August 24, 2025 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

SMa.r.t. 2021 Christmas Card

Dear Readers,

SM.a.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) wish you all a joyous Holiday Season and a Wonderful New Year. Regardless of your religious persuasion and your celebratory traditions, we can all benefit from a more equitable, sustainable and resilient City of Santa Monica. For the last eight years, we have been writing articles, opinions and persuasive pieces to achieve that worthy goal.

Over the years, just like your families and our community, our composition has changed. We have grown beyond our original architects to include an accountant, a realtor, several members of Boards and Commissions and numerous guest columnists. We are thankful for the expertise in several different fields that our new members and guests have brought us so that we can bring more to you.

Above all, we are grateful for you, our loyal readers,  who have been following our weekly columns, including the occasionalrants, and for those of you who also pass them on to newer readers. We hope that ourcolumns help you dig deeper intothe forces that are shaping our City’s physical and social environment. We hope our articles assist you to achieve your architectural, political, ecological and financial goals in our rapidly changing City —all with a little humor and a lot of information. Naturally we have a long way to go, but  your sustained passion for the well-being of your City is our reward for this effort.    

Finally we hope you can take some real time off  this Holiday Season to just enjoy the benefits of living in beautiful Santa Monica.

By S.M.a.r.t Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow

Thane Roberts, Architect, Robert H. Taylor AIA, Ron Goldman FAIA, Architect, Dan Jansenson, Architect, Building and Fire-Life Safety Commission, Samuel Tolkin Architect, Mario Fonda-Bonardi, AIA, Planning Commissioner,

Marc Verville M.B.A, CPA (Inactive), Michael Jolly, AIR-CRE.

For previous articles see www.santamonicaarch.wordpress.com/writing

in Opinion
<>Related Posts

SM.a.r.t Column: The Rhetoric of Municipal Control

August 14, 2025

August 14, 2025

“I’d like to respond to that because I used the word character, and as a brown person, you stating that...

SM.a.r.t Column: Wheeling Electrically v2.0

August 7, 2025

August 7, 2025

Last month, the City Council unanimously backed the next phase of the East Pico and Broadway Bicycle Safety Projects. These...

SM.a.r.t Column: SIX ACRES AND A MULEheaded process

August 1, 2025

August 1, 2025

Latest news out of Washington is to take a hard line on the homeless, that are all too prevalent, not...

SM.a.r.t. Column: SMO (So Many Options) Part 4 “IT’S THE ECONOMY, S…..”

July 20, 2025

July 20, 2025

“As the City is broke and on the edge of bankruptcy, proponents seem to suggest starting simply—create walking paths, install...

SM.a.r.t.Column: Happy Fourth of July 

July 2, 2025

July 2, 2025

SMart (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) hopes you are enjoying a great 3-day weekend as part of your...

SM.a.r.t Column: Cities That Never Shut Up – The Roaring Cost of Urban Noise

June 26, 2025

June 26, 2025

In today’s cities, silence isn’t golden—it’s extinct. From sunrise to insomnia, we’re trapped in a nonstop symphony of shrieking car...

SM.a.r.t Column: Santa Monica Needs to See the Light

June 19, 2025

June 19, 2025

How Santa Monica’s Growing Light Pollution Is Eroding Human Health, Safety, and Sanity There was a time when our coastal...

SM.a.r.t Column: California’s Transit Death Spiral: How Housing Mandates Are Backfiring

June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

California’s ambitious housing mandates were supposed to solve the affordability crisis. Instead, they’re creating a vicious cycle that’s killing public...

SM.a.r.t. Column: A City Dying by a Thousand Cuts

June 5, 2025

June 5, 2025

Santa Monica, once celebrated for its blend of coastal charm and progressive ideals, is slowly bleeding out — not from...

SM.a.r.t Column: Oops!! What Happened? And What Are You Going to Do About It?

May 29, 2025

May 29, 2025

Our Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow (SMa.r.t) articles have, over the past 12 years, collectively presented a critical...

SM.a.r.t Column: Why Santa Monica Might Need a Desalination Plant, and Maybe Even Nuclear Power

May 22, 2025

May 22, 2025

Santa Monica is known for its ocean views, sunny skies, and strong environmental values. But there’s a challenge on the...

SM.a.r.t Column: SMO (So Many Options) Part 3: “Pie in the Sky”

May 17, 2025

May 17, 2025

SMO: Fantasy, Fact, and the Fog of Wishful ThinkingBy someone who read the fine print Every few months, a headline...

SM.a.r.t. Column: Owner Occupancy Protects Against Corporate Over-Development

May 2, 2025

May 2, 2025

This week SMa.r.t. will have as guest columnist Mark Borenstein. Mark is a long-time Santa Monica resident, a retired attorney,...

Opinion: Declaration of Economic State of Emergency in Malibu & Pacific Palisades: A Direct Result of the Devastating Impact of the Palisades Fire

April 27, 2025

April 27, 2025

Malibu and Pacific Palisades Request Emergency Financial Measures By Ramis Sadrieh, Chairperson, Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce    On behalf...

SM.a.r.t Column: The World’s Happiest Cities

April 27, 2025

April 27, 2025

Almost every year, we see new cities, regions, and countries that make the list(s) of our planet’s happiest and healthiest...