Mayor Caroline Torosis delivered a hopeful State of the City address last week during a community focused event that brought city services straight to residents as part of a street festival on Main Street.
"This is more than the setting for tonight's speech," Torosis told the crowd. "It is a glimpse of what is possible when we bring people together and make government feel closer to the community."
The mayor opened by thanking her City Council colleagues — Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Zwick and Councilmembers Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell, Lana Negrete and Natalya Zernitskaya — along with City Manager Oliver Chi. She singled out several city employees for recognition, including a traffic services officer and a police officer credited with saving a choking child, a code enforcement supervisor, park staff who help families find food and housing, and a downtown maintenance manager with more than three decades of service.
Rather than reciting a full list of city accomplishments — she pointed residents to the city's new "Santa Monica Scorecard" for that — Torosis framed her address around a single question: What kind of city is Santa Monica becoming?
She cited the reopening of the Ocean Park Branch Library, which returned to full staffing this month after five years of reduced service, as emblematic of the city's broader turnaround. "We are turning the lights back on," she said.
Torosis detailed a string of gains under the city's Realignment Plan, adopted unanimously by the council last October following the COVID-19 pandemic and the region's wildfires. She said more than nine in 10 first-round building plan checks are now completed on time, up 40 percentage points in four months. City crews have hauled away 502 tons of debris in six months, a 97% increase over the prior year. The police department has reached full sworn staffing for the first time in more than two decades, serious crime is down 12.5%, and the Big Blue Bus carried 10 million riders for a second consecutive year. The city's general fund is structurally balanced ahead of schedule, she said, enabling nearly $110 million in investments in parks, streets, libraries, public safety and transportation.
On housing, Torosis said the city approved nearly 1,800 new homes this year, including more than 450 permanently affordable units. She highlighted the new Santa Monica Renter Aid program, a $6 million effort she described as the first of its kind in the county, along with the existing Right to Counsel program for tenants facing eviction. She also pointed to SaMo Bridge, which she said has connected more than 460 people to services, treatment and housing as an alternative to the criminal legal system, with more than 80% accepting help. The city has also created a Restorative Justice Commission and committed $3.5 million to address harms tied to the historic displacement of families from the Belmont Triangle and Pico neighborhood.
Torosis acknowledged ongoing challenges, including unsheltered homelessness, elevated property crime and struggling small businesses, saying the city is "no longer looking away" from those problems.
Looking ahead, the mayor cited a lineup of major upcoming events — including the Ocean Way Music Festival on the beach this September, ESPN's Super Bowl week broadcasts, and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games — and said each must deliver a "resident dividend" of jobs, free public experiences and lasting improvements. She also discussed the pending 2028 closure of Santa Monica Airport, saying the 192 acres will be transformed with community input into new public parkland.
The address closed with the unveiling of Santa Monica's Tournament of Roses Parade float design and a plan to bus local residents from Santa Monica to Pasadena to help build it. Torosis said the float's theme, "Welcome," reflects her governing philosophy for the city, tying it to a personal story about her mother, who immigrated from Montreal and watched the parade as a symbol of the welcome California seemed to offer.