Santa Monica x Los Angeles: Collaboration to Solve Homelessness, Community Safety & More
Watch the full episode: YouTube
Episode Summary
Santa Monica Mayor Lana Negrete and Los Angeles Councilmember Traci Park discuss the power of cross-jurisdictional collaboration in tackling shared challenges like homelessness, public safety, and disaster response. From coordinating beach encampment interventions to navigating the Palisades Fire recovery, these two leaders demonstrate how breaking down invisible city boundaries and building genuine partnerships creates better outcomes for all residents. This conversation explores practical strategies for regional cooperation, the need for better government communication tools, and why local civic engagement matters more than ever.
Key Topics: cross-jurisdictional collaboration, homelessness coordination, community safety, disaster response, Palisades Fire, beach encampments, regional partnerships, government communication, civic engagement, local leadership
Table of Contents
- Introduction and Current Coordination
- Successful Joint Operations
- Future Opportunities and Olympics Planning
- Building Personal Partnerships
- Breaking Down Invisible Boundaries
- Disaster Response and Fire Recovery
- Improving Government Communication
- The Dashboard Solution
- Navigating Political Differences
- Call to Civic Engagement
Introduction and Current Coordination
Evan Meyer: Hi everyone. Today I am joined by Mayor Lana Negrete of Santa Monica, and council member Traci Park of Los Angeles. We're going to dive into how cross-jurisdictional partnerships can tackle our most pressing local challenges, particularly homelessness. So we're gonna jump right into it. How are Santa Monica and Los Angeles currently coordinating on homelessness strategies? And where do you see the biggest opportunities for deeper alignment? Why don't we start with Council Member Park?
Councilmember Traci Park: Well, thank you for that and thank you for the question and for having us here today. It has been just a great pleasure to get to know and work with my colleagues in the city of Santa Monica. On the west side of Los Angeles, our neighborhoods and communities share a lifestyle, a coastline, an economy, a common set of challenges and values, and so working together to address issues in our neighboring communities has been something that I have been keenly focused on since I took office. That is not historically how things have always been done between the city of Los Angeles and City of Santa Monica. We've done some incredible joint operations together over the last couple of years, and frankly, I think all of our communities have been benefited from that collaboration.
Successful Joint Operations
Evan Meyer: Has there been any examples that you would consider successful in the past?
Councilmember Traci Park: Sure. A few specific things. You know, one of the shared issues and challenges that we deal with, of course, is homelessness and the west side is the literal end of the line. Santa Monica wrestles with the challenge of an inflow through metro. Certainly in city of Los Angeles, we see that as well through our transportation systems as well as LAX and our other end of the line public transit routes.
You know, for a long, long time we've had challenges with non destination riders and oftentimes, those are folks that would get off trains and end up being absorbed into Santa Monica or wandering into Venice. And a lot of times these are folks who end up sleeping on the beach in our parks and our business alcoves. And so over the last couple of years, I've worked very closely with City of Santa Monica and Metro to address our strategies around transit. Our police departments have collaborated on cross jurisdictional issues with respect to our homeless interventions and other law enforcement operations and some of our border areas where we have seen repeated challenges. We have teamed up with our intervention and outreach resources so that when we're working together, we overall have better outcomes.
Future Opportunities and Olympics Planning
Evan Meyer: Awesome. And where do you see some of that going in the future? What would you like to see in terms of the partnerships with Santa Monica or what can be done in that regard?
Councilmember Traci Park: Well, I think that continued partnership around homelessness is really important. This isn't a city of Santa Monica issue or a City of Los Angeles issue, or a Culver City issue. This is an all of Los Angeles and beyond issue. And so as we look at our resources, that continued collaboration and cooperation ultimately is how we're going to continue to see reductions in homelessness on the streets.
But thinking even beyond that, some of the big things that are on the horizon for us, the Olympics are coming to Los Angeles in 2028. We have the World Cup that's next year already. And so with our tourism economy, that is something that Santa Monica and certainly Venice and Westchester, through LAX being the entry point for tens of millions of visitors to our region is a shared interest, ensuring that we remain marquee destinations for visitors from around the world, investing in the tourism infrastructure that's necessary to support that.
Building Personal Partnerships
Mayor Lana Negrete: Well, coming on council, I met Traci early on. Actually, I was appointed, so I was gearing up for my 22 election and we were introduced by a dear friend Greg Morena. And that began the discussion of partnerships. Our beaches connect, our cities connect, and I in fact grew up on Fourth and Ashland, which is like one block away from Venice. So, I've always felt very close to Venice and I felt it was important that we know each other and we work together because we are sharing a lot of the same problems, yet we don't share the same police department or fire department. So it was crucial for us to work together and find ways to make sure that specifically when it came to our beaches and homelessness, there was a real issue that was at the forefront at that time.
Breaking Down Invisible Boundaries
We had this invisible line in the sand, and if our police officers were addressing encampment issues, they would just move over to Traci's side and if LAPD was addressing it, they would just move over to Santa Monica. So cross coordination, making sure people are communicating. That was something we both agreed was key and I didn't closely follow before, if I'm being honest, but I don't remember anyone really working like that together. And I think being able to be friends with someone where you can just pick up the phone and call them directly and work on issues doesn't only expedite them, but we have the ability to share ideas.
So Traci might be working with an organization or doing something and be able to give me insight as to what's working for her or what's not, and I can do the same. And so I think that's been the biggest advantage. We've addressed a lot of those encampment, invisible line issues on the sand. We both utilize West Coast Cares, Ron Hooks, and his ability to go across from Santa Monica into Traci's area on the beach that's beneficial to all of us. These folks don't know boundaries in cities when we're dealing with our unhoused population. So being able to communicate on that front has been really great.
Disaster Response and Fire Recovery
And going forward, since the fires we've been able to address huge issues as it relates to PCH, mitigating traffic concerns. We have her residents now in our city, we wanna make sure that we're serving them the best we can, that we're hosting resource centers. We did that all through the fires. We continue to make sure that we are a good partner city to help those folks that have been impacted by the fires.
And going forward as we rebuild our business community and our economy, as we look to better ways to really stretch our dollar and address homelessness in a real way that's something people can see that's tangible on the streets. I think it's gonna take collaboration. It's gonna take elected leaders getting together and teaming up. When we went to Sacramento, we were a force, the two of us together. If I were to go singularly or Traci were, that's important. But the two of us together, it makes a statement. It says, we're working together. We need you to work with us.
So I think the more that local elected officials who are really in touch with the constituents, who are boots on the ground, can take those issues and bubble them to the top, to our state and federal leaders, that's how we're gonna get things done quickly. That's how we're gonna apply more common sense approaches to things because we'll be able to take exactly what the constituents dealing with straight to those state and federal leaders.
Councilmember Traci Park: I'll be your force multiplier, Lana, and you know, it's just really been an absolute pleasure getting to know and work with someone who genuinely cares about her community and the region and what we can all do as public servants to improve the lives of the people who live and work and visit our region. And you know, I just gotta say, you are always such a good sport. I can call you at any time and say, Hey, let's go on a mission. I gotta take you on an adventure with me, and you're always down to let me come pick you up and take you on some wild adventure to see with our own eyes what a problem in any part of our little neck of the woods looks like. And really truly, I think the two of us together, you put it exactly right, we're a force.
Improving Government Communication
Evan Meyer: You mentioned the resources from county state governments and working, collaborating with them. If there was one thing that you could change, a request from either county, state, or federal government to make collaboration easier, what would it be?
Councilmember Traci Park: Where do we start?
Mayor Lana Negrete: That's a loaded question.
Councilmember Traci Park: You know, I think over the last 92 days especially, we have been challenged greatly by a multitude of government agencies and partners on the ground trying to address regional impacts that stretch from Malibu all the way down to the Venice area, frankly. And at times there can be challenges in making sure that information is flowing to all necessary parties, that all the correct stakeholders are at the table in the decision making process about things.
And, you know, we may be dealing with, for example, lane closures on PCH. That's not just an LA issue, it is a Santa Monica issue. It's a Topanga issue. It's a Malibu issue. It's an everybody that needs to get to or commute through the area issue. And so, I think one of the things that we just probably need to do a better job on, and this is because it's what's been on display as part of the disaster recovery that the mayor and I are both so heavily involved in, is better communication and decision making platforms.
The reality is no one entity or agency can solve any of this alone. Whether it is disaster recovery, whether it is transportation, regional transportation investments, whether it is environmental concerns because we share a Santa Monica Bay together. I just think that strategic coordination between various agencies needs to be better. And I know that that is something that the mayor and I have worked really closely together to make sure that we're in the right places, that we're invited to the right meetings, and that our constituents who we are the voice for are being heard.
The Dashboard Solution
Mayor Lana Negrete: So county, state support. I think we need a dashboard. I think communication with the local leaders. I saw during the fires that there were opportunities to better coordinate across. So, you know, I would ask my contact for an assembly member, senator, could we do a town hall for example, and address a few key issues. And I would get a multitude of responses over the course of three days, which was great. FEMA, EPA, everybody's trying to dig in and help and they have reps that are servicing certain areas.
And with all that back and forth and time that was spent to coordinate those responses for simply putting together a Q and A town hall. And I just wanna point out that it was great. Everyone wanted to respond to what we were trying to do. Just that piece of it and coordinating it kind of gives you a sneak peek into all of it, right? Like the information could have been better disseminated across political leaders if there was a one stop shop and everybody had a Palisades fire dashboard, but everybody had to click on different links to get to all the different agencies that were working on it.
So, and that happens all the time. We don't really have one place. To me, if we could figure out a way to have a toolbox where all officials can transparently see what issues are going on by region, and you can see who's contacted what. For example, if there's a bill that's worked on—and that's actually happening, something that I'm working on post fires about rescuing animals—other elected leaders can be notified of that by looking at a dashboard that says, what's been going on with water testing quality, what's been going on with roadway work? By the way, here's bills that have been produced from this catastrophe and how you can support and get involved.
And so one place where everyone can get informed, where everyone can communicate and be informed. And I think in turn, that could also be something that the community is better informed as well. They could see that in real time, all that information being shared. So if there was one thing, I would say that communication is key. There's a lot of redundancy, also a lot of lag time in getting things settled.
Navigating Political Differences
Evan Meyer: How do you navigate political differences between jurisdictions while maintaining a shared agenda?
Mayor Lana Negrete: I'll just say that I reach across the table. I'm not afraid to talk to somebody. I mean, look, we're supposed to be in local government, nonpartisan. This is not Republican or democratic. We all know though, that that's often not the case. You know, you can be called names, if you will, if you don't say the right thing or coordinate with the right groups.
But I think what's key, and I think hopefully we're moving to that, is that I could easily go and speak to an echo chamber about an issue where everybody agrees, but that's not gonna make impact or change. I'm just gonna get confirmation bias. I'd rather speak to a group of people or reach across the aisle to those that maybe disagree with me and find a solution somewhere in the middle that serves both of us and the communities within those groups as well.
Councilmember Traci Park: Exactly what she said. I mean, you got a bunch of council members and mayors and other elected leaders. You got a bunch of Type A personalities who all come from different walks of life and backgrounds and experiences. It is 100% unreasonable to expect that many elected officials and mayors are all gonna agree on any particular issue.
I mean, look, we all come from different backgrounds and walks of lives. We all have different reasons for why we ran for office and what we hope to accomplish while we're here. I think at the end of the day, most of us all want the same thing. The disputes really are in the weeds about how do we accomplish that particular thing, and if we all just remember that we're in it together and that our success overall is dependent upon each other, it makes having those difficult conversations a lot easier. And I think the mayor is just absolutely right about that. No reason not to reach across the table to resolve hard challenges. I don't think any of us signed up because we thought it would be easy.
Call to Civic Engagement
Evan Meyer: Awesome. Last words, thoughts for the people? Thoughts for our residents, thoughts for our communities?
Councilmember Traci Park: Well, you know, what I would say is, as we head into election season next year, people should think very deeply and carefully about the choices they make in the ballots. It's always really important to get to know candidates and what they stand for. I also think it's really important that we focus on steady responsible leadership. What we are dealing with in the west side of Los Angeles, all the way from Malibu to Santa Monica is gonna take a long-term commitment to each other and to our shared goals. And it's gonna take voters sticking together to see all of that through. And so, I just would really encourage folks to take the time to make these decisions and get them right.
Mayor Lana Negrete: I couldn't agree more. And just to dovetail and add onto that, I think that everybody's hyper involved behind their keyboard often—it's an easier place to be, it's easy to sit back and critique and inquire from afar, but I encourage everyone to get involved in their local politics. It starts here. Oftentimes, your senators and your congressmen and women started out as your local council members, school board members.
So I encourage everyone to join a board or commission, to show up to city council, understand who your city council members are, how your city council operates, and where change can really happen and be made. And then that way, the issues you bring up, you're really being more part of the solution as opposed to just sitting back and complaining about things that you feel you have no ability to help in creating change.
Because I will tell you between neighborhood groups all the way to organized political organizations, those are the folks that are running the elections, those are the folks that are communicating to everybody in the community about who to vote for. So you wanna make sure that you're a part of that and you understand who these people are that you're electing into your local government, and that it's not just from reading a flyer or because your friend said so, it's because you've done your due diligence and you've showed up to a coffee with the council person. You've watched a few council meetings from the luxury of your couch, or even shown up and spoke to one of your council members and seen how they respond. Do they engage with the community? Are they responsive to you? These are things that are important.
Evan Meyer: Awesome. Well this was great. Thank you so much for being here today. Very much admire and respect your involvement in all you do for your communities and looking forward to the future.
Written by
Evan Meyer
January 3, 2025