The School Bond Challenge
In about four weeks we will be voting on a school bond. This $485 million bond will cost over a billion dollars by the time the bond is retired in 30-40 years depending on how […]
Uncontrolled Mobility Experiment
After about a year of exposure to E-scooters, the City has approved a one year “study” involving up to 2000 scooters. The entire City: visitors, residents, workers, students, skaters and skateboarders, cyclists, drivers, and […]
Bull in China Shop, or Wrecking Ball?
I was lamenting the turn our beach town has taken in the last few years. Sadly, not for the better. Crime is up significantly. Homelessness seems to have increased, and from reading various comments made […]
Memorial Park Master Plan
As you may have heard, Santa Monica is currently planning to expand Memorial Park northward into the 3 acres formerly known as the Fisher lumber site currently being used as storage of City maintenance equipment […]
Queen of the Setting Sun
Fabric, Thread, and Glue – All great towns are held together not by the flashiness of their buildings and landscapes but by the people who inhabit them and the fabric of history they weave upon […]
The More We Drink, The Thirstier We Get
Thirst, according to Merriam-Webster: “a sensation of dryness in the mouth and throat associated with a desire for liquids.” We’re getting thirstier. A year ago our colleague Thane Roberts pointed out that between 2005 and […]
Ode to the Future of My City
SMa.r.t. Column How sad it is to journey to Santa Monica and I can’t find it. The open blue sky hides behind canyon walls. I look for glimpses of sun and sea, but they are […]
A City Crying for Change
SM.a.r.t. Column In the waning days of summer, SMa.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) turns its thoughts to the fall which means the upcoming elections where residents will elect a City Council that might […]
“Can’t We all Just Get Along?”
SMa.r.t. Column It seems that our community divide is beginning to mirror that of our national government’s chasm. On one side, residents feel that our quaint little town is being destroyed (we were never that […]
Opinion: Missed Tackles, Misplaced Accolades
Our Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem recently authored an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times (7/12/18) deriding the lawsuit that is pending against our City’s at-large election system by residents of the Pico Neighborhood. The article […]