News from Santa Monica.
To all of you who are asking what can be done when the orders of our courts are not obeyed: In 1962, legal scholar Alexander Bickel authored an analysis of our federal courts and their place in our system. He…
The city council continues to move forward with commitments to Santa Monica’s 6th Cycle Housing Element. On Tuesday evening, the council passed a resolution setting a timeline in motion that should result in the development of 1,880 affordable housing units…
The following is a submission from the City of Santa Monica. The city of Santa Monica will host a virtual town hall meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 26, to provide updates and answer questions from Santa Monica businesses and residents about…
In part 1, I used a safe systems lens to understand traffic safety in Santa Monica after a fatal crash at the intersection of Wilshire and Chelsea in December, 2024. In that column I showed that traffic enforcement activities and…
Image: Sacramento River via the State of California Department of Water Resources Environmentalists throughout the country…no throughout the world…have discovered in recent years that it can no longer count on America’s federal government for help stewarding this world. Nowhere is…
According to data provided by the city, the number of serious crashes in Santa Monica rose a staggering 54% in 2024 to 60 Fatal and Severe crashes compared to 39 crashes the previous year. 2024 was the fourth consecutive year…
The first episode of our “Mayor’s Roundtable” series at Santa Monica Next features Former Mayor Ted Winterer and local activist Chris Guitierrez to discuss what the city can do to protect its residents and the environment during a Trump presidency.…
A program of restorative justice may finally be coming to Santa Monica. On Tuesday evening, the city council discussed how to study historic harms to marginalized communities and provided their thoughts on how to move a reparations and landback initiative…
Unfamiliar with the Santa Methica sign saga? I’m jealous. But I’m also not going to write up an explainer again. You can catchup here. Poor John Alle. The Santa Monica Promenade property owner and Santa Monica Coalition founder who has…
(The following speech was delivered on the steps of City Hall by Samohi student Sara Javerbaum.) Tell me if you’ve heard this before: this walkout is meaningless. It won’t make a difference, or it’s just an excuse to cut classes.…
Since the fires, local business is down across the board. Some businesses report being down 60-80% over the past month. This can be a crushing blow to small businesses and they need our support now if they are going to…
Brandishing political signs, chanting slogans, and demanding change, roughly 400 Santa Monica High School (Samohi) students walked out of class and marched on City Hall earlier this afternoon to demand the city protect its most vulnerable residents during the second…
Last summer, the City Council unanimously voted to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement (ENA) with a development team led by Revitalization Partners Group (RPG) for the redevelopment and operations of the Santa Monica Civic Center. At last week’s meeting,…
Welcome to the second episde of the Streetsblog California podcast, StreetSmart. In this podcast, I’ll be talking to experts about various topics, policies, programs, and people that I’ll be covering as part of the beat at Streetsblog California. Our guest…
All images from the staff presentation to City Council. After over an hour of public testimony and a presentation by city staff, the City Council quickly passed a resolution affirming the “guiding principles” for the airport conversion project. A list…
