Business Leaders Meet New “Jobs Czar”

Changing the culture at Los Angeles City Hall is high on the list of changes to be made by Austin Beutner, the former head of a private equity firm named to be the city’s deputy mayor for economic development. Meeting with business leaders from throughout Los Angeles on Jan. 14, Beutner got an idea of the difficulties faced by businesses when dealing with a bureaucracy more interested in serving the city than the general population. “We are stuck in an archaic way of doing things,” said Mark Fuller, founder and CEO of WET Design in Sun Valley where the meeting took place. Beutner was joined by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and new City Councilman Paul Krekorian for the nearly hour long meeting at WET, designer and manufacturer of elaborate water features. With the city’s unemployment rate hovering at 14 percent – higher than Los Angeles County’s jobless rate – Villaraigosa is putting an emphasis on job creation. As deputy mayor Beutner will oversee 13 city departments, including Water & Power, the port and airports, involved in economic development. He wants to leverage those departments to spur job creation in the private sector and create a strategic plan that will set out goals. The main message Beutner had for the audience was in changing the culture at City Hall, an effort that he and Villaraigosa recognize will take time and meet with resistance in some quarters. Beutner has been able to meet with council members in the four days since his appointment and said that he finds them supportive of what he wants to do. “In this economic climate it’s time to get real about this,” Beutner said. “This is the time to act. That’s the feedback I am getting.” Beutner emphasized that the private sector will be involved with job creation efforts from the very beginning rather than approached with ideas conceived directly from City Hall. Some of those in attendance were pleased with what they heard from Beutner. “I think the idea of having all those agencies reporting to one person is a good thing fro the city, said Gregory Ames, a principal with TrammellCrow Co., a real estate developer with a proposed project on a former city landfill in Sun Valley. Beutner, 49, is a former partner at the Blackstone Group and founder of the boutique private equity firm Evercore Partners.