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Doug Trussler Newsletter — September 21, 2026
📋 The Game Plan with Doug Trussler
📅 September 21, 2026
Happy Monday, Santa Monica,
Ninety-six feet. That is how far inland Hurricane Marie's surf pushed the high-tide line on the beach south of the Pier, and that single measurement drove much of this week's news: a beachfront festival canceled, repair crews on the sand ahead of a king tide, and a water plan headed to Council on Tuesday that deserves your full attention. This week also brought news that genuinely humbled me, because the men and women who respond to Santa Monica's worst days decided to put their names next to mine. There is a lot on the whiteboard, so let's get into it.
🚨 Public Safety & Homelessness
🔹 An endorsement I do not take lightly: On Tuesday, Santa Monica Firefighters IAFF Local 1109 and the Santa Monica Police Officers Association expanded their joint City Council endorsements, adding Ashley Oelsen and me alongside their earlier backing of Councilmember Lana Negrete. The Board of Northeast Neighbors has endorsed the same three of us as well. I am deeply grateful, and I feel the weight of it. Our firefighters and police officers see this city without a filter, every shift, and their trust is not something they hand out casually. My commitment to them, and to you, is simple: I intend to earn this every single week between now and November.
→ 📊 By the numbers: The unions paired their announcement with an EMC Research survey of 250 likely November voters, taken September 5 to 9. It found 68 percent believe the city is on the wrong track, 61 percent want new people to change how things are done, and 43 percent feel less safe than they did two years ago. Here is the number I cannot stop thinking about from my desk at the foot of the Promenade: 71 percent say the area around Third Street is not safe after dark. Yet 88 percent rate our Fire Department as excellent or good, and 60 percent say the same of our Police Department. Residents trust the people doing the work. They are asking for leadership that backs those people up, because public safety and economic recovery are the same conversation.
👉 Read the SMDP report on the endorsements
👉 See my endorsement post (Instagram)
🔹 My homelessness strategy, on the record: Last Monday I released a video laying out my full plan for combating homelessness in the city we all love, because I believe candidates owe you specifics, not slogans. Readers of this newsletter know my test for the city's new Housing Focused System of Care: measurable targets, honest reporting, and results you can verify on our own streets. The video puts my whole approach in one place, and I would rather you judge it directly than take my word for it.
👉 Watch my strategy video (Instagram)
💼 Economic Development
🔹 Ocean Way Festival is canceled for 2026, and it was the right call: The inaugural beachfront festival planned for September 26 and 27 was called off after Hurricane Marie's surf and storm runoff carved up the site south of the Pier. The high-tide line moved 96 feet inland of the festival's planned fire lane, runoff from the Pico-Kenter storm drain pushed the southern boundary roughly 500 feet north, and city staff concluded no amount of shrinking or shifting could make the footprint safe. All tickets are being refunded automatically, and the city and Goldenvoice have both committed to relaunching in 2027.
→ 💬 My take: When the facts changed, the city made a fast, safe, clearly communicated decision, and that deserves credit. But let's be honest about the stakes too. This festival was billed as the centerpiece of a $60 million plan to revive our visitor economy, and I shared with you in July that hotel tax revenue fell 13.2 percent last year. Losing the marquee event of the fall makes the revenue question harder, not easier. I want to see a clear accounting of what this cancellation costs the city, and a 2027 plan that is stress-tested against the next storm rather than hoping for calm seas.
👉 Read the cancellation coverage
🔹 A Prohibition-era bet on the Pier's future: On Saturday night, the Pier Corporation's second annual PIERfect Benefit transformed the historic Merry Go-Round Building into a 1930s gambling den inspired by the SS Rex. I love seeing the Pier bet on its own history, because creative fundraising like this is exactly how a landmark keeps its programming alive while the city works through lean budget years. To everyone who organized, volunteered, and bought a ticket: thank you for investing in one of Santa Monica's crown jewels.
👉 Read about the PIERfect Benefit
🌳 Environment & Open Space
🔹 Crews are on the sand, and the clock matters: Public Works began beach repairs this week, moving sand to the eroded Pico-Kenter outfall area, regrading the site, and building a protective berm ahead of an approaching king tide and full moon. Crews are also opening the beach's five storm drains ahead of a forecast El Niño winter, while the city coordinates with Los Angeles County on heavier equipment and evaluates importing additional sand.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: This is about far more than one ruined festival site. ESPN plans to broadcast Super Bowl coverage from the Pier in February 2027, Ocean Way returns next year, and Olympic hospitality houses arrive with the LA28 Games. Our beach is the stage for all of it. Protecting that stage before winter storms arrive is unglamorous, essential work, and it is exactly the kind of work I want this city to be great at.
👉 Read the beach repairs report
🔹 A water reality check heads to Council on Tuesday: Staff will present the 2026 Sustainable Water Master Plan Update, and the honest headline is that local sources currently meet only 80 to 85 percent of our water demand, well short of the 99 percent self-sufficiency goal Council adopted in 2018. Under a worst-case growth scenario, supplies could fall 4,500 acre-feet short by 2045. The near-term fix leans on conservation and expanding recycled water, including exploring direct potable reuse, while bigger options like regional recycled-water partnerships or desalination sit five to ten years out.
→ 💬 My take: I have read a lot of financial plans in my career, and I respect this one for its candor more than the original promised self-sufficiency by 2023, a deadline that slipped and slipped again. Credit where due: the city secured nearly $40 million in grants and more than $150 million in low-interest financing for the work already done. What I want next is what any well-run organization would demand: measurable annual milestones, so the next update reads like a progress report instead of another revised deadline. Water independence is both drought insurance and long-term cost control, and we should treat it that way.
👉 Read the SMDP water plan analysis
🔹 The Waymo case took a turn against the city: In early August I told you a court had ordered quiet nights at the autonomous vehicle charging lots at 1222 and 1310 Broadway, and I promised to track the case here. This week's update is not the one neighbors wanted: the court granted Waymo's petition and put the overnight injunction on hold while the company's appeal plays out, meaning overnight operations can resume for now. The underlying public nuisance case still heads toward trial, and the October 23 status conference remains on the calendar.
→ 💬 My take: This is a frustrating setback for Broadway residents who documented more than a year of noise, lights, and traffic. My view has not changed: I want innovative companies to succeed in Santa Monica, and being innovative and being a good neighbor are not competing goals. The legal process is still moving, and you can count on the next development showing up in this newsletter.
👉 Read the Waymo ruling coverage
📅 Mark Your Calendar
🔹 Tuesday, September 22, 5:30 PM: City Council meeting at City Hall, 1685 Main Street. The water master plan discussion above is on the agenda, alongside proclamations for Filipino American History Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month and a commendation for State Senator Ben Allen.
🔹 Candidate forum season is here: The North of Montana Association opened the season this past Saturday at the Franklin School Auditorium, with all 12 qualified Council candidates invited to participate. Still ahead: the League of Women Voters hosts a school board forum on Tuesday, September 29 at 6:30 PM at the SMMUSD District Office, 1717 4th Street; a City Council forum with the Committee for Racial Justice on Sunday, October 4, 6:30 to 9 PM at the Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill Street; a televised Council and Rent Control Board forum on CityTV on Friday, October 9; and a final forum on Wednesday, October 14, 6:30 to 9 PM at 1834 14th Street. I plan to be at every Council forum I am invited to, and I hope you will come size up the whole field in person, because that is how this should work.
🔹 Tuesday, November 3: Election Day, exactly six weeks from tomorrow.
🤝 Join the Campaign
This was a week of gratitude for our campaign, and the only honest way to answer an endorsement is with more work. Over the weekend I shared the picture I keep coming back to: a Santa Monica where people feel safe, local businesses have room to thrive, our parks and open spaces are actually used, and our kids have more chances to play, grow, and belong. If that is the city you want too, there is a spot for you on this team. Reply to this email to knock on doors with us, request a lawn sign, or host a meet and greet in your living room. Every conversation counts.
👉 Read the post on the city I want to build (Instagram)
👉 Follow the campaign on Instagram
⚽ The Final Whistle
Hurricane Marie did not ask for a meeting before rearranging our beach, and Waymo's lawyers did not check our preferences before filing their appeal. Weeks like this reveal whether a city merely reacts or truly responds. Reacting produces excuses. Responding produces berms built before the king tide, refunds issued without drama, and a 2027 calendar already filling with reasons for optimism. That is the standard I want Santa Monica to hold on every issue, in every season, and it is the standard you should hold me to as well. So reply and tell me which story in this issue you want me to dig deeper on next week. Forty-three days to Election Day. Let's make every one of them count.
Together, we're building a community and better future that works for everyone. Thank you for staying connected!
Doug Trussler
Council Candidate, City of Santa Monica
