SMa.r.t. Column: The Sound of Silence Is Big & Tall
All too often these days we find ourselves wondering how we could have been so correct about so many planning issues that we have written about over these last nine years, and yet so frequently […]
Affordable Spaces for Small Business
Los Angeles County recently proposed a program providing financial incentives for certain “Legacy” family businesses in their original historical location. They have been facing financial hardships for a variety of reasons like COVID, gentrification, and […]
Is Gelson’s Our Future? Bigger Is Not Better & Not Necessary! – Part 2
The dream of our beachfront city is about to become a nightmare! Just imagine a tsunami of these projects washing onto the beaches of Santa Monica over the next 10 years – sad, no – […]
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: New City Financial Plan – The Resident Homeowner Bank
Part 1 of 2 In this two-part article, we will discuss both the proposed transfer tax ballot initiative and the fundamental shift in city residential/commercial composition that will drive further emphasis on direct taxation of […]
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 […]
The first protest at René Redzepi’s Noma pop-up at the Paramour Estate (Video)
The protest was organized by Jason Ignacio White and One Fair Wage after the owner and chef of Noma, René...
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Film Review: Oscars Landscape 2026
My Oscar choices and predictions. The 98th Academy Awards, Sunday, March 15th at 4:00 PM, on ABC, and streaming on...
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