Opinion Archives - Page 17 of 177

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Community Bike Ride to Showcase Safety Improvements in Bergamot Area Ron Burkle lists Malibu Colony beachfront home for nearly $20 million County Awards $3M to Venice Dell Project While Horvath Slams Obstruction Efforts. “It’s Time for the City to Get Out of Its Own Way” Cypress Equity breaks ground on eight-story mixed-use apartment project in Santa Monica Ray Kappe’s Iconic Midcentury Palisades Home Hits the Market For the First Time

Opinion April 20, 2023

SMO (So Many Options) Part 1

SMart (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) The volume of discussion around the options for Santa Monica Airport (SMO) continues to increase, as does the amount of misdirection by those that seek to close […]

Opinion April 2, 2023

SMa.r.t. Column: Reusing Buildings for the Benefit of All

[Almost two years ago our colleague Michael Jolly prepared this analysis of the benefits and risks of repurposing existing buildings, especially office buildings. Given the rapidly diminishing office building market today, we thought this article […]

Opinion March 28, 2023

SMa.r.t. Column: I Told You So

On January17, 2015 SMa.r.t. posted a prophetic article in the Daily Press written by Ron Goldman FAIA advocating maintaining a low rise (3-4 stories) development standard along the major boulevards. He also included a sketch […]

Opinion March 11, 2023

Column: SB 9 Ended R-1 Zoning, but It’s Not Meeting Goals

By Tom Elias More than a year after it took effect, the landmark housing density law known as SB 9 has drawn many derogatory labels: a usurper of local powers, a neighborhood wrecker, a destroyer […]

Opinion March 6, 2023

SMa.r.t. Column: The Urgency to Retrofit Earthquake-Deficient Buildings

Recent early-morning tremors off the Malibu coast, and the huge and terrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria have made us take another look at Santa Monica’s earthquake-retrofit program for vulnerable buildings. This program, started in […]

News February 27, 2023

SMa.r.t. Column: Reinforcing the Future – A Revisit

Six years go we discussed, in these pages, the city’s then-renewed earthquake-retrofit rules. At the time we argued that the anticipated volume of building permit applications would create a serious challenge for the city’s staff. […]

Opinion February 25, 2023

Column: The Inevitable Conversions Begin Multiplying

By Tom Elias It’s a phenomenon from New York to Dallas to Fresno and Los Angeles, one that seemed inevitable to some from the moment millions of Californians became the first Americans ordered to work […]

Opinion February 20, 2023

Column: The Fantasy World of California Housing Policy

By Tom Elias If you’re looking for sure things among bills under consideration in the state Legislature, think of one word: housing. It’s not yet certain just which new housing measures will be proposed this […]

Opinion February 19, 2023

SMa.r.t. Column: Santa Monica City Council – Planners, Politicians, or Developers?

Santa Monica – a progressive city 20 years ago, a chaotic city today! A city that is struggling for its identity and life is a titanic struggle for the heart and soul of our city. […]

Opinion February 16, 2023

SMa.r.t. Column: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

The picture shown above is the future of Santa Monica. Large tall buildings along the Boulevards and Avenues plus Downtown and in the Bergamot Area will be massed to completely shade adjacent low-rise smaller homes […]