Kevin McKeown (born January 6, 1948) is an American politician who was twice (2015 and 2020) the Mayor of

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

, California. He was elected to the

Santa Monica City Council Santa Monica City Council is the governing body of Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on Calif ...

for six consecutive four-year terms, retiring at age 73 in June 2021. He was also a multi-term elected delegate to the Central Committee of the

California Democratic Party The California Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in Sacramento. With 43.5% of the state's registered voters as of 2018, the Democratic Party has the highest number of r ...

, and remains a Party Caucus officer.

Background

Kevin McKeown was born just north of New York City. His family moved to

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, CT, and he graduated from Suffield Academy in Suffield, CT at 16 and subsequently attended

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. He was active at the campus radio station WYBC, beginning a career path that eventually led him to move to Santa Monica and become general manager of Los Angeles station

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The st ...

in the late 1970s. McKeown has been a Santa Monica renter in the same apartment since 1976. After leaving radio and advertising, he worked for 25 years as a Macintosh computer and educational technology consultant for the

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

. McKeown served on SMMUSD's technology advisory committee, the City of Santa Monica's Telecommunications Working Group, the steering committee of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, and as chair of the Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition, before first being elected to City Council in 1998.

Career as an elected official

McKeown served for parts of four decades (and two centuries). In six terms on the City Council, including being Mayor twice, McKeown focused on affordable housing, workers’ rights, and environmental sustainability. Among his accomplishments were greatly enhanced renter protections, a living wage for local workers, and converting Santa Monica to 100%-renewable electricity. During his first term as Mayor of Santa Monica, he was an invited presenter at the

COP21 The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Conve ...

United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. He is a long-standing advocate for

single-payer healthcare Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from ...

. McKeown represented Santa Monica as Chair of the Westside Cities Council of Governments, sat on the State of California's

Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is a bight (geography), bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn betwe ...

Restoration Commission, and was chair of the Energy Committee on the Board of Directors of the Clean Power Alliance, a regional community-choice utility bringing 100% renewably sourced electricity to Santa Monica. McKeown holds dual citizenship with the United States (by birth) and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

(by descent). He is vice chair of the Irish-American Caucus of the California Democratic Party. He has twice (2010 and 2013) been named California Assembly District Democrat of the Year for the Santa Monica area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKeown, Kevin 1948 births Living people 21st-century American politicians California Democrats Citizens of Ireland through descent Mayors of Santa Monica, California Yale University alumni