October 27, 2025
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SM.a.r.t Column: Happy Holidays

S.M.a.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) is wishing you a wonderful holiday season. We hope you are surrounded by pets, friends and family and can celebrate with festivities and traditions that make you […]

SM.a.r.t. Column: Preserving Santa Monica

Since Giving Tuesday I’m sure you have been bombarded with appeals from countless organizations, local, national, or even international that are doing exceptionally valuable work that enhance the public good. It’s sometimes hard to select […]

SM.a.r.t Column: Climbing The Vertical Learning Curve

The city is facing a financial crisis, the roots of which stretch back decades but have been made worse by the pandemic’s budgetary strains. Years of mismanagement, skyrocketing pension obligations, and over $220 million in […]

SM.a.r.t Column: Gratitude

In the continuous quest to create a more perfect City, it is a pleasure to put down  all the hope, the dream, the dismay, the anger, and even the cynicism to experience the simple pleasure […]

SM.a.r.t Column: It’s Time To Inspect Balconies

About nine years ago, a fifth-floor balcony in a Berkeley apartment building collapsed, tragically killing several students gathered on it and injuring others. Investigations suggested that poor construction and maintenance, especially problems with waterproofing that […]

S.M.a.r.t Column: Your City is Broke

On December 10, the new City council will be seated fresh from their dominant win in the recent elections. There are surprising parallels between the national elections where MAGA swept the board and the Santa […]

SM.a.r.t Column: Moving Ahead to the Future

As we write this, the election results are still trickling in. We’ll leave the deep analysis to others, but the reality of our city’s tough challenges looms large, regardless of who sits on the Council. […]

SM.a.r.t Column: Lack of Oversight and No Accountability

S.M.a.r.t. periodically invites guest columnists to write opinion articles on topics of particular interests to our readers. Below is an article written by Nikki Kolhoff about the controversial ½ billion dollar Santa Monica School District […]

SM.a.r.t Column: SM.a.r.t Recommendations

Our readers know that SM.a.r.t (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) members are an opinionated bunch and are never in consistent issue about any complex issue. The following recommendations are our general consensus but […]