Santa Monica Mayor, City Manager 'Not Surprised' by Census Figures

Count Santa Monica Mayor and City Manager Rod Gould among those who were not surprised by the figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The census data indicates that, between 2000 and 2010, Santa Monica's population grew from 84,084 to 89,736, or 6.72 percent.

"That's within the range that I was expecting," Bloom said. "When I thought several months ago about what the numbers might be, it struck me that we've built a lot of new housing in the downtown area, a fair amount of affordable housing around the city, and it doesn't surprise me that that amounts to around 5,000."

Gould is in agreement.

"Like the mayor, I'm not particularly surprised at the rate of growth in recent years," he said.

Gould noted that the census doesn't take into account the large number of non-residents who frequent Santa Monica, particularly during the daytime.

"I've seen estimates in the range of 150,000 people working and shopping and taking leisure in town during the day," he said. "According to the police department, the population swells to a quarter-million on any good, warm, summer weekend—and especially when we have special events."

(Special events include the Los Angeles Marathon, which will take place Mar. 20 and end in Santa Monica for the second year in a row; and Glow, the city's dust-till-dawn arts and culture festival, which occurs on a biannual basis.)

Also, Gould predicted that Santa Monica's population "will remain stable for many years to come" as the city adheres to the , which calls for the preservation and conservation of Santa Monica neighborhoods.

"You're going to see some dynamic development in the downtown and in eastern Santa Monica, particularly around the rail stations," he said. "We're poised for some new developments along transit corridors that are going to get a tremendous amount of public comment and dialogue."

But, Gould added, "Our city is a slow-growth city."