February 3, 2025
We’re so close to saving and restoring Santa Monica’s historic Civic Auditorium. Now we need your help to get us over the finish line.
Save the Civic was formed around one simple idea: publicly owned venues for music and the arts are rare and important and should not be sold off or used for other purposes.
That idea resonated in our community beyond our wildest hopes.
Luminaries like Beach Boy founder Brian Wilson, Door’s drummer John Densmore, Crossroads and New Roads founder Paul Cummins, and more, joined hundreds of Santa Monica residents and business owners to save this precious resource and restore it as a world-class venue; a beacon that would turn downtown into a vital cultural destination.
Finding a credible entity suited to both restoring this historic site and running it as a first-class arena seemed like an impossible task. But the perfect team stepped forward, made up of local entrepreneurs who saw this as a business opportunity as well as a chance to resurrect something that had been so influential in their own lives.
It’s the same team that just produced the hugely successful FireAid concert for victims of the L.A. fires. So in addition to being the best at what they do, they’re also supportive, active members of our community.
And the best part is while Santa Monica would retain ownership, restoring the Civic wouldn’t cost our City a dime. In fact, a world-class Civic would be a win for City coffers; an economic multiplier, revitalizing Main Street and the entire downtown, providing Santa Monica with much needed tax revenue.
A no brainer, right? We thought so.
While the previous City Council voted unanimously to enter negotiations with the team that came forward, RPG (Revitalizing Partners Group), we now have a new Council. And honestly, we don’t know if their commitment to revitalizing Civic is as strong as we’d like it to be.
That’s where you come in.
Now’s the time to reach out to Councilmembers and urge them to continue negotiations with RPG and enter into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement without further delay.
You can email councilmembers individually, or all at once at: council.mailbox@santamonica.gov. Better still, if you know any of them personally, reach out and tell them why a restored, world-class Civic is important to you and our City.
At a time when residents feel demoralized, both from local disasters and rapid, dramatic changes at the federal level, Santa Monicans could use some good news. We’re so close to being able to give it to them; rebuilding something in our city that will make this generation, and future generations, proud.
With your help we can make it happen. Please contact City Council members and tell them it’s time to work with RPG and bring the Civic back to life.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Save the Civic Steering Committee
Commentaires