Public Drunkenness on the 3rd Street Promenade Day and Night Over the Last 4 months

SM Coalition

Passed out right on the Promenade

1) The Santa Monica Coalition/Safe Cities is in favor of additional outdoor restaurant seating for service and consumption of food and all alcoholic beverages. But the City charges almost as much for the outdoor seating as property owners are receiving in rent for indoor brick and mortar space

2) The Mayor's and City Council's publicly stated goal and objective is to expand the program from 5 or 6 am to 2 am daily.

3) In just the last week there have been multiple arrests for public drunkenness on the Promenade, and retailers who have stated on video that people run into the rear of their stores and puke on the clothing/accessories, think they have used a bathroom, then run or stumble out

4) The Santa Monica Police Department believes there is a problem because they have set up three (3) DUI check points in Downtown Santa Monica during just the last 3 months

5) Other cities that Santa Monica's Mayor Negrete and City Council tout as a success for this type of project have a larger and better funded police presence. The "Downtown Santa Monica Police Operations" now includes nine (9) blocks as far as Lincoln on the east and the 10 Freeway on the south.

6) There is not one Councilmember who would send their own children or grandchildren to the Promenade under current conditions.

7) The City says that 86% of residents do NOT shop or dine in Santa Monica because they feel Downtown is "not safe"

8) All retailers and restaurants on the 3rd Street Promenade were polled on this issue. (90% are against it, 92% still experience regular theft during business hours, and 40% of retailers are not reporting theft for insurance reasons.

SM Coalition

Store closing

9) 75% of retailers on the Promenade are month-to-month tenancies, and rents have decreased by an additional 20% during 2025.

10) 70% of the Santa Monica mall is vacant, and its owners recently defaulted and were foreclosed on a + - $390 million loan.

11) The Promenade unfortunately is not run as a traditional BID (Business Improvement District), but as a city-controlled non-profit corporation. The City appoints the majority of the Board Members for DTSM, Inc. Its CEO, Andrew Thomas, failed in Westwood and his current salary is in the high 6 figures, with benefits, a work at home option, and based on city records, enjoyed over 22 days off from work last year. His staff has grown and one of his employees departed from pressure due to financial and social illegalities.

12) In Santa Monica, property owners are assessed at high rates to pay for salaries of executives, ambassadors, and clean-up of garages and common areas. The money is paid with property taxes, and provided in full to the City. The property owners are subsidizing the bad decisions and social experiments of the city's mayors and council members

13) Larchmont Blvd in Hancock Park, Old Pasadena (Colorado Blvd), Brand Avenue in Glendale, are each examples of nearby shopping and dining venues with traditional property and business owner control over their BID's (Business Improvement Districts). And the number of individual property owners are over 200 in each area.

SM Coalition

Who would want to use the public garages when this is what you'll run into?