With all due respect (seriously) - you're making the problem worse. The problem is national politics sucks all the attention in the political arena away from local politics. Suggesting that people add yet another competing attention grab that occupies not only the politics but the local politics itch is just another push away from listening to what city hall is doing in their town.

There's also the fact that if Santa Monica's politics are that interesting, then people are more likely to be disappointed with how boring their local politics are.