October 31, 2025
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Is Gelson’s Our Future? Bigger Is Not Better!

It’s appalling to see what’s happening in our city – projects recently built or about to be approved – in downtown, along the boulevards, and throughout our multi-family and single-family neighborhoods! A tsunami of these […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Gelson’s, Boxed-In

This week we are re-visiting an article from 2018 regarding the Miramar project, by simply replacing the word “Miramar” with “Gelson’s”, and striking thru some of the irrelevant text. We sadly reflect on how the […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Failure to Plan…

Over the last approximately two years your City has been busy trying to respond to new California laws that are completely destroying the urban fabric and quality of life of our City. Specifically, the State’s […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Planning The Real Future

In the 1970s, renowned USC architecture professor Ralph Knowles developed a method for planning and designing cities that would dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels, while retaining the qualities that people find most attractive […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Tunneling for Mobility

Editor’s note: this is an April Fools Day column and is intended to be satire.  Starting this year permits from the Santa Monica Planning Department will require a  new additional fee called “Travel Demand Forecasting […]

SMa.r.t. Column: The Value of Our Boulevards

Following is a composite of past articles dealing with the accelerated demise of our beachfront environment together with the increasing control of the development community over City Council and Planning staff, and the re-direction we […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Ferrari vs. Prius

(part 2 of a 2 part article) Last week’s article covered why there is negligible population growth pressure in spite of the common misconception of a housing “shortage”, and ended with the question: why can’t […]

SMa.r.t. Column: The Development at Ocean Park & Lincoln

The recent zoom presentation of the proposed project at Ocean Park Blvd & Lincoln Blvd., frequently referred to as ‘the Gelson’s development’, stirred memories of past projects I studied in City Planning courses while in […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Parking, Density and Inequality

Parking. In buildings. On the street. How important can that be? Who does it impact? And after decades of discussion, why is it still a controversial topic?  This, like several other state land use and […]