Monica

Starting Wednesday, the driverless taxis will roam more than 120 square miles of Los Angeles County, stretching from Santa Monica to downtown and from West Hollywood to Inglewood.

At Santa Monica’s Main Street Community Garden, each plot bears the mark of its tenant.

Santa Monica officials later this month are set to approve 200% fee hikes for garden plots across four community gardens in the city, which would generate $30,000 in revenue and increase the public works program’s cost recovery from 20% to 60%.

Upping the community gardens’ revenue might look to public works staff and council members like a “quick fix,” she said, but it’s no “strategic cut,” and it understates the value — both material and not — of the program to Santa Monica residents.

Santa Monica Mayor Lana Negrete, the sole city council member to oppose the budget proposal, said the community gardens feel like a “gross place to increase fees” — especially when, “for the senior population, and for our marginalized folks who live in subsidized apartments, everything adds up for them.”