Health & Fitness
Blog | Has Santa Monica Airport Brought Westside Traffic to a Halt?
Are Santa Monica residents comfortable with these changes to their city over the past couple of decades?
Just as Santa Monica Airport (SMO) has changed from a recreational airport to a corporate jet center, so has the nature of Santa Monica changed from an ocean-side community to the new Silicon Beach; from environmental green to dollar-bill green.
Rapid change has been taking place since the mid 1990's when corporate and private jet traffic began to skyrocket. Much of the development occurred on Colorado Boulevard, Olympic Boulevard and other locations that are a short limousine ride from SMO's limo services to the numerous offices for the entertainment and technology industries. All this development was crammed into Santa Monica without a decent plan for traffic control. The result: morning traffic crawl into Santa Monica and gridlock leaving in the afternoon.
What has trickled down to most everyone from this overdevelopment is a traffic nightmare!
Find out what's happening in Santa Monicawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Are Santa Monica residents comfortable with these changes to their city over the past couple of decades? Not the neighbors of SMO who are worried about their health and safety. In recent years, Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City and Santa Monicans for Responsible Growth, groups concerned with overdevelopment, emerged to express their dissatisfaction and to pressure City officials to slow down the development.
This coming election Santa Monica voters will decide if they are in favor of Santa Monica's new look or if they want new Council representation who will direct City staff to slow down development. You can only pack so much food into a refrigerator before the door won't close anymore and all the food spoils.
Find out what's happening in Santa Monicawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution (CRAAP) has endorsed four candidates (see attachment to this blog).
CRAAP has uploaded video of its fifth consecutive Santa Monica City Council Candidates Forum focused solely on SMO. Access to the YouTube links can be found near the top of www.jetairpollution.com.
It's not short, but it will shed light on the fifteen candidates running for
the four open seats to City Council.
I will be blogging more often with the approaching election because of how important it is. Let me know if you have any questions in your comments. I plan to respond to comments.
Thank you for your time.
Martin Rubin
Director, Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution
