🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete

📅 June 17, 2026

Hey neighbors,

This past week I watched the Santa Monica High School Class of 2026 cross the stage, my own daughter Briana among them, and I keep coming back to three words I have been sitting with lately: character, honesty, and showing up. Those are not slogans to me. They are the whole job. And this week I saw all three at work, in a graduating class stepping into the world, in the students who run our Youth Advisory Council, and in every resident who took a few minutes to read an agenda and speak up.

So that is the thread running through this newsletter: the people who show up. Inside you will find our latest public safety numbers and a quick word on the Downtown substation that is already earning its keep, the early returns from a very big World Cup weekend, and a Juneteenth celebration this weekend that I hope draws a real crowd. Transparency and civility are simply how I try to do this job, and weeks like this one are the payoff.

Let me walk you through it.

🚔 Public Safety

🔹 The week in numbers, May 31 through June 6. SMPD fielded 2,652 calls for service, made 98 arrests, ran 316 traffic stops, and issued 188 citations, with officer-initiated work making up more than half of all activity. Year to date, arrests are still running well ahead of where we were at this point last year.

→ 📊 What you are seeing: When more than half of all police activity is officer-initiated, it tells you the department has the staffing to get ahead of problems instead of just reacting to them. This week that looked like an arson arrest after a cart fire on Main Street, a traffic stop near Ocean and Broadway that turned up roughly 30 forged IDs and documents, and a stolen vehicle recovered with help from our SMART Center.

👉 See this week's full update

🔹 The Downtown substation is already earning its keep. A few weeks after we cut the ribbon inside Santa Monica Place, our permanent Downtown police presence is proving its value, with officers, our Homeless Liaison Program, and live SMART Center data all working the same corridor together.

→ 🎯 My take: This is a footprint I championed for years, so I am holding it to a high bar. A few weeks in, the early signs are encouraging, and I will keep an eye on the data to make sure the results hold up right down at the street level.

🔹 One outreach case that stuck with me this week. Our Homeless Liaison Program logged 231 radio calls and more than 150 self-initiated contacts this week, and one case stands out: a person who had repeatedly turned down services finally accepted housing assistance after steady follow-up from HLP officers and a Department of Mental Health clinician.

→ 🎯 My stance: This is exactly the balance I keep pushing for: enforcement when a situation truly calls for it, and steady, patient outreach when a connection to services is what actually changes a life. These breakthroughs are slow and rarely get noticed, and one person finally saying yes makes every bit of that patience worth it.

🔹 A new way to reach families before they lose their housing. The City is launching a Predictive Prevention Pilot with Los Angeles County that uses data to identify the households most at risk of becoming homeless, then connects them with stabilization help before a crisis hits. The one-year pilot guarantees 72 slots for Santa Monica households and is funded through Measure GS.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: It is almost always less costly, and far more humane, to keep a family housed than to help them recover after they have lost everything. Prevention has been a priority of mine for a long time, and this is a smart, measurable step toward it.

🔹 On the Fire side, steady readiness all week. SMFD answered 331 calls for service, completed 105 annual fire inspections, and kept its CPR and emergency preparedness outreach going across the community. Heading into a summer with this many visitors in town, I would much rather our crews be over-prepared than caught flat, and right now they are well out in front.

💼 Economic Development

🔹 A very big World Cup weekend, and the numbers back it up. With the tournament's opening days here, Santa Monica's direct transit service carried 937 fans to SoFi Stadium, and roughly 15% of spectators at the match arrived on direct service from across the region. More than a year of planning went into that operation, and it ran full buses on day one.

→ 🎯 My take: I have never pretended a single tournament solves our economic challenges, and I am not going to start now. What a weekend like this does is put visitors in our shops and momentum behind our small businesses, and pulling it off by moving fans to the stadium without choking Downtown is exactly the kind of execution I want to see as bigger events keep heading our direction.

👉 How to get around during the World Cup

🔹 Strong returns from the LPGA weekend, too. The U.S. Women's Open at nearby Riviera brought a real bump to our lots, with $166,842 in prepaid beach parking and Downtown parking revenue up 53% over the same stretch last year. Partnerships like this turn a regional event into direct support for the services we all rely on.

🔹 New businesses keep opening across Downtown. Dragon Alley Coffee celebrated its grand opening at 312 Santa Monica Boulevard, the official FIFA World Cup Pop-Up Store is now open at 1427 Third Street Promenade, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizzeria officially opens Saturday, June 20 at 1444 Third Street Promenade.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: Each of these openings means jobs, foot traffic, and a little more life on our commercial corridors. I want Santa Monica to be a place where it is genuinely doable to open the doors and stay open, and momentum like this tells me we are moving the right direction.

🔹 A national nod to our food scene. Bon Appetit named Santa Monica a must-visit for World Cup fans, spotlighting both a beloved local boulangerie and our Farmers Market, which the magazine treated as a destination in its own right. Not a bad endorsement to have as the world looks our way.

🔹 One more reason to come out this weekend: Summer Soulstice. Main Street closes to cars on Saturday, June 20 from noon to 7 p.m. for the annual Summer Soulstice Festival, with live music on two stages, a beer garden, kids activities, and Entertainment Zone fun marking 100 years of Route 66.

👉 See the Summer Soulstice details

🎓 Education

🔹 Congratulations to the Santa Monica High School Class of 2026. On Thursday, our newest graduates walked the stage, and watching them reach that milestone was emotional in the best way. For me it was deeply personal: my daughter Briana was among them. I could not be prouder of her, or of every graduate who got there through grit, heart, and a whole lot of support.

→ 🙏 To everyone who got them here: these students did not reach that stage alone. Behind each of them is a teacher who stayed late, a coach who believed early, a counselor who steadied a hard semester, and a family that sacrificed quietly for years. And to the Class of 2026, here is what I told you that day: stay true to yourself, pursue what you love, and never let anyone convince you that your dreams are too big. The future is bright.

👉 See my graduation tribute

🔹 A proud send-off for our Youth Advisory Council. This past week also closed out another year for the Santa Monica Youth Advisory Council, a program I was proud to help create with a group of Samohi students who wanted a real voice in local government. Students from across our schools spent the year learning how city government works, debating issues that affect their community, and bringing forward ideas of their own.

→ 🎯 Why I care about this: The council has become truly student-driven. Students interview and recruit new participants, shape the discussions, and starting next year they will even help pick the topics they think deserve attention. Creating real ways for people to engage has always been one of my priorities, and watching these young leaders find their voices is one of the most rewarding parts of this job.

👉 See pics from the Youth Advisory Council recap

🔹 Summer programs are in full swing. Our Recreation and Arts summer camps and classes are underway, with more than 3,300 participants already signed up across 600-plus programs citywide, and registration stays open for sessions with space. Summer Reading is live too, running through August 15 at any library branch or online.

👉 Browse summer camps and classes

👉 Register for Summer Reading

🏛️ At City Hall: Your Voice This Week

🔹 The Planning Commission takes up our Downtown housing future this week. Tonight, June 17, the Commission considers recommendations on the Downtown Community Plan and zoning changes meant to encourage new Downtown housing and put City-owned gateway sites to better use, along with a proposed one-year pause on applying the state's SB 79 here. Both items are headed to the City Council on July 14.

→ 🎯 Why this matters: These are exactly the decisions that shape what our Downtown looks like for the next decade, and they are far better made with residents in the room. If this touches your neighborhood, I encourage you to read the agenda and weigh in.

👉 See the Planning Commission agenda

🔹 Next Tuesday's Council agenda is already posted, a full week early. Council meets Tuesday, June 23 to take up the final budget and Capital Improvement Program, and this time the agenda dropped a week ahead instead of the Friday before. That may sound small, but more lead time means more time for you to read it, ask questions, and show up prepared.

→ 🎯 My take: An agenda posted a week early is a small thing that signals a big one: a council that wants residents in the conversation early, while their input can still shape the outcome. I have pushed hard for exactly this, and I am glad to see it taking hold.

👉 Find the Council agenda and staff reports

🔹 At the Architectural Review Board this week. The ARB took up the design for a proposed mixed-use project at 1399 Olympic Boulevard, a 222-home development with 25 affordable units and ground-floor commercial space on the current Snyder Diamond site. Projects like this are where neighborhood scale and design quality get pressure-tested.

👉 Track development projects in the pipeline

🎉 Around Town & Community

🔹 Juneteenth weekend is here, and Santa Monica goes big. Our city has celebrated Juneteenth since 1992, decades before it became a federal holiday, and this year the celebration spans two days. Friday, June 19 brings a brand new Juneteenth Gathering at Christine Emerson Reed Park and Miles Memorial Playhouse from 4 to 8 p.m., with live music, DJ sets, sound healing, an art workshop, and a film screening. Saturday, June 20 is the 34th Annual Juneteenth Celebration at Virginia Avenue Park from 1 to 7 p.m., themed "A Legacy of Liberation," with live music, food, Black-owned businesses, and family activities honoring our Belmar history.

→ 🙏 Why this matters: Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, resilience, and community, and it is woven right into Santa Monica's own story. I hope you will join your neighbors for the music, the food, and the joy. One note for planning: City Hall is closed Friday, June 19 in observance of the holiday.

👉 See the full Juneteenth weekend lineup

🔹 And a quick nod, it is still Pride Month. June continues to be a month of celebration across Santa Monica, and I am proud our city keeps making room for everyone to feel like they belong here. Happy Pride today and every day.

📅 Dates to Know

🔹 Wednesday, June 17: Planning Commission meeting, 6 p.m., Council Chambers.

🔹 Friday, June 19: Juneteenth Gathering, 4 to 8 p.m., Reed Park and Miles Memorial Playhouse. City Hall closed for the holiday.

🔹 Saturday, June 20: 34th Annual Juneteenth Celebration, 1 to 7 p.m., Virginia Avenue Park. Summer Soulstice Festival on Main Street, noon to 7 p.m.

🔹 Tuesday, June 23: City Council meeting on the final budget and Capital Improvement Program.

🔹 Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays: Downtown, Pico, and Main Street Farmers Markets. Come find me on a weekend. No appointment needed to start a conversation.

💙 All In Through November

A quick note, because the work does not pause for summer. My name is on the ballot this November 3, and I am running again for one simple reason: there is still a lot left to build, on housing, homelessness, and keeping Santa Monica a place where working families can actually afford to stay. If the steady, accessible, ask-the-hard-questions approach you see here is what you want representing you, I would be grateful for your support.

👉 Support the campaign

📱 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: The Future Is Bright

So much of what makes this city good never lands in a press release. It is a graduating senior figuring out what comes next. A high schooler on the Youth Advisory Council learning how a budget really gets built. A resident who opens an agenda, finds the one line that touches their block, and decides to speak up. None of those people had to take part. They chose to.

That choice is exactly why transparency and civility matter so much to me. Both are really just an open door: here is what your city is deciding, and here is your way in. So take the invitation this week. Celebrate at Juneteenth, send a comment before the budget vote, or say something the next time an issue hits close to home. The more of us who get involved, the better this city becomes, and from where I am sitting, the future is bright.

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