Top 5 Westside Stories: Venice Zip Line, Robotic Garage, Mountain Lion

Close out your weekend with a recap of the newsiest and most popular Patch articles from last week. Here are the five stories that topped the headlines on Westside Patch sites:

• The first robotic garage on the West Coast, below the UCLA Santa Monica Outpatient Surgery Center, is pretty cutting edge but it's a little glitchy. Developers say they are still debugging new control software for two robotic arms that grab, store and return vehicles to docking bays without human assistance. The $8 million garage has been in use since the spring. In Los Angeles, others are planned at West Hollywood City Hall and at an affordable housing project in Chinatown. Miller said he intends to build more in Santa Monica, including at a proposed mixed-use housing and commercial project at Sixth Street and Colorado Avenue.

• Join the conversation: The L.A. City Council approved the placement of a shipping container at Venice Beach to store the belongings of homeless people while they stay in a winter shelter. The Venice Neighborhood Council voted in favor of the pilot program, but their vote came after it was implemented and councilmembers were not pleased. The Venice Stakeholders Association, however, is threatening to sue the city over the container, contending it requires permits and the approval of the California Coastal Commission. The container will be in place in Venice until approximately March 8, as the winter shelter closes March 1. 

• In other Venice Beach news, the California Coastal Commission will vote on a proposed zip line attraction Feb. 8. The ride is expected to generate about $150,000 during the pilot period. Two-thirds of those revenues would be allocated to improving Venice Beach facilities, such as restrooms and trash bins. The zip-line could be up-and-running by July 1. 

• A mountain lion was spotted in Pacific Palisades recently—the first reported sighting in Pali since April 2011. Workers said the lion was on the hillside above Avenida de Santa Ynez at Avenida de Cortez. The sighting was reported to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife and state park rangers at Will Rogers and Topanga.

• Check out this Santa Monica home currently listed for just shy of $35 million. It abutts the Riviera Country Club and boasts seven bedrooms, two kitchens (one for catering), a library with a fireplace, an indoor basketball court, gym, spa, a dining room that seats 25, a 2,500-square-foot master suite, screening room and 15-car garage. According to LA Curbed, the home was listed in 2010 before it was finished.

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