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# Development comes at a price
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/development-comes-at-a-price-editor-20041222/
- Published: 2004-12-22T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:50:25.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Downtown, #archive-import

*By Marilyn Brennan Santa Monica*

Regarding the proposal to redevelop Santa Monica Place Mall. I hope before this or any similar project for downtown Santa Monica is finalized, that the decision makers take their heads out of the clouds and just consider for a few seconds the added automobile impact on this already traffic jammed city.

Consider this: 150 apartments, plus 300 condos, each with one to three cars equals from 450 cars to 1,350 cars. Then add in the business suites. How many employees? Say four to 400 each, depending on the size of the business. The businesses alone could conceivably add thousands of more cars.

There is underground parking planned, all well and good. Parking is one thing, but all of those cars come out of the parking structures and onto our city streets causing unfathomable traffic jams and horrible car emissions.

Our city streets are already jammed packed. Is three hours to the nearest freeway in our immediate future?

Has anyone even considered the traffic and environmental impact of thousands of additional cars daily? I would hope so. But I wonder, as I have never seen an article or report or even mention of the impact the added cars will have. For instance, there is a huge structure being put up on Sixth Street. How many more cars will this square block of apartments and condos put onto our streets? In every “improvement” being built, I have never heard a word about how many more cars these buildings will throw in this already jam-packed traffic mix. They chunder on about the parking or lack of same, but the traffic barely gets a nod, let alone the noxious fumes.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 22, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122204.pdf?ref=smdp.com)