🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete

📅 June 22, 2026

Hi, friends,

Yesterday was Father's Day, and like a lot of you, I spent it holding two things at once. I lost my dad, Chico, not long ago, and I miss him every single day. He taught me that relationships matter and that a life well lived is measured by the people you help along the way. That lesson is a big part of why I do this work, and this past week, it felt like the whole city was living it out loud.

Santa Monica just had one of its biggest weeks in years. World Cup energy poured into the Promenade and the Pier, new businesses opening their doors, our food scene picked up a national honor, and neighbors gathered for Juneteenth and Pride. In the same breath, I want to be straight with you about a harder set of homelessness numbers, because to me, civility and transparency mean celebrating the wins and naming the challenges honestly, side by side.

Here's the full picture, the bright spots and the hard parts both.

🚔 Public Safety

🔹 The week in numbers, June 7 through 13. Calls for service dipped slightly from the week before, while year-to-date arrests are still running more than 70 percent ahead of last year, a sign our department has the people and the bandwidth to stay ahead of trouble rather than just chase it.

→ 📊 Reading the numbers: Officer-initiated work made up 45 percent of activity this week, the signature of a fully staffed team getting ahead of problems rather than only answering the radio. The week's cases ran the range, from a loaded firearm recovered near Ocean and Arizona to a stolen-vehicle pursuit that ended with four people in custody in Ocean Park.

🔹 An honest word on those homelessness numbers. Of this week's calls, 580 were homeless-related, and our officers, outreach workers, mental health clinicians, nonprofits, and County partners spent time meeting people in crisis. In one coordinated operation alone, 40 contacts led to 7 people accepting a connection to services. Small numbers that tell a very different set of problems that State / Federal ans county funding and collaboration need to help solve.

→ 🎯 My take: I will always support a compassionate approach, and I am grateful for the people doing this hard work every day. But I owe you honesty too. Many of the individuals generating repeated calls are declining help when it is offered, and a city of just 90,000 residents cannot fund an entire regional system of care on its own. Santa Monica has become a regional hub for shelter, treatment, and outreach, serving people from well beyond our own borders.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: Real mental health treatment, substance abuse care, conservatorship, and long-term supportive housing all require County and State leadership and dollars. Santa Monica will keep doing its part, but our local taxpayers should not be expected to carry a regional crisis on their backs indefinitely. It is time for a serious conversation about shared responsibility, shared funding, and real outcomes, and the budget your Council adopts this week is where a lot of those choices actually get made.

🔹 What a coordinated response actually looks like. This past week, SMPD and our Human Services Division led a Community Livability Operation that pulled together roughly 60 people from City teams, the County Department of Mental Health, outreach groups, and nonprofit partners across Downtown, the Pier, Tongva Park, Palisades Park, and Ocean Front Walk. The day produced 40 contacts, connected several individuals to SamoBridge, Project Homecoming, and the VA, and cleared nearly 11,000 pounds of trash from our shared spaces.

→ 💡 Why I point this out: This is the hands-on, compassionate model I keep asking for, public safety and outreach working the same corner together. It also shows just how much effort one city is pouring into a crisis that reaches far past our city limits.

🔹 Steady readiness on the Fire side. SMFD answered 310 calls for service this week and completed 47 annual fire inspections, alongside its ongoing alarm, sprinkler, and new-construction plan reviews. With this many visitors in town for the summer, I would rather our crews stay a step ahead, and from everything I am seeing, they have done exactly that.

💼 Economic Development

🔹 A landmark week as the World Cup came to town. From the Pier to the Promenade to Tongva Park, Santa Monica turned into a stage for the world this week. The Michelob ULTRA activation packed the Pier, where fans gathered to watch the U.S. take the field, the SM BlockFest and Night Market handed out nearly 16,000 wristbands, and our shops, restaurants, and bars stayed full all week long. I was out at the Michelob activation myself, and here is what I shared from the Pier afterward: economic recovery does not happen by accident.

→ 🎯 My take, in my own words: No single event solves everything. We still have real work to do on public safety, homelessness, cleanliness, and our budget. But progress isn't one thing; it's a lot of things working together. Safe. Clean. Activated. Welcoming. That's how we bring Santa Monica back.

👉 See my take from the Pier

🔹 New businesses keep betting on Santa Monica. On Saturday, the world's first official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizzeria opened at 1444 Third Street Promenade, with the Turtles themselves on hand and lines stretching around the block. Yes, the fifty-dollar pizza made national headlines, and yes, we can debate the price. But you cannot argue with the demand, and a global brand choosing Santa Monica for a worldwide first says a lot about our pull. New shops are arriving beyond the Promenade too, from Posh Duck and Shear Blue Barber on Main Street to the acclaimed Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen headed to Santa Monica Boulevard.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: Every lease signed here means new jobs, more feet on the sidewalk, and a little more energy on our commercial streets. After fifty years of keeping a family business's doors open on these streets, I do not take a single one of these openings for granted.

👉 Read about the Ninja Turtles Pizzeria opening

🔹 A national honor for our food scene. At this year's James Beard Awards, often called the Oscars of the food world, Chef Dave Beran was named Best Chef: California for Seline, his tasting-menu restaurant on Main Street that opened only two years ago. To have one of the country's most celebrated chefs planted right here is something to be proud of, and our beachfront favorite Back on the Beach Café earned its own national spotlight this month.

→ 🎯 My take: Our food scene says something about who we are. We are a city where a world-class tasting menu and a café right on the sand both belong, and both make this place feel like home.

🔹 Cleaner and smoother corridors, on purpose. The City has launched enhanced power washing and maintenance across seven of our commercial boulevards through a partnership with Chrysalis, a respected nonprofit that helps people facing real barriers find steady work, so the effort doubles as both a cleanup and a jobs program. Meanwhile, the Broadway paving project from Ocean Avenue to 26th Street is nearly finished, with more than 22 blocks resurfaced and new protective bike barriers added for safer trips into Downtown.

→ 💡 Why this fits together: Clean, safe, well-kept streets are the quiet foundation that lets businesses thrive and families feel comfortable being out. It is also proof that compassion and good jobs can be built right into how we care for our own city.

🔹 A heads-up for workers and businesses: minimum wage rises July 1. Santa Monica's minimum wage adjusts every July 1, and starting Wednesday, July 1, the general rate climbs to $18.47 an hour, with the rate for hotels and hotel-property businesses rising to $25.00. Employers will need to post the updated notices, and anyone with questions can find the full details on the City's minimum wage page.

→ 🎯 My take: I have sat across the table from family-owned business owners worried about these costs, and I have also seen how much workers depend on a fair wage. We can care about both, and we should. As a small business owner I grapple with staying open and making sure I take care of my employees and pay them fairly so they can survive.

👉 See the minimum wage details

🎓 Education

🔹 A safe place for kids, and a personal one for me. This past week I joined the Police Activities League golf tournament, one of my favorite events of the year, which raises money that goes straight to PAL's youth programs. PAL gives our kids a safe place to do their homework, make new friends, and play sports after school, and it is a genuine lifesaver for working parents who need somewhere good for their kids to be.

→ 🎯 Why this is close to my heart: I grew up going to PAL myself, so I know firsthand what a difference a place like that makes. As someone who has spent years building arts and music programs for local kids, I believe deeply that every young person in this city deserves a safe, enriching place to land after the school bell rings. Investing in our kids now is how we build the Santa Monica we want later.

🏛️ At City Hall: Your Voice This Week

🔹 Your budget gets adopted this Tuesday. Council meets Tuesday, June 23 to adopt the City's roughly $909 million budget for the coming year, along with its largest capital investment program in years. This is the meeting where a lot of next year's choices, from public safety to parks to the corridor work above, actually get locked in. If something matters to your block, read the agenda and weigh in before the vote, because your voice carries the most weight while the decision is still being made.

→ 🎯 My take: I have pushed hard for residents to have real time with these decisions, and I will keep saying it: one informed, engaged resident is worth more than a hundred after-the-fact complaints. Come be part of it.

👉 Find the Council agenda and staff reports

🔹 The City now answers code complaints on weekends. As of Saturday, June 13, Code Enforcement extended its hours to cover both Saturdays and Sundays, so concerns like unpermitted or early-morning construction and habitability problems no longer have to wait until Monday. The very first weekend call came in on a Sunday, and the resident was genuinely surprised the City called him back at all.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: This is exactly the kind of everyday responsiveness that rebuilds trust, one answered call at a time. Government should meet people when they actually need it, not only between nine and five on a weekday.

👉 Learn how to report a code concern

🎉 Around Town & Community

🔹 Juneteenth brought our community together. On Friday, June 19, neighbors gathered at Christine Emerson Reed Park for Santa Monica's Juneteenth celebration, part of a tradition our city has honored since 1992, long before the rest of the country made it a federal holiday. I was glad to be there among so many families marking a day of freedom, music, and joy. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen.

→ 🙏 Why it matters: Juneteenth is part of Santa Monica's own history, and celebrating it together is one of the ways we honor where we have been and who we are.

🔹 And it is still Pride Month. June has been a month of celebration across the city, and I was happy to spend time at Pride on the Promenade with neighbors of every age. Santa Monica works hard to make sure everyone feels welcome here, and I am proud of that. Happy Pride, today and every day.

🔹 A beautiful addition to our events: the Community Collage. My dear friend Josh Madson has been bringing his Community Collage to events across the city, and it has been a joy to watch. He sets up and captures free, black-and-white portraits of the people who make up our community, a true professional giving his talent to the neighborhoods he photographs. Keep an eye out for the Community Collage at an upcoming event, and you might just end up on a wall somewhere in Santa Monica.

→ 💡 Why I love this: Art like this reminds us that a city is really just its people, in all their variety, and it is a small, generous way of showing us back to ourselves.

🔹 An honest update on the San Vicente coral trees. A lot of you have asked about the coral trees along San Vicente Boulevard, one of our most recognizable streetscapes, and I want to be straight with you: several are in declining health. Our Public Works arborists, including a Board-Certified Master Arborist, have monitored them for years, and the causes range from drought stress and pests to the simple fact that many of these trees are now past 60 years old. The City has brought in an independent consultant to assess the trees of greatest concern.

→ 🎯 My take: This is a regional challenge, not ours alone, and I would rather tell you exactly where things stand than pretend a beloved part of our city isn't struggling. We will keep you posted as the assessment continues.

📅 Dates to Know

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

🔹 Saturday and Sunday, June 27 and 28: Santa Monica Pier 360 Beach Festival, a free, all-ages celebration of ocean sports, live music, and beach culture on the Pier and sand.

🔹 Wednesday, July 1: Santa Monica's minimum wage increase takes effect.

🔹 Saturday, July 11: The next SM BlockFest and Night Market returns to Downtown.

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

👉 See the Pier 360 festival details

💙 All In Through November

A quick campaign 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 so much worth building here, on housing, homelessness, public safety, and keeping Santa Monica a place where working families and small businesses can actually afford to stay.

I am also kicking things off in a bigger way the weekend of July 18, with more events to come, and I could genuinely use your help. If you would like to host a gathering, throw a fundraiser, or volunteer your time, please reach out to me directly. And if you are able to chip in, every contribution, large or small, helps carry us to November.

👉 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. You'll see 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: Both Things Can Be True

This was a week full of real positives. The world came to our Pier and Promenade, businesses kept opening their doors, our food scene earned a national crown, and neighbors gathered for Juneteenth and Pride. I want us to celebrate every bit of it, fully and without apology.

And in the same breath, I want to keep telling you the truth about the hard things, like a homelessness crisis that no single city can solve on its own. To me, that is what civility and transparency really look like: the honesty to hold the wins and the work at once, and the respect to talk through the hard parts together instead of shouting past each other.

So celebrate this week. Then read the budget before Tuesday, send a comment, or come find me at the market this weekend. My dad used to say a life is measured by the people you help along the way. That is the city I want to keep working for, right alongside 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