I’ve Solved The Traffic Problem in the IE

By Tim Kolacz

I have lived in Southern California for the past 33 years, having come here from the Detroit area when I was a pipsqueak of a child. As I grew up and learned to drive, I was able to navigate the area rather easily and get to the beach with ease. As the population has exploded in the IE, everywhere from Corona, (twice the house, twice the lot, a third the price of Yorba Linda) to Riverside to Hemet, driving has proven to be a much more challenging adventure. But I now have solved the issue.

I attended the IE Economic Forecast in Ontario and the Citizens Bank Arena on the 24th of September and the biggest thing that jumped out at me in the presentations was this one fact: 40% of the workforce in the IE, commutes.

That figure staggered me. 2 out of 5 people work further than 25 miles from their homes with an average commute time, one way, of 60 minutes. Corona has an average commute of 40 minutes and Hemet is over 60 minutes.

The IE still has not recovered completely from the recession in ’08 and ’09. Jobs are coming back, but not quite there. And certainly the jobs that are close, are not at the same pay scale as they were in ’07.

So my solution is simple. Hire local people to do the work.

At last years conference, the point was made that when the next series of layoffs begin to occur, and they will, the first ones to go will most likely be the people that are commuting the furthest. This means the IE commuters. If they can keep the people that live closest to the work, they are more likely to be on time and be able to stay late and have less stress about not seeing their families.

Now hiring local people is not the issue. Why do 2 out of 5 commute in the first place. The pool of people to choose from is vast, is well educated, is willing to drive 10 hours a week for work. It’s because the jobs that they are qualified for, careers really, that they want are not found locally. They want to be paid well, they want more responsibility, and they want to be part of a bigger picture. Those careers are in LA. Why? Why aren’t there Public Relations firms, Law firms, Consulting firms that can do the same work in the IE, in the IE.

Wait, there are! There are numerous firms that can do the same, and most likely better, work in the IE than they can do in LA. They can do this because they know the lay of the land, they know the local communities. Hiring locally can also save you money, since the cost of living is less and that they now work two hours closer. They may stay late, they will be on time more frequently, and they have less stress knowing that they don’t need to leave to catch the 4:40 train out of Union Station. They can get in their own car and drive home and listen to their 8 speaker stereo in their car.

And when we hire locally and work locally, all those cars are no longer on the 91, the 60, Euclid, and all the other short cuts through the farms that we all take. There is less traffic, people are happier and the money stays close to home. Problem solved.

Tim Kolacz is an Account Executive with HUB international Insurance Services and can be reached at (951) 779-8730 or [email protected].