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Lana Negrete Newsletter — August 31, 2026
🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete
📅 August 31, 2026
Hello, neighbors,
876. Sit with that number for a minute. That is how many Santa Monica renter households applied for help during the very first Santa Monica Renter Aid application window, which closed on August 20. The applications came from every one of our five residential ZIP codes, more than half of those families were already behind on rent, and the average applicant owed about $5,700. I am a renter in this city myself, and I can tell you that behind every one of those applications is a kitchen-table conversation nobody wants to have. So this week's letter starts there, because keeping our neighbors housed is some of the most important work we do.
But the week held plenty more: stepped-up police patrols at the Pier and Downtown, a fast arrest in the shooting I wrote to you about last Monday, The New York Times swooning over our farmers market, a Grammy winner spinning vinyl in Tongva Park, and one very big vote coming to Council on Tuesday, September 8. All of it is below.
🚔 Public Safety
🔹 More officers, more visibility, exactly where you asked for it. On Tuesday, the City announced enhanced police patrols at the Santa Monica Pier, in Palisades Park, on the beach, and throughout Downtown, a direct response to the two incidents from the prior weekend. There was real progress on the investigation too: the suspected shooter in the Pier ramp robbery, a juvenile, was arrested within hours of the incident, detectives are actively pursuing the remaining suspects, and additional arrests are anticipated.
→ 🎯 My take: This is what I mean when I say safety is about presence, accountability, and transparency all at once. Police Chief Darrick Jacob put it simply: "That means being present, visible, and accessible." You deserve to feel safe on our Pier on a summer night. Full stop. I am proud of our department and the officers skill sets to quickly protect the community and avoid what could have been an even bigger tragedy.
👉 Read the City's patrol announcement
🔹 By the numbers: August 16 to 22. Here is this week's public safety snapshot. One notable shift: resident-initiated calls rose by 173 while officer-initiated activity dropped by 222, which makes sense for a week when officers were responding to major incidents and the first days of school.
Metric | This Week | Last Week | YTD 2026 | YTD 2025 | YoY Change
|
Calls for Service | 2,426 | 2,475 | 83,478 | 78,090 | +6.9% |
Homeless-Related Dispositions | 523 (22%) | 527 | 18,956 | 20,582 | -7.9% |
Total Arrests | 110 | 123 | 3,457 | 2,061 | +67.7% |
🔹 Beyond the totals, the week's work told a story. Officers recovered loaded firearms, detained organized retail theft suspects, arrested a residential burglary suspect, and advanced an investigation that connected a parolee to stolen mail and postal keys. The Homeless Liaison Program paired enforcement with real outcomes: a same-day family reunification that got one individual home to Miami, and a Samoshel shelter placement for a person who had resisted services for roughly two years. And with classes back in session, traffic officers kept eyes on school zones all week, including the arrest of a reckless driver near Lincoln Middle School, while officers visited campuses on the first day of school.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Two years of "no" turning into one "yes" is what persistence looks like. We keep enforcing the law, and we keep extending the hand. Both are the job.
🔹 SMFD: a new ambulance in the fleet, and neighbors met at the market. The Fire Department welcomed a brand-new ambulance, Shop #26001, into frontline service, with the older unit moving to Ready Reserve status to keep the fleet resilient. And on Sunday Fun Day, SMFD set up shop at the Main Street market with hands-on activities for kids while sharing the Wildfire Preparedness Guide, the Community Connect program, and a save-the-date for the Fire Prevention Week Open House this October. Prevention is the quietest kind of lifesaving, and I love seeing it happen over a table of strawberries.
👉 Explore SMFD programs and resources
🏛️ At City Hall
🔹 SB 79: the questions were asked, now comes the vote. On Tuesday evening, about 40 community members joined our Community Development team in the Council Chambers, in person and online, for a walkthrough of the City's planned implementation of SB 79, the state law that sets minimum development standards for qualifying housing near major transit stops, including our Expo Line stations and three Downtown bus stops. Staff laid out the proposal : a increase in development standards on 89 R1-zoned parcels north of the I-10 and east of Dorchester Avenue, which would make the Expo/Bundy area in the Pico Neighborhood eligible for exclusion from SB 79's standards through 2030. The whole matter returns to Council for a final vote on Tuesday, September 8. Stay tuned because upzoning Pico R1 neighborhood isn’t the only option.
→ 🎯 My take: You know where I stand. I voted no on the earlier upzoning approach in July, because if we say we are protecting a neighborhood, every decision should say the same thing. I also believe the least impact is in upzoning R2/R3 neighborhood where we are least likely to see projects. Whatever side you land on, this is the meeting to show up for, and I will ask you the same thing I always do: come informed, speak plainly, and keep it civil. That is how this city does its best work.
👉 Find agendas and staff reports
🔹 Planning Commission meets this Wednesday, September 2. Two items worth your attention: a vesting tentative tract map for a mixed-use project at 601 Colorado Boulevard, with 264 homes, two levels of subterranean parking, and 3,955 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, plus proposed updates to the Downtown Community Plan and Zoning Ordinance to align with recent state law changes. The Commission's recommendations head to Council later this year, so consider this your early look.
👉 View meeting details and agendas
🏠 Housing & Homelessness
🔹 Renter Aid, round one: 876 households raised their hands. As I shared up top, our first Santa Monica Renter Aid application window closed August 20 with 876 applications, the highest volume coming from 90404, home to much of the Pico Neighborhood. The applicant pool included older adults, households with disabilities, families with children, and Spanish-speaking households. Access was built in from the start: the City and The People Concern hosted 11 in-person support sessions at Virginia Avenue Park, the Main Library, and the State of the City event, helping more than 100 residents complete applications. One local family that fell behind after a major loss of income connected with a Spanish-speaking staff member at a session, worked through their concerns, and was ultimately prioritized for assistance. Enrollment of prioritized households is underway now, applicants are being connected to additional prevention resources, and with $6 million allocated for this first program year, more application windows are coming.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: The research is clear that helping a family stay housed costs far less, in dollars and in human toll, than helping them recover after housing is lost. These 876 applications are not a statistic to me. They are proof this program was needed.
💼 Economic Development
🔹 The Business Concierge hit the road, first stop Wilshire. Our Economic Development team's new "Business Concierge on the Go" initiative kicked off at Diner Antonette this past week, bringing City resources directly to about 20 local business owners and operators instead of making them come to us. Jennifer Taylor opened the program, Bob Lynn of LGO Hospitality introduced the emerging Wilshire West business community, and Wendy Siao walked through the Concierge program and our new partnership with Chrysalis for enhanced boulevard and BID street cleaning, including three days of power washing along Wilshire in July with another round scheduled for September. The conversation ranged from Wilshire development projects to the Simple Tables and Chairs initiative and Buy Local Santa Monica. As someone who has spent a lifetime behind the counter of a Santa Monica small business, I can tell you: a city that shows up at your door instead of burying you in paperwork is a city that means it.
👉 Learn about the Business Concierge
🔹 ✨ Business Spotlight: The Eden. This week I popped into The Eden at Ocean and Arizona, the 1939 landmark that opened in 1940 as the Shangri-La Apartment Hotel, now beautifully restored as a 70-room independent boutique hotel. Here is what surprised me: you do not need a room key to enjoy it. There is Coffee Manufactory in the lobby, wood-fired pizza made with ingredients sourced from local farms and our own farmers market, the Velvet Rose rooftop lounge with ocean views and vinyl, and even ResortPass day access to the heated saltwater pool for locals craving a staycation. Sometimes we walk past a place for years without knowing everything happening inside. Go rediscover your own backyard.
👉 See my Business Highlight (Instagram)
🔹 The New York Times went shopping at our farmers market. When the NYT Cooking newsletter set out to capture the best of California cooking through four star chefs and their summer salads, three of those chefs, including Rustic Canyon's own executive chef Elijah Deleon, were photographed right at our Wednesday Downtown Farmers Market. Reporter Genevieve Ko described leaving our stalls "wishing I had a bigger bag to haul more home," and honestly, who among us hasn't? For a market that has been the produce backbone of the LA dining scene for more than four decades, this is national confirmation of what we already knew. And the Sunday Main Street market keeps growing too, welcoming Rochelle's Super Natural Foods alongside Masa Catalina's vegan tamales and Mort & Betty's vegan Jewish deli. Late-summer produce is peaking. You know where to be.
🔹 New doors opening around town. A building permit is in for Yuzu, a planned sushi bar at 616 Santa Monica Boulevard Downtown, and the Sundays Furniture Showroom is now open at 1101 Montana Avenue, adding to that street's growing reputation as a home furnishings destination. Every new lease signed here is a bet on Santa Monica, and I intend to keep making those bets pay off.
🔹 Big Blue Bus lessons, headed for the biggest stage of all. On August 26, our Department of Transportation Director Anuj Gupta joined a Congressional panel convened by Congresswoman Laura Friedman, alongside Congressmembers Maxine Waters, Judy Chu, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, and Santa Monica's own Ted Lieu, on applying World Cup transit lessons to the LA28 Games. The headline: Big Blue Bus delivered nearly 11,300 passenger rides across the eight World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium with zero safety or security incidents. The concern: Metro has requested $2 billion in federal support for LA28 transit, while the current federal budget proposal includes nothing and Congress has proposed just $875 million in a yet-to-be-approved bill. Without adequate funding, both everyday riders and Games visitors will feel the squeeze. We will keep pushing with our regional partners, because when the world comes to our doorstep, our buses need to be ready.
👉 Plan your ride with Big Blue Bus
🎓 Education, Arts & Our Youth
🔹 The PAL gym glow-up is complete. Thanks to our Architectural Services Division and the Police Activities League team, the PAL facility at the Santa Monica Gymnasium has been fully refreshed: concrete cracks repaired with epoxy injection, surfaces power washed and repainted with protective coatings, and all-new acoustic paneling installed throughout the interior, carefully fitted around the scoreboard and fixtures. The result is a cleaner, quieter, more welcoming space where our young people build teamwork, leadership, and the kind of positive connections that last.
👉 Visit the PAL Youth Center page
🔹 A RAD-ical summer, by the numbers. Our Community Recreation team closed out Summer 2026 with 15,058 program registrations, 797 more on waitlists for high-demand programs, and participants ranging from 6 months old to adults in their 80s. Two details I want you to see: the team provided more than $50,000 in financial assistance so cost was never the barrier, and dozens of Santa Monica-based small businesses, instructors, and coaches delivered programs through City facilities, keeping those dollars circulating locally. Fall camps and classes begin next week, and registration is open now. Go grab your spot before the waitlists do.
👉 Browse fall recreation programs
🔹 Mahjong Mania is real, and it is spectacular. After a year of community requests, the Library's Intro to Mahjong night with the Mahjong Mistresses hit the Main Library's 115-person capacity before the program even started, with 64 players coaching up across eight tables and folks turned away at the door. Message received: starting in September, the Main Library will host a monthly mahjong evening on the third Wednesday of each month from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., with advance registration required, and the first one lands Wednesday, September 16. Add in the 63 neighbors who packed the recent Walking Your Way to Vitality author talk, and our Library team is on a genuine roll.
👉 View the Library events calendar
🎉 Around Town & Community
🔹 Tongva Twilight kept the magic going, twice. The salsa night on August 22 drew more than 700 neighbors, with Son Mayor's live set and a dance lesson that ended with hundreds of people dancing on the grass. Then this past Saturday, Grammy Award-winning DJ Mayer Hawthorne brought his signature vinyl and 45s to an intimate crowd of roughly 350, a homecoming of sorts, since he headlined the kickoff of the original Twilight Concert Series on the Pier back in 2016. Kids running through the grass, picnics, beach chairs, bubble machines: this is the cultural renaissance we promised, delivered free in our public spaces. Next up, this Saturday, September 5: a yacht rock concert plus a screening of Summer of Soul, Questlove's acclaimed documentary. The series wraps September 12, so do not sleep on it.
👉 See the Tongva Twilight series details
🔹 The Beach House closed out summer in style. Where to start? Spectrum News 1 broadcast live from the Annenberg Community Beach House twice on Tuesday, August 25, spotlighting our pools and splash pads during the heat wave. The stand-up paddleboard season wrapped with both final classes completely sold out. The final Sunset Swim sold out with 160 online sign-ups and 40 walk-in spots claimed on the spot, ultimately issuing 200 wristbands, and demand was so strong the team threw a surprise pop-up Sunset Swim on August 28 for one last adults-only evening at the pool. And the Beach House officially joined the LA Tourism & Convention Board, opening new doors for programming and events. Not a bad way to bid adieu to summer.
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Wednesday, September 2: Planning Commission takes up the 601 Colorado project and Downtown Community Plan updates.
👉 Find agendas and staff reports
🔹 Saturday, September 5, 7 p.m.: Tongva Twilight at Tongva Park: yacht rock plus a Summer of Soul screening for Labor Day weekend.
🔹 Tuesday, September 8, 5:30 p.m.: City Council meeting, including the final SB 79 vote. This is the big one.
🔹 Saturday, September 12: The Tongva Twilight series finale.
🔹 Sunday, September 13, 1:30 to 6:30 p.m.: Americana in the Park returns to Gandara Park for its sixth year, presented by McCabe's Guitar Shop with the City's Cultural Affairs Division and KCRW, featuring Grammy-winning guitarist Albert Lee, Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca, and more. Free, all ages, and yes, the music-store owner in me already has it circled.
👉 See the Americana in the Park lineup
🔹 Wednesday, September 16, 6 to 7:30 p.m.: First monthly mahjong night at the Main Library. Advance registration required.
🔹 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 will find me.
💙 All In Through November
🔹 A week of endorsements that mean the world to me. This week I was proud to earn the endorsements of the Santa Monica Police Officers Association and the Santa Monica Firefighters. Public safety is not something you talk about only during election season; it requires showing up and standing up consistently, and the trust of the people who put on a uniform every day to protect us is something I hold close. The firefighter endorsement carries extra weight in my family: my mom cut hair for Santa Monica firefighters while she was pregnant with me, so you could say I have been around SMFD since before I was born. I also earned the endorsement of the Blue Wave Democratic Club, which looks for pragmatic, solutions-driven Democrats focused on results, and CEPS, the Community for Excellent Public Schools. As a product of SMMUSD, a PTA mom, and a lifelong public education advocate, that last one hits home.
👉 See the SMPOA endorsement (Instagram)
👉 See the Firefighters endorsement (Instagram)
🔹 Lawn signs are in, and they are moving fast. These are the endorsements that mean the most: your front yards, your windows, your storefronts. Want one? Email me at lana.negrete@mygovtools.org or send me a message and I will happily drop one off, and if you are home, I would love to grab a photo with you. Business owners, I have window-appropriate signs for you too. And if you can chip in to help me reach more voters, every single dollar goes to work.
👉 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: Every Number Is a Neighbor
This letter was full of numbers: 876 applications, 110 arrests, 15,058 registrations, 200 wristbands, 64 mahjong players. It would be easy to read them like a spreadsheet. Please don't. Every one of those numbers is a neighbor: a family fighting to stay housed, a kid walking into a freshly painted gym, a stranger learning a new game at a library table, an officer choosing to be visible on the Pier so your family can exhale.
Government earns trust when it shows you the numbers and never forgets the people inside them. That is the transparency I promised you, and it is the standard I will bring to the Council Chambers on September 8, where one of the most consequential votes of the year awaits. Come be part of it, in person or online. Bring your questions. Bring your neighbors. I will bring mine: all 90,000 of you.
With gratitude and determination,
Lana Negrete
Councilmember, City of Santa Monica
Lana Negrete
Councilmember, City of Santa Monica