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Lana Negrete Newsletter — August 17, 2026
🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete
📅 August 17, 2026
Happy Monday, Santa Monica,
On Saturday I spent part of my afternoon in a neighbor's backyard, one block from my own front door, after one of the organizers stopped me at Bob's Market and invited me. The group started around a shared love of gardening. These days they talk about their streets, their neighborhood, and the future of the city they call home. Some have lived here 30 years or their whole lives. Some just moved in. Every single one of them had something to teach me, and none of them needed a title, a membership, or a City Hall glossary to do it.
Last week Tuesday's Council meeting, brought the Virginia Avenue accountability report I fought for, Friday delivered frustrating court news on Broadway, and this Thursday the first school bells of the year ring across town.
Here's your week, the wins and the work alike.
🚔 Public Safety
🔹 A setback on Broadway, not a surrender. On Friday, a state appeals court temporarily paused the July injunction that had barred overnight operations at the Waymo charging lots at 1222 and 1310 Broadway, which means the company can resume around-the-clock charging while its appeal is considered. Two important details: the appellate court ruled before it had the City's opposition brief, which we will file no later than Monday, August 24, and nothing in this order reverses the trial court's findings that the noise, lights, and traffic were interfering with residents' ability to enjoy their own homes.
→ 💡 What this means: Neighbors on Broadway will likely hear overnight operations again for now, and I hate delivering that news after two weeks of quiet. But this is a pause, not a verdict. The trial court's findings still stand, the City is urging a fast resolution, and I remain confident in where this lands. Residents waited over a year for a decent night's sleep!
🔹 Holding two of our neighbors in our hearts. Just before last week's letter went out, an early morning fire on the 500 block of Lincoln Boulevard took the lives of a couple in their early 90s. The cause remains under investigation. My condolences goes to their loved ones and their block. It is an important reminder to: please test your smoke alarms this week, and if there's an older neighbor on your street, knock on the door and check in. Ten minutes of your Tuesday could matter more than you know.
🔹 Five straight weeks over 100 arrests. SMPD made 111 arrests during the week of August 2 through 8, the fifth consecutive week above the 100 mark, and the details tell you where that focus is going. The Crime Impact Team tracked down a suspect in the theft of nearly $100,000 in merchandise from a Montana Avenue jewelry store, arresting him in Beverly Hills and serving a search warrant in Chatsworth. A coordinated operation downtown netted seven arrests tied to organized retail theft at Target, ALO, and Victoria's Secret. Even routine traffic stops produced results, including the recovery of stolen copper wire and burglary tools. The same week brought National Night Out to City Hall and, the win I keep coming back to, the placement of a chronically unhoused veteran into housing.
→ 🎯 My take: This is exactly what I mean when I talk about pairing technology with people. The SMART Center feeds real-time intelligence to officers in the field, and the results show up in recovered property and closed cases, not just press releases. The full picture is below, because you deserve the numbers, not just the narrative.
→ 📊 By the numbers, August 2 through 8:
This Week | Last Week | YTD 2026 | YTD 2025 | Change vs. 2025 | |
Calls for Service | 2,504 | 2,416 | 78,575 | 73,087 | +7.5% |
Resident-Initiated Calls | 1,376 (55%) | 1,275 (53%) | 41,334 | 43,685 | -5.4% |
Officer-Initiated Activity | 1,128 (45%) | 1,141 (47%) | 37,241 | 29,402 | +26.7% |
Homeless-Related Dispositions | 562 (22%) | 532 (22%) | 17,906 | 19,200 | -6.7% |
Total Arrests | 111 | 120 | 3,224 | 1,908 | +69.0% |
Traffic enforcement stayed visible too, with 330 stops, 221 citations, and 102 advisals, focused on the Wilshire, Lincoln, Broadway, and Colorado corridors and on crosswalk safety. With school starting Thursday, that focus could not be better timed.
🔹 Your fire department, at home and on the fireline. SMFD handled 295 calls this past week, welcomed a brand-new ambulance into service, and sent our REMS 6 team to Oregon's Grasshopper Fire, where more than 77,000 acres have burned in the Mount Hood National Forest. REMS crews have one job on a wildfire: reach, stabilize, and extract injured firefighters from terrain that ambulances and helicopters can't get to. That's Santa Monica showing up for the firefighters who show up for everyone else, and I could not be prouder. Closer to home, Fire Chief Hallock spent time mentoring future City leaders through Big Blue Bus's supervisory training program, because good departments build their bench.
→ 📊 SMFD week at a glance:
Prevention Activity | Completed |
Annual Fire Inspections | 183 |
Alarm/Sprinkler Plan Check Inspections | 28 |
New Construction Plan Reviews/Meetings | 19 |
Special Event Plan Reviews/Meetings | 14 |
Fire Activity | Number |
SMFD Total Calls | 295 |
Homeless-Related Calls | 67 |
Fires Related to Homelessness | 1 |
🏛️ At City Hall: The Follow-Through
Last Monday I gave you the preview of Tuesday's agenda. Today you get the honest recap, because transparency means telling you what happened even when the answers weren't the ones we wanted.
🔹 Virginia Avenue: the report came back, and so did the hard questions. The accountability update I brought forward on the rehabilitation of the 40-unit Virginia Avenue Apartments finally arrived, and here's the headline: Community Corporation of Santa Monica now projects the project will finish roughly $2.4 million over its nearly $35.9 million budget, driven by construction overruns blamed on mold, termite damage, and reframing, plus relocation costs that ran $1.6 million higher after the decision to move every tenant out at once. About $26.6 million, 77 percent of the City's loan, has already been drawn, with completion targeted for June 2027.
→ 🎯 My take: I said it plainly from the dais: residents flagged this building's condition for years, so treating mold and termites in a 1947 building as a surprise is the most frustrating part of this whole saga for the families involved. I also pressed CCSM to put its own remaining developer fee, up to $1.5 million still undisbursed, on the table before anyone asks for more public money. Council received and filed the report. Consider it received, filed, and not forgotten. It's 40 families. They've waited long enough, and I'm not done asking questions.
👉 Read SMDP's report on the overrun
🔹 The Civic has a new dance partner, and this time the sheet music is required. Your Council voted 6-0 (one colleague was absent) to enter an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with Goldenvoice/AEG Presents to study bringing the Civic Auditorium back to life as a live entertainment venue. I voted yes. The structure is what won me over: a six-month window with two optional 90-day extensions, AEG retaining and paying for the feasibility experts, no immediate cost to the City, and, crucially, a full financial pro forma baked in as an expected outcome. After 17 years and failed attempts in 2009, 2017, and 2023, hard numbers are the whole ballgame.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: The music-store kid in me wants nothing more than to hear a crowd inside that building again. The councilmember in me remembers that past efforts collapsed precisely because there was never a real financial plan on the table. This agreement costs us nothing to find out if there finally is one. That's a bet worth making, with eyes wide open.
👉 Read SMDP's coverage of the Civic vote
🔹 While the city slept, the water kept flowing. Here's a story that never makes headlines but should. On the evening of July 31, our Water Resources team replaced an aging valve on a service line near the UCLA Medical Center in Mid-Wilshire. To protect the convalescent home on 17th Street next door, the crew prepped the site during the day and started the swap after 8 p.m., when water demand drops. Service was fully restored in under two hours, and several neighbors came out to thank the crew, some watching the whole operation from their balconies.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Replacing aging parts before they fail is the difference between a planned two-hour job at night and a burst main flooding a street at noon. This is the unglamorous, proactive work your water rates pay for, and I want you to see it.
🏠 Housing & Homelessness
🔹 City Opens Master Leasing Program to Properties Inside and Outside Santa Monica
The City’s Housing and Human Services team has opened a Request for Expression of Interest for its new Master Leasing Program, part of the City’s housing-focused system of care.
Under the program, the City can lease residential units, multifamily buildings, or hotel properties directly from property owners, serving as the master tenant and taking responsibility for rent, lease-up, security, and supportive services. Agreements can run for up to five years with annual renewals.
One important detail: these properties do not have to be located in Santa Monica. The City can consider properties outside our city limits as well.
The deadline for initial consideration is Monday, August 31.
→ ⚡ My take: Homelessness is a regional crisis, and I have long believed our solutions need to be regional too. Santa Monica should not continue concentrating every shelter, housing program, and service within our 8.3 square miles when appropriate options can be created and utilized elsewhere.
That is why the ability to use this program outside Santa Monica matters to me. We can still help people move off our streets and into stable housing, with services and accountability, without assuming every solution has to be physically located here.
I want to see us continue moving toward a truly regional system of care, with Santa Monica doing its part without being expected to do it all.
💼 Economic Development
🔹 ✨ Business Spotlight: the best-kept secret at 15th and Broadway. I almost don't want to tell you about this one. The Assistance League of Santa Monica Thrift Shop, tucked behind a gate at 15th and Broadway, is run entirely by volunteers, and every dollar you spend supports scholarships and philanthropic programs right here in our community. My daughters and I went for a little back-to-school thrifting and found designer treasures hiding on those racks, everything from Stuart Weitzman to Tom Ford. Insider tip from the regulars: Thursday morning is when the newest finds hit the floor. The shop is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shopping local while funding scholarships is my kind of retail therapy. Go see what you've been missing. And if you already knew, why didn't you tell me?
→ 💡 How this one found me: This spotlight came straight out of my office hours, where I met one of the Assistance League's directors and she invited me to come see the shop for myself. So consider this a standing invitation: suggest a business you think I should check out next. It doesn't have to be a restaurant or a coffee shop. A business run out of a living room, a dog groomer, and everything in between all count.
🔹 A 1940s landmark, ready for its second act. The original administration building at Santa Monica Airport, 3200 Airport Avenue, has finished a top-to-bottom renovation that brings the nearly 17,000-square-foot wood-frame building into full code compliance and earned LEED Gold certification, all while preserving the historic exterior that makes it unmistakably ours. Soon it will be home to Matilda's Bakery, Laughing Heart Restaurant, and NEON Rated, with ribbon cuttings on the way. Preserving a building's history while giving it a working future is exactly how a city should treat its landmarks, and I'll see you at those ribbon cuttings.
🔹 Eat your way through Dine LA, right here at home. From August 14 through August 28, more than 40 Santa Monica restaurants are serving special prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus for Dine LA, which means two weeks of built-in excuses to try the spot you keep walking past. And the momentum keeps building: signs are up for Dragon Alley Kitchen and Burgers, coming soon to 1322 Third Street Promenade. Every reservation you make this month is a direct vote for our local dining scene.
👉 See the Santa Monica Dine LA lineup
🔹 Our event economy's next act: wellness. After June's World Cup Kickoff Celebration drew nearly 4,000 people to Santa Monica Place, the mall is keeping the momentum going with Wellness on the Westside on Sunday, August 23: four hours of pilates, yoga, sound baths, and breathwork ($40, sign up in advance), plus food samples and free professional portraits from Community Collage, photographer Josh Madson's project to capture 40,000 Angelenos before the 2028 Games. Josh recently took a family photo of mine that I will treasure forever, so I can personally vouch for the man's eye.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Every one of these events converts a big regional moment into steady foot traffic for our local businesses. That's the playbook, and it's working.
🎓 Education, Arts & Our Youth
🔹 From a fourth-grade trumpet at Grant Elementary to the biggest podium prize in America. Santa Monica-raised conductor Elias Brown has won the 2026 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, the largest grant given to American conductors in the early years of their careers. It comes with $30,000, a year of mentorship, and introductions to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera. Elias traces his path straight back to SMMUSD music classrooms: an inherited piano, a trumpet in fourth grade at Grant, ensembles at John Adams, and a teacher who stayed late to give lessons that stretched for hours.
→ 🎯 My take: I've spent my whole life around a music store and built a nonprofit on one belief: put an instrument in a kid's hands and you change the trajectory of a life. Elias is the proof. Congratulations to him, and to every SMMUSD music teacher who ever stayed late. That pipeline starts in a classroom, and it's worth every penny we fight for.
🔹 PAL sent more than 100 kids back to school ready. On August 11, the Police Activities League hosted its annual Back-to-School BBQ, serving youth ages 6 to 17 with backpacks, school supplies, free vision and dental screenings, haircuts, clothing, gift cards, and a good meal, all thanks to more than 20 community partners including Santa Monica College, the Kiwanis Club, the Lions Club, SEWI, Providence Saint John's, and 7-Eleven. A special thank-you to Police Chief Darrick Jacob, Deputy Chief Heric, and the entire SMPD for showing up for our kids. When a child walks into their first day equipped and confident, that's the whole community's win.
🔹 The first bell rings Thursday. SMMUSD students head back to class on Thursday, August 20, and the City's Mobility team has a smart ask: plan the trip before the first day. Students should grab a GoPass through their school for free, unlimited rides on Big Blue Bus and LA Metro. Walkers and bikers, use marked crosswalks and wear that helmet. And drivers, this one's for all of us: slow down in school zones, watch the crosswalks, and don't double park at drop-off. A little patience during week one keeps every kid safe.
🔹 Pack the lunchbox at the farmers market. The back-to-school season has arrived at our markets too. The first apples of the season debut at Wednesday's downtown market, with grapes, dates, and jujubes all in season now. And here's the part I really want you to know: every one of our farmers markets accepts SNAP EBT and the SunBucks cards issued to students for summer, and the Saturday Pico market's Market Match program adds an extra $15 for fresh fruits and vegetables, serving about 70 EBT customers every single weekend since Hunger Action Los Angeles began funding it in 2012. Fresh, local, and within reach. That's how it should be.
🔹 A library with an ocean view. For the 8th year running, the Santa Monica Public Library and the Annenberg Community Beach House teamed up for Southern California's only beachside pop-up library. This year, 183 visitors stopped by, including 90 kids for Seaside Storytime, and the teams handed out 120 limited-run SMPL @ the Beach totes and checked out 85 books from the Beach Reads collection.
🎉 Around Town & Community
🔹 Silas White's name is officially on the map. Last Monday, city officials, community advocates, and members of the White family pulled the cord on the new Silas White Street sign, renaming a portion of Vicente Terrace steps from where Silas White planned the Ebony Beach Club before the City used eminent domain to take the property in the 1950s. His daughter, Constance White, joined the ceremony remotely. And the City made clear this is a beginning, not a finish line: a $5.5 million restorative justice fund and a newly appointed Restorative Justice Commission will shape what comes next. 👉 Read Patch's recap of the unveiling
🔹 Tongva Park, you showed OUT on Saturday. Picnic blankets across the lawn, kids running, neighbors dancing to New Orleans funk from The Rumble, and a Santa Monica sunset handing off to a show-stealing moon. I said it on Instagram and I'll say it here: THIS is Santa Monica, and this is exactly what our public spaces are for. The best news? We get to do it again. This Saturday, August 22, at 7 p.m., Son Mayor brings a full salsa orchestra, complete with a free salsa lesson, and the series runs every Saturday through September 12. Pack a picnic, bring somebody you love, and come dance next to me.
👉 See the Tongva Twilight lineup
👉 See my post from Saturday night
🔹 Main Street takes the party to the street on Sunday. This Sunday, August 23, the Main Street Farmers Market teams up with the Ocean Park Association and the Main Street Business Improvement Association for a full day of celebration, and this time the activities move onto the street itself. The market runs 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. alongside a Kids Play Zone on Heritage Lawn, chalk art by the Sunnyside Chalkers in the Victorian driveway, and live music from Alex Chaiet and the GM Jazz Quartet, with the Main Street Entertainment Zone serving mocktails and cocktails right on the street. Then OPA and MSBIA take the baton into the evening with seating and DJs keeping the energy going. City teams have been working with OPA toward making the on-street market a weekly tradition, so consider Sunday a preview of something bigger.
→ 🎯 Come say hi: I'll be at the market Sunday morning. If you've got a question, a concern, or just a good tomato recommendation, come find me on Main Street.
👉 Visit the Main Street market page
🔹 Dog Daze of Summer returns to Montana Avenue. Saturday, August 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Montana Avenue merchants invite four-legged friends and their humans to 11 blocks of treats and fun, from 6th Street to 17th Street. Bring the leash, bring the pup, and support the small businesses that make that stretch so special.
🔹 Inside City Hall: the Negrete Tour Last week I hosted four residents on my behind-the-scenes City Hall tour, a special one this time because the spots were bid on at a fundraiser. We walked the old and new City Hall, dug into the SWIP project and the water recycling system that plays a role in our ecosystem far beyond our borders, and visited the SMART Center, the technology hub putting our police department in the best position to solve crime in a modern world. This is what inspired the People's Academy I created a few months back, and it comes from a simple belief: you can't hold your government accountable if it's a black box. My goal is to open that door to as many residents as possible, because understanding is how we get real participation, and participation is how we get diversity of voices.
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Monday, August 17: The Architectural Review Board considers a proposed commercial addition at 2010 Wilshire Boulevard.
🔹 Thursday, August 20: First day of school for SMMUSD students. Slow down out there, Santa Monica.
🔹 Thursday, August 20: FINAL day to apply for Santa Monica Renter Aid. If one hard month has you or someone you know on the edge, do not let this deadline pass.
👉 Apply for Santa Monica Renter Aid
🔹 Saturday, August 22, 7 p.m.: Tongva Twilight at Tongva Park with Son Mayor and a free salsa lesson.
🔹 Saturday, August 22, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Dog Daze of Summer along Montana Avenue, 6th to 17th Street.
🔹 Sunday, August 23: Main Street Farmers Market's on-street celebration (find me there!), Wellness on the Westside at Santa Monica Place, and the final day of the LA Jazz Festival's free events across the region.
🔹 Friday, August 28: Last day of Dine LA at 40+ Santa Monica restaurants.
🔹 Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27: Ocean Way Festival on Santa Monica Beach.
🔹 Starting Tuesday, September 29: The League of Women Voters candidate forum series begins, with City Council forums October 4, 9, and 14.
🔹 Every Wednesday and every weekend: The farmers markets are open, and weekends are still where you'll find me.
🔹 Watching City Hall: Council agendas and staff reports always post ahead of each meeting.
👉 Find agendas and staff reports
💙 All In Through November
The November ballot is officially taking shape. Filing closed this week, and the certified list shows contested races for City Council, the Rent Control Board, the College Board, and the School Board. I've qualified for the ballot as an incumbent, and I genuinely welcome a crowded field. Democracy works better crowded. Competition forces all of us to earn your vote instead of assuming it, and between the candidate forums this fall and your own kitchen-table conversations, you'll have every chance to size us up.
→ 🗳️ One more race worth your attention: Santa Monica also gets a say in who represents us in Sacramento, and I'm endorsing Brian Goldsmith for State Senate District 24. Relationships with our state leaders are how we get legislation passed that actually supports our city's needs, and Brian has already proven he's a team player who cares about Santa Monica. Get to know him before you vote.
Which brings me back to Saturday's backyard. My favorite invitations don't come on letterhead. They come from a neighbor at Bob's Market. So here's mine, standing: gather a few neighbors in your backyard, living room, apartment courtyard, or coffee shop, and I'll come to you. I want to hear what you love about Santa Monica, what worries you, and what you want its future to look like. If you're able to support the campaign with a contribution or a few hours of door knocking, every bit helps me reach more voters.
👉 See who qualified for the ballot
👉 Get involved at LanaNegrete.com
📱 Stay Connected
Got an issue to report? Want to make sure the city hears you?
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.
🔹 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: Tend Your Corner of the Garden
I keep thinking about that backyard group. They didn't set out to build a civic organization. They set out to grow tomatoes. But gardens have a way of teaching the real lessons: you show up regularly, you pay attention to what's struggling, you water even when nothing looks like it's happening, and one day you look up and something is thriving that wasn't there before.
That's community. It isn't issued by City Hall, and you don't need a badge, a bylaws binder, or a seat on the dais to grow it. You tend your corner. Test a smoke alarm. Check on the neighbor who's been here 40 years. Wave a kid across the crosswalk Thursday morning. Learn the name of the volunteer behind the thrift shop counter. Then come dance with me at Tongva Park on Saturday, because a city that celebrates together tends together.
The soil here is good, Santa Monica. It always has been. Let's keep growing.
Lana Negrete
Councilmember, City of Santa Monica