Santa Monica Hires Local

If lowering unemployment, increasing economic activity and cutting down on traffic in Santa Monica sound like attractive goals, Santa Monica's city hall's newest project may have some appeal.

Andy Agle, director of the Housing and Economic Development Department, presented options for a local-hiring program, which could require companies that build in Santa Monica to hire Santa Monicans either for the construction or for positions in the new company.

Agle said the "hire local" model would have many of the same benefits of the "buy local" campaign created by City Hall and the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, which encourages people to shop at local stores instead of driving to nearby cities, thereby saving gas while pumping more money into the local economy.

Hiring local would ostensibly pump more money into the local economy by putting dollars in the pockets of Santa Monicans, and simultaneously cut down on traffic by getting people to live closer to where they work.

Currently,  two-thirds of employed Santa Monicans work outside the city limits, according to figures in a city staff report.