Editorials, letters to the editor, and other community opinions about Santa Monica.
If you’ve seen the movie Footloose even once, you are familiar with Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler’s rendition of the Steinman and Pitchford song, “Holding Out For A Hero.” It was covered by the fairy godmother in Shrek 2 as she tried to manipulate Princess…
Note from the editor of Next: The City Council will vote on how best to proceed in planning for the conversion of Santa Monica Airport into a park at tonight’s City Council meeting. Todd Flora will have a report later…
In 1926, Charles F. Lummis, a city editor for the Los Angeles Times, historian, and city librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library, wrote, “Most of us know as much of history as a pig does of lipsticks”. Over time,…
This article first appears at the Healthy City Local. In case you have lost the thread of these posts, let me reiterate that there are three factors that will affect the planning and construction of the park that will replace…
Two hundred and fifty years ago, on June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress voted to raise six companies of militia in Pennsylvania (84 men in each, including officers, volunteers and one drummer or trumpeter), two in Maryland and two in…
I suspect that many you reading this joined the 5,000 demonstrators who jammed Palisades Park on Saturday for the “No Kings” rally. Leaving aside the bigger issues like whether a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that…
The two posts I wrote last week about building a great park to replace Santa Monica Airport were gloomy, focusing as they did on problems with the planning process. Such issues, though, should not diminish the joy we should be…
“Heavenly shades of night are falling, it’s twilight time.” So sang the Platters in 1958, and the lyrics were running, fresh, through my head, as I watched the Blackbelt Narcissist Finals between the ever-weakening president and his pet billionaire last…
Neil Matouka is a climate and energy policy expert based in Sacramento. Transportation emissions represent roughly 40% of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. There are generally three ways to reduce transportation emissions: reduce the emissions intensity of existing transportation…
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and Community Members, I am writing to you today because I understand that many of you are feeling deeply concerned and anxious about recent reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the greater…
This article first appeared at the Healthy City Local. As I discussed in my post on Monday, the process for planning the conversion of Santa Monica Airport into a park has produced three aspirational “scenarios.” While no one would expect or…
Hubris: (noun) Excessive pride. In Greek tragedy, defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis. Please, the sooner the better. We can only hope. Of all the things I could use to illustrate the hubris of the current white house resident,…
The following article first appeared on The Healthy City Local. Santa Monica Airport is set to close December 31, 2028, and the City’s process to reclaim the city-owned land at the airport and convert it to public use as a…
Over the weekend, the Illinois Legislature met to pass its budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and wrapped up their work until the fall. Sadly, they failed to fully fund the Chicago’s Regional Transit Authority (RTA), which faces…
I first began to be interested in the art of misdirection in college when my friends and I went to magic shows at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Each of the artists, whether at our tables, or in performance, used…
