🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete

📅 April 13, 2026

Hi Santa Monica,

A few days ago, I was walking to my local dog groomer when I saw their front window smashed. Cash register broken into. Register drawer emptied. And the owner, like every small business owner I know, left to absorb the cost, the cleanup, and the paperwork on their own. It was not the first time this has happened to a business I care about. It will not be the last unless we build a system that actually helps.

That is why I am bringing forward Item 16J on tomorrow night's Council agenda: a centralized Business Crime Response Recovery Portal, so that when a business gets hit, they have one place to go. One clear path to reporting, cleanup support, safety resources, and recovery tools. This item is personal for me, yes, because our family's music store has been broken into too. But this is bigger than any one business. It is about making sure we do not lose the places that make Santa Monica, Santa Monica, one cumulative loss at a time.

Tomorrow's agenda is a heavy one. Item 16J. A state housing law discussion on SB 9 that affects every single-unit neighborhood. A Planning Commission session on SB 79 the very next day. Plus a week's worth of city updates, a historic clean-transit milestone for Big Blue Bus, and news you can actually use. Come to Council tomorrow at 5:30 PM if any of this moves you to speak. Your voice is part of how this gets built.

🚨 Public Safety

🔹 Weekly enforcement, March 29 through April 4. The numbers are tracking consistent with our recent trend, and the year-over-year comparisons keep telling the same story: sustained staffing, proactive policing, and accountability are producing real results.

→ 🎯 My take: An 80.8% year-over-year increase in arrests is not a seasonal blip. It is the direct product of full sworn staffing, coordinated deployments, and a downtown posture I have backed at every turn. We hold the line by showing up, every single day.

🔹 Item 16J: Business Crime Response Recovery Portal (my item, tomorrow night). I am bringing this forward because the current system quietly pushes small business owners out of the reporting process. When the steps to report a crime and follow up are complicated and time-consuming, many owners do not report at all. They clean it up, absorb the loss, and move on, because they do not have the bandwidth to navigate multiple departments, forms, and systems. Across a city, that adds up.

→ 💡 What the portal would do: Create a single front door for any business that has been impacted by a crime. One place to access reporting, cleanup support, safety resources, and recovery tools, coordinated across departments instead of spread across them. It is a practical, not political, fix.

→ 🎯 Why I am asking for your voice: This is a staff direction item, which means your public comment tomorrow night shapes what staff builds. If you own a business, if you have walked into work and found your window smashed, if you have tried to report a repeat offense and given up: Council needs to hear from you.

👉 Speak to Item 16J at tomorrow's Council meeting

🔹 Community Livability Operation: 7,000 pounds of debris, 12 arrests, 12 service referrals. This past week, SMPD coordinated a multi-agency operation that combined enforcement with outreach and environmental cleanup in high-impact areas. The results: 12 arrests, 8 citations, 12 service referrals, and roughly 7,000 pounds of encampment debris removed from public spaces.

→ ⚡ Why the framing matters: Enforcement alone is not a strategy. Outreach alone is not a strategy. Operations like this one work because they do both at once, connecting people who want help with the resources to accept it, while restoring spaces that belong to everyone. That is the model I want to see scaled.

🔹 Notable incidents this week:

→ 💡 Fire Department: 366 calls last week, 4,698 year-to-date, with crews handling 42 calls in the most recent 24-hour period. Recruit Academy Week 13 focused on wildland firefighting, with off-site training at Will Rogers State Park and formal state fire certification exams. Real training, real standards, real readiness.

💼 Economic Development

🔹 Big Blue Bus broke ground on our electric future. On Thursday, April 9, I attended a City hosted ceremonial groundbreaking for Big Blue Bus's $56 million zero-emission fleet and charging infrastructure expansion, the largest single investment in the agency's clean-transit transformation and a milestone that puts Santa Monica firmly on the path to a fully electric bus system by 2032.

→ 📊 By the numbers: A $53.3 million state grant anchors the project. Roughly $35.5 million goes toward completing the Fleet Electrification Master Plan, including overhead gantry charging systems capable of powering up to 195 buses. An additional $17.3 million funds 73 new battery-electric buses. About $400,000 supports workforce development in clean energy and zero-emission vehicle technologies. BBB already operates 34 battery-electric buses and has been growing steadily.

→ 🎯 My take: This is what long-term thinking looks like in local government. A grant secured 18 months ago, an implementation plan built phase by phase, and a groundbreaking on a Thursday in April that moves the whole agency closer to a cleaner, quieter, more affordable-to-operate future. Huge credit to our DOT team, to the BBB staff, and to everyone who fought for the funding. Our buses have been serving this community since 1928. They are about to serve us even better.

👉 Read the full groundbreaking announcement

🔹 New downtown parking rates and $1 for 90 minutes, starting today. Today, Monday April 13, new parking rates take effect at all downtown structures (PS 1–9 and the Ken Edwards Center). The headline: $1 for the first 90 minutes at every downtown structure, weekday or weekend. This is a meaningful recalibration from January, when the initial discounted window had been cut to 30 minutes. After hearing from residents and businesses, Council acted on March 24 to bring it back to 90 minutes and keep downtown accessible for shopping, dining, and visiting.

→ 📊 Downtown Structures 1, 2, 4–8, and Ken Edwards Center:

→ 📊 Structure 9 (lower rates across the board):

→ 💡 Two new pilot programs also launch today: a Fitness & Wellness Validation Pilot offering 90-minute validations at just $0.25 (a 75% discount), and a School Validation Pilot at three downtown schools and early childcare facilities providing free 30-minute validations for student drop-off and pick-up. Both pilots run 12 months, and participating operators get a free validation machine.

→ 🎯 My take: Parking policy is not glamorous, but it is one of the most honest tests of whether a downtown wants visitors or just wants fees. Ninety minutes for a dollar says come in, grab lunch, shop, and stay. That is the message we should be sending.

👉 See the full parking rate details

🔹 Pier Bridge temporary vehicle ramp is now open. On April 6, crews opened a temporary vehicle ramp that now serves as the primary access point for all emergency and delivery vehicles during the Pier Bridge reconstruction. The existing Colorado Avenue vehicle ramp is closed. Santa Monica Fire conducted hands-on training at the new ramp this week with crews from all five stations running familiarization drills, because emergency access during construction is not a thing you improvise. Pedestrian access remains open along Colorado Avenue until the temporary pedestrian bridge opens in early summer, and all Pier restaurants, shops, and parking remain open and accessible. The $35 million project replaces the 87-year-old bridge with a structure built for modern seismic standards, better accessibility, and the 2028 Olympic Games.

👉 Pier Bridge project updates

🔹 New arrivals on our commercial corridors. A few openings worth welcoming: Milano Nail Spa is now open at 1641 Lincoln Boulevard. Kändi, a Swedish candy shop, opened at 1230 Montana Avenue. La Diperie, a Montreal-based chain specializing in customizable dipped desserts, has signage up on Montana. And on March 26, the Economic Development team attended the grand opening of Kia Santa Monica, the seventh dealership in the LAcarGUY family's local portfolio (a Santa Monica institution since 1973). Auto sales are one of our biggest sales tax categories, producing roughly 30% of our sales tax revenue and about $9.6 million in direct payments to the City last year. Buying local truly does make a difference.

→ 🎯 Walk in. Say hello. Every one of these is a bet on Santa Monica.

🎓 Education & Community

🔹 A morning with Women in Business at Santa Monica College. On Wednesday, April 8, I sat down with the Women in Business group at SMC for a coffee chat that was supposed to run an hour and turned into an hour and a half of real talk. Being a woman, running a family business, serving on Council, raising daughters, making mistakes, asking for help: we covered all of it. Mentorship is not something I inherited. It is something I am trying to pass forward.

→ 💡 Why this matters to me: When young women, especially first-generation college students and first-generation business owners, ask where leadership starts, the honest answer is: it starts with one conversation and someone who answers your email back. If you are reading this and you want to talk, find me at the farmers market or book office hours. I mean it.

🔹 Douglas Park Playground reopens this Saturday, April 18. The Douglas Park Playground Reconstruction Project is nearing completion, with an official ribbon cutting celebration set for Saturday, April 18, from 9 to 11 AM. The new playground is Santa Monica's fifth universally accessible play space, joining Marine Park, Ishihara Park, the South Beach Playground, and the North Beach Playground. It replaces roughly 17,000 square feet of aging rubber safety surface and 20-year-old equipment with modern, inclusive structures shaped by two public workshops and survey input from local TK through 6th graders. Because when you are building a playground, the kids should get a say.

→ ⚡ Quick history worth knowing: Douglas Park sits on the 10.7-acre site that was once the factory and airfield of aviation pioneer Donald Douglas, whose company built the aircraft that completed the first-ever circumnavigation of the globe by air in 1924. The park was established in the 1930s as a Depression-era New Deal project. A piece of Santa Monica history that has now been re-imagined for the next generation. For me it was home of many birthday parties, falling into the pond at 8 while feeding the ducks and the weekly hang out for my dad and a group of Casa Escobar patrons during COVID and beyond.  It’s a space I remember my childhood, my kid’s childhood and my dad.

👉 Douglas Park Playground ribbon cutting, Saturday April 18

🔹 Library Tech & Tasks: when the system gets complicated, we step in. Recently, a senior Santa Monica resident came to the Library after receiving a confusing re-enrollment packet for the California Lifeline program, which provides discounted phone service to low-income households. Between multiple agencies, tight deadlines, recent federal policy changes, language barriers, and digital barriers, she had hit a wall. Over several sessions, a Tech & Tasks volunteer worked one-on-one with her, contacting Lifeline and SafeLink to troubleshoot issues and restore service.

→ 💡 Tech & Tasks is a drop-in program at the Main Library and Pico Branch where trained volunteers help with everything from navigating government websites to completing applications to setting up personal devices. It is one of our most direct tools for closing the digital divide, and it exists because patient, one-on-one support cannot be replaced by a call center. Tell a neighbor who needs it.

👉 Learn about Tech & Tasks at the Library

🏠 Housing & State Policy: The Part of Tomorrow You Should Know About

🔹 SB 9 comes back to Council tomorrow night. On Tuesday's agenda, Council will be discussing SB 9, the state law that allows duplexes and lot splits in single-unit neighborhoods. This is a good example of how the state can set the rules, but local government still has an important role in shaping how those rules get applied here. For me, that means making sure any housing we create is not just compliant on paper. It has to be actually livable, well-designed, and make sense for our community. Come speak if you have a view.

🔹 SB 79 study session at Planning Commission, Wednesday April 15. One day after Council, the Planning Commission will hold an educational study session on SB 79, the state's Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act. SB 79 takes effect July 1 and applies statewide minimum development standards to qualified housing projects located within a half-mile of major transit stops. All three of our Expo Light Rail stations qualify. The Commission session on April 15 at 6:00 PM will walk through the law, show which areas of Santa Monica are affected, and explore local implementation options permitted under state law. Written comments can be submitted to planningcomment@santamonica.gov.

→ 🎯 My take: I said it last week and I will say it again. This is a big one, and I want every Santa Monican to understand what is coming before the noise drowns out the facts. The meeting on April 15 is your chance to ask real questions and get real answers.

👉 Learn more about SB 79 and see the affected-area map

🔹 Right to Counsel program doubles capacity: 100% positive outcomes last year. Since 2021, the City has partnered with Legal Aid Foundation of LA (LAFLA) to provide free eviction prevention legal services to Santa Monica renters. This past fiscal year, the program served 188 residents with a 100% positive legal outcome rate. Every single client avoided eviction. Last month, HHS executed a new contract with LAFLA to double attorney and case manager capacity, with expanded services rolling out this summer.

→ ⚡ Why this is real: Countywide, 97% of tenants in eviction cases are unrepresented, and unrepresented tenants are displaced 99% of the time. When they have legal representation, they avoid displacement 95% of the time. Right to Counsel is one of the most cost-effective homelessness prevention tools we have, and we just made it bigger.

🔹 15 new HUD-VASH vouchers for homeless veterans. The Santa Monica Housing Authority was awarded 15 additional HUD-VASH vouchers through HUD's FY2025 allocation. The program pairs rental assistance with VA case management, clinical services, mental health treatment, and substance use counseling. In a city where housing costs are among the highest in the nation, every additional voucher is a real pathway from the street to stability for a veteran who has served our country. Great work by our HHS team.

🔹 Berkeley Station is fully leased. Santa Monica's first-ever modular affordable housing development at 1342 Berkeley Street began leasing on April 1 and has already reached full occupancy. All 13 one-bedroom apartments are now home to low-income Santa Monica households, including eight young adult households who were facing housing insecurity. Developed by Community Corporation of Santa Monica and designed by Brooks + Scarpa using their NEST modular toolkit, the factory-built units were assembled on-site in just three days - I got to see it in action last year.  Proof of concept: modular construction can deliver high-quality, dignified affordable housing on infill sites with real cost and timeline efficiencies. More importantly, 13 households now have a place to call home.

🔹 Housing Office Hours at Virginia Avenue Park, Wednesday April 15. Our Housing team is bringing one-on-one assistance closer to the residents who need it most. This Wednesday from 4 to 6 PM at Virginia Avenue Park, staff will be available to answer questions and help with applications for the Below Market Housing (BMH) program and the Preserving Our Diversity (POD) program for long-term senior renters. Assistance available in English and Spanish. No appointment needed.

👉 Learn about the BMH program 

👉 Learn about the POD program

🎨 Community, Arts & Around Town

🔹 Santa Monica Women's Rugby wins the SoCal Championship. On Saturday, April 11, our Dolphins defeated the San Diego Surfers 41 to 24 to win the Southern California Division 1 finals. Next stop: the Pacific Super Regionals in Las Vegas, April 24 through 26, with a chance to advance to nationals in Chicago in May. The roster includes Olympic veterans Nia Toliver (Tokyo 2020) and head coach Isadora "Izzy" Cerullo, who represented Brazil at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. The Santa Monica Rugby Club was founded in 1972 and today fields men's, women's, and youth teams training at John Adams Middle School, Lincoln Middle School, and SamoHi through the City's longstanding Joint Use Agreement with SMMUSD. Good luck in Vegas, Dolphins.

🔹 Building a living shoreline, one dune at a time. The Bay Foundation continued its Phase III beach dune installation north of the Pier this past month, expanding what will eventually become nearly 30 acres of restored dune habitat along our entire shoreline. The science is real: during the powerful storms of December 2023, UCSB researchers found that waves not intercepted by the restored dunes ran an average of 45 feet farther up the beach toward Pacific Coast Highway. The restored dunes also brought back the federally threatened Western Snowy Plover, which nested on Santa Monica Beach in 2016 for the first time in nearly 70 years. Phase III will cover roughly 20% of our sand.

→ 🎯 Nature-based coastal defense that protects homes, roads, and infrastructure while bringing biodiversity back. This is what smart climate adaptation looks like on a coast like ours.

👉 Learn more about the beach dune project

🔹 Vacant Property Task Force update: 172 properties, nine operating teams, one goal. The Vacant Property Task Force met this past week for its fourth quarterly session. Nine departments, including Code Enforcement, Building & Safety, Planning, Housing, Rent Control, Economic Development, Fire, Police, and the City Attorney's Office, are now working collaboratively to tackle vacant properties across the city. Current state: 172 known or suspected vacant properties tracked, of which 88 are in good condition, 61 in moderate condition, and 23 in poor condition (a reduction of 2 from the prior quarter). The poor-condition properties are the ones that create the biggest public-safety and quality-of-life concerns, and we are moving them in the right direction. The mandatory registration program that Council adopted took effect January 1, 2026. More to do, but the trend line is correct.

📅 Dates & What's Coming Up

🔹 Tomorrow, Tuesday April 14 at 5:30 PM. Santa Monica City Council meeting. SB 9 discussion, Item 16J Business Crime Response Recovery Portal (my item), and a range of other agenda items. Come in person, watch live, or submit written comment before noon.

👉 View the full April 14 City Council agenda

🔹 Wednesday, April 15 at 6:00 PM. Planning Commission SB 79 study session. City Council Chambers. Educational session on SB 79 and its local implementation.

👉 View the SB 79 webpage and draft affected-area map

🔹 Wednesday, April 15, 4 to 6 PM. Housing Office Hours at Virginia Avenue Park. Get help with BMH and POD program applications. English and Spanish. No appointment needed.

🔹 Saturday, April 18, 9 to 11 AM. Douglas Park Playground ribbon cutting. Family-friendly morning with Community Recreation staff, youth activities, games, and light refreshments.

🔹 Sunday, April 19, 2 to 5 PM. "A Place for Everyone" Preservation Justice Workshop. Marine Park Auditorium (1406 Marine Street). A Landmarks Commission community workshop exploring how Santa Monica's landmarks process can better reflect the full breadth of our community's history. Food and drink provided.

👉 RSVP for the Preservation Justice Workshop

🔹 Tuesday, April 21, 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Extreme Heat & Resilience Community Workshop. Miles Memorial Playhouse at Reed Park (1130 Lincoln Blvd.). Part of the City's ongoing work under the Climate Action & Adaptation Plan. Spanish interpretation and free dinner provided.

👉 Register for the Extreme Heat workshop

🔹 Saturdays and Sundays. Pico Farmers Market (Saturdays) and Main Street Farmers Market (Sundays). Come say hello. Stop me at a stall. You do not need an appointment to have a conversation.

📱 Stay Connected

Got an issue to report? Want to make sure the city hears you?

👉 Report an Issue

If you haven't already, be sure to follow me on Instagram too for behind-the-scenes updates, event highlights, and my thoughts along the way as I continue to go on this journey with you.

👉 Follow me on Instagram

🔹 Book time with me. Virtual, in-person at City Hall, or catch me at the farmers market on weekends.

👉 Book Office Hours with Councilmember Lana Negrete

🌟 Closing Thought: Small Things, Added Up

The story of this week is not one big thing. It is a lot of small things that, added up, actually move a city.

A dog groomer's window that should have been a routine cleanup turns into a policy item on tomorrow's Council agenda. Thirteen households sign leases at Santa Monica's first modular affordable building and call a new place home. Fifteen housing vouchers are awarded to veterans who have been waiting. Seven thousand pounds of debris come out of public spaces in a single operation. One hundred eighty-eight renters, every single one of them, avoid eviction because of a program most people have never heard of. A parking rate drops to a dollar so a neighborhood lunch stays worth the trip. Big Blue Bus puts a shovel in the ground on a fleet that will run clean for decades.

None of these move without somebody showing up. A staffer pushing on a grant application. A volunteer sitting with a senior at the Library. A business owner willing to talk honestly about what is broken. A resident writing in to Council before noon. You, reading this, deciding to come tomorrow night.

I will keep being transparent with you about what I am working on, including the parts I am still figuring out. I will keep being civil with people I disagree with, because it is the only way hard conversations actually get somewhere. Those two habits, transparency and civility, are the ground I stand on, and they are what I ask for from everyone at the dais and everyone at the microphone.

Progress is not an announcement. It is this week, plus next week, plus the week after that, done honestly and without shortcuts. So come to Council tomorrow. Speak on Item 16J if it matters to you. Pull a neighbor along. Bring a question I have not been asked yet. This is how we build what comes next, and I would rather build it with you than without you.

Together, we're building a Santa Monica that works for everyone — a city where families can thrive, businesses can grow, and community comes first.

With gratitude and determination,
Lana Negrete
Councilmember, City of Santa Monica