SM.a.r.t Column: Reading City Hall: Six Questions Before You Vote

09/04/2026 4:33 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

4. . . . emergencies that do not end
An emergency is declared for a real reason. Emergency powers reduce notice requirements, shorten hearings, and expand administrative discretion. The emergency recedes. The powers do not.

Santa Monica currently operates under a genuine homelessness emergency proclamation extended through the end of 2026, a fire-related executive order amended nine times, and a September 2025 declaration of local fiscal distress.
The question is whether any of these carry a sunset date and a required public report-back, or whether emergency administration has quietly become ordinary administration.

Ask this about each emergency:
For each emergency declaration now in effect: when does it expire, and what has to be reported publicly before it is extended?

More than 850 Households Apply for Renter Aid Program

09/01/2026 3:50 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica Renter Aid (SMRA) program, which helps vulnerable renters "experiencing a temporary housing crisis," drew applicants from each of Santa Monica's five zip codes during its first round, City Manager Oliver Chi wrote in an update to the City Council.

The highest volume came from the 90404 zip code, which includes much of the Pico Neighborhood, the area with the most diverse and lowest income population in the city.

Police, Fire Unions Make Single Council Endorsement

08/31/2026 11:45 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Police and Fire unions both backed Councilmember Lana Negrete -- a staunch supporter of public safety and often the lone dissenting voice on the dais -- who is one of eleven candidates in the November 3 race for three Council seats.

Santa Monica Project Not in Trailer Bill

08/31/2026 11:43 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The last-minute proposal -- made public days before Friday's midnight deadline -- would have stripped Santa Monica and Coastal Commission oversight of a mixed-use hotel residential, and cultural campus designed by Frank Gehry for the Worthe Real Estate Group.

SM.a.r.t Column: How Many People Are We Actually Planning For?

08/28/2026 2:51 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica is planning for more housing, and that means planning for more people. But City Hall still has not answered a basic question that should support all of this: how many people is the water system actually being built to serve? The City’s working assumption is roughly two people per new housing unit. Multiply the number of units by that figure, and you should get a population estimate. But Santa Monica does not have one agreed-upon number. It has several, and they do not match.

Parcel Tax Fails to Win Dem Club Backing

08/28/2026 2:43 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Measure ES fell short of winning the 55 percent needed, with 96 Club members, or 52 percent, voting to endorse the tax, 80 voting to oppose it, or 44 percent, and 7 members voting to make no endorsement, or 4 percent.

Political Establishment Lacks Unified Front in Council Race

08/27/2026 12:09 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In the November 3 race for three open seats, however, none of the six groups are backing the same three candidates, with one group making no endorsements at all.

The latest group to weigh in, the Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS), this week endorsed two rival candidates -- Mayor Caroline Torosis and Councilmember Lana Negrete, who are heading opposing slates.

Last-Minute Budget Deal Would Exempt Major Downtown Project from Review

08/26/2026 9:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The proposal benefits only the Ocean Avenue Project, the mixed-use hotel, residential, and cultural campus designed by Frank Gehry for the Worthe Real Estate Group, wrote Kim Delfino, president of the Earth Advocacy consulting firm in an email Tuesday.

Santa Monica Frantic to Build Housing As People Move Out of Los Angeles County

08/24/2026 9:57 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Why?

Look closer and the political incentives become clearer. Santa Monica’s left-leaning City Council is not simply responding to abstract state mandates or “chronic shortage” talking points about shrinking household sizes. By controlling the pipeline of heavily subsidized, income-restricted, and supportive units—especially on public land with Housing Trust Fund loans, tax credits, and ground leases—the council and its nonprofit partners get to shape who moves in. Waitlists managed by the Santa Monica Housing Authority and favored operators mean local politicians and bureaucrats effectively pick the winners. Permanent supportive housing for seniors and the formerly homeless adds a ready-made constituency that depends on continued government programs and progressive governance.

SM.a.rt. Column: More Housing, Same Water?

08/21/2026 3:13 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

At issue is SB 79, the new state law requiring cities to allow substantially more housing near major transit stops, known as Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD, zones. Santa Monica has seven such zones. Six already qualify for a temporary exclusion from SB 79 because their existing zoning provides far more housing capacity than required to satisfy that law. The exception is the area around the Expo/Bundy station.

Water Neutrality can reduce the impact of new development, but it cannot simply be assumed to provide an unlimited supply of offsets for future growth. The City’s 2025 Urban Water Management Plan does not say how much Water Neutrality offset capacity is still available citywide, how much has already been committed to development projects, or how much future growth the remaining offsets could support.