Plan would add cops, ease business permits in hopes of bringing back shops, tourists.
It’s been a rough few years for Santa Monica.
Businesses have abandoned its once-thriving downtown. Its retail and office vacancy rates are among the highest in Los Angeles County. The crowds that previously packed the area surrounding the city’s famous pier have dwindled.
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Homelessness has risen. City officials acknowledge crime incidents had become more visible and volatile.
The breadth and depth of the issues became apparent just last month when the city was forced to declare itself in fiscal distress after paying $229 million in settlements related to alleged sexual abuse by Eric Uller, a former city dispatcher.
Now, Santa Monica is trying to plot a new path forward. A significant first step could come Tuesday.
That’s when the City Council is set to consider a plan to reverse its fortunes.
The plan includes significantly increasing police patrols and enforcing misdemeanor ordinances, investing in infrastructure and new community events, and taking a more business-friendly brush to permits and fees. Officials also plan to be more aggressive in making sure property owners maintain unused properties.
The blueprint tackles many “quality of life” issues that critics say have contributed to lower foot traffic in the city’s tourist districts since the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s far from clear the tactics will work. But given the city’s current trajectory, officials say bold action is necessary.
“We’re trying to usher in a rebirth — a renaissance of the city — by investing in ourselves,” Councilmember Dan Hall said.
Hall, 38, is part of a relatively youthful City Council majority that swept into office in recent years as voters opted for new leadership and a fresh approach. Five of the seven council members are millennials, and six members first joined the council in either 2022 or 2024.
Also new on the scene is City Manager Oliver Chi, who five months ago was hired away from the same position in Irvine.
“The city is in a period of distress, for sure,” said Chi, 45. “We’re not in a moment where the city is broke. The city still has resources. … But right now, if we do nothing, the city’s general fund operating budget is projected to run a structural deficit of nearly $30 million a year, and that’s because we’ve seen big drops” in revenues, such as from hotel taxes, sales tax and parking.
“But part of that is the private sector hasn’t been investing in the city. And we haven’t had people traveling to the city,” Chi said.
Santa Monica is far from the only city — in California or nationwide — to face the pain of a downtown in decline. Brick-and-mortar retailers have long bled business to online offerings, and the pandemic upended the cadence of daily life that was the lifeblood of commercial districts, with many people continuing to work from home at least part of the week.
But the hope is that, through concerted, planned investment, Santa Monica can shine once again and modernize to be competitive in the postpandemic era.
The City Council had already decided to set aside $60 million from its cash reserves to spend over the next four or five years to cover any operating deficits. But with Tuesday’s vote, Santa Monica would instead use those dollars as an investment in hopes of getting the city back on track.
“Those things really are issues related to public safety, disorder in town, the disrepair that we’ve seen in our infrastructure,” Chi said. “All of those things are preventing, I think, confidence in the local economy.”
In downtown, the city’s plan would include doubling the number of police officers assigned to a specialized unit to at least eight to 10 a day, deploying an additional five patrol officers daily, creating a new police substation, adding two workers daily to address homelessness issues, and hiring eight public safety employees to provide a more constant presence across the city’s main commercial district, parks and parking garages.
Staff in the city attorney’s office would also be augmented to boost the ability to prosecute misdemeanor cases.
Also on the agenda: moving the city’s homeless shelter out of downtown; making a one-time $3.5-million investment to address fraying sidewalks and streets and freshen up trees and trash cans; funding monthly events at the Third Street Promenade to attract crowds; creating a large-scale “Santa Monica Music Festival” next year; upgrading restrooms near the pier and Muscle Beach; and increasing operating days for libraries.
Another proposal would require the owners of vacant properties to register with the city, in hopes of addressing lots that remain in disrepair.
The city is also looking to be more business friendly. It’s seeking to upgrade the current permit process, utilizing artificial intelligence to get nearly instantaneous permit reviews for single-family homes and accessory dwelling units, as well as reduce permit fees for restaurants with outdoor dining.
The plan also outlines strategies to boost revenue. Santa Monica is poised to end its contract with a private ambulance operator, McCormick Ambulance, in February and move those operations in house.
“It’s going to cost roughly $2.8 million a year to stand that operation up. But the reality is, once we start running it, it’ll generate about $7 million a year in new ongoing revenues,” Chi said.
“That’s part of what we’re thinking through: How do we invest now in order to grow our revenue base moving ahead?” he said.
Parking rates are also going up, which city officials estimate should generate $8 million to $9 million in additional annual revenue — though officials say they still charge a lower rate than those of nearby cities.
The city also plans more traffic safety enforcement and will cut the current 90 minutes of free parking in downtown parking structures to 30 minutes.
There’s also been talk of a new city parcel tax, though no decision has yet been made to pursue that. A parcel tax would need voter approval.
Another priority is building back the city’s cash reserves, which have dwindled over the years, largely on account of legal payments. Eight years ago, Santa Monica had $436 million in cash reserves; today, there’s only $158 million in nonrestricted reserves.
The planned $60 million in spending would further reduce the city’s unobligated cash down to $98 million.
““We’re trying to usher in a rebirth — a renaissance of the city — by investing in ourselves,” Councilmember Dan Hall said……”
“”Santa Monica is far from the only city — in California or nationwide — to face the pain of a downtown in decline. …..””””
Welcome to the icon of FAILURE. Welcome to one of the first cities to HAMMER traffic flow, narrow streets and encourage housing without proper parking per bedrooms. Welcome to the failed 3rd Street Promenade….
Welcome to the City of Santa Barbara that decided to mimic Santa Monica and within 40 years Destroyed Downtown Santa Barbara and it formerly working traffic grid. Welcome to the failed State Street Promenade that most locals call “Death Valley.”
The games and gemmics have not worked in both cities. The Politically Correct Sacramento Density, Vision Zero, intentionally obstructed streets, and the weaklings who tout “Strong” (name the city) as the future of a 15 minute city are failures of almost 50 years of planning by Sacramento.
Santa Monica has been the longest failure but with Councils that state “we just need to do more and it will work. Obviously it has not.
Santa Barbara hired former Santa Monica city and traffic planners to PROVE it will work. 10 years before Covid Santa Barbara saw the exact failures of Santa Monica but had the same type of Councils and Mayors that said it will work “”we just need to do more and it will work. “”” It failed.
Santa Barbara’s collapse happened with light speed just after Covid Restrictions opened people to travel. The same Santa Monica street obstructions / people will use buses / ride bikes, were stamped in the now Former Jewel of the Calif. Coast has crashed. Multiple years of deficit, multiple tax increases that hurt businesses, multiple years of Head in the Sand City Council’s.
Santa Monica is kidding itself if it thinks their Decades of Failure will change by “modification” of what killed them. Socialist dictates that say “we just need to do more and it will work” are the grave stone of failure.
It is happening all over the State and what is Sacramento’s Answer? “We just need to do more and it will work.”
Sound familiar?
Want a proven answer from a group that has never taken a penny of tax dollars?
Contact us. Cars Are Basic, Inc. a 501.c.3 organization in existence for 27 years.