Caltrans will have to measure its highway projects against regional climate goals, and the state’s metropolitan planning agencies will update those plans every eight years instead of four, under a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last month. Senate Bill 1087,…
Santa Monica residents can get a first look at the proposed master plan for the future Great Park at a community event Saturday, October 17, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Memorial Park Gym. The event will showcase the…
One year after Santa Monica adopted its Realignment Plan to close a projected $29.6 million deficit and restore order Downtown, the City Council will hear staff’s accounting of the results tonight. Crime is down, vacancy is down, and new revenue…
I Never Travel Without My Diary ”I never travel without my diary,” wrote author, poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, in The Importance of Being Earnest. “One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” This line, written for the…
California voters should reject Proposition 43, which would make it significantly harder for voters to approve local taxes for transportation and other public services. Under current law, local governments generally need two-thirds voter approval to pass special taxes. But when residents…
Before the Ashley Oelson campaign even opened its headquarters in the old Barnes & Noble building on the Promenade, political observers were asking questions. How could a city council campaign, where individual contributions are capped at $1,200 per cycle, possibly…
Santa Monica Next is urging a “yes” vote on Measure ES. Since much of our coverage the past couple of years has focused on some of the school district’s controversies (HVACs, turf, Safe Routes to Schools) a reader might be…
Yesterday, Councilmember Dan Hall joined our journalism class at the Santa Monica Police Activities League to help our students prepare for interviews with some of the city council candidates running in this fall’s local elections. Back in July, Santa Monica…
Santa Monica students and families are being encouraged to leave the car at home this week (October 5-9) as Bike It! Walk It! Bus It! Week returns with a series of activities promoting walking, biking and public transportation as ways…
Streetsblog California and Santa Monica Next are urging voters to reject Proposition 45. The measure is being pitched as a way to modernize the state’s landmark environmental protection law, the California Environmental Quality Act; but its impact would make it easier to…
(Note: An earlier version of this article misquoted the flyer stating that there were 557 apartments proposed. That has been corrected in the headline and throughout the article.) A flyer circulating in Ocean Park by an anonymous group called “Save…
This legislative session was a bit of an outlier. While the governor’s office has usually been a roadblock for some of our favorite legislation, this year it was the legislature that was the problem. Every piece of legislation that we…
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1167 into law Wednesday, establishing new consumer protections intended to make it harder for high-powered electric motorcycles and other devices to be marketed as e-bikes. The law takes effect January 1, 2027. The law, authored…
Big Blue Bus (BBB) will join transit agencies across California in offering free rides on Wednesday, October 7, as part of California Clean Air Day. The annual event, organized by the Coalition for Clean Air, encourages Californians to take actions…
Santa Monica has spent years presenting itself as a city where walking, biking and transit are part of everyday life. The local school district has embraced that ethos too, at least informally, with route maps, weekly Car-Free Fridays, and a…
