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# Putting on the brakes
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/putting-on-the-brakes-editor/
- Published: 2008-07-31T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:25:40.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Ruth Rosen Santa Monica*

Santa Monica is a special, ocean-side city of over 90,000 and growing. Packed into 8.26 miles, what about the impact of incessant growth and it’s impact on quality of life? As of now, Santa Monica has traffic grid-lock, non-stop construction everywhere, and parking problems. Our City Council is being compromised by commercial and development interests. What good is a robust tax base when our city is choking to death on unlimited growth? Enough already. Thank goodness for the RIFT initiative.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 31, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/073108.pdf?ref=smdp.com)