At
a time when local government must reinvent its approach to job
creation, the City of Los Angeles made two major strides last week. The
L.A. City Council unanimously approved the L.A. Area Chamber’s proposed Office of Economic Analysis and also endorsed the L.A. County Strategic Plan for Economic Development. Both are important opportunities to make good policies that incentivize business growth in our City.
The Office of
Economic Analysis will finally give City officials the information they
need to evaluate whether a proposed policy will drive businesses away
or encourage them to invest even more in Los Angeles. Under the new
program, the City will contract with respected, independent economists
to study how proposed legislation would affect the business climate,
job creation and overall economy.
Championed by City
Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Greig Smith, the City
approved $250,000 in initial funding and will begin compiling a bullpen
of respected economists to contract with on an as-needed basis. The
Chamber’s ultimate goal is to make this office a permanent part of our
city government to provide this type of evaluation on a wide-range of
city policies and programs. In the meantime, the Chamber will be
working with City Council members to make sure that policies deserving
of this review are studied.
In the same week,
the City Council also endorsed the L.A. County Economic Development
Corporation’s county-wide Strategic Plan for Economic Development, an
initiative to ensure that all 88 cities in L.A. County are regionally
invested in how we grow our economy. The Chamber was proud to join more
than 1,000 stakeholders from all perspectives in crafting this
consensus document.
The strategic
plan’s five main goals are to prepare an educated workforce, create a
business-friendly environment, enhance our quality of life, implement
smart land use policies and create a 21st Century infrastructure
capable of handling the demands of more than 10 million residents.
Special thanks to Councilmember Bernard Parks for his support.
These victories
are important steps forward, but it is the responsibility of our
elected officials and the business community to make sure that we put
these tools to work. Programs and plans are great, but too many sit
idle or aren’t utilized to their full potential. This is our moment to
think and act differently. Let’s join hands and get to work!