Category Archives: #WeLoveSantaMonica

Take the Airport Survey ASAP – Deadline April 27th

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We previously shared info and an email about the new online Phase 3A Community Survey about the City’s Airport Conversion Project. We urgently request making your opinion heard by completing the Airport Conversion Project Survey. As we’ve mentioned previously, the survey is complicated and may take some time — the info below is designed to assist you in this process and cut the time to under 10 minutes.

One of the GPC Advisory Committee members prepared a “Voter Guide” to make the survey process quicker and easier — if desired. Using this guide it can take no more than 10 minutes if you generally follow the info and move quickly through the screens without making comments. NOTE: The deadline is April 27th, please take the 10 minutes and knock it out NOW. Take it with your spouse, partner, friends and neighbors so that everyone’s voice is counted.

GPC has edited the Voter Guide to make sure the guide mostly offers you a variety of suggested response choices and what those responses mean. We do feel that to maintain the integrity of the process it is essential that you make up your own mind and we are committed to ensuring the City’s outreach process has integrity and reflects what the public wants.

Again, we need you to participate so we can help make a great park happen for our community.

Staff and the consultants will consider this Phase 3A survey input to create 3 Options for the Airport Site by mid-May, and then in July the City Council will choose one option that will move forward for in-depth refinement and then environmental review. So please help get the Great Park our community deserves!

Click here to take the survey., then follow the Voter Guide below!

GPC Voter Guide

If you only have 10 minutes. What you do is drag and drop the alternatives in the order you prefer. You can also add comments if you like to each alternative.

Layer 1: Connectivity & Mobility

Suggested orderings:
• A, B, C, D (to minimize new roads), or
• B, A, C, D (to allow one North/South connector road only), or
• C, D, B, A (if you think there should be more car access)

Layer 2: Water & Topography

Suggested orderings:
• B, A, C, D (if you want to de-emphasize natural water), or
• C, B, A, D (if you don’t want a big lake), or
• C, D, B, A (if you want to emphasize natural water)
Comment: Integrate some water into our Great Park & don’t keep it all underground!

Layer 3: Ecology & Passive Uses

Choose the level of Ecology & Passive Uses that you would like to see in the Great Park.

Layer 4: Active Park Uses

Choose the level of Active Park Uses that you would like to see in the Great Park.

Layer 5: Housing

The Great Park Coalition supports the creation of a park that complies with Measure LC to avoid a ballot measure that will likely delay closure of the airport at the end of 2028.

• For this reason we suggest this order: A, B, C, D

After ordering, there are a number of questions about the specifics of housing. These questions are optional, and you can choose to check “no housing” options. You can also choose to answer if you want to give input in case there is housing in the future (which again, would require a ballot measure), and that is up to you.

Suggested comments: Please build a park that complies with Measure LC and does not trigger another ballot measure.

Layer 6: Revenue Generation

Suggested orderings:
• B, C, A, D (to allow “small” revenue generation in/around the park, plus adaptive re-use), or
• A, B, C, D (to emphasize adaptive re-use, minimize overt use of park space for revenue)

For #41 – choose #1

Notes: This question is confusing as it is unclear which proposed uses are LC compliant. The GPC is supportive of revenue-generation uses like permitting sports fields, bike rentals, and snack shops if they can be implemented without a ballot measure (an open question at this point), but not supportive of uses that would definitely require a ballot measure such as housing, which also will privatize the land, take away public park and recreation space, and might not generate any net funds for the park.
GPC suggests we please support prioritizing revenue generation options that generally will remain on the sides of the Great Park, and be located in existing adaptively-reused structures. 



Important Next Step in the Airport Conversion Project

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Phase 3A of the Airport Conversion Project has Officially Launched!

Survey closes on April 27th

The City of Santa Monica has launched Phase 3A (Three Scenarios) in the planning and outreach process for the Great Park at the Santa Monica Airport. We are excited to share this envisioning of the three scenarios including a critical public survey that we urge you to take before the survey closes April 27. There is a new Virtual Education Session (VES) that explores different approaches to understand potential benefits, impacts, feasibility, and trade-offs of six different layers (or master plan systems) for community feedback in the Layers Survey.

Since last year the City has been conducting a planning process for the conversion of the airport into a park, consistent with Measure LC. Phase 2 of that process recently culminated at the Jan. 28 City Council meeting where the Council adopted the 5 Guiding Principles for the process. The council directed staff and Sasaki, the City’s consultants, to begin the next stage, Phase 3, which will result in staff and Sasaki devising three alternative scenarios, centered on a great park, for the future of the site. These scenarios will be presented to City Council on July 8.

We have now reached an important juncture where staff and Sasaki are asking for critical input from the public. Specifically, the City’s team has released a survey to have the public compare and give feedback on six dimensions of the planning process. For each dimension you get to rank four different alternatives.

Top priority for all supporters of the Great Park is taking the survey — there are less than two weeks available before this survey closes on April 27th so it is critical you take it quickly!

Phase 3A Timeline and Next Steps:
• NOW: New VES and Layers Survey Launch;
• April 27th: Layers Survey Ends;
• May 5th: Letters of Interest due;
• May 17th: Save the Date! Community event showcasing the three test fit scenarios;
• May 17th: Online tool for feedback on the three test fit scenarios opens;
• Mid-June: Online tool closes;
• July 8th: Three test fit scenarios presented at the City Council meeting;
• Fall 2025: Preferred scenario engagement. 

In the survey, the City’s team asks you to “think big about what the full build-out of your ideal future site would be.” Accompanying the survey is an excellent video explaining this survey’s rather sophisticated methodology, terminology, and goals. The video is around 45 minutes long, and we highly recommend that you watch it before you take the survey (and keep in on your screen, because you may want to check back to video while taking the survey). The survey should take about 20 minutes, but can take significantly longer if you add comments (which we encourage you to do). After each section you can add comments about each of the alternatives included in the survey; for instance, you can say what you like and don’t like about each alternative.

Most of the survey involves sorting out competing ideas for park uses and design. As an organization, we have never taken a position about what will go into the Great Park, but we know everyone has their own ideas about that. This survey is your opportunity to give your own feedback about the park. Go for it and have fun!

Note: You may recall that City Council directed the team to come back with one scenario that was not compliant with Measure LC, to investigate means of financing the park by using land at the airport, including by means of housing or other development. We were not surprised by that. As you know, we oppose any ballot measure to override LC, particularly prior to airport closure, not only because we want to maximize the size of the park, but also because such a measure would increase the risk of outside forces, including the aviation industry, trying to hijack the process, and because a ballot will delay the park planning progress. However, we don’t think that you should ignore the parts of the survey that deal with housing and financing. The survey is set up so that you can both prioritize (“vote for”) scenarios that do not require a ballot measure and still comment on housing and financing issues which may nonetheless be relevant in the future.

We don’t want to sugarcoat it – watching the video and taking the survey can take well over an hour of your time. But this is a critical step in the Great Park planning process, and we believe that you will find taking the survey to be a very satisfying use of your time. So, please set aside some time to take this important survey. The survey closes April 27th!​

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to The Great Park Coalition or Airport2Park if you have any questions and/or would like to discuss any of these upcoming events.

Also please see:
Santa Monica Democratic Club meeting: The Future of SMO Airport

The Santa Monica Democratic Club (SMDC) has scheduled a membership meeting for April 23, (plus one in May or June) at which differing views on the conversion will be presented. SMDC’s plan after April meeting is to set up an ad hoc working group that will, in conjunction with SMDC’s board, develop recommendations to present to the membership for a vote at a later date still to be determined.
read more here


Santa Monica Democratic Club meeting: The Future of SMO Airport

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In addition to the Launch of Phase 3 Airport Conversion we want to give you a heads up about two extremely important meetings on the Airport Conversion with the Santa Monica Democratic Club (SMDC): one next week on April 23 and one in May or June. SMDC plans to use the meetings to make recommendations to City Council in July when it Council considers the three proposals that will be coming from staff and Sasaki for the Great Park and the future of the airport land in general.

It is no surprised that political organizations have become involved in this planning process and that some have already taken or are taking positions on the airport conversion. Where most political organizations in Santa Monica establish their policies through their boards or steering committees, the SMDC commendably does so through a largely open process and ultimately a membership vote.

To this end, the SMDC has scheduled a membership meeting on April 23 at which differing views on the conversion will be presented. SMDC reached out to the The Great Park Coalition (GPC) members and the Santa Monica Airport2Park Foundation (A2P) to participate. A2P will send a representatives favoring a Measure LC-Compliant Great Park and David Pettit, Senior Attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity and member of the Santa Monica Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice and the Environment, is also scheduled to speak. We understand that SMDC’s plan after the April meeting is to set up an ad hoc working group that will, in conjunction with SMDC’s board, develop recommendations to present to the membership for a vote at a later date still to be determined.

While SMDC is still finalizing all the presenters for the April 23 meeting, they have informed Airport2Park that at least one proposal for housing at the airport will be presented — this is the “Cloverfield Commons” proposal that several speakers promoted at the Jan. 28 City Council hearing. This proposal calls for half of the land at the airport to be used for building housing and, it would appear from the proposals seen, divide much of the remaining land into small parks rather than a great park. It would, of course, require a ballot measure that would likely delay the closure of the airport.

It is clear that pressure is being brought on SMDC to support conversion plans that would require a vote to amend Measure LC. It is our hope that SMDC will recommend that the City pursue an LC-compliant conversion plan that will not require a new ballot measure and vote. This is not only because the Great Park Coalition stands for building the maximum-size great park that’s possible on the land. It is also because the The Great Park Coalition fears that a ballot measure before the City has planned the Great Park – and demonstrated it’s feasibility – will invite the aviation industry to respond with its own ballot measure to maintain the airport – open as is.

If you are a member of the SMDC, we urge you to mark April 23 on your calendars and plan to attend the meeting. If you are a registered Democrat and wish to join SMDC, you can join and vote at the subsequent meeting (if you join more than 30 days before the meeting.) For info on SMDC, click here.

The Santa Monica Democratic Club is an opinion leader in Santa Monica and so, again, these are very important meetings concerning the future of the Great Park.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to The Great Park Coalition or Airport2Park if you have any questions and/or would like to discuss any of these upcoming events.

Countdown to Bike Month in May!

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May is NATIONAL BIKE MONTH

May is National Bike Month, promoted by the League of American Bicyclists and celebrated in communities from coast to coast. Established in 1956, National Bike Month is a chance to showcase the many benefits of bicycling — and encourage more folks to giving biking a try.

In 2025, we’ll be celebrating all the ways and days people bike during National Bike Month. There are so many days to celebrate Bike Month: with a commute during Bike to Work Week (and Bike Anywhere Day!), biking to coffee or around the block, or riding on May 4 for National Ride A Bike Day.

Save the Date

Bike to Work Week 2025 will take place May 12-18, 2025, Locally Bike to Work Day is on Thursday May 15th, and National Bike to Work Day is on Friday, May 16!

Whether you’re riding for fun, fitness or with family, or taking essential trips to work or shop, you are part of our movement for safer streets, connected communities, a healthier planet, and happier people.

Each year the number and diversity of Bike Month celebrations continues to grow, accelerating the momentum around bicycling nationwide.

Great Park SMO Community Engagement Event

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This Saturday Dec 7th

The City of Santa Monica has invited the community to see how its feedback impacted the Draft Guiding Principles for the Airport Conversion Project.

WHEN: Saturday, December 7th, 1pm – 4pm
WHAT:  The City of Santa Monica Phase 2 SMAC Project Community Event 
WHERE: Memorial Park Gym, 1401 Olympic Boulevard (entrance on 14th Street)

Stop by anytime 1pm – 4pm for a variety of activities to fit your schedule. 
You can give feedback on the Draft Guiding Principles, which incorporate input from Phase 1, the Survey 2A results, and the Community Conversations. 

The event will feature:
• Open house-style exhibits for you to explore and provide your feedback on at your leisure.
• Three engaging activities designed to gather your input on potential future site uses, trade-offs, the scale of uses, and future site aesthetics (each will take approximately 5-20 minutes to complete).
• A Teen Forum and kid activities. Please feel free to bring your children!
• Refreshments!
• Bring your friends and neighbors!