🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete

📅 April 6, 2026

Hi Santa Monica,

Yesterday was Easter, and for me that meant a quiet morning of faith, family, and the kind of pause that doesn't come often in this job. I needed it. Because the week before it was anything but quiet: a bomb threat that evacuated our Pier, a fatal shooting investigation still moving forward, and a city council agenda for next week that includes one of the biggest state housing laws to land in Santa Monica in years.

This edition is about being honest with you on all of it. The wins we are seeing in public safety. The honest conversation about how we respond to homelessness. A new economic chapter at Santa Monica Place. And a state law called SB 79 that is going to reshape what gets built near our Expo line stations starting July 1.

A lot in this one. Take what matters to you, then come down to City Hall on April 14 if any of it moves you to speak.

🚨 Public Safety

🔹 Pier evacuated over the weekend after a bomb threat that turned out to be a "swatting" call. Our Pier was cleared while officers responded to what was reported as a credible threat. It was not real. This is what is called a swatting call: someone phones in a fake emergency, often a bomb threat or active shooter, with the goal of triggering a massive police response to a public place or a specific person's address. It is dangerous, it is illegal, and it is happening more often, including the recent incident at SamoHi.

→ 🎯 My take: I will not pretend this is normal, and I will not pretend it is harmless. Every time a call like this comes in, our officers have to treat it as real, our businesses lose hours, and our visitors lose trust. Our city team is actively working on new strategies to keep response strong while reducing the impact on the businesses and patrons who get caught in the middle. Safety first, every time, but smarter every time too.

🔹 Weekly enforcement, March 22 through 28:

→ ⚡ Why this matters: An 84.2% year-over-year increase in arrests is not an accident. It is what consistent staffing, proactive enforcement, and accountability look like in real numbers. I have championed every piece of that since I got on Council.

🔹 Key incidents from the week:

→ 💡 On the "No Kings" demonstration March 28: A large-scale event of that size requires weeks of coordinated planning. Our officers facilitated the safe expression of First Amendment rights and the day concluded without notable incident. That is exactly how it should work in a city that respects both safety and free speech.

🔹 Traffic enforcement. Officers responded to community complaints at 21st and Dewey, issuing roughly 30 citations for posted turn-restriction violations. Separately, a loaded firearm was recovered from a subject during a Virginia Avenue traffic stop, and a juvenile was found in possession of a firearm during a stop on Appian Way. Both subjects were taken into custody without incident.

🔹 Community engagement. Officers participated in a public policy showcase at SamoHi, hosted a Wag Watch dog-walking neighborhood watch that drew dozens of residents, and have Pizza with the Police on the calendar at SamoHi for May 13.

🏠 Homelessness: Naming the Conversation We Are Actually Having

🔹 There is a lot of confusion right now around the term "housing first." I want to be direct with you, because I have been direct on social media about it this week. What is being explored at the policy level in Santa Monica is not about building more homeless housing here. It is about shifting from a model that mainly provides daytime services to one that prioritizes getting people inside and connected to real pathways. "Inside" can mean shelter, interim housing, treatment, mental health support, or stabilization with documentation and services.

→ 🎯 My take: As a small business owner who spends time in our commercial corridors, I see firsthand where the current model is falling short. The impacts show up in our public spaces, our storefronts, our public safety, our cleanliness, and our economic recovery. The goal cannot just be access. The goal has to be outcomes. I will keep being transparent about how I am thinking through this, and I will keep listening to all sides as the policy discussion continues.

🔹 HLP team continued targeted enforcement and service connection this week, including a long-term psychiatric care placement for a chronic individual after sustained engagement with mental health partners, a warrant arrest connected to sex offender registration violations downtown, and multiple arrests for park closure violations at Palisades, Tongva, Reed, and Douglas Park.

🏛️ What Is Coming to Council on April 14

🔹 SB 79: the state's transit-oriented development law lands in Santa Monica on July 1. This is a big one, and you should know what it means before it shows up in headlines. SB 79 upzones eligible housing projects within a half-mile of major transit stops. All three of our Expo Light Rail stations qualify as Tier 2 stops, which means the bill's height, density, and FAR standards apply by default to qualifying projects near them, with additional concessions beyond the State Density Bonus.

→ 💡 What this means in plain English: Starting July 1, the state framework goes into effect automatically. Cities have a few options: implement SB 79 under the default state guidelines, adopt a local ordinance (subject to HCD review), exclude certain sites that are more than a one-mile walking distance from a TOD stop, phase implementation, or adopt a TOD alternative plan. Staff's preliminary read is that implementing under existing state guidelines makes the most sense right now, particularly because additional state guidance is still coming.

→ 🎯 My take: I want every Santa Monican to understand this before the noise drowns out the facts. We will have a Planning Commission informational session on April 15 walking through the details. I will be paying close attention, asking questions, and making sure our community has a real seat in shaping how this gets implemented locally.

🔹 Speak up. Our next City Council meeting is Tuesday, April 14. Show up, watch, or write in. This is your city.

👉 View the City Council calendar

💼 Economic Development

🔹 Santa Monica Place is getting two major new tenants this year. Re-tenanting at the mall is gaining real momentum, and both of these are on track to open in 2026:

→ 🎯 My take: Together, these two tenants account for nearly a fifth of the mall's total square footage, and they represent exactly the kind of experiential, destination-driven anchors that bring people back downtown. Staff is meeting with Argentic, the creditor controlling the mall, later this month to push for more on the former Nordstrom space. I will keep pressing on this.

🤝 Looking Back: A Week of Partnership and Pause

🔹 March 31, Community Collective at the Viceroy: collaboration is the work. Last Tuesday I joined Councilwoman Traci Park, Veronica Pugin from LAEDC, and Michelle Edgar for a Community Collective conversation on what real partnership across cities actually looks like. The room was full of entrepreneurs, community leaders, and changemakers, and the night was honest in a way that politics often is not. Not loud. Not performative. Just real.

→ 💡 Why this matters: Traci and I get described as the same person serving in different capacities, and in many ways that is true. We are aligned on the issues that drive every other conversation: public safety, homelessness, and the absolute need for cities to work together instead of operating in silos. Through everything from the fires to ongoing policy coordination, that friendship has turned into real collaboration between Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

→ 🎯 My take: The most important part of leadership often happens after the panel ends. People in the same room dealing with the same issue from completely different sides, choosing to listen instead of talk past each other, choosing solutions over theater. That is what these spaces create, and it’s exactly what happens after the panel with neighbors and a local business. That is why I keep showing up to them. We go farther when we work together. Always.

🔹 Easter Sunday and the reset I needed. Yesterday was about faith, family, and the kind of pause that does not come often in this job. Whether you celebrated Easter, Passover, or nothing at all this weekend, I hope you found a moment to reconnect with the people who matter most.

→ 💡 Why I share these things: Faith has gotten me through losing my dad, facing cancer, and a lot of moments in this job that did not have an easy answer. It is not a political statement. It is what keeps me grounded. Stay grounded. Keep showing up. Bring people together even when it is hard.

📅 Dates and What Is Coming Up

🔹 Today, April 6: last day to apply as a Farmers Market prepared food vendor. Applications for the Saturday Pico Market and Sunday Main Street Market close today. Selected vendors begin in July at a market system that draws roughly 900,000 shoppers annually. 

👉 Apply to be a food vendor

🔹 Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Santa Monica City Council meeting. Come have your voice heard. 

👉 View the City Council calendar

🔹 Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Planning Commission informational session on SB 79 implementation. 

👉 View Planning Commission meetings and agendas

🔹 Saturdays and Sundays, ongoing. Pico Farmers Market (Saturdays) and Main Street Farmers Market (Sundays). Come by, say hello, find me at a stall.

🔹 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

📱 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

🌟 Closing Thought: Transparency Is Not a Slogan

I get asked all the time why I share so much. Why I post about a break-in at our family's music store. Why I talk publicly about my faith, or my cancer story, or the policy debates I am still working through in my own head. The answer is simple: because civility and transparency are not slogans I use during campaign season. They are how I want to lead, every single week, whether the news is good or difficult.

This week had plenty going on. A bomb threat that was not real but still cost our businesses real time and real trust. A homelessness conversation that more people are willing to have honestly than ever before. A state housing law arriving in three months that is going to change conversations in every neighborhood. None of it has a clean answer. All of it deserves an honest one.

If something in this newsletter sparked a question or a disagreement, write me. Come to the meeting on the 14th. Stop me at the farmers market. The whole point of doing this work in public is so the work actually belongs to the public.

See you out there, Santa Monica. 💙

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