Councilmember Kevin McKeown

Kevin McKeown serves as Council liaison to the Planning Commission, Housing Commission, and Environmental Task Force, among other appointments. McKeown has been a Santa Monica renter for over 30 years. He moved here to become general manager of KROQ, a career path begun at Yale's campus radio station.

He also has been an award-winning advertising writer, done voice-overs, and owned a small radio recording studio on Main Street. McKeown now serves local children and teachers as Macintosh computer consultant for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

On the Council, where he is in his third term, McKeown focuses especially on affordable housing and environmental sustainability. He devotes much time and energy to responding to residents, and his leadership in helping people become more involved in local governance is longstanding: McKeown came to the Council after chairing a neighborhood group, serving on the Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights steering committee, and sharing his professional expertise as a founder of the city's Public Electronic Network (PEN) and member of the Santa Monica Telecommunications Working Group.

McKeown has helped engage regional cities in working together on issues of homelessness, which he brought to the table as Santa Monica's alternate to the Westside Cities Council of Governments. He is a member of Progressive Democrats of America, and Southern California vice-chair of the Irish-American caucus of the state Democratic Party.

McKeown is committed to protecting Santa Monicans' quality of life.

Understanding the link between pressures for overdevelopment and private political donations, McKeown is working in support of community efforts for local campaign finance reform.