Barry Snell for Santa Monica City Council

Save Rent Control and Create an Affordable Community.

Santa Monica is facing an affordable housing crisis. Long-time residents are being evicted, our first responders, teachers, and nurses can no longer live within the city they serve, and our children and grandchildren have limited housing options to stay in our city.

Protect Renters and stand up to corporate landlords trying to evict tenants, like Douglas Emmett Inc who recently attempted one of the largest mass evictions in Los Angeles history.

Expand the Preserve Our Diversity Program (POD) to keep seniors on fixed incomes in their homes, and work with the County to provide struggling renters targeted financial aid.

Build Housing along our commercial and transit corridors to increase our housing supply and reduce rent. We can build more housing and keep our single family neighbors.

Cut Red-Tape, Fees, and Headaches to build housing. We need to streamline the approval process to build apartments along our commercial and transit corridors.

Safe Neighborhoods.

Our city must address the reality that people feel unsafe in our parks, at the beach, or on the promenade. For the past four years, our City Council has failed to restore our community’s sense of security and safety. We have safety slogans, safety mailers, and a lot of tough talk, but for four years, Mayor Brock and Council Member de la Torre have failed this community.

As your Council Member, I will work with our Police Department to fully staff our department and get Police Officers out from behind desks and on our streets. I will fully fund and expand our SMPD drone units to provide real-time intelligence and increase the department’s automated license plate recognition cameras.

Our residents need to see our police on the ground, walking through our parks, but most importantly, we need to work with LA County to get the severely mentally unwell off our streets and into care. It is inhumane to abandon our fell brothers and sisters to die on our streets. This is a human rights crisis; we need to establish conservatorships to save lives and help heal those who can no longer save themselves.  

Investing in Our Infrastructure.

We need to invest in complete streets that ensure everyone is safe. Through a data-driven approach, we can ensure all modes of transportation in our city are safe.

Reduce Traffic Congestion by keeping our core transit corridors moving with smart traffic signal realignment and timing. Car trips and traffic make up the majority of trips in Santa Monica. We need to ensure we keep traffic flowing safely.

Protected Bike Lanes to keep bicyclists and first last mile options safe.

ADA Compliant Sidewalks and curb cuts make our streets safe for people of all ages and abilities

Safety on Our Buses and Metro to keep people using the Big Blue Bus and metro. If people do not feel safe they will not use mass transit.

Safe Parks & Playgrounds.

There has been a lot of misinformation about the needle exchange program in Reed Park.

This is a failure of our Mayor and Council majority, which would rather spread fear than effectively govern. Needle exchanges save lives. They exponentially increase participation in drug treatment, significantly reduce the spread of hepatitis and HIV, and save lives from overdoses (12 lives saved each month in Santa Monica). The current program operates one hour per week, out of mobile vans.

However, I strongly object to a needle exchange in our parks. As your Council Member, I will meet with LA County and work to move this highly effective program to a more appropriate nearby location. Government is about finding common ground, not just complaining loudly. If we work with our county partners, we can find a solution that saves lives and keeps everyone safe.

Help Our Unhoused.

As your City Council Member, I will work to increase County funding for our homeless efforts, including:

Greater Accountability for Our Non-Profit Partners. I am a CPA, and I want to see data and results. If you use Santa Monica tax dollars, I will demand real results.  

Multidisciplinary Teams. I will work to increase our funding to increase our teams and provide direct aid.

Conservatorship Program. I will work with LA County to get the severely mentally unwell off our streets and into care. We cannot keep abandoning those too unwell to die on our streets. We need to establish conservatorships to save lives and help heal those who can no longer save themselves.

Build Regional Housing. Our neighbors need to do their fair share, and I will work with neighboring cities and county and state leaders to ensure that our neighbors build shelters and affordable housing.

Bring Jobs & Businesses Back to Santa Monica

Our city needs a supportive City Council that champions local businesses and invests in entrepreneurs. Their role is crucial in driving the proposed changes and fostering a thriving business environment.

Barry will cut red tape and fees for current local businesses looking to expand, opening a new business in Santa Monica, and he will create a concierge service dedicated to attracting corporate headquarters to our city, making the process as smooth as possible.

We will invest in tax incentives for new companies that are making their headquarters in Santa Monica and continue to work with groups like the Los Angeles Tech Incubator to showcase new and exciting technologies within Santa Monica.

He will work to reimagine the promenade as an event space with restaurants, mixed-use commercial retail, and housing surrounded by some of the best hotels in the world. We will bring tourists and locals back to Downtown Santa Monica.

Most importantly, we need to make housing more affordable. Companies will not want to move here or start a company in Santa Monica if their employees need to live in Santa Clarita. We must build mixed-use housing along Olympic, Wilshire, and Santa Monica to increase foot traffic, help small businesses thrive, and maintain our community’s character.