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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Alarcon Has Ambitious Plan For Northeast Valley Growth

This is one in a series of articles exploring the issues of business retention and recruitment in the greater Valley area. As part of the series, the Business Journal is posing questions to L.A. City Council members for the Valley about how they are improving the business climate. Whatever you think about City Councilman for the Seventh District, Richard Alarc & #243;n, this much seems true: he sure is ambitious. A former schoolteacher and assistant to late L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley, Alarc & #243;n over the past decade has been on a dizzying number of city and state ballots, sometimes barely winning one seat before announcing his candidacy for the next. He was a city councilman representing the northeast Valley from 1993 to 1998; a state senator from 1998 to 2006; a candidate for Los Angeles mayor in 2005; a state assemblyman for a brief period in 2006; and finally back to a seat on the Los Angeles City Council this year. During all of those elections, critics have portrayed Alarc & #243;n as a career politician with blind ambition, anxious to move up the political ladder by running for any office available to him. But in an interview with the Business Journal a month after moving back into City Hall, Alarc & #243;n said that image is the result of years of tough elections and mudslinging. He says he’s committed to the Valley and has already worked to bring business to the area, authoring a motion that directs the Community Redevelopment Agency to ink a master plan for the area to stimulate growth. He says it’s the foundation he hopes to build upon this term. Q: What does the CRA motion hope to accomplish? A: To discern what corridors are our best opportunities for us; things that will transition our community from a disenfranchised community to something that will add to the quality of life. One of the goals is to upgrade the average wage. So we have a long-term view. There are some incredible opportunities. I estimate it’s a $1 million study. Q: You’re regarded as one of the city council members who is not as friendly to business interests A: Well, that’s a bogus assessment. That’s a ridiculous assessment. That’s based on some pretty rough political campaigns and it totally ignores that under my stewardship there was more economic development in the north San Fernando Valley than anywhere, with the exception of Woodland Hills. We revamped the General Motors plant. We brought in the first Wal-Mart to the city of Los Angeles. We rebuilt Panorama Town Center. We created an enterprise zone. Frankly, I think there are some racial factors. Yes, I am anti-war. Yes, I am pro-environment. But I’m also pro- strong economic development. And I think there’s a way to balance those issues. The facts are clear. It’s ridiculous that people try to still undercut those accomplishments. Q: Because that image is politically motivated? A: There’s no doubt about it. These are people who can’t see beyond my environmental credentials, can’t see beyond my civil rights credentials, can’t see beyond my support for diversity. They won’t look at the facts. Q: How do you keep manufacturing jobs in this part of the Valley? A: Well, it depends on what you’re talking about. If it’s low-end manufacturing jobs: go. Go wherever you want. It serves no useful purpose to have people making minimum wage. What that means in my district is rental properties that aren’t managed properly and blight. I don’t know many people that would want these jobs. We want high-paying jobs. Q: What are you currently doing to improve the business climate? A: I’m looking at low-interest loans for businesses. I’m looking at fa & #231;ade improvement programs. If it were just one business improving its fa & #231;ade, it wouldn’t have much impact. But if we can create a program where nine out of 10 businesses in the San Fernando Road corridor improve their facades, then we can build some real, positive consistency along the corridor. Secondly, we have to seize the opportunities that present themselves. Sometimes, it takes calling up a company and talking with them. And sometimes you have to cajole, sometime you have to fight, sometimes you have to embarrass. But sometimes you have to show them that it’s a better bottom line for them. Q: So how can the city council work together to shed this image that L.A. is unfriendly to business? A: Well, the fact of the matter is, the gross economic product produced by the city of Los Angeles is competitive with anywhere else in the nation. So while there are problems and believe me I have been frustrated with the planning process, the slow inspection process, and the lag in city services but the numbers demonstrate that the Los Angeles economy is strong. I think if you go into any community, you’ll hear things about the difficulty in development. The primary reason it’s difficult to develop in the city of Los Angeles is not because a bunch of politicians all get together and figure out ways to block business, it’s because we’re over-saturated. We have an overpopulated area and limited housing, which drives the value of the land way up. If you want to get good land prices, go to Lake Erie. But if you want to live in the sunniest state in the nation, if you want to live where workers are bountiful, then come to L.A. And that’s why people continue to come. That’s not to say that there are sectors of business that are disadvantaged by the way Los Angeles operates. Q: Like what? A: Well, corporate. We’ve lost a lot of corporate operations that would be nice to have. I would like to see more corporate operations in Los Angeles. But it doesn’t mean that all businesses are flocking out of Los Angeles. There’s a reason why California’s economy is No. 5 in the world and Los Angeles is a huge part of that. At this stage in my career, I don’t have to patronize anybody. I’m happy to help and I think there are great opportunities. But if people want to get bogged down in political rhetoric, then I gloss over. Q: Do you think L.A. has so much bureaucracy because it’s so big? A: Well that’s a huge question I’ve been trying to figure out since I became a councilman. I think some of it is that the bureaucracy squashed itself. It’s not like you can point the finger at someone occasionally you can and say, ‘that person is the problem.’ It’s the weight of the bureaucracy. The question is: How can we prioritize the most important projects and expedite them? I largely feel that is the role of the council members, to discern in their best judgment to go in there and get the best projects expedited. It’s a good news-bad news situation: there are so many people demanding opportunities for new business development that they can’t process it fast enough. So we have to pick and choose. But the other thing is getting the community to support the projects. With the General Motors plant that redevelopment of that site went through without a single opposition. I think it was because I created a community advisory committee put all the NIMBYs on it, the head of the homeowners association, the head of chambers of commerce, some neighborhood watch folks put them in a room and said, ‘work with the developer.’ They came up with a plan that was amenable to them and nobody protested. You work with the community and you bring tremendous benefits. A lot of developers make the mistake of thinking of the people in the community as their enemy. The community is your customer, you should have a good relationship. But I don’t mean to sound like I’m a defender of the bureaucracy, because I’ve had to scold them just as much as anybody. But they’re not the monsters that people portray them to be. Q: I’ve talked to a lot of businesses that left the Valley because of Los Angeles bureaucracy. You’re painting a picture that it’s not that bad. So why are these businesses leaving? A: I don’t know if I agree. All the economic reports that I have show that L.A.’s economy is vibrant and more and more businesses are attracted here. In terms of micro-enterprise and entrepreneurship, there are more people creating businesses in Los Angeles than pretty much any place in the nation. So I don’t buy your rhetoric. If you’re talking about businesses that have the ability and resources to move to Nevada, where they don’t pay taxes, how we going to compete? We’re not going to compete with a state like Nevada that is begging so much for business that they’re not going to charge taxes. I’m not into that rhetoric. I know what I have to do in my district. Q: Do you think Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is doing enough to bring business in? A: I think he’s doing a great job. I think he’s the antithesis of the previous mayor (James Hahn) in terms of activism. He’s not shy about creating a dynamic office that gets involved with everything and that sends a positive message about Los Angeles. And when you do that, you’re going to have mistakes. But I would rather have seven victories out of 10. Q: How would you like this district to look 20 years from now? A: Wow. I have so many things. I would like to see higher-end jobs and affordable housing that makes sense. Corridors much more transit-friendly as opposed to auto driven. I’d like to see more homeowners and a theater in Sylmar. I think we can do it.

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