The Santa Monica City Council is touting measurable progress on public safety, city services, and fiscal stability as it shifts its focus toward long-term economic recovery, according to a recent staff report and council discussion outlining the results of the…
From the Big Blue Bus: Beginning Sunday, April 5, new service improvements will take effect. These enhancements are part of our ongoing Brighter Blue service improvement plan, which focuses on making public transit a more appealing alternative to driving and supports Santa…
The Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District (RPOSD) announced its 2026 Measure A grant awards this week, including $499,149 for the City of Santa Monica to support planning and design for the first 20 acres of the…
New research and story maps from UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies pose an interesting—and potentially useful—hypothetical question: how does California define the area of a transit stop? According to the research, every municipality and regional planning organization maps a transit…
A coalition of Westside cities is moving forward with a plan to speed up bus service across some of the region’s most congested corridors, with an eye toward delivering improvements before the 2028 Summer Olympics. The Westside Cities Council of…
The Santa Monica City Council has confirmed Jay Baldwin as the city’s second poet laureate, approving a two-year appointment during its most recent meeting. Baldwin, who was born and raised in Santa Monica, currently works as a school librarian at…
Eagle-eyed reader Eli Gill sends another picture of modern transportation improvements. This time it’s a red bus-only lane on Broadway. Santa Monica has opened new bus-only lanes on Broadway as part of the city’s ongoing Broadway Safety Project, a corridor…
The Santa Monica City Council voted at their 2/298 meeting night to appoint Heidi von Tongeln as the city’s permanent city attorney, elevating her from the interim role she has held since last year. Contract details were just worked out…
Image: St. John’s Cancer Institute With the candidate filing deadline now closed, three candidates will compete for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ Third District seat in 2026: incumbent Lindsey Horvath and challengers Roxanne Hoge and Tonia Arey. Horvath,…
Earlier this week, Next reported that the city made a mistake when repainting curbs after completing storm drain repairs. Instead of red painted curbs near intersections as required by the state’s daylighting laws, the city accidentally repainted them white, as…
The following is a submission from the Santa Monica Dem Club. The Santa Monica Democratic Club will host its fundraising gala, the Sammy Awards, now in its third year, on March 15, 2026, bringing together elected officials, grassroots leaders, labor…
A newly released federal report concludes that a Waymo robotaxi did not behave recklessly when it struck a child near Grant Elementary School earlier this year — but investigators say the crash underscores ongoing safety challenges for autonomous vehicles operating…
The League of Women Voters of Santa Monica will honor four local leaders later this month at its annual Yellow Rose Award celebration, an event that blends history, civic engagement and community recognition. The 2026 program, themed “Leading the Change:…
Photo: Eli Gill is seeing white, not red, at 5th and Washington. Recently, the city had a lot of work to do to repair and in some cases even rebuild storm drains following the heavy storms of January and February.…
City Manager Oliver Chi released data from the first two years of service for the Therapeutic Transport Team and the program is showing measurable results. The city began the Therapeutic Transport Team (TTT) pilot in January 2024 in partnership with…
