Santa Monica Disabilities Commission Meeting October 13, 2026

The City of Santa Monica Disabilities Commission held its regular meeting and annual public forum on October 13, 2026. City staff described Big Blue Bus and MODE services, including MODE’s restored weekend service and its operation under a Lyft contract; emergency preparedness and evacuation planning; Fire Department outreach and Community Connect; and housing and human-services programs. The Housing and Human Services Department representative said the Human Services Grants Program allocates more than $10 million annually to nonprofits, and a commissioner cited an approximately $7 million allocation for the Preserving Our Diversity program. These were informational updates; no new contract award, solicitation, vendor selection, or procurement-related spending vote was identified.

Discussion and follow-up requests focused on accessible transit and reduced-fare applications, bus stop lighting and operator training, accessible emergency communications, extreme-heat preparedness, housing resources, and restoring adaptive-swimming capacity. The Commission voted to create an ad hoc committee on improving access to adaptive swimming and to sunset its completed annual-public-hearing ad hoc committee; it also identified a commissioner to pursue participation in the city’s roadway safety planning advisory process. No procurement decision was made.