News from Santa Monica.
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…
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…
Although damage to the Santa Monica shoreline from Hurricane Marie forced Goldenvoice to postpone its inaugural Ocean Way Festival until 2027, the company is moving ahead with community benefits promised as part of the festival agreement with the California Coastal…
Main St. Starbucks Closing: Starbucks closed the store on Main Street this past weekend as part of a plan to “shutter about 250 underperforming coffeehouses across North America” according to a company statement. According to some analysts, this is more of…
The following is a submission from SMC. Santa Monica College (SMC) will be accepting applications from prospective students interested in its second baccalaureate program, a Bachelor of Science degree in Cloud Computing, beginning October 1, 2026. The October 1 application window is…
The Santa Monica City Council voted Tuesday to upzone 89 single-family parcels near the Expo/Bundy Station, a move intended to prevent new state housing law Senate Bill 79 from allowing significantly larger developments in the Pico neighborhood. The parcels are…
The following is an adapted excerpt from The Peach: A Memoir of Trauma, Survival, and Forgiveness. It explores the author’s experience as a survivor of an infamous 2003 crash which claimed the lives of ten people. It first appeared in Streetsblog USA.…
The iconic blue neon sign marking the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier will soon come down temporarily as part of the ongoing replacement of the Pier Bridge. The sign is being removed to protect it while crews demolish the…
Santa Monica is moving toward a new agreement with Metro that would allow Santa Monica Police Department officers to patrol the platforms and trains at all three of the city’s Metro E/Expo Line stations, giving the city a much more…
Every week, Santa Monica Next republishes an article from the City Manager’s Weekly Newsletter. This past week, our spectacular Public Works crews began repairs to the beach south of the Pier, where the impacts of Hurricane Marie over Labor Day…
Editor’s note: Because few people, especially parents of school-age children, have time to attend and report-out from government meetings, Santa Monica Next has been working to determine whether artificial intelligence can transcribe and write news reports from these meetings. This…
Following the launch of our AI SMMUSD meeting notes, we heard from several readers asking if we could do previews of the City Council meetings because the city’s website management system for council and commission meetings is, in the words…
Santa Monica Firefighters Local 1109 and the Santa Monica Police Officers Association have broadened their slate of endorsed City Council candidates for the November election, adding challengers Doug Trussler and Ashley Oelsen to their earlier support for incumbent Councilmember Lana…
