What were they thinking? On Wednesday morning at 12:30 am on October 15th, we were blindsided when the Council voted four (Jesse, Caroline, Dan, Natalya) to three (Lana, Barry, Ellis) not to extend RPG’s exclusive […]

Saturday, 10-18-2025, BE THERE CuriousCity: SANTA MONICA SELL OUT By CHARLES ANDREWS Only one CURIOUS CITY column in the last year. It’s good to be back. Thank you, TJ, and Dolores. But first, this important […]

By CHARLES ANDREWS THE RESURRECTION OF CURIOUS CITY: FRIDAY! HONEST! Long promised, finally delivered. Every other Friday now, in print in the Santa Monica Mirror, and online. Best way to get it, plus my weekly […]

By Marc L. Verville, Former Audit Subcommittee Chair, Sunset Park, Santa Monica This note is to strongly urge you to select Staff Option #1, Approve a six-month extension (two consecutive 90-day periods). As staff notes, […]

By CHARLES ANDREWS THE RESURRECTION OF CURIOUS CITY NEXT FRIDAY! Expect miracles, wisdom of the ages to lead us all from this dark place! … right. Maybe a better bet is Mahler’s “Resurrection” symphony on […]

The process of restoring the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is definitely moving forward. As you can imagine, there are a complex series of steps to complete a multi-million dollar project of this scale. RPG (Revitalization […]

By Alan Levenson, Sunset Park In The Argonaut (Oct. 2), City officials — with the apparent support of the Great Park Coalition — reaffirmed their “unwavering commitment” to close Santa Monica Airport on Dec. 31, […]

Santa Monica operates under a council–manager system where an elected council establishes policies but delegates day-to-day operations to a professional city manager. While meant to ensure stability, this setup has resulted in staff-driven outcomes, weak […]

By CHARLES ANDREWS YOU’VE EITHER STUMBLED IN HERE Or you meant to. Either way, great to see you. Let’s talk music and see who’s playing this week. You may have read the NOTEWORTHY column over […]

Residents of Santa Monica rarely question how their local government works. Debate usually focuses on housing, homelessness, or budgets—not on the machinery producing those outcomes. But the City Council–City Manager system creates a power imbalance: […]