For most of its recent history, the city of Santa Monica has cultivated a reputation as being environmentally friendly, and perhaps even slightly bohemian. If one looks around, it isn’t hard to see where such a reputation would originate: surfers…
The Santa Monica Airport’s arts community held its annual Artwalk on Saturday, an event presented by the city’s Cultural Affairs Division. Visitors could explore dozens of artist studios in airport hangars, mingle with Santa Monica College ceramic students, view performances…
When Santa Monica hatched a plan to measure the happiness of its residents, Mayor Pam O’Connor admitted that “our idea may seem a little out there to some.” The city’s proposal, however, wasn’t so far out there after all. Santa…
Opponents to development in Santa Monica, and the Bergamot Transit Village mixed-use project in particular, have made their voices heard this week. On Monday, the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC) filed a lawsuit against the city that…
(This is the first entrant in our Salon where we asked Santa Monica residences and institutions for their “favorite app” to help navigate the city. Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card Ap can be downloaded for Apple Products/i Tunes here…
There has been a lot of talk recently about the possibility of turning Santa Monica Airport into a large, multipurpose park. While there have been some recent setbacks in the push for such an eventuality, the people in charge of…
In Santa Monica’s local politics, there is a camp, one of the more active and vocal, sometimes loosely refereed to as “slow growth”, or “no growth”, or sometimes just “anti-development.” There is variation within the generality of the characterization, and…
A mutant squid washed ashore in Santa Monica in January, according to reports widely circulated on social media. The story claimed the squid suffered from “radioactive gigantism,” a condition caused by exposure to radiation from the 2011 disaster at the…
Every year, thousands of runners converge on Los Angeles to participate in one of the most widely attended marathons in America: The L.A. Marathon. In years past, there was an official cycling event that coincided with the marathon, but that…
With the state of California experiencing it’s driest year in record keeping, water, which has always been one of the central defining feature of California politics, is back in the foreground. It may be raining heavily right now, but our…
Cynthia Rose, the head of the local advocacy group SM Spoke, is a finalist for “Advocate of the Year” from the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking (the Alliance). The Alliance is a nation-wide bicycling advocacy organization. Rose is joined by…
The crowd at the Santa Monica bar was relaxed and engaged in friendly conversation. They each held metal tubes a few inches in length. Every moment or so they put these cartridges to their mouths, sucked in, and then exhaled…
(Note: the following article appeared on the Community Against Santa Monica Airport’s website. The opinions do not necesarily reflect those of Santa Monica Next, but the information contained within is accurate and important. – DN) Once again, just as happened in August…
With the rising popularity of transportation apps such as Uber and Lyft and alternative lodging sites akin to Airbnb comes a challenge for cities: to regulate or not to regulate? Mayor Pam O’Connor joined the mayors of the other Westside…
For many, the political process can be immensely confusing. Characterized by inaccessibly long meetings and decisions that are presumably made “behind closed doors,” the inner workings of politics have long fascinated political scholars, while often alienating the general public. Even…
