The Brief

Wide-open land on L.A.’s Westside is rare. And where it does exist, it’s extremely expensive. But Santa Monica will soon get a chance to redevelop an amount of land unprecedented in the city’s recent history.

The Santa Monica Airport is set to close at the end of 2028. Residents have supported turning it into a park. Proponents of that approach say all 227 acres should be reserved for green space.

But with rents out of reach for many Westside workers, others are fighting to set aside some land for affordable housing.

“If we don’t do it here, I don't know where we’ll get it done in such big numbers,” said Ralph Mechur, a member of the pro-housing group Cloverfield Commons and a proponent of a measure now aiming to qualify for the November ballot.

The ballot initiative would ask Santa Monica voters to approve using 25% of the airport’s land for 3,000 units of low- and moderate-income housing. The other 75% would be kept as a park.

But park proponents don’t want to sacrifice any of the airport land.

“It's not to do with housing, per se,” said Frank Gruber with the Santa Monica Great Park Coalition. “Somebody could say to me, we need 20 acres to build a laboratory that will guarantee that we will cure cancer — we'd still be opposed to it.

“This land, every square foot, we think of as precious for the park,” he said.

Little affordable housing leads to long commutes

The competing visions for the future of the Santa Monica Airport highlight tensions over creating more affordable housing in wealthy communities where thousands of people work, but can’t afford to live.

One of those workers is Luis Martinez. He spends up to 90 minutes commuting from his home in Canoga Park to his job as a server and bartender at Santa Monica’s Fairmont Miramar Hotel.

Martinez recently worked eight days in a row, picking up shifts from co-workers. It was great for his paycheck, he said, but all those hours stuck in traffic were not great for his wife and 2-year-old son.

“He doesn't see me as much, because I'm always working,” Martinez said. “The time is what makes him miss me. It puts a strain on us.”

Luis Martinez spends hours behind the wheel each day he commutes from his home in Canoga Park to his job in Santa Monica.

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Martinez’s family moved into their one-bedroom apartment three years ago with a monthly rent of $1,900. At the time, he said, they would have needed to spend at least $2,800 to rent a comparable apartment near the Fairmont.

“I cannot afford that,” he said. “I know it's a good place to raise a family. I would love to live there if I could afford it.

Who would live in proposed airport housing?

Martinez belongs to the union Unite Here Local 11, which is helping to collect signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

The measure would ask voters to make half of the 3,000 apartments available to renters earning up to 80% of the area’s median income. The rest would be reserved for middle-income workers earning up to 120% of the area median. If the apartments were built today, L.A. County's current income limits would disqualify individuals earning more than $89,550 and families of four earning more than $127,900.

“It begins to provide housing for our kids, our grandkids, possibly your teachers, janitors, cooks and hotel workers who might be priced out of lower-income affordable housing,” said Mechur, who supports the ballot initiative.

A "for lease" sign hangs on the exterior of an apartment building in Santa Monica.

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In 2014, more than 60% percent of Santa Monica voters supported Measure LC, which instructed the city to “prohibit new development on airport land, except for parks, public open spaces and public recreational facilities.”

But that measure left open the possibility to change plans through another public vote. In the current cycle of state-mandated housing goals, Santa Monica must plan to allow about 6,100 units of affordable housing by 2029.

“Here's an opportunity to build up to 3,000 units in one time period, to help reach numbers that will provide housing for people who need to be in Santa Monica,” Mechur said.

The airport’s history — and future

Planes have been taking off at the Santa Monica Airport site for more than a century. Pilots who flew in and out of the airport include Amelia Earhart and the first team to aerially circumnavigate the globe.

During World War II, the nearby Douglas Aircraft Company built military planes. To provide aerial camouflage during the war, the entire airport was covered with chicken wire, on which Hollywood set designers built lightweight structures made to look like rows of suburban homes.

But by the 1970s, nearby residents were lodging frequent complaints about noise and pollution. After decades of arguments, the Federal Aviation Administration agreed in 2017 to let Santa Monica close the airport after Dec. 31, 2028.

Frank Gruber stands on the observation deck of the Santa Monica Airport, overlooking land he envisions turning into a sprawling public park.

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Frank Gruber, one of the park supporters, said the aviation industry tried to fight closure of the airport by telling residents it could end up being used for high-rise developments. He said changing plans now could reopen the question of keeping the airport.

Plus, Gruber argued, this land is not a great location now that the city has changed policies to encourage affordable housing elsewhere.

“There's no provision for putting schools there,” Gruber said. “There's no provision for supermarkets. They're basically creating isolated super blocks, to use that urbanism kind of expression, where people would be car dependent. It just doesn't make sense.”

‘We want to be part of that community, too’

The ballot measure would not include specific plans for funding new housing. It would only change land use to allow residential development. Proponents say because the city owns the land, housing revenue could help fund park facilities, which the city also needs to budget for.

While driving through slow-crawling traffic along the Sepulveda Pass, Luis Martinez — the Fairmont hotel worker — said his Westside roots run deep.

Martinez grew up in South L.A., but he would wake up early to attend Paul Revere Charter Middle School and Palisades Charter High School. Later, he studied at Santa Monica College.

“I grew up being in traffic,” Martinez said. “I grew up commuting.”

Luis Martinez stands in front of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, where he has worked for eight years.

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After eight years of working at the Fairmont Hotel, he said he feels even more connected to Santa Monica. And he believes workers like him deserve a chance to live there.

“It's such a good environment for kids to grow up, and I want my kid to be a part of that,” Martinez said. “Everyone's very involved in what happens in Santa Monica. They're very informed. They're very pro-Santa Monica. It's its own community. Just know that we want to be part of that community, too.”

Ballot initiative proponents need to turn in 7,038 valid signatures by mid-June to qualify for the November ballot.

Southern California was built on radio.

"I can still hear the jingle KFWB News 98,” wrote  Taline in Los Feliz, during a recent conversation on LAist's daily news show, AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. “I grew up hearing that in my dad's minivan on the way to and from school. It has a special place in my heart.”

Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — was leaving the FM dial where it had simulcast on 97.1 FM since 2021. The station, which is also one of the oldest in L.A., is not budging from 1070 AM where it has been on the air for more than 100 years. The move away from FM officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station, which Audacy officials called an area of growth for advertisers in today’s media landscape.

The move is one in a long line of changes for radio and a reminder that before podcasts, playlists and algorithms, many Southern Californians built their days around radio broadcasts.

Radio, a daily ritual

The construction of KNX

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Michael Jackson, a well-known KNX, personality

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Larry Mantle, now in his 41st year hosting AirTalk, remembers being a kid and dreaming of what it might be like to be behind the mic at one of these radio stations.

“ I grew up with KNX," he said. “My dream job as a kid was to be an anchor on KNX or KFWB, the two local all-news radio stations, 'cause there was nothing like hosting AirTalk that even existed at that point.”

Mantle opened up the phone lines on a recent show to hear from his fellow SoCal radio lovers about the shows they miss and the memories they have. Here's what they had to say:

A love for radio, then and now  

A pilot of KMPC's traffic alert helicopter pictured with his daughter and grandson.

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A 1963 picture of Valley State College (now Los Angeles Valley College) preparing to launch KVCM

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“When you'd walk down Hollywood Boulevard where the station was, you could hear it playing as you went down the street,” said  Olivia in Glendale about KLAC 570 with Al Jarvis.

 Larry in Yorba Linda shouted out KBCA Jazz for its 24-hour jazz, saying “When I first moved out here in '68 from Phoenix, which had like an hour a week, it was a real wonder.”

 Mark in Glassell Park emailed that he loves KCRW’s Henry Rollins, writing, “I used to bristle at his unique DJ persona, but over time, I came to love him and his crazy eclectic playlists. I find his knowledge in history and punk rock fascinating. He's a gem and a legend."

"I'd like to give a shout-out to all the DJs working at KXLU, the college station at Loyola Marymount University, said  Jeremy in Culver City in an email. “That station's been on the air for nearly 60 years. I believe it's one of the best examples of what's possible with radio."

"KFWB and KRLA back in the day when they were rock music stations —  Dr. Demento, one of my favorite on-air personalities, also had eclectic music taste," said  Carrie in Desert Edge.

“ Dr. Demento was must listening when I was a kid in junior high school at Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood,” Mantle added. “Every Sunday night on KMET, we would make sure we were listening to Dr. Demento and his funny records.”

The question remains…

An 11-year-old winning a car in a KMPC contest in 1963.

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Listener support is vital to any radio station, and it’s clear KNX has many lifelong fans. AirTalk listeners highlighted their support for household KNX names over the decades like Bill Keene, Melinda Lee, Mike Roy and Jackie Olden.

As KNX makes changes, many are watching closely and thinking about the future of radio.

Listeners like Tommy in La Quinta are left wondering if the radio dial will be the same…

“I’m a hardcore listener, but I don't know about casual listeners [and] if they'll tune to AM,” he said.

After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.

According to the deal, the private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.

The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council.

The 2028 Olympics are intended to be privately financed, and an existing city agreement with LA28 states that the Olympics organizers, not L.A., will pay for extra costs for public services in support of the Games. But L.A. is the financial back-stop for the Olympics, meaning if LA28 goes in the red, taxpayers will pick up the bill.

Beyond that, the city services agreement presents another area where L.A. could incur additional unexpected expenses for hosting the Games. L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover earlier this year that a bad deal could "bankrupt" the city.

Jacie Prieto Lopez, an LA28 spokesperson, and Paul Krekorian, who leads the city's office of major events, said in statements that the freshly inked agreement would help deliver a fiscally responsible Games.

"Mayor Bass’ priority is that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games be fiscally responsible, protect taxpayers, and benefit Angelenos for decades to come. This agreement helps deliver that commitment," Krekorian said.

But the contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Organizers are counting on the federal government to pay for public safety at Olympic venues that are considered part of a "national special security event." That includes costs for LAPD staffing. LA28 has not included security costs in its $7.1 billion budget — a fact that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto criticized earlier this year.

The federal government has so far allocated $1 billion for security costs for the Olympics. Exactly where those federal funds will go has not yet been determined, and there's no guarantee they will cover all of L.A.'s policing costs.

To address this, city officials have also proposed an amendment to a 2021 agreement between the city and LA28. That amendment would establish that if L.A. is not reimbursed by the federal government for all its eligible expenses, it could dip into LA28's contingency fund of $270 million before the private organizing committee could use those funds for any legacy projects.

But that bucket of money will first be used for any costs that Olympics organizers still owe if they run out of revenue — meaning if the Olympics don't turn a profit, the city's access to that money will depend on how much is left for the taking.

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who has been tracking the city's negotiations with LA28, told LAist the agreement was a "PR document" not a deal. She pointed out that if the federal government does not pay up for security spending as expected, L.A. could be in trouble.

" It leaves the taxpayers with a GoFundMe strategy," she said.

The city services agreement lays the groundwork for more negotiations between LA28 and the city. Each venue will require its own agreement, to be negotiated by July 1, 2027. Venues in the city of L.A. include Dodger Stadium, the L.A. Convention Center, L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.