A Message from Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown
June 1, 2020 12:06 AM
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – As Sunday evening comes to a close, the City of Santa Monica is beginning to get a handle on the impacts of today’s events. With the arrival of the National Guard a few hours ago, we have remained focused on securing the City and restoring order. The curfew in Santa Monica will begin today, June 1 at 1 p.m. for business districts and 4 p.m. citywide.
We remain mobilized to keep our city secure throughout the evening and our thoughts are with our neighbors to the south in Long Beach who have encountered much of the same destruction. We will not tolerate looters and those who are inflicting damage to property. The City and the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) will continue to enforce the curfew and arrest anyone who breaks the law.
In solidarity and to bring comfort to our community during this difficult time, City of Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown shares these words:
“On Sunday, Santa Monica honored and respected, and ultimately protected, a peaceful protest against institutional racism. Yet our solidarity with those honoring George Floyd was betrayed, as was his memory, by opportunistic and organized criminals. Taking advantage of the protest as a diversion, they stole not only goods, but jobs, and challenged the resilience of our business community, which is poised for recovery from the ongoing pandemic. Sunday was one of the most distressing days in Santa Monica history. We know better than to let the looters obscure the message of the protesters, who have indeed been heard. What a small and selfish criminal element has done instead is to bring our community more closely together. We will support our local businesses to recover from this. Much was lost on Sunday, including property and innocence. As Mayor, I’m grateful that we did not lose any lives. Our public safety officers showed professional restraint and resolve under the most difficult of circumstances. We now face the task of rebuilding — rebuilding businesses and rebuilding trust. We begin that task now, this minute, and we begin it together.”
Latest Updates:
- No loss of life and no serious injuries.
- Nine fires took place Sunday in Santa Monica. There are no active fires at this time.
- Tonight, the City is working to board up businesses impacted. City Public Works crews will be working early in the morning to clean city streets and sidewalks, remove graffiti, and conduct damage assessments. We will begin rebuilding community-wide.
- The City has heard from lots of community members eager to help clean up Santa Monica after Sunday’s events. We expect lots of debris, and we appreciate everyone’s commitment and willingness to help. For your safety, please stay inside and wait until after 9 a.m. Monday, June 1 to begin clean up efforts to ensure that curfew orders are fully complete and so that businesses have an opportunity to assess damage. If you are supporting local clean up efforts, please bring your own face coverings, work gloves, brooms, dustpans and trash bags. Please stay six feet apart and work in small groups.
- Please use 9-1-1 for life threatening emergencies. If you have photo or video evidence of individuals looting in Santa Monica, please email info@santamonica.gov.
- The I-10 and Pacific Coast Highway off-ramps into Santa Monica remain closed.
- Big Blue Bus rider information is available at www.bigbluebus.com.
- When leaving Santa Monica, please head east.
- The City is doing everything we can to respond to the most urgent calls for assistance.
Sign up for emergency alerts text SMALERTS to 888-777 or santamonica.gov/alerts. Follow the City on Twitter at @santamonicacity, Facebook and Instagram at @CityofSantaMonica for developing updates on this situation.
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Media Contact
Constance Farrell
Communications & Public Information Manager
Constance.Farrell@santamonica.gov