Political Gumbo: Time For a Local Hiring Task Force and About Those Mustangs

An idea came to me on Sunday while I was having one of those acai strawberry things at Starbucks.

It’s a suggestion for Mayor Victor Gordo.

Start a local hiring task force.

This is how it would work.

Every member of the City Council gets one appointment, of course the Mayor gets two.

The task force would define local hires and make recommendations to the City Council.

In other words, we’re talking about real local jobs you can put on a resume, not just a local resident holding a water hose while somebody is mixing cement in a wheelbarrow.

Site visits and conversations with developers and contractors would also help.

Also how many of those jobs should go to people aced out of the workforce through the criminal justice center, and the group could help create a local jobs pipeline which is desperately needed.

And we’re not just talking about construction projects, efforts need to be made to hire more local police officers, firefighters and teachers.

Of course the Pasadena Police Department and the Fire Department do a great job recruiting, but the right kind of help never hurts.

Post pandemic, there was a massive Shop Local campaign throughout the city to help local businesses recover economically.

We need a Hire Local campaign.

We’ve had some success on this before. Ishmael Trone and Darryl Dunn worked together to bring local hires to the Rose Bowl during the renovation project.

Trone has been pushing for local hiring for a long time.
Somebody needs to get on the phone with that brotha and listen to him. Trust me, he knows his stuff.

Yes, that was largely construction, but it’s time to spread a wider net.

I’ll touch on this one with more specifics in the future, but for now I just wanted to put the suggestion out there. If somebody on council wants to pick up the ball and run with it — have at it.

Mentioning picking up the ball and running with it, PHS mollywhopped my Mustangs in the Turkey Tussle. Talk about an ass whooping.

I haven’t seen a beating that bad since Blair’s victory over .. wait Blair never beat anybody what am I saying.

So laugh it up Justin Jones and Mayor Gordo, but trust me when I tell you the Mustangs will rise again.