(Don’t forget that any TV set graphic on my website links to a video)

The best things about Santa Monica center on our beach.  We recently marked the 100th anniversary of the famous and wonderful Santa Monica Pier, the home of our free Twilight Concert Series -- and we’ve opened the Annenberg Public Beach Club.

I’m committed to better, cleaner beaches and to expanding and improving Santa Monica’s parks.
I’m proud to have helped buy the land and shepherd through the

See Santa Monica’s exciting new PUBLIC beach house!

Knowing there’s still work to be done, we nonetheless have much to celebrate in the growth of our Santa Monica park system.  Since I’ve been on our City Council, we completed a beachfront project that helped win us an American Planning Association award naming Santa Monica Beach as one of the best public places in America.  We’ve added and expanded parks all over the city:  Airport Park (including a new dog park!), Euclid Park, Virginia Avenue Park, and the Cove skatepark at Memorial Park. The best may be yet to come – when we regain control of land we own at what is now Santa Monica Airport, one of the most exciting options is a glorious regional park with expanded recreational playfields.  I’m also working on ways to expand our much-in-demand community gardens.

Santa Monica’s parks and beaches are made even more special by volunteer cooperation and creative innovation.  At left, volunteers help in the annual Heal the Bay beach clean-up.  At right, our experimental “greening” of a beach parking lot to create new family picnic and park space.  Barefootin’!

When the subject is parks, I consult with the experts!

Their first United States performances were at the Santa Monica Pier in 1987, and Cirque du Soleil continues to return to their local home by the sea.

One of our community treasures is the landmarked Civic Center Auditorium, once home to the Academy Awards.  After much debate, culminating in a dramatic 4 to 3 vote, our City Council committed some of the last available redevelopment funds to a restoration of the Civic. Then California’s Legislature clawed back that money, forcing us to scrap our plans and perhaps mothball the Civic.

design and construction of Tongva Park, named after our local indigenous people, and adjoining Ken Genser Square, in front of City Hall.   Our parks are for playfields and recreation, but they’re also spaces for quiet time and remembering we are of the earth, not just of the city.  As your Councilmember, I want to establish a park within walking distance of every Santa Monica home.  We still have neighborhoods with no park within a half mile radius, and that’s too far for small children and seniors. 

I’m honored by, and grateful for, your support in electing me six times!