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Ashley Oelsen Newsletter — July 26, 2026
🌎 Protect What You Love with Ashley Oelsen
📅 July 27, 2026
Hi, Santa Monica,
I am running for City Council for a reason I can say in one breath: I am raising my child in this city, and I want to hand it to the next generation healthier, safer, and better cared for than I found it. Some weeks that mission feels uphill. This week, it felt possible. Homelessness in Santa Monica just posted a double-digit drop in a single year, Main Street threw open its doors for a joyful State of the City, and tomorrow night our Council makes decisions that will determine whether this progress sticks. In this newsletter: the story of why I measure everything (it involves orangutans, I promise), what is really on tomorrow's agenda, an update from our coast, and the moments ahead I hope to share with you. Let's get into it.
☀️ Why I Run: You Protect What You Measure
🔹 Before I was a candidate, I was counting orangutans in Borneo: In 2017, I spent months in the forests of Central Kalimantan monitoring orangutans that had been rehabilitated and released back into the wild. My job was not to cheer for them. It was to verify, day after day, whether they were actually finding food, building nests, and surviving on their own. That work taught me the conviction at the heart of this campaign: loving something is not enough to save it. You have to show up, measure honestly, and keep adjusting until the outcome is real. It is true for an orangutan in a rainforest, it is true for a kelp forest in our Bay, and it is absolutely true for a city budget, a shelter program, and a coastline.
→ 💙 What this means for you: If you elect me, you get a Councilmember who treats your tax dollars and our shared future the way a field scientist treats her data: with rigor, humility, and zero tolerance for wishful thinking. Each week in this space, I will share another piece of who I am and what I am fighting for, because you deserve to truly know the person asking for your vote.
🧭 Tomorrow Night at City Hall: Progress Worth Protecting
🔹 The homelessness numbers moved, and now the follow-through matters: On Friday, the city released its 2026 Point-in-Time Count: 718 people experiencing homelessness in Santa Monica, down 11.6 percent from 812 last year, with unsheltered homelessness falling nearly 19 percent even as the numbers rose across Los Angeles. Tomorrow, Council considers a housing-focused system of care to build on that momentum: interim stabilization housing at the Palm Motel with services from The People Concern, funded beds at the Salvation Army's Bell Shelter, and a transition away from the congregate-style SaMoShel facility.
→ 🎯 Where I stand: This is my safe streets pillar in action. Compassion and accountability are not opposites, and Friday's numbers prove it. Before these agreements are signed, I want clear answers on the outcomes we will measure, what each dollar buys, and the plan for replacing every bed we phase out. That is the standard I will hold as your Councilmember, and it is the standard you should demand from every candidate this fall.
👉 Read the city's count announcement
🔹 Safer crossings on Wilshire, and a regional tool for housing: Tomorrow's consent calendar also includes a construction contract of up to $7.6 million for Phase 2B of the Wilshire Boulevard Safety Improvement Project, because whether you are eight or eighty, you should be able to cross our busiest corridors without holding your breath. Council will also vote on joining the Westside Cities Affordable Housing Trust, which lets neighboring cities pool resources for affordable homes. As a renter, I feel the stakes of that one personally, and I want its governance and fiscal guardrails examined closely before we commit.
🌊 Eyes on the Coast
🔹 The rulebook for our shoreline is quietly back on the agenda: Tucked into tomorrow's consent calendar is a $100,000 agreement to deliver a revised Local Coastal Program Implementation Plan. That may sound technical, but the LCP is the rulebook for how our shoreline develops and adapts, including to rising seas, and this document will shape our beach, our Bay, and our coastal neighborhoods for a generation. Everyone who spent this spring and summer fighting for coastal oversight knows exactly why it matters. August is upon us, and our job is unchanged: stay informed, stay engaged, and make sure real science and the public interest are in the room every time our coast is on the table. I have spent my career restoring coastlines, and I promise you this: I will keep watching every step, and I will keep reporting back.
🤝 Main Street, at Its Best
🔹 Thursday's State of the City turned a street into a living room: On Thursday afternoon, Main Street between Hollister Avenue and Ocean Park Boulevard became an open-air celebration outside the newly reopened Ocean Park Branch Library. Neighbors browsed local shops, kids played where cars usually rule, and Mayor Torosis delivered the annual address on where our city stands. Days like this are the whole point for me. A city where community happens in public, face to face and out in the sunshine, is the Santa Monica I am running to protect and grow.
👉 Learn more about State of the City
🐚 Dates to Know
🔹 Tuesday, July 28, 5:30 PM: City Council meeting at City Hall, 1685 Main Street, Room 250. With shelter, street safety, coastal planning, and housing dollars all on one agenda, this is a great night for your first public comment. Pick the item you care about most and lend your voice, in person or in writing. I would love to hear it.
🔹 Tuesday, August 4, 5 to 8 PM: National Night Out at City Hall with the Santa Monica Police Department, themed "Lights. Camera. Community." Meet the officers and partners who keep Santa Monica safe, and bring the kids.
👉 See the National Night Out details
🔹 Tuesday, November 3: Election Day. Ninety-nine days from today. Yes, I am counting.
💙 Join the Movement
Here is what makes this campaign different: it is built by neighbors, for neighbors, one conversation at a time. When you volunteer an hour, host a coffee chat, write a postcard, or chip in what you can, you are not funding a political machine. You are helping a mom, a scientist, and a renter bring evidence and heart to the decisions that shape our home. I cannot do this without you, and honestly, I would not want to. Come be part of it.
🌊 Onward
Here is my ask for the week ahead. Pick one thing from this newsletter and act on it: give your first public comment at City Hall tomorrow, put National Night Out on the family calendar, or forward this to a neighbor who cares about our coast. Small actions, multiplied across a city, are how good futures get built. I am in this race because Santa Monica gave my family a home worth protecting, and I intend to spend every one of the next ninety-nine days earning the chance to protect yours.
💙 Ashley
