This year S.M.a.r,t, wrote about the Civic Auditorium, the Airport, City governance, Preservation, overdevelopment, and its impact, among many other topics listed below. We hope you enjoyed reading our 52 weekly articles, and if you want to relive the controversies and discussions, just click on this link: https://smmirror.com/?s=Mario+Fonda-Bonardi
We want to thank the Mirror for publishing our content without censorship (it’s a rare gift) and finally, looking ahead, we wish you all, our devoted readers, a fantastic 2026:
January 2: Adaptive Liveability
Adaptive reuse isn’t about aesthetics—it’s about sustainability and affordability.
January 19: A New Path Ahead
The Palisades Fire exposed LA’s failing water and power systems.
January 26: Peril, Prevention, and the Path Forward
The Palisades and Altadena fires showed LA is unprepared.
February 2: California’s Fire Safety Evolution: Meeting Modern Wildfire Challenges
The January 2025 fires proved LA is running on outdated rules and fractured authority.
February 9: The Water Crisis Behind LA’s Fire Disaster: A Legacy of Outdated Infrastructure
The LA fires proved it: outdated hydrants and broken water systems left firefighters helpless.
February 16: Bring Back the Music
Santa Monica’s Civic Auditorium is a national landmark.
February 23: The Palisades: A Story of Irreplaceable Loss: The Palisades Fire erased a way of life.
March 2: The Perils of Passing the Buck: How Self-Certification Threatens Public Safety in Building Design and Construction. Santa Monica’s plan for self-certification by architects is reckless.
March 9: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium: The Cultural Icon Santa Monica Needs
Demolishing the Civic Auditorium would erase Santa Monica’s cultural soul.
March 16: Fire Safety in Los Angeles: Reimagining an Age of Megafires
LA isn’t losing to fire—it’s losing to itself.
March 23: Bring Back The Music 2.0
The Civic Auditorium is a national landmark with a fully funded revival ready to go.
March 30: Smart Home Systems and IoT Sensors: The New Frontline Against Wildfires
Wildfire tech has leapt ahead, but most homeowners and cities are still blind to the danger.
April 6: Innovative Materials for Fire-Resistant Rebuilding After the LA Fires
LA homeowners can’t rebuild the same.
April 13: Rebuilding Resilient Communities: Policy and Planning After the Fires
LA’s wildfire recovery is a mess.
April 20: A City for Everyone
Santa Monica may look idyllic, but unsafe streets betray its neglect.
April 27: The World’s Happiest Cities
Santa Monica shines with natural beauty and community spirit, but safety and infrastructure gaps hold it back.
May 2: Owner Occupancy Protects Against Corporate Over-Development
Council plans to gut SB9, letting developers profit while families lose.
May 11: Open Container, Closed Minds: Why Santa Monica’s Outdoor Drinking Plan Will Likely Drown
Our open-drink plan promises nightlife buzz but risks chaos.
May 17: SMO (So Many Options) Part 3: “Pie in the Sky”
Our airport “closure by 2028” is widely misunderstood.
May 22: Why Santa Monica Might Need a Desalination Plant, and Maybe Even Nuclear Power
Our upcoming housing boom will outstrip water supply, forcing tough choices on desalination and possibly nuclear power.
May 29: Oops!! What Happened? And What Are You Going to Do About It?
Planned overdevelopment prioritizes developer profits over residents.
June 5: A City Dying by a Thousand Cuts
Santa Monica is bleeding out—mismanagement, executive greed, and wasted homelessness funds.
June 15: California’s Transit Death Spiral: How Housing Mandates Are Backfiring
California’s housing mandates displace transit riders and boost car dependence.
June 19: Santa Monica Needs to See the Light
Our light pollution is harming health, safety, and sleep.
June 26: Cities That Never Shut Up – The Roaring Cost of Urban Noise
Our constant noise is wrecking health and sleep
July 2: Happy Fourth of July
July 13: Does the Rand Corporation have a future in Santa Monica?
Santa Monica risks losing RAND.
July 20: SMO (So Many Options) Part 4 “IT’S THE ECONOMY, S…..”
Keeping the airport is the only practical way to preserve economic value and open land.
July 2: Reed Park Rebirth
Reed Park’s revival transforms it into a safe, active community hub.
August 1: SIX ACRES AND A MULE headed process
Santa Monica wastes six acres of airport land.
August 7: Wheeling Electrically 2.0
Climate action fails on two wheels.
August 14: The Rhetoric of Municipal Control
Our City Council majority is labeling dissent offensive..
August 22: The Algorithm Will See You Now: Santa Monica’s Upcoming AI Reckoning
City leaders don’t embrace transparency.
August 28: The Big One: A Homeowner’s Guide to HOA Earthquake Insurance Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Percentage-Based Deductibles
HOA earthquake insurance leaves homeowners exposed.
August 29: Santa Monica Historic District Tour Showcases Early 20th Century Bungalows
Santa Monica’s Historic District tour highlights early-20th-century bungalows.
September 4: Why The Past?
We are gutting our history for generic development.
September 12: The Faded Halo
Santa Monica’s Police Activities League scandal exposed decades of abuse, negligence, and corruption.
September 26: Santa Monica’s Governance Problem: Elected Council, “Strong” Mayor or? Part One of Two
Our fractured power structure cripples accountability and leadership.
October 3: Santa Monica’s Governance Problem: Elected Council, “Strong” Mayor or? Part Two of Two
Our governance is stuck in a loop of indecision and weak accountability.
October 9: CIVIC AUDITORIUM REBORN
The design for the restoration of the Civic Auditorium preserves its historic character.
October 17: Council Cans the Civic
Santa Monica’s council majority killed a fully funded $400M Civic Auditorium revival.
October 23: The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium: A Living Monument to Global Cultural Innovation
Our Civic Auditorium is a rare, globally significant venue for arts and culture.
October 30: The Darkness of Disengagement: How Santa Monica Turned Down Its Citizens and Its Civic
Our City Council majority crushed grassroots voices and muzzled public input.
November 6: PRESERVATION AWARDS
Santa Monica’s 2025 Preservation Awards celebrate projects and people protecting the city’s historic architecture and cultural heritage.
November 13: At the Crossroads: Preserving Santa Monica’s Soul
Protecting local character and public spaces in Santa Monica is now critical.
November 20: The Case Against Overdevelopment: The Problem with Problem Solving
Our surge in height and density isn’t based on real need or data, it’s creating problems instead of solving them.
November 27: Gratitude from S.M.a.r.t.
SMa.r.t. expresses gratitude for the community support it has received over the years.
December 4: The Erasure: How Santa Monica Lost School Children and Its Memory: Part One of Three: We are hemorrhaging families and schoolchildren.
December 9: Remembering Frank Gehry
Santa Monica lost legendary architect Frank Gehry at age 96.
December 11: The Machine: How Santa Monica’s Memory Gets Deleted
Our development machine erases the city’s history and identity.
December 18: The Reckoning: A City That Cannot Remember Itself Part Three of Three
We are systematically losing our community and history as development and bureaucratic neglect erase local memory.
December 24: Holiday Card from SM.a.rt.
S.M.a.r.t Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
Mario Fonda-Bonardi, AIA, former Planning Commissioner, Robert H. Taylor, AIA, Architect. Dan Jansenson, former Building and Life Safety Commissioner. Samuel Tolkin, Architect, former Planning Commissioner, Michael Jolly, AIR-CRE. Jack Hillbrand AIA, Landmarks Commission Architect, Phil Brock, former SM Mayor (Ret.), Matt Hoefler, architect, Heather Thomason. Community Organizer.
