Sunny, 井戸／弁護士席-to-do Santa Monica （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域s out 300 U.S. cities for $1M 認める to 評価する its own level of happiness

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As Eileen Brown and her dog stand on a bluff at Santa Monica's Palisades Park and 調査する endless miles of sparkling blue ocean, （疑いを）晴らす skies and shimmering sandy beaches, she ponders how life could かもしれない get any better in this corner of 楽園.

'Really, it seems just about perfect,' the Los Angeles woman 結論するs.

There's a picturesque pier off in the distance with an old-fashioned merry-go-一連の会議、交渉／完成する that stands nearly 味方する-by-味方する with the world's first solar-力／強力にするd Ferris wheel. The sun is 向こうずねing brightly, the 気温 is a pleasant 79 degrees and a light sea 微風 makes everything feel just 権利.

Not happy enough? Sunny, 井戸／弁護士席-off Santa Monica, California fought off 300 other cities for a million dollar 認める...and they're using it to 計器 their own happiness

But there's also 負担s of traffic and a high cost of living, two things that recently 誘発するd the real 広い地所 blog Movoto to 率 Santa Monica No. 2 on its 最高の，を越す 10 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of America's Most 強調する／ストレスd-Out 郊外s.

To do something about that, the city of 92,000 適用するd last year for a Bloomberg Philanthropies 市長s Challenge 認める, 提案するing that it create a 'Wellbeing 事業／計画（する）' to 決定する just how much people in this picture-postcard town really like living here. Santa Monica （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 out 300 other U.S. cities in 安全な・保証するing $1 million.

This week, 公式の／役人s will begin asking 居住（者）s how 伴う／関わるd they are in community activities, if they know who to turn to in times of 危機, if they know their neighbors, how healthy they are, how lonely they might be and how good an education they believe their kids are receiving. Then they'll 診察する what changes are needed to make life better.

'It's really about trying to get a much clearer understanding of who the people of Santa Monica are, what they are doing and what we can do on a 地元の 政府 level to help 確実にする people are 栄えるing,' said Julie Rusk, assistant director of community and cultural services.

緩和する up: The breezy beach town was called one of America's most 強調する／ストレスd out 郊外s にもかかわらず its laid-支援する 評判, so 公式の／役人s are trying to find out why

Some of the other four cities that won 認めるs are going the more 伝統的な 大勝する. Houston, for example, 計画（する）s on building a better trash-collection system.

Rusk says Santa Monica （機の）カム up with The Wellbeing 事業／計画（する） after the 開始する，打ち上げる of its Cradle to Career 率先 in 2011. That 成果／努力, to learn how students felt about themselves, began after a 悲劇の period that 含むd a 十代の少年少女 committing 自殺 by throwing himself off a high-rise hotel.

'What we 設立する out was only a third of kindergarteners were really ready socially, emotionally, 肉体的に, cognitively, for 幼稚園,' Rusk said.

In a community where more than three ４半期/4分の1s of adults have college degrees, that was a 素晴らしい 発見.

About that same time, the city learned its 成果／努力s to 促進する health and fitness might have gotten out of 手渡す when 居住（者）s complained that 商業の trainers had turned Palisades Park into an open-空気／公表する 体育館, making it difficult to do anything else there.

After months of 審議, the city 制限するd who could use parks for 商業の 目的s. And on a 最近の weekday, there wasn't a 負わせる machine or yoga mat in sight at Palisades Park.

Instead, it was filled with people having picnics, jugglers, skateboarders, strollers, dog walkers, musicians and someone operating a 泡-making machine.?

Some of the other four cities that won 認めるs are going the more 伝統的な 大勝する. Houston, for example, 計画（する）s on building a better trash-collection system

If The Wellbeing 事業／計画（する） 作品 as they hope, city 公式の／役人s could tweak other public services.

Brown, who 負担s her dog into the car a couple times a month and travels to the park to unwind, couldn't see too many things to 改善する. The 場所／位置 of 非常に／多数の homeless people sprawled out in the 影をつくる／尾行する of beach-前線 condominiums did trouble her, however. Brown said she 避けるs the city's 悪名高くも traffic-choked freeway by taking surface streets from downtown LA.

The 地元のs 特記する／引用する the traffic jams, the homelessness and the cost of living as problems that make Santa Monica not やめる as pleasant as 部外者s think.

'We're choking on gridlock from overdevelopment,' says 30-year 居住（者） Tricia Crane, who complained of watching the cit y transform from a 静かな beach town of cottage-style homes and modest two-story apartments to one of high-rise condos and apartments with high mortgages and rents. The median price of a home is $992,000.

Soon, says street musician Charles パン職人 Jr., 楽園 could become the 州 of just the rich.

'The way it's going, nobody is going to be able to afford to live here anymore,' he said as he sat in the park with his keyboard.