Santa Monica seeks strategies to build better beaches.

A group of Santa Monica residents, city officials, business leaders and non-profit organizations have formed the Santa Monica Beach Summit. During the first meeting last week, the focus was on the environment, amenities, services, and safety. The Santa Monica Beach Summit will be a venue for residents to throw in their two cents about what might make the city a better beach destination.

"Our beaches in Santa Monica are beautiful and unique and are clearly Santa Monica's most attractive feature," said City Manager P. Lamont Ewell. "I can't stress enough how important it is that if we all work together on this to preserve our most valuable attraction then everybody wins."

The city is riding the wave of a successful summer. Lifeguard statistics showed beach attendance doubled and some of the city's beach parking lots posted 25 percent growth over last year.

Santa Monica vendors, such as Richard Chacker, who owns Perry's Pizza and More Beach Rentals in Venice and Santa Monica, said revenues were up in Santa Monica but down in Venice. Attendance figures also fell at Muscle Beach.

To kick things off, the Summit is examining findings from a market research study sponsored by the Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau. It was conducted by on-the-street interviews and a phone survey of local residents with household incomes of $100,000 or more. With the findings, the Summit will focus on environment (storm drain issues, trash management, sand raking), safety (restroom lighting, traffic safety, closing pier parking lots at night, lifeguard visibility) and amenities (yoga on the sand, beach maps, off-peak festivals, porto-showers).