One candidate, for Rent Control Board, I highly recommend is HEATHER THOMASON. She has dug in the last two years to learn everything she can about how this city works, and why it works so badly. I hope she runs for City Council someday. She is exactly the kind of outraged, informed citizen activist we need to change things. She will be an excellent advocate for residents on the Rent Control Board. A candidate for that important position I highly do not recommend is former City Council member SUE HIMMELRICH. I will expand on these two, and others, in coming columns.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/07/curious-city-07-02-26-meet-the-candidates/

The relevant language appears in the 2025 Budget Act, Section 112, Item 3790-102-6093, as amended by AB 107 earlier this year. It appropriates funding through the California Department of Parks and Recreation to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC). Within that, appropriation appears a single sentence:

“$10,000,000 is available for the restoration, rehabilitation, protection, and capital improvement of former airport lands to create parks and open space.”

The statute does not identify Santa Monica as the recipient. It does not mention Santa Monica Airport, reference the Airport Conversion Project, or establish that the City has received a grant award.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/07/sm-a-r-t-column-the-10-million-question/

Santa Monica voters in November could be asked to increase the amount of rent a tenant must owe before being evicted for non-payment and allow them to move a family member into their units.

Those provisions are part of a slate of five pro-tenant ballot measures the Santa Monica Rent Control Board last Thursday recommended the City Council place on the November 3 ballot.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/June-2026/06_29_2026_Rent_Board_Recommends_Ballot_Measures.html

Here is where the rewritten bill returns. AB 1740 no longer exempts anything at the bluff. Instead, it does something subtler: it puts Santa Monica on a deadline to finish its coastal plan by 2029, and the Commission on a deadline to certify it. More subtle is a hint that the state budget’s vote next week includes ‘trailer bill’ wording setting that until the LCP is certified, all housing projects are allowed. 

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/06/sm-a-r-t-column-the-dual-process-part-three-the-line-the-sea-is-moving-toward/

Former Mayor Sue Himmelrich -- a longtime champion of tenants rights who has helped spearhead two local tax measures for affordable housing -- is seeking a seat on Santa Monica's Rent Control Board.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/June-2026/06_24_2026_Former_Mayor_Seeks_Rent_Board_Seat.html

Assembly Bill 1740, authored by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-51st District), now requires Santa Monica to submit a complete proposed LCP to the commission by Jan. 1, 2029. Under the amended version of the bill, the commission must act on that submission within six months of receipt, provide the city a written list of any identified issues within 45 days, and — if it fails to act on the complete proposal within six months — submit quarterly written updates to the Legislature explaining the delay.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/controversial-coastal-development-bill-washes-ashore-with-radically-reduced-scope-and-impact/

The slow coastal permitting the city blames on Sacramento is a wound of its own making — and AB 1740 is the wrong way to close it.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/06/sm-a-r-t-column-santa-monica-built-the-delay-it-now-wants-a-law-to-erase-part-one/

A proposal to bar an individual City Councilmember from placing an item on the agenda without a co-sponsor was quickly dismissed Tuesday night.

The item was viewed by residents -- who sent more than 60 emails opposing the rule change -- as a way of silencing Councilmember Lana Negrete, who is the lone dissenting voice on a dais dominated by Santa Monica's liberal establishment.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/June-2026/06_11_2026_Single_Councilmember_Can_Keep_Placing_Items_on_Agenda.html

Housing and Human Services Director Aileen Reynolds is recommending council authorize an $800,000 contract with the Los Angeles County Homeless Services and Housing Department to launch a Predictive Prevention Pilot aimed at keeping at-risk Santa Monica residents housed before a crisis occurs.

Read More: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/060926.pdf

Housing and Human Services Director Aileen Reynolds is recommending council authorize an $800,000 contract with the Los Angeles County Homeless Services and Housing Department to launch a Predictive Prevention Pilot aimed at keeping at-risk Santa Monica residents housed before a crisis occurs.

Read More: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/060926.pdf