Tuesday night, by a four-to-one vote (with two abstentions) our city council rescinded the Hines Development Agreement for its proposed project on 26th St. and Olympic Blvd. This means the previous Council-approved 765,000 square-foot project -- a mostly commercial development which would have generated at least 7,000 new car trips per day -- will not be built.
This was a tremendous show of people-power and a huge victory for Santa Monica residents. The group Residocracy, which spearheaded the referendum to overturn the Council's original vote, is to be congratulated, along with all Santa Monica residents and organizations who stood with them. The message was clear: Residents don't want massive, traffic-generating projects that are conceived in backroom deals with developers and lobbyists.
We don't know what Hines will now propose for this site. We hope that as they craft their new project, they will reach out to residents and listen to what they want and don't want.
Tuesday night's victory marked a new day for Santa Monica. Congratulations to all those who made this victory possible.
Victor, Diana, Sherrill, Jeff
Co-chair Diana Gordon tells the Council to start over on Hines and no more back room deals: