ARB Courage (Part 1 of 2)
On March 4, 2024, your ARB (Architectural Review Board) ruled in favor of the 521-unit Gelson’s Project at Ocean Park and Lincoln Blvd. This controversial project was fatally flawed from the beginning, and by the […]
SM.a.r.t Column: Can California ARBs Balance Affordable Housing with Community Character in the Face of New Housing Laws?
By suggestion, I attended the March 4th ARB (Architectural Review Board) meeting that addressed the Gelson Lincoln Boulevard Project. After the session, I came away with thoughts about the process that the state has initiated […]
S.M.a.r.t Column: Five Saving Historic Santa Monica
Our beloved City is surrounded by many threats, from sea level rise to homelessness, to housing affordability, to cancerous overdevelopment, to crime, to the four apocalyptic collapses: water supply, school population, municipal finances, and mobility […]
S.M.a.r.t Column: Gelson’s Looms Large
Our guest column this week is by SMCLC (the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City). SMCLC is a well-established group of concerned residents that have successfully been involved for many years in addressing and […]
S.M.a.r.t Column: Top Toady Town
Throughout history, from the ancient Romans and Assyrians to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, siege warfare has served as an effective weapon against municipalities resistant to conquest. Even with complete capitulation, conquered cities are subject […]
S.M.a.r.t Column: The Sunset of Home Ownership
We are watching the sunset of our historical and cultural American dream of home ownership as we now are crossing over what was a welcome mat of opportunity to a lifetime of indentured tenancy for […]
SMa.r.t. Column: B(U)Y RIGHT
“By Right” state housing laws that give developers, in certain projects, the ability to ignore codes ‘by right.’ Well, that is the lovable jargon developers have jumped in bed with at the State level to […]
S.M.a.r.t Column: Serf City
Homelessness is a problem in California, and nowhere is this more evident than in our fair city, where the unhoused population has skyrocketed with the completion of the Expo Metro Line that tacitly offers free […]
S.M.a.r.t Column: Bond Fatigue
Last week’s SMart article, described two critical problems faced by our Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD): the declining enrollment and the tendency to inexorably increase the bond debt burden on the City’s businesses […]
S.M.a.r.t Column: A School District Conundrum
As most of you who drive on 4th or Pico Avenue or use the 4th Street freeway on-ramp know, the whole Santa Monica High School campus has been a construction zone for almost a decade. […]
Sweet Laurel Bakery Will Not Reopen in Palisades, Closes Santa Monica Pickup Spot
Sweet Laurel opened its flagship store in Palisades Village in 2018 and built a strong following across West Los Angeles....
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SM.a.r.t. Column: Santa Monica Isn’t Rebounding Yet. It’s Replacing
Santa Monica officially reports numerous new business openings, often highlighted by the media as signs of economic recovery. However, a...
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