December 16, 2025
Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

SMa.r.t. Column: A Flooding Prospect

The inevitable sea level rise in our area has prompted a number of groups and organizations to look at possible solutions and mitigation measures. As the Los Angeles Times pointed out in recent articles, doing […]

SMa.r.t. Column: The Main Thing Is…

In August, after the first closure of Main St. for a weekend of…something, the general consensus of our inquiries to a dozen or so retail & service (not bar/restaurant) businesses was “ Please do not […]

Sacto Dems Dump Prop. 13 Reforms

By Tom Elias, Columnist For more than 40 years, Democrats in Sacramento have talked fervently about reforming the 1978 Proposition 13 and some of its landmark limits on property taxes, but time and again they’ve […]

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 […]

Hot Flash: Can You Look Sexy in a CPAP?

I have sleep apnea.  I wear a CPAP to bed every night.  I look like I am a monster from the Blue Lagoon. Not so sexy. But doctors say it can save my life. When […]

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 […]