| Major Ocean Park School Updates: OPA has been in contact with Superintendent Shelton, Carey Upton and other District officials and have the following updates that are pulled from emails with staff and this flyer they sent to us for distribution:Construction will NOT be complete in time for the start of the 2025-2026 school year. The District wrote “The campus construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of November 2025 allowing students and staff to move in by spring 2026.” The District is not yet ready to announce school details. They wrote “A neighborhood school that previously housed John Muir Elementary School (Muir) and the Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH) is being developed for the Ocean Park neighborhood. The neighborhood school will be built on the strengths and values of both (Muir/SMASH), the neighborhood school is evolving and expanding to provide social-emotionally focused and project-based learning model that has existed at the site for decades.” “The school will feature a unique identity, including a new name and branding, with furtherinformation provided in the coming months.” “Adding Transitional Kindergarten (TK): The new neighborhood school will add two TK classrooms, and add one kindergarten classroom, with the school serving TK-8th grade students. The school will continue to expand in future years with the plan of having two classes serving each grade at full capacity.” Students currently enrolled in SMASH will continue at the Obama Center campus until the reopening of the new campus. If you are in the Ocean Park neighborhood with an incoming TK or kinder student, we welcome you to enroll at SMASH for the 2025-26 school year to transition to the new campus with classmates and same teachers when it reopens during the school year.” “In the next two weeks, the scaffolding should come down on the C & D buildings. It will look like progress. Part of the modernization part of this project is to restructure to parking lot to improve drop off/pick up and student safety. When this occurs we will need to take some of the field area for construction parking. When this plan is developed, we will share it with you. “Future of Santa Monica Airport Sparks Debate Over Parks and Affordable Housing: Santa Monica is approaching a historic turning point as community leaders, activists and elected officials begin weighing the future of the Santa Monica Airport, a 227-acre site slated for aviation closure in 2028. At a meeting of the Santa Monica Democratic Club held last Wednesday, the group launched an ad hoc committee dedicated to studying potential uses for the land and drafting a formal position ahead of critical decisions by the City Council. After decades of political battles over the airport, the new debate hinges on a difficult question: Should the site become a massive urban park or help ease the city’s affordable housing crisis or attempt to do both? More details here. Prices Spike in Brentwood, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica Amid Post-Fire Housing Rush: Home sales and prices across Los Angeles surged in the first quarter of 2025 as thousands of residents displaced by January’s devastating wildfires scrambled to find new housing, according to a report released Thursday by Douglas Elliman. Total home sales across the city’s Westside climbed 25.2% year-over-year, while sales in the luxury segment, representing the top 10% of the market, jumped 28.9%. More details here. City Opens New Resident Survey About Parks and Open Space: Do you enjoy events such as bike month programming? Do you think the city needs more arts programming? How often do you go to one of the city’s parks? Here’s your chance to let the city know as it makes plans for what activities to keep, which ones to expand, and which ones might not be as needed. The survey took me about 10 minutes to complete and is mostly multiple choice questions. This survey is separate from the planning process for the conversion of the Santa Monica Airport. Click here to take the survey. Not No Bar (2424 Main St.) Makes the Infatuation’s “Best Pizza in LA” List: “The pizza at Not No Bar can be difficult to procure. The buzzy cocktail bar-pizzeria in Santa Monica is walk-in only and lines form quickly on the weekends. But your reward is bubbly-crusted, Neapolitan-ish pizza that goes toe-to-toe with the best on the Westside. The topping options are swapped out regularly, but if you see La Blanca, get it. The ricotta-layered white pie is squiggled with pesto and topped with a heap of frilly mustard greens that cut through the richness nicely. The room tends to be less packed on Sundays and Mondays, which means you might be able to glimpse spinning dough action at the back pizza counter from your seat.” More details here. Dolphin and Sea Lion Deaths on Venice and Santa Monica Beaches Linked to Harmful Algae Bloom: While algal blooms and domoic acid outbreaks have occurred, this particular bloom has reportedly impacted more animals than in recent times. More details here. California E-Bike Voucher Portal Open Again: The Air Resources Board’s long–delayed and controversial e-bike voucher program will be opening its application portal for a second time at 6:00 p.m. on April 29th. This time instead of a first-come, first-serve approach that left out tens of thousands of hopeful applicants, the system will randomly choose 1,000 people who join their virtual waiting room between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. To join the waiting room, go to ebikeincentives.org and select the ‘APPLY’ button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. More details here. New Santa Monica Building Performance Standards Policy Will Help the City Achieve its Climate Action Goals: Over the past two years, the city of Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment, or OSE, has been working with property owners and community members to develop a Building Performance Standards Policy that would require Santa Monica’s existing large buildings to meet energy use and/or greenhouse gas reductions over time. The new policy, called the Clean and Healthy Existing Buildings Ordinance, or CHEBO, will be presented to the City Council this summer. More details here. The Street Seen: Airplane Bungalow (2544 3rd St. @ Ocean Park Blvd.): An airplane-style Craftsman bungalow with stone piers and chimney is constructed in 1912 on the west side of 3rd St near Beach St. The house, located in the Third Street Neighborhood Historic District, is extensively renovated in 2006. More details here. Students Ride Big Blue Bus for FREE During Bike It Walk It Bus It Week: From Monday, May 5 to Friday, May 9, K-12 Santa Monica students can ride Big Blue Bus for free during Bike It, Walk It, Bus It (BIWIBI) week! BIWIBI promotes sustainable, eco-friendly alternatives to driving such as walking, biking, and taking public transportation. Santa Monica students and families are encouraged to leave their cars at home and explore greener ways to get around. Give sustainable transit a try and help make a difference! Things To Do This Week: Blue Plate Oysterette Community Dinner Series (Monday 6 – 8pm): Enjoy a chef-curated meal, mingle with your Santa Monica neighbors, and soak in the sunset from our communal table. This dinner will feature Cinco de Mayo edition features shrimp tacos, rice and beans, chips with specialty salsa, and a watermelon and cucumber agua fresca for $29. @ 1355 Ocean Ave. More details here. Jameson’s Pub & Cabo Cantina Cinco de Mayo Fiesta: They are featuring $0.99 Coronitas on Monday, Cinco de Mayo. LIve Talks: An Evening with Christie Brinkley with Cindy Crawford (Monday 8pm): Christie Brinkley will be discussing her memoir, “Uptown Girl.” In 1974, a twenty-year-old Christie Brinkley was “discovered” outside a Paris phone booth, which set off a meteoric modeling career that would land her on the covers of hundreds of magazines and cement her legacy as an All-American icon. Although she’s lived more than fifty years in the public eye, the full story of her roller-coaster life has never been told until now. @ Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar 3200 Motor Ave. More details here. OPA & City Meetings: Architectural Review Board Meeting (Monday 7pm): More details here. Public Safety Reform & Oversight Commission Meeting (Tuesday 5:30pm): More details & agenda here. OPA Connects Meeting (Wednesday 12pm): Here is the Zoom link. Planning Commission Meeting (Wednesday 6pm): More details & agenda here. Library Board Meeting (Thursday 6pm): More details & agenda here. Rent Control Board Meeting (Thursday 6pm): More details & agenda here. |
OPA Update 5/5/25: Major Ocean Park School Updates, Cinco de Mayo Events, & Other Things To Do This Week
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