December 7, 2025
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SMa.r.t. Column: The Magic of Adaptive Reuse

They say that every seven years all the cells in your body renew themselves. Likewise, seven years ago SMart published this article about adaptive reuse which, as is typical of our many topics, is still […]

SMa.r.t. Column: When Water Runs Out

What happens when a City runs out of water? You have already heard of the torture endured by communities in the Central Valley that ran out of water, but we already have had a recent […]

The Virtues of a Low-Rise City (Part 2)

Last week we revived  our previous discussion, from six years ago, about the notable advantages of a low-rise city composed primarily of buildings no higher than 4 stories. Among the advantages of low-rise buildings previously […]

Promenade 3.0 in Review

It’s no secret that the Third Street Promenade has been losing its luster, its tenants, visitors, and customer foot traffic. For years the Promenade operated as a sales-tax cash cow based primarily on tourism, but […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Stop the Steroids

Part 2/2 Santa Monicans face the usual fears of crime, Covid-19 and its collapsing job and housing impact including the coming eviction avalanche.  Unfortunately, interest groups in Sacramento keep trying to monetize these crises by […]

SMa.r.t. Column: The Big Lie Just Got Bigger

Part 1 of 2 It’s not the lie about a stolen election or the dangers of vaccination or if Biden lost Afghanistan. It’s how Sacramento wants to gut your city, especially the R-1 (single-family home) […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Beat the Climate Change Heat

The new era of hot weather extremes has made coping with heat increasingly important. A recent paper by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said: “These changes in Los Angeles climate will surely become a problem for […]

SMa.r.t. Column: Fix Those Balconies!

About six years ago a fifth-floor balcony in a Berkeley apartment building collapsed. A group of students standing on the balcony died and several others were injured. Investigations into the tragedy suggested that the balcony […]