Provide Input on Santa Monica's Economic Future

March 3, 2020 11:00 AM
by Andy Agle

Last year the City of Santa Monica launched Santa Monica 2050 – a strategy to evaluate and prepare the City for the future. After months of research and discussion with experts, we are excited to begin engaging with our community around Santa Monica’s economic future, helping us to better understand our community’s perspectives and hopes for the future. On February 24, we held our first community town hall meeting!

Over the course of two hours, staff and our partners at Guidehouse LLP updated community members about our local economy and global trends like artificial intelligence, user options, and connectivity, including perspectives on how they are already reshaping how we work, live, shop, and interact.

During this interactive town hall, staff asked community members:

  • Which trend are you most excited about?
  • What trend are you most concerned about?

The SM2050 strategy is anticipated to outline actions and targets the City and its partners can pursue over the coming thirty years to prepare the community, including residents, businesses, institutions, and government agencies to harness disruptive global trends in order to help ensure a sustainable, equitable Santa Monica.

While we recognize we don’t have a crystal ball, and we do not intend to predict exactly what will happen in the year 2050, we are focusing on the emerging trends that are most likely to impact our community including artificial intelligence, user options and connectivity. The strategy will establish a set of principles and an ecosystem of partners that will help the City proactively engage with emerging trends and successfully navigate a rapidly evolving future.

If you were unable to join us, we still need your input! We are currently running a Community Survey that introduces the global trends and asks many of the same questions that we covered during this town hall. We would encourage you to ask your friends and neighbors who were not able to attend this evening to participate in the survey.

Please take the Santa Monica 2050 Survey online. Both English and Spanish versions are available.

Visit santamonica.gov/2050economy for more information about Santa Monica 2050 strategy and our upcoming town hall that will be held on Monday, April 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Santa Monica College. RSVP here!

Authored By

Andy Agle
Director of Housing & Economic Development