A City Worth Inheriting

Every decision a city makes is a message to the future.

When we make it hard to build homes, we are telling the next generation that this city is not for them. When we let public spaces deteriorate, we are telling families that their comfort and safety is not the priority. When we run programs without measuring results, we are spending their money without accountability. When we defer hard decisions, we are handing them a harder problem.

My kids go to school here. The Santa Monica they inherit is not some distant abstraction. It is being shaped right now, by the choices this council makes, the budgets it passes, and the vision it either has or doesn’t.

Most local politicians don’t talk about 25 or even 5 years from now. It’s easier to talk about the next budget cycle, the next election, the next community meeting. But cities are long-lived things. The decisions made in Santa Monica in the 1950s and 60s, about streets, about zoning, about what to build and what to protect, are the decisions we are still living with today. The decisions we make now will still be shaping this city when our children are raising their own kids here.

So what city do we want to leave them?

I want to leave them a Santa Monica that is fuller and more alive than the one we have today. More people, more families, more neighbors. Streets that are safe enough for kids to ride bikes on. Parks that are clean and well maintained. Libraries that are open. Public spaces that are active and welcoming. A Promenade and a Pier that are genuine destinations, not cautionary tales about what happens when a great city stops trying.

I want to leave them a city where a young person who grows up here has a realistic shot at staying here. Where the teachers and nurses and firefighters who serve this community can afford to live in it. Where a family that loves Santa Monica doesn’t have to leave it because the city made it too expensive and too hard.

I want to leave them a city with great public schools that are full of neighborhood kids, backed by a city that treats education as a core investment and not an afterthought. Where libraries are open, after school programs are funded, and a kid growing up here has every resource they need to thrive.

I want to leave them a city that figured out how to be dense and beautiful at the same time. That chose to grow thoughtfully rather than stagnate fearfully. That invested in its public realm, held its government accountable, and treated every resident as someone worth building for.

That city is not a fantasy. It is a choice. And we start making it now.

Santa Monica is a great city, but it could be run better. We have a strong community, world-class amenities, and a local economy with enormous potential. What we need is a city government that consistently executes to unlock it.

Safe streets. Abundant housing.
Clean public spaces. Strong schools.
A vibrant local economy.