Marsha Jones Moutrie

Marsha Jones Moutrie laid it on the line Tuesday night: If the Santa Monica City Council wanted a city attorney who mixed politics with jurisprudence, she was the wrong lawyer for the job. "I was pleasantly surprised," Moutrie recalls. "They were happy." So happy that Moutrie was chosen virtually on the spot for the $110,000-a-year job, thus ending an often ugly and seemingly endless search to replace former City Atty. Robert M. Myers.

Marsha Jones Moutrie laid it on the line Tuesday night: If the Santa Monica City Council wanted a city attorney who mixed politics with jurisprudence, she was the wrong lawyer for the job. "I was pleasantly surprised," Moutrie recalls. "They were happy." So happy that Moutrie was chosen virtually on the spot for the $110,000-a-year job, thus ending an often ugly and seemingly endless search to replace former City Atty. Robert M. Myers.

Breaking a lengthy stalemate, the Santa Monica City Council has unanimously selected a city attorney to replace Robert M. Myers, who was ousted 15 months ago in a dispute over the community's policies on the homeless. Marsha Jones Moutrie, a lawyer specializing in municipal law with the Los Angeles firm of Richards, Watson & Gershon, was selected late Tuesday night in closed session. The job pays $110,000 a year.

Breaking a lengthy stalemate, the Santa Monica City Council has unanimously selected a city attorney to replace Robert M. Myers, who was ousted 15 months ago in a dispute over the community's policies on the homeless. Marsha Jones Moutrie, a lawyer specializing in municipal law with the Los Angeles firm of Richards, Watson & Gershon, was selected late Tuesday night in closed session. The job pays $110,000 a year.

Seeking to cover up a bare spot in its municipal code, Santa Monica officials talked this week about coming up with a law banning nudity at the beach. The issue arose because police have, at beach residents' insistence, been detaining nude sunbathers. But the city attorney says there's no way to prosecute them. The local law is, to say the least, quirky: It bans changing clothes in a car, but says nothing about baring it all in a beach parking lot.

Devastated by fire and earthquake, the historic Santa Monica Sea Castle apartment building is a safety hazard and must be torn down as soon as possible, city officials said Tuesday. The Santa Monica City Council approved spending more than $692,000 to demolish the eight-story Sea Castle after determining that the building is in danger of collapsing. The owner, Sea Castle Apartments Ltd.

The family of saxophonist Donald Myrick, who was killed by a Santa Monica police officer two years ago, has settled its lawsuit against the city for $400,000. The former Earth, Wind and Fire band member was shot down when police mistook a butane lighter he was holding for a gun while serving a search warrant at his West Los Angeles apartment in 1993.

Citing petty squabbling among members that has created an inefficient Santa Monica Airport Commission, a city councilman suggests removing the current commissioners from their positions and replacing them with five new members. The proposal, from Santa Monica Councilman Ken Genser, was postponed after Tuesday's council meeting and is scheduled to be discussed Aug. 12. Genser made the proposal as the City Council is considering candidates to fill three current vacancies on the airport commission.

The Santa Monica City Council, responding to growing complaints from residents about the homeless, has voted to open a temporary homeless shelter for more than 100 people as a prelude to evicting transients who live in the city's parks. In a 6-0 vote Tuesday night, the council acted on the advice of new City Atty. Marsha Jones Moutrie, who said such a shelter was needed to comply with a recent state Court of Appeal ruling.

The Federal Aviation Administration took legal action Wednesday to overturn a ban on the fastest jets that fly out of Santa Monica Airport, including aircraft popular among business executives. FAA officials served the city of Santa Monica with a cease-and-desist order challenging a municipal ordinance passed in November -- and effective today -- that bars jets with approach speeds of greater than 136 mph.

A group of homeless people has filed a lawsuit against Santa Monica, claiming that the city enacted a series of discriminatory laws against the homeless. In a class-action suit, the plaintiffs say the city enforces 14 ordinances that, in effect, criminalize homelessness. The 41-page federal lawsuit, filed Feb.