Open for Business!

by Gary Toebben

While newly elected Mayor Eric Garcetti passed on showing off his keyboard skills Sunday afternoon, he hit all the right notes for the business community in his inaugural address on the steps of City Hall. "These times demand a back-to-basics mayor focused above all else on our economy and jobs, and that's what I intend to be," Garcetti began.

"We have to start with the most basic task of all, hanging a bright neon sign on our city that says ... Los Angeles is open for business!  We need to market L.A. aggressively and creatively to the whole world as the Gateway to the Pacific Rim and Gateway to new ideas and innovation.

"We need to change the way people see our traditional industries so they can thrive and grow. And we need to nurture small businesses, which after all are the global game-changers of the future. That means cutting through a clutter of regulations and red tape and saying to scrappy start-ups:  You have a local government that's off your back and on your side."

"With the right industrial policy, we can reclaim a critical part of our economic heritage, like helping L.A.'s aerospace industry take flight again, leading a new manufacturing revolution, and retaining and growing our leadership in international trade and tourism." 

As he did during the campaign, Garcetti continued to call for the elimination of the City's gross receipts tax on business and "a streamlined technology for business permitting to reduce decades of bureaucracy to a few clicks of the mouse."

"Getting back to the basics means bringing Hollywood back home and ending runaway production for good. I'll set an example in L.A. by working to eliminate the tangle of fees and rules that make filming here feel more like 'Les Miserables' instead of 'Fast and Furious' like it ought to be," Garcetti said.

Mr. Mayor, the Chamber and the business community have been and will continue to work to implement the goals you outlined. We look forward to partnering with you to achieve this bold vision for the future of Los Angeles.   

And that's The Business Perspective.