Juan Matute

Juan Matute

Juan writes a column and occasionally does technical stuff for Santa Monica Next.

Four Things I’m Thinking About Transportation in L.A.

The UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies is hosting TransportationCamp LA 2024 on Saturday, June 8. Transportation Camp will bring together around 150 people interested in transportation to discuss whatever they decide to based on their interests and experiences. There is no set agenda…

100 Wilshire: A Tale of Two Heights

If you recently read that the City’s tallest apartment building could come to 6th and Colorado, you may be left wondering how the facts of that story measure up.  Measurement should be objective: arguments over the length of an hour,…

Waymo Arrives in Santa Monica

Waymo has arrived in Santa Monica. Yes, for several months Waymos have been riding around town gathering data and testing. Sometimes there’s a test driver, other times there’s not. But Waymo is a passenger service, and that capability is soon…

Dark Money Group “A Brighter Future” Endorses Four Challengers in School Board Race (Updated)

Endorsements, and mailers that tout those endorsements, are a common place in Santa Monica politics. Local news covers endorsements from political parties such as Santa Monicans for Renters Rights or Santa Monica Forward. Statewide and regional groups such as Streets for All and the Sierra Club blast out endorsement announcements to hundreds or thousands of people on mailing lists. 

Aligning Santa Monica’s assets to its mission

This post, by Frank Gruber and Juan Matute, first appeared on The Healthy City Local. We wrote in our last piece that although the City of Santa Monica is experiencing an unprecedented financial crisis during which revenues are predicted to miss targets by…

A Local New Deal for Santa Monica

This post, by Frank Gruber and Juan Matute, first appeared on The Healthy City Local. The City of Santa Monica is experiencing a financial crisis unprecedented in living memory. If left as is, planned expenditures are likely to exceed revenues…