By Tom Elias Californians are about to find out whether money and new apartment-style dwellings can do much about the state’s expanding and seemingly intransigent problem with homelessness. As ad hoc encampments proliferate, featuring everything […]

A love letter to the Council. Not. Last week we wrote about what we at SMa.r.t., individually, were thankful for in our beachfront town. This week we thought the Council might take a moment to […]

When a ship with full sails approaches a coastline in a dense fog, you can often hear the waves crashing on the rocks ahead of you, but when you can finally see them, it’s already […]

Santa Monica’s residents may have noticed a new office structure that is nearing completion adjacent to our historic City Hall. If you were wondering what it is, it’s the City’s new Administration wing. The project’s design […]

Every so often SMart invites a guest columnist to write an article about local planning issues. This week and next we have invited Dick Platkin, a former planner for the City of Los Angeles, who […]

Last week our colleague Thane Roberts, in a reprise of an article from four years ago, said: “Insanity was once defined as doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. Once again, […]

SMa.r.t. group’s note: The Plaza at Santa Monica project, at 5th and Arizona, has been generating controversy since it was originally proposed several years ago. After years of discussion and opposition by many residents, the […]

Three weeks ago the Planning Commission approved a 140 unit eight story skyscraper downtown which meets all the requirements of the Downtown Community Plan, but misses several significant City urban goals. This building at 601 […]