The Palisades Park Safety Coalition started as a group of immediate neighbors in October 2025 and has since expanded to include members of all the neighborhoods in Santa Monica. We offer pithy, no frills summaries of issues and Calls to Action. If you are a resident, please sign up below.
URGENT– In October 2025, without public notice or consultation, we learned that LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath approved a plan to place two OPEN DOOR 49-bed Facilities for the Severely Mental Ill, Homeless and Drug-addicted Individuals at 413 and 825 Ocean Avenue, directly overlooking Palisades Park in Santa Monica— one of California’s most iconic public spaces, just two weeks before it was to open. Mayor Negrete and Santa Monica Daily Press confirmed that The Santa Monica City Council HID IT FROM THE PUBLIC and knew since April. It was paused Oct 14 and then shelved Oct 27. How did this happen in the first place?
Money is Energy.
The more homeless people roam our streets, the more the Homeless Industrial complex gets rewarded with cash. According to the Westside Current (Oct 16, 2025), Since 2019, 30 LA Homeless Nonprofits went from $12K to $121M while homelessness increased to 70% in LA. Once humble nonprofits, exec salaries increased to $400K. LA has spent $5.5B since Mayor Bass took office and a full $2.4B is unaccounted for. But our hearts are BIG, and by voting for the Prop 1 Tax to “stem homelessness once and for all”, Newsom gave $3.3B to Counties for even more homeless shelters, overriding cities. That money is looking to justify itself even though the numbers show the opposite results and many many get rich along the way.
New City Manager Oliver Chi’s “Bold New Re-alignment Plan” essentially excluded public input. The Santa Monica Daily Press notes that “[The Santa Monica Re-alignment Plan] comes from someone [Oliver Chi] who isn’t willing to have their vision workshopped into mediocrity by never ending discussions about people’s feelings and fears.” The plan was dropped online on Friday October 24th and then voted on by the City Council only FOUR DAYS LATER at a City Council Mtg. This plan includes moving the “SAMOSHEL” homeless shelter at the end of EXPO LINE, which receives 75 New homeless nightly, anywhere without public input. This unfettered power is exacerbated by an Emergency Homeless Proclamation which the City has been renewing every 180 days since Feb 2023.
HOW DOES HOMELESS RELATE TO THE CIVIC CENTER?
Most residents don’t know that The City Council has also been using the historic Santa Civic Center for a homeless shelter called “SaMo Bridge”. Residents wonder whether or not this had any impact on why the City Council voted NO on Oct 14th to the privately funded revitalization plan to save the historic building to savethecivic.org despite hundreds of letters of support, causing two commissioners to resign in protest. Residents feel that this Council has shown repeated disdain for all things “old” and Chi’s realignment plan shows no vision for contributing to the culture of Santa Monica as an Arts Hub and makes no mention of the Civic Auditorium as an ideal revenue-generating, destination entertainment venue. The City’s reasoning was to “look at other uses” (aka demolition = yet more development).
Santa Monica’s current downtown is already overbuilt and occupancy-starved with apartment buildings giving 3 months rent-free. Tourism is down. Crime and homelessness are up. Santa Monicans deserve better.
The Palisades Park Safety Coalition started as a group of immediate neighbors which coalesced in October 2025 and has since expanded to include the interests from other neighborhoods including Sunset Park, Wilmont in addition to NOMA. We believe Santa Monica deserves thoughtful, well-planned solutions that also protect its residents. We believe when the City Council makes grand decisions without the public it puts our historic locations, parks, schools, neighborhoods and every citizen at risk.
Please sign up for vital calls to action so we can save our city.