To promote the arts in Santa Monica, I support building upon the City's 2007 Creative Capital Plan, including

• More artists live-work spaces

• Adaptive restoration/cultural use of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

• Creation of Arts Alleys District in the downtown (a concept I helped pioneer when I chaired the Downtown Uses Task force while Mayor in 2001-2002) 

• Convert the landmarked Sears Building on Colorado Ave. west of 4th Street (across from the 4th/Colorado Expo rail stop) into a major cultural destination, along with bridging over the top of the freeway between Main St. and 4th next to Sears, to create an integrated public plaza/low scale cultural/commercial public-transit oriented regional center. 

• After Santa Monica takes control of Santa Monica airport and converts most of it into a public park, create an integrated cultural campus on the southwestern side, expanding upon the Santa Monica Art Studios, Santa Monica College Arts Building, Ruskin Theater and Barker Hanger.

To provide a substantial increase in funding for the arts, I am advocating a substantial public infrastructure project to bridge over the top of the 1-10 freeway and cover it primarily with parkland. With Santa Monica's Percent for Art program in place for such capital projects, since the project itself will cost several hundred million dollars depending upon its ultimate scale, this will provide several million dollars for public art.