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Doug Trussler Newsletter — August 31, 2026
📋 The Game Plan with Doug Trussler
📅 August 31, 2026
Good morning, Santa Monica,
Some weeks hand a city good news to celebrate. This past week asked more of us. Between Saturday and Sunday, two shootings shook the area around Palisades Park and the Pier ramp. By Tuesday, an extreme heat warning had settled over the whole region and did not lift until Friday evening. And through it all, the real work continued: patrols stepped up, a court deadline was met on Broadway, and a longtime Main Street storefront went dark.
My promise in this newsletter does not change during the difficult weeks. If anything, it matters more: facts first, plainly stated, and then what I think we should do about them. Here is the rundown.
🎙️ On the Record
🔹 The longest conversation I have had on the record this campaign: On Saturday, the Free Game Podcast released Episode 4, a sit-down interview with me about what happened to Santa Monica and whether it can be fixed. We covered homelessness, housing, crime, local businesses, and community, with real follow-up questions instead of talking points. You may not agree with every answer I gave, and that is fine. Disagreement is where the useful conversations start, and I believe you deserve candidates willing to have them out loud.
👉 Listen to the episode (Instagram)
🔹 Why I keep saying "fiscal emergency" out loud: On Wednesday I posted about the financial moment our city is in, because I do not think short-term fixes will cut it. Santa Monica needs financial discipline, thoughtful decision-making, and a clear plan for long-term stability, and I have spent most of my life working through exactly these kinds of problems. My first finance teacher was actually my grandfather, the treasurer of a large Canadian furniture company, who explained ledgers to me between buckets of maple sap. The lesson stuck: you cannot fix a number you refuse to say out loud.
🚨 Public Safety & Homelessness
🔹 A hard weekend, and a fast, visible response: Over the weekend of August 22 and 23, Santa Monica saw two serious incidents: an officer-involved shooting in Palisades Park on Saturday, and a shooting near the Pier ramp on Sunday that injured the victim of a robbery. SMPD officers rendered aid to Sunday's victim and arrested a suspect within hours, a juvenile suspect is now in custody, and detectives are pursuing additional arrests. On Tuesday, the city announced enhanced police patrols at the Pier, on the beach, in Palisades Park, and throughout Downtown, along with direct outreach to Pier and Downtown businesses.
→ 💬 My take: My heart goes out to the victim and to everyone who was anywhere near either scene. No one should feel unsafe in the places where this city gathers. Credit where it is due: an arrest within hours is the kind of execution a fully staffed department makes possible, and serious crime was already down 12.5 percent citywide last year. Now comes the real test. A surge answers a bad weekend. A sustained, visible presence is what changes how safe people feel on an ordinary one, and I will be watching whether these patrols hold after the headlines fade.
👉 Read the city's patrol announcement
👉 Read the Daily Press coverage
🔹 Accountability comes with a paper trail: The city has committed to releasing body-worn camera footage of Saturday's officer-involved shooting within the next few weeks, with the investigation following established protocol. And within days of the announcement, SMPD hosted two Coffee with a Cop sessions, Tuesday at Pacific Park on the Pier and Thursday at the Downtown Substation at 395 Santa Monica Place, so residents and business owners could question the officers patrolling their blocks face to face. Thank you to everyone who showed up and asked the hard questions.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: I posted about this exact principle at the start of the week. In the private sector, leaders are accountable for the decisions they make and for the information they provide, and residents deserve that same standard from City Hall. Trust is not built by announcements. It is built when the follow-through, the footage, the findings, and the honest answers arrive on schedule. When that footage is released, you will read about it here.
👉 Read my transparency post (Instagram)
💼 Economic Development
🔹 A Main Street storefront goes dark, and neighbors are left holding the bag: The Posh Duck, the luxury resale boutique at 2711 Main Street, closed abruptly this month, and the Daily Press reports consignors received contradictory emails about a possible bankruptcy while scrambling to reclaim designer handbags, clothing, and jewelry before an August deadline. A resale shop had operated at that address since 2011.
→ 💬 My take: I have spent 25 years around businesses in transition, and I can tell you closures rarely happen overnight. They happen slowly, then suddenly. Behind this one are residents owed property and another dark window on a street that cannot afford more of them. This is exactly why I keep pushing for a City Hall that knows its businesses before they are in trouble, not after the sign comes down. If you run a business that is feeling the squeeze, the city's resource hub is a genuine starting point, and my door is always open.
👉 Explore the city's business resources
🔹 The easiest economic policy you can enact this week is lunch: Early in the week I shared a few of my favorite Santa Monica restaurants, because our local spots are part of what makes this city special. Every table you book here supports local jobs, small-business owners, and the character of our neighborhoods. With Labor Day weekend ahead, skip the delivery app once and eat local. Then tell me what I missed, because my list is always open to amendments.
👉 See my favorite local spots (Instagram)
🌳 Environment & Open Space
🔹 Four days of heat our ocean breeze could not fix: The National Weather Service placed Santa Monica under an Extreme Heat Warning from Tuesday morning through Friday evening, part of a warning that covered much of Los Angeles County. Even the beach offered less relief than usual.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Extreme heat is no longer a freak event. It is a recurring public health challenge, and September historically brings some of our hottest stretches. So check on older neighbors, hydrate the kids at practice, and know where the nearest cool space is. I also believe climate resilience deserves the same treatment as streets and pipes: it is infrastructure, and it belongs in the budget conversation, not the afterthought pile.
🔹 The Broadway charging lots, tracked as promised: Earlier this month I told you about the court order pausing overnight operations at the Waymo lots at 1222 and 1310 Broadway, and I promised to follow it. Here is the update. On August 14, the Court of Appeal temporarily stayed enforcement of the injunction, so 24-hour operations have resumed while the challenge proceeds. The trial court's findings in the city's favor still stand; only enforcement is paused. The city's opposition was due Monday, August 24, Waymo may reply by September 2, and the court directed both sides to propose an expedited schedule.
→ 💬 My take: The City Attorney is right that a temporary order settles nothing for the residents living next to those lots. I am rooting for this technology, and I am rooting harder for neighbors getting a full night's sleep. Those goals are compatible, and I will keep this case on the board until a final decision says so.
👉 Read the city's update on the appeal
📅 Mark Your Calendar
🔹 Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1, 6 to 9:30 PM: The Public Safety Reform and Oversight Commission meets. After the week we just had, this is the room where residents' questions about policing get asked on the record, and your presence matters.
🔹 Monday, September 7: Labor Day. A day that belongs to the people who keep this city running, from lifeguards to line cooks. Enjoy it, and thank a worker while you are at it.
🔹 Tuesday, September 8, 5:30 PM: The next regular City Council meeting at City Hall, 1685 Main Street. I will preview the agenda in next week's issue.
🔹 Sunday, September 13: a genuine doubleheader. The 20th running of the Santa Monica Classic brings a 10K, 5K, and Kids Run to the coast in the morning. Then Americana in the Park returns to Gandara Park, 1819 Stewart Street, from 1:30 to 6:30 PM: free, all ages, with Grammy winner Albert Lee, Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca, the Bob Baker Marionettes, and food trucks. Run in the morning, picnic in the afternoon. That is a well-designed Sunday.
👉 Get the Americana in the Park details
🔹 Tuesday, November 3: Election Day, nine weeks from tomorrow.
🤝 Join the Campaign
Nine weeks is the whole season we have left, and this grassroots campaign runs on neighbors, not machines. Every door knocked, every lawn sign planted, every living room opened for a conversation, and every contribution of any size moves us closer to a City Hall that treats your money and your time with respect. If the approach in this newsletter is the leadership you want, there is a spot on this roster with your name on it.
⚽ The Final Whistle
A week like this one does not define Santa Monica. How we respond to it will. What I saw in the record this week was a department that moved fast when it counted, businesses and residents showing up to talk face to face, and a community that checked on each other through four days of brutal heat. That is worth building on. September brings the Council back to the dais, cooler evenings, and race day on the coast, and I intend to spend every week of it earning your trust the same way I have asked the city to earn it: with numbers, follow-through, and honesty about what still needs fixing. If something in this issue mattered to you, forward it to a neighbor. That is how this team grows.
