City council looking for technology team

The Santa Monica City Council is looking to recruit a group of experts to address the economic changes that come with technological advancements in Santa Monica. The group will be purley advisors, and all decisions will be left to the council to decide.  In Santa Monica, online shopping has caused places like the Third Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Place to reach new lows in taxable sales. As a result, parking structures are losing revenue as shoppers are either staying at home and shopping online, or getting around in ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft.The city is concerned with the amount of ride sharing vehicles that will be circulating the city and downtown area. More ride sharing means fewer people in their own cars which is theoretically a positive; however, the council is concerned with the gridlock that occurs because of the dropping off and picking up of passengers. Staff reports suggest that this Tech Team would attempt to place policies that could help contain the projected increase in congestion in the city’s streets and contain the amount of greenhouse gasses that are emitted from vehicles.A large number of Samo students use ride sharing services to get around and shop online as opposed to shopping in store. As a great source of revenue for local stores, the city council is looking for ways to drive more residents back into the local shopping areas.City Council plans to urge landlords to replace shops that have closed down with stores that can differentiate downtown Santa Monica from other areas around Los Angeles in hopes of driving more revenue and foot traffic into the city. This will not solve the issue with the ride sharing services, but it will solve the problem that the city is having with revenue from local stores. The City is considering a proposal that will allow private companies to partner with the city in making work that would tailor to the city’s needs. It is the goal of the council’s to preserve Santa Monica’s historic, unique traits while adapting to the changes that are occuring.This proposal comes a year after the council urged city staff to take an in depth look at the impact that globalization, declining retail sales and new transportation trends that have scaled the city rapidly. The staff identified three key transformational trends that include artificial intelligence, customization and connectivity. These three trends have led to what the officials like to call a “retail apocalypse” as shoppers are now using online shopping to have items delivered straight to their doorstep, not even stepping foot out of the house.