News from Santa Monica.
Last evening in closed session, the Santa Monica City Council voted 4-3 to join a lawsuit against L.A. County Courts’ newly implemented “zero cash bail” system that went into place on October 1. Under this system, defendants in non-violent misdemeanor…
Tonight, the City Council will vote on whether or not to join a lawsuit against a new-countywide policy that aims to reduce economic disparities in who can, and cannot, be imprisoned while awaiting trial. The Pre-Arraignment Release Protocols (PARP) also…
The following is a factually accurate press release from the City of Santa Monica. The League of California Cities awarded the 2023 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence to the city of Santa Monica for the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project. Santa Monica’s innovative water recycling project, known as the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project or SWIP, captures stormwater, urban runoff…
Earlier this evening, Save the Civic, a coalition of Santa Monica residents and stakeholders opposed to the SMMUSD plan to purchase and rehabilitate the unused and in-need of repair Santa Monica Civic Center declared victory in their efforts. “School District…
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…
The City of Santa Monica and Los Angeles County have joined forces with the Books Unbanned Initiative, a nation-wide non-profit movement, to honor banned book week. This year’s theme is “Let Freedom Read” and is meant to draw national attention to…
After listening to an exhaustive amount of public comment at its September 12th meeting and a promise to return to the debate this week; the Santa Monica City Council passed a measure (Agenda Item 8j) originally designed to combat excessive…
Pickleballers that arrived at the Memorial Park courts yesterday morning were greeted with an unpleasant surprise. The courts were closed at the park yesterday after a fire on Sunday evening destroyed the storage shed that housed nets, public racquets and…
At Wednesday’s meeting of the Santa Monica Planning Commission (agenda), staff gave an update on the Pedestrian Action Plan and Bicycle Action Plan Implementation. A full copy of their presentation can be found here and you can view video of…
This article first appeared at Streetsblog California. If it feels like a bit of a bonanza for sustainability legislation this year, it is because a lot of bills championed by safety and sustainable transportation advocates actually made it all the…
At last week’s City Council meeting, members of the hospitality union Unite Here! Local 11 flooded the speaker’s podium with nearly four dozen members speaking out against a proposal by Councilmembers Phil Brock and Lana Negrete to curtail the hours…
When we relaunched Santa Monica Next earlier this year, the goal was to have the website be a community website that hosted multiple opinion writers, regular news reports and be the online home for community newsletters. Now that it’s been…
Santa Monica joins the small club of cities that will offer an e-bike rebate program after the city announced its program should come online in the Spring of 2024. Income qualified residents will be able to receive up to $2,000…
Last night, the Santa Monica City Council punted on a motion to curtail the strike activities of Unite Here! Local 11 and a couple of other controversial motions. However, the 11th hour change to the agenda on the controversial union…
At tonight’s meeting of the City Council, they are expected to vote on rule changes to affirm the city’s commitment to expanded public comment that will allow them to continue to accept public virtually and over-the-phone in addition to in-person…
