🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete

📅 December 29, 2025

Hello Neighbors,

Wishing you and your loved ones a healthy and hopeful start to 2026.

This week marks the quiet pause between Christmas and the New Year—a moment to look back before moving forward. This past year serving as Mayor of Santa Monica was challenging, demanding, and deeply instructive. Below is a clear snapshot of the work and the approach that guided me throughout 2025.

I'm a small business owner. I was born and raised here. I'm raising my kids here. Santa Monica isn't just where I serve; it's home. And leadership, to me, means showing up, collaborating, communicating consistently, and doing the quiet work that takes time to come to fruition.

Here's what that looked like in 2025.

🔥 Emergency Response, Visibility & Communication

🔹 When the Palisades fires hit, showing up and communicating clearly mattered:

• Daily presence alongside County and State leaders

• Frequent media updates to keep Santa Monica residents informed in real time

• Coordinated opening of hotel rooms, office space, and facilities for displaced families and schools

• Welcomed multiple Palisades schools into Santa Monica

• Partnered with Travel & Tourism to share hotel capacity

• Connected impacted businesses to SBA and recovery resources

• Took action to protect renters and relocated families from rent gouging

→ 💡 What this reinforced: People want constant, honest communication — not spin. That commitment continues.

🤝 Collaboration Over Politics

🔹 Progress comes from working together — not political posturing:

• Collaborated closely with Councilmember Traci Park from day one

• Worked with Assembly Members and State Senators across districts

• Continued pushing for coordination and accountability at the County level

• Partnered with neighboring cities including Culver City and Malibu—because our borders and challenges overlap

→ 🎯 My take: This year reinforced that leadership is about outcomes, not trends or ladder-climbing.

🧭 Learning From What Works (and What Doesn't)

🔹 Applying regional lessons directly to Santa Monica:

• Conducted on-the-ground walks in Culver City to better understand homelessness programs

• Worked with Traci Park on encampment response and access center strategies

• Collaborated with Malibu on clean beaches, sustainability, and PCH safety

• Worked directly with Caltrans and numerous state and regional agencies

• Met with more agencies this year than in my entire prior time on Council

🏛 Standing Up for Santa Monica

🔹 Advocacy, transparency, and pushing back when needed:

• Worked with LA County leadership to push back on ineffective harm-reduction approaches, including needles and meth pipes in parks

• Held meetings at St. Monica's Church near Reed Park with County decision-makers to address real neighborhood impacts

• Helped coordinate neighborhood meetings bringing State and County leaders directly to residents

• Spoke up when vulnerable housing projects lacked transparency or thoughtful planning

→ 💼 Economic development momentum:

• Pushed for SBA programs to better meet the realities of small businesses

• Met directly with potential major retailers exploring a return to Santa Monica

• Helped coordinate those conversations with the City Manager and staff

• Supported major events and economic activity, including high-profile visitors and citywide activations

• Participated in more than a dozen meetings with international and regional partners showcasing Santa Monica as a destination for LA28

• Took part in discussions with national media and sports partners

• Continued advancing ideas to attract new businesses and help existing ones stay

→ 💡 Why this matters: This work often happens quietly, but it matters.

🚓 Public Safety, Accountability & Safer Streets

🔹 Building systems that deliver real results:

• Put forward requests for a transparency dashboard in partnership with the District Attorney's Office

• Helped coordinate and convene meetings between the DA, the new Police Chief, and the City Manager

• Supported Proposition 36 and the DA's efforts to address retail theft crime rings and repeat offenders

• Advocated for stronger coordination to protect local businesses and workers

📹 Real-Time Crime Prevention Infrastructure

🔹 Investing in tools that work: Supported the development of the Real Time Crime Center. Provided tours and tracked early success as cameras proved their effectiveness. Looking ahead to the official opening of the downtown substation—a concept first discussed more than a year ago.

→ 🙏 Grateful for progress: City Manager Oliver Chi's leadership in moving these efforts forward quickly has been essential. Meaningful progress often comes from sustained, behind-the-scenes work by staff and leadership.

→ 🎯 What's coming: While some of this work takes time to fully materialize, it is already laying the groundwork for cleaner streets and safer public spaces.

👉 Learn about the Real Time Crime Center

🧩 Homelessness: Real Connections, Real Choices

🔹 Moving beyond talk to measurable action — rolled out the SAMO Bridge program:

• A sobering center (not housing)

• Provides up to 72 hours to get sober, shower, change clothes, and stabilize

• Connects individuals to longer-term services that match their needs

• Continued working on legislation to address homelessness in ways that show visible, meaningful results on our streets

👉 Read about SAMO Bridge

🏪 Economic Recovery & Small Business Support

🔹 Making it easier to do business in Santa Monica:

• New permitting and concierge system

• Reduced wait times and process friction

• Waived fees for outdoor dining

• Expanded allowable uses for reimagined business spaces

• Entertainment zones, live music, and public art expansion

✨ Taking Care of Our City

🔹 Putting the shine back on Santa Monica:

• Power washing streets, alleys, and parking structures

• Alley sweeps and graffiti removal

• Cleaning and beautifying freeway exits

• Addressed debris flow impacts in our ocean after the fires

🧹 Community Cleanups & Environmental Stewardship

🔹 Creating hands-on ways for residents to engage: Launched a new community cleanup program in partnership with Clean With Me LA. Designed for regular, monthly neighborhood cleanups. Official rollout begins in 2026.

🐾 Protecting What Matters

🔹 Advancing practical, compassionate legislation: Worked on a bill to better protect animals during fires and emergencies.

🏛 Civic Engagement & Youth Access

🔹 Meeting people where they are:

• Continued tours of City Hall for youth, schools, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and community groups

• Brought civic education directly to young people and families

• Committed to remaining accessible and present throughout the community

➡️ Looking Ahead to 2026

🔹 What's coming:

• Continued implementation of the Realignment Plan

• Expansion of the Real Time Crime Center and substation operations

• Ongoing efforts to close beaches overnight to improve safety, protect maintenance crews, and encourage safer shelter options

• More beautification from the inside out

• Stronger coordination across departments and agencies

• Continued focus on real-world results — not just policy on paper

📱 Stay Connected

Got an issue to report? Want to make sure the city hears you?

👉 Report an issue through 311

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

🌟 Looking Forward Together

This was not an easy year to be Mayor, but it was an important one.

Christmas Eve, I spent the day at our family's music store with my two daughters. Fifty-five years ago, my father and uncle started this shop with one simple belief: music should be accessible. That little store has employed our family for generations, given countless students their first job, provided steady income to working musicians, and survived years when the owners couldn't even pay themselves—but kept giving anyway.

That's the Santa Monica I'm fighting for. A city where family businesses like ours can survive. Where small acts of service ripple outward. Where we show up for each other, especially when it's hard.

I will continue to do that as a Councilmember. And I will continue to show up.

Thank you for staying engaged. Thank you for caring about our city. See you in 2026.

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