A one-year update to the city’s Realignment Plan says a variety of actions in recent months has increased safety and improved the city’s finances.
The report from City Manager Oliver Chi's office says the city needed $26.7 million in one-time reserves to close the 2025-26 fiscal year, $7.3 million less than the $34 million budgeted. Excluding $22.5 million in capital spending, the General Fund operating budget ran a $4.3 million deficit in a year when most of the plan's new revenue measures were only partly in effect.
The council adopted the plan Oct. 28, 2025, when the city faced a projected $29.6 million structural deficit, about $98 million in unobligated reserves and retail and office vacancy rates among the highest in Los Angeles County. The plan drew on $60 million in reserves while the city lined up new revenue.
Staff says those new revenues and cost savings now total about $28.8 million a year, above the $24 million originally targeted, and that the city remains on track for a balanced General Fund operating budget by July 1, 2027, without tapping reserves.
Serious Part I crimes fell 12.5% in 2025, from 4,793 to 4,194. Violent crimes and burglaries dropped another 11.2% from January through September compared with the same period last year, while arrests rose 62% and traffic citations more than doubled. The City Attorney's Office now files charges in about 91% of legally fileable cases, up from 65% to 70% before the plan.
The city's Homeless Support Team collected 790 tons of debris over the past year, compared with 254 tons in all of 2024. The $3.5 million downtown capital program is about 80% complete. Retail vacancy fell from about 16% to 11.8% and office vacancy from about 35% to 21%, the city's scorecard shows.
All branch libraries are open at least four days a week for the first time since 2020, and on-time first-round plan checks rose from about 51% in August 2025 to 87% in July. The 2026 Point-in-Time Count showed unsheltered homelessness down 18.1%, and during the last fiscal year 72 people moved from the street into interim housing while 107 were reunited with family.
Staff lists more than 90 of the plan's 179 tracked activities as complete. The report also cites an Oct. 1 RAND Corporation study that called the city's recent reforms "a meaningful break with the past," though interviewees told RAND the city's reputation as a hard place to do business persists.
Staff says the focus now shifts to revitalization and is asking the council to approve several initiatives.
A Downtown Catalyst Incentive Program would concentrate the city's $3 million Economic Development Fund on two or three high-visibility projects on and around the Third Street Promenade, offering forgivable loans of up to $1.5 million per project track and favoring businesses that pair food and drink with entertainment.
Parking pilots with operator Metropolis would bring ticketless, license plate-based entry and exit to Parking Structures 1 and 9 and the Main Library garage in early November, plus Promenade valet stations at Wilshire Boulevard and Arizona Avenue starting Nov. 27. Metropolis would cover pilot costs through July 1, 2027. A separate deal would let Amazon-owned Zoox lease up to 150 city parking spaces for its robotaxi fleet, generating an estimated $500,000 or more a year.
The council will also consider a contract with 3Di Systems to launch a rent registry in early 2027 for about 15,000 units not covered by rent control, at $52.35 a unit. Staff is separately developing a Promenade capital refresh ahead of the 2028 Olympics, with a concept plan due early next year.
The report also flags unfinished business: The city's roughly $12 million annual payment to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District expires June 30, 2027, and if voters reject the Measure ES parcel tax Nov. 3, the city plans to end it.
The council's consent calendar includes accepting a $49,895 federal Justice Assistance Grant, a contract of up to $700,000 with ComSonics for license plate recognition for parking enforcement, and Mills Act contracts for three historic properties. Also on consent is a resolution allowing ESPN to use the Pier deck and beach for 2027 Super Bowl programming.
Council members will hear a first reading of an ordinance extending the Off-Site Affordable Housing program's re-entitlement deadline to Dec. 31, 2027, and hold a public hearing on zoning updates to comply with state law. A closed session includes childhood sexual abuse litigation, negotiations over the sale of city property on 5th street and additional rental of property near the Pier for the Olympics, and the city manager's performance evaluation.
The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in the City Hall Council Chambers, 1685 Main St., Room 250.