I know exactly where anlmost every one of those stores is. Every one of the stores they closed was closed because the property has been purchased and the developers are going to build new, bigger buildings on them. This is happening because the City Council caved in to developers and amended the zoning ordinance to allow anywhere from 5 to 9 story buildings on the main commercial streets. The prior height limit was 3 stories. I was President of Mid-City Neighbors, one of the neighborhood's groups, and that change was opposed by all 7 neighborhood groups. But, those big developers write big campaign checks and it passed 4-3.
I think those boarded up stores are a sign of a decline in the quality of life in Santa Monica, but not because of the homeless or crime rates. They are essentially allowing 6-10 times the number of cars for these new developments than were allowed under the old zoning laws. Traffic has been getting worse and worse for years. They rate the major intersections in the City from A to F with F being worse. Almost every major intersection already is an F. Every time a new project is proposed there is a mandatory traffic impact analysis. If the building will make traffic worse, the developer must propose “mitigation” measures which will reduce the traffic to its current level.
The traffic mitigation measures are a joke. I lived on 22nd Street. A block away on 23rd Street a development was proposed that would significantly increase traffic on 23rd Street going south toward Cloverfield Blvd and the Santa Monica Freeway. The developer proposed adding a left turn only lane in 23rd Street at Santa Monica Blvd which they said their study showed would mitigate 100% of the impact.
Two big problems with that: (1) Three different projects used the same mitigation measure. Obviously the left turn lane wouldn’t mitigate the extra traffic from three Large new buildings, but the City let all 3 developers use it. (2)There isn’t room for a left turn lane. The street isn’t wide enough and can’t be widened. If two cars are next to each other going south, then no cars on Santa Monica Blvd which want to turn into 23rd Street going north (and a lot do) can make the turn.
We actually put two cars there as if there was a left turn lane one evening and filmed it to show how absurd the idea was. We had an off-duty policeman there to keep irritated motorists from attacking our drivers. And, he was busy. Not one car could make that right turn in the 30 minutes we filmed. We handed each motorist who tried a flyer explaining what we were doing and how their commute would be affected if the new projects were approved.
This was about 8 years ago. The City approved all 3 projects finding that each had fully mitigated traffic issues. No left turn lane ever was added. The City knew full well it wouldn’t work. I stopped driving in 2020 for a few reasons but one important one was that the traffic in Santa Monica was unbearable.
People wrongly think that Santa Monica has a leftist, anti-capitalist government. Remember “the Republic of Santa Monica” talk. But, the majority of the Council no matter what their political persuasion might be are people with pet projects, whether they be more environmentally friendly parks, more shelters and aid for the homeless, counseling centers for almost anything you can think of, etc. These take money and they want to maximize revenues with bigger buildings.
By the way, the closed Rite Aid is on Pico Blvd and has been closed for at least two years when they opened a new Rite Aid three blocks away. The old one is in a terrible location and they have had trouble finding a buyer.
