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Ashley Oelsen Newsletter — September 7, 2026
🌎 Protect What You Love with Ashley Oelsen
📅 September 7, 2026
Happy Labor Day, neighbors,
Today is a day built for rest, and this community has earned some. In a single week, we learned that the Sacramento carveout targeting our Coastal Zone is officially dead, watched swells from Hurricane Marie hammer our shoreline through the holiday weekend, and welcomed two endorsements that mean the world to me. City Hall is closed today for the holiday, but the Council is back at the dais tomorrow night with a street safety conversation worth your attention. So pour a second cup of coffee and let's walk through it all. And to everyone whose work never pauses for a holiday, from the lifeguards scanning a rough ocean to the crews who keep this city running: thank you. Today is yours.
🛟 Public Safety: A Rough Ocean and Safer Streets
🔹 Hurricane Marie came to visit, and she is not gentle: The National Weather Service issued a High Surf Advisory and a Coastal Flood Advisory for our coast, in effect from Saturday morning through 11 PM tomorrow, Tuesday, September 8, as south swells from Hurricane Marie drive big waves and dangerous rip currents. Police urged beachgoers to use caution all weekend, and that guidance still stands today. The biologist in me admires a powerful swell; the mom in me wants you to respect it. If you celebrate Labor Day on the sand, swim near an open lifeguard tower, keep kids within arm's reach, and never turn your back on the ocean.
🔹 Tomorrow, Vision Zero gets a serious upgrade: At Tuesday's Council meeting, staff will lead a study session, item 11B, on transitioning Santa Monica's Vision Zero policy to a Safe System approach: a framework that designs streets so one human mistake is not a fatal one.
→ 💡 Why this matters: With the school year in full swing, our crosswalks are crowded with kids, strollers, bikes, and e-bikes every morning. Policies are only promises until they change how a street is actually built, and this session will set the direction for years of roadway safety spending. If you have ever white-knuckled an intersection with your child's hand in yours, this item is about you, and public comment is open to you.
🌊 Our Coast: The Carveout Is Dead. Stay Watchful.
🔹 Sacramento backed down because you did not: The Daily Press confirmed this week what we had been hoping to hear: the last-minute effort to exempt the Ocean Avenue Project from Coastal Commission review did not survive, and Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur says the proposal is "dead for this year." This did not happen by accident. It happened because residents called and emailed, because coastal advocates refused to look away, and because Zbur and roughly a dozen Assembly colleagues sent an August 26 letter to the Governor, the Senate pro Tem, and the Speaker opposing the language. Bravo to Assemblymember Zbur for leading, and thank you to Governor Newsom for listening and changing course.
→ 🎯 My take: Notice the phrase "dead for this year." The narrowed language would have kicked in only if Santa Monica lacked a certified Local Coastal Program by January 1, 2028, which tells you exactly where the durable fix lives: we finish our LCP, on our terms, with full public process. Our coast is never saved once and forever. It is saved continually, by people who keep paying attention. This week, that was you.
🔹 What a tropical storm system teaches us about our streets: A weekend like this one is a good reminder that when rain finally reaches Santa Monica, whatever is sitting on our streets goes with it. Oil, trash, bacteria, pesticides, and pet waste wash into storm drains and flow to our beaches and the Bay, with no treatment plant in between. That makes urban runoff a public health issue and an infrastructure issue, not just an environmental one. The answers are upstream: green infrastructure, stormwater capture, well-maintained drains, and continuous water quality monitoring, plus the small things every one of us controls, like picking up after our pets and keeping litter out of the gutter. What happens upstream never stays upstream.
🧾 Sound Finances: Two Stories About Public Dollars
🔹 SMC hits pause on choosing its next leader: The Daily Press reported Monday that Santa Monica College has paused its superintendent/president search, just weeks after the vetting committee finished its work, citing only "unforeseen circumstances." The timing is hard: Superintendent Kathryn Jeffery retires December 31, the tentative 2026-27 budget carries a structural deficit of roughly $7.6 million, and the college meets five of seven state indicators of fiscal distress. I want SMC to thrive, because thousands of local students and workers depend on it. But you cannot steer out of a fiscal storm without a captain, and students, employees, and taxpayers deserve a plain-English explanation and a real timeline. Vague phrases are not transparency, and I will keep watching this one.
🔹 A second act for the Camera Obscura: The City has released a request for proposals for a cafe operator at the historic Camera Obscura Building at 1450 Ocean Avenue, with proposals due October 1. The renovation adds about 2,000 square feet of exhibition space and a wraparound patio overlooking Palisades Park, targets a summer 2027 opening, and the building will serve as Switzerland's official hospitality house during the 2028 Olympics under a license the Council approved in May, worth a $300,000 base fee with a $200,000 expansion option.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: This is what sound finances can look like: a beloved public building that sat idle for years becoming revenue, jobs, and an active community space instead of a maintenance line item. My ask as this moves forward is simple. Keep public access and community programming at the center of the deal, and show us the numbers at every step.
🗳️ From the Campaign Trail: Grateful, Twice Over
🔹 Northeast Neighbors said yes: This week our campaign earned the endorsement of Northeast Neighbors, and it means a great deal to me, because neighborhood organizations are where residents gather, speak up, and fight for the community they call home. This campaign has always been about putting residents back at the center of the decisions that shape Santa Monica, and I am grateful for their trust.
🔹 And so did Lana Negrete: Lana was one of the people who first asked me to run for City Council, and that conversation is a big part of why I am in this race at all. She knows what it takes to serve this city, and having her trust now, as an endorsement, means more than I can easily put into words. Thank you, Lana.
☀️ Why I'm Running: Organizations Endorse. People Elect.
🔹 An honest look inside endorsement season: Over the past several weeks I have sat for endorsement interviews, filled out questionnaires, and seen up close how these processes really work. Some are thoughtful and genuinely focused on a candidate's record. Others feel largely settled before a candidate ever enters the room, shaped by alliances and delegate structures rather than ideas. That can sting as a first-time candidate, but it has clarified something for me. I am not going to measure this campaign by the logos on a website. I will measure it by the volunteers walking precincts, the neighbors putting signs in their windows, the people who stop me on the street, and the $10 contributions from residents who simply want an independent voice at City Hall. I am proud of every endorsement. I am prouder of the people.
👉 Read my reflection (Instagram)
🤝 Community Notes
🔹 Neighbor to neighbor at Growing Hope Gardens: This week I spent time helping with food distribution alongside the Santa Monica Helping Hub at Growing Hope Gardens, and it was a reminder that some of the most meaningful work in this city happens quietly, consistently, and without fanfare. Food insecurity exists here in Santa Monica, and fresh produce reaching a neighbor's table is infrastructure for a healthy community just as surely as any pipe or pavement. To the volunteers who show up week after week: you are the Santa Monica I love, and I am grateful for you.
🐚 Dates to Know
🔹 Today, Monday, September 7: City Hall is closed in observance of Labor Day, along with adjusted hours at some city facilities. Rest well, and thank a worker who cannot.
🔹 Tuesday, September 8, 5:30 PM: City Council meets at City Hall, 1685 Main Street, including the Vision Zero study session (item 11B). Public comment is your microphone. Use it.
🔹 Friday, September 11: Twenty-five years since September 11, 2001. Take a moment to remember the lives lost and to thank the first responders here at home who run toward danger every day.
🔹 Saturday, September 19, 9 AM to noon: The 42nd annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, the state's largest volunteer event. Grab gloves, bring the kids, and give our Bay a hand.
🔹 Tuesday, November 3: Election Day, 57 days from today.
💙 Join the Movement
This campaign is powered by people, not special interests, and this week proved why that matters: when residents fund a campaign, the campaign answers to residents. Every contribution helps us knock more doors, print more signs, and reach more voters, and every donor is proof that real community support stands behind this effort. The maximum contribution is $1,200 per person and $2,400 per couple, but every amount makes a difference and is deeply appreciated. No budget for giving right now? An hour of your time or a forwarded newsletter carries us just as far.
🌊 Onward
Labor Day is a good day to say plainly what this whole week has been teaching: nothing in this city protects itself. A coastline stays protected because people write letters. A street becomes safe because people show up to a study session. A neighbor eats well because a volunteer packs produce on a Thursday. That is work, all of it, and it is the most hopeful kind there is. Tomorrow night the Council is back in session, and on the 19th the whole coast could use your hands for three hours. Pick one, bring a friend, and let's keep building. Fifty-seven days to go.
💙 Ashley
