A flyer circulating in Ocean Park by an anonymous group called “Save Main Street” warns residents that Santa Monica is planning to 557 apartments on the city-owned parking lots along Main Street. The flyer also endorses four candidates for the three seats up for election in this fall’s race: former mayor Phil Brock, Councilmember Lana Negrete, Ashley Oelsen, and Doug Trussler.
Like any good misinformation, there’s enough truth to make this seem like an urgent issue, but there is no proposal on the table anywhere to privatize the lands these lots sit on or build housing on them.
The City’s Housing Element identifies the Main Street parking lots as potential housing sites and estimates that they could accommodate hundreds of homes. That identification is part of the state-required Housing Element process. It does not mean a specific development has been proposed, approved or even designed.
Negrete’s video
Councilmember Negrete, one of the candidates endorsed by the group distributing the flyer, addressed the controversy in a video posted yesterday. To her credit, she debunked the flyer’s central premise.
“There’s a flyer circulating about the Main Street parking lots that has raised understandable questions,” Negrete said. “Here are the facts: the City has no plans to issue an RFP, and the development concept shown in the flyer has never been discussed.”
Negrete also pointed out that the image used on the flyer is not an official City rendering.
“The image is AI-generated, not a City rendering,” she said. “Please keep asking questions and seeking accurate information. Transparency matters, and I’ll share verified updates with the community.”
You can view the video on Intagram.
Ocean Park Association: Nothing has changed
The Ocean Park Association also pushed back on the idea that a project is currently moving forward.
In its Sept. 28 newsletter, OPA described the flyers as “politically motivated” and said it had added the issue to its November meeting agenda, after the election. However, the group was more direct about the current status of the parking lots: “In short, no projects have been formally proposed for the Main St parking lots.”
OPA said its board has discussed the issue several times, most recently on April 14, 2025, but added that “nothing has changed since then with the City.”
To be fair to the flyer’s creators: the Housing Element does contemplate housing on city-owned properties, and the Main Street lots are among the sites identified for potential future development. The question of whether, when and how that happens remains a matter for future City action and public discussion.
For now, however, there is no 557-unit Main Street apartment project before the City Council, no approved building design and no current RFP for developers.
