Santa Monica to Hold Rap Sessions to Catch Residents Up with What's New in Town

From the city of Santa Monica:

The city is continuing to experiment with new ways of connecting people who live and work in Santa Monica.

This November, three “Santa Monica Talks” events will be held. Retiring City Manager Rod Gould will talk about essential city services and what the city’s future might hold. Community members will have the chance to talk about civic issues, ask staff questions, find out about new programs, and meet neighbors.

Thursday, Nov. 13

6:15 – 8:30 p.m. at Tongva Park, 1615 Ocean Ave.

Tuesday, Nov. 18

6:15 – 8:30 p.m. at The Civic Auditorium East Wing, 1855 Main St.

Thursday, Nov. 20

6:15 – 8:30 p.m. at Real Office Centers, 604 Arizona Ave.

All events are free and open to the public. The same information will be available at each event. Local restaurants will provide food and beverages, including Locanda del Lago, Real Food Daily, Lo/Cal Coffee and Market, Café Belagio, and Perry’s Café at the Beach, among others.

Between Nov. 7 – 19, artists will conduct interactive, pop-up community art projects to engage people to think about their relationship with space and place and to promote Santa Monica Talks.

For the Tongva Park and Civic Auditorium events, parking validations will be provided in the Civic Center Parking structure and lot, 333 Civic Center Drive. Free bike valet will be available. Please visit www.bigbluebus.com for bus routes to the Civic Center.

For Real Office Centers, parking validations will be provided for the underground parking structure at the Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd.

Santa Monica Talks is one component of the city’s newly-approved Community Civic Engagement Strategy – an effort to connect people, promote broad participation in civic affairs, share information, and maintain government transparency. This community meeting series informs the development of the city’s biennial budget. The FY2015-2017 proposed budget will be presented to Council late May 2015.

For more information about the November events, visit www.smgov.net/smtalks.

To read about the Community Civic Engagement Strategy, go to the January 14, 2014 Council agenda at www.smgov.net/council.

The People’s Academy www.academy.smgov.net, an open data portal athttps://data.smgov.net/, The Wellbeing Project http://www.cityofwellbeing.net/, Be Excited! Be Prepared!, http://www.smgov.net/bebp/, SM Alertshttps://cityofsantamonica.bbcportal.com/, Community Police Academyhttp://santamonicapd.org/content.aspx?id=2713, and CERT http://www.smgov.net/departments/oem/programs/santa_monica_cert.aspx, all provide opportunities to learn more and get involved with local government.

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