homeless spots are today.

-Another homeless hustle...disabling GPS on scooters, selling them for $30

Ross and Matt talk about homelessness on the Westside of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Venice. 

When did it become such a problem? Where are they from? What can we do about it? Does it have anything to do with the Expo line? 

Ross and Matt talk about AB5, the new bill that went into effect on January 1. AB5 eliminates the ability for many professions in the gig economy to operate as independent contractors. 

Ross Furukawa and Matt Hall discuss what they see are the main topics of news coverage going into 2020. 

Election year, voting districts, homelessness and some possible amendments to some of the propositions that are blamed with causing the increase in crime across the state. 

With lots of retail square footage coming online while retail in general is declining will create news stories, and the changing use of retail space will also be very reportable. 

Matt Hall discusses the most important issues we have tackled this year, and how they relate to larger, regional and national issues. 

They discuss 2019 coverage on the districting of our city council elections, homelessness, the Eric Uller case at PAL (Police Activities League) and crime. 

Other subjects include housing, development, traffic and what you may see on the front page shortly. 

Todd James and Matt Hall talk shop about the most read stories in the Santa Monica Daily Press for 2019. 

The most read story of the year was an obituary written by Tatiana Blackington James about the founder of Yogaworks passing while in Japan. 

https://www.smdp.com/yogaworks-founder-dies-while-in-japan/177356

Some other stories that got lots of readership was the Target and Tesla opening stories written by Madeleine Pauker.

https://www.smdp.com/target-and-tesla-announce-santa-monica-locations/172417

Breaking news and crime watch do very well, as does feature stories about local businesses. 

City Council coverage does not do well, but restaurant opening and closings do particularly well. 

Matt and Brennon discuss the new gastro-publication, Flavor. It's the only dedicated food magazine in the Los Angeles area, produced by the team at the Santa Monica Daily Press. 

Brennon and Matt talk about Hamburgers, Hornblower Dinner cruises, cocktails and new restaurant openings. 

Jenny give the inside scoop on great places to go to celebrate the holidays, how to get a fast pass to take a photo with Santa, and some of her local favorites for shopping.