Six years ago this month at a City Hall news conference with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, I delivered a report crafted by an outstanding and diverse team of L.A. leaders. This mayor’s commission – the Los Angeles Economy and Jobs Committee – made 100 specific recommendations to foster the growth of the economy of Los Angeles.
Six years later, there is still plenty that needs to be done, as a recent report from the 2020 Commission correctly reminded us.
It is important for all public officials and private citizens to see the truth and focus on how Los Angeles can create much needed job and economic growth. I look forward to seeing the forthcoming recommendations from the distinguished commission. At the same time, the truth about L.A.’s current economy needs to be accurate and balanced.
No one should believe that Los Angeles is “a city in decline,” as they state. In fact, from where I sit as both the chief executive of the largest bank based here in Los Angeles and as the chair of the L.A. Coalition for the Economy and Jobs – Los Angeles is actually on the way up.
Real progress has been made at the Los Angeles International Airport, in downtown Los Angeles, in our transportation infrastructure, at USC and UCLA, in the emergence of Silicon Beach and much more.
Here’s what we see:
• A Reawakening Downtown: L.A.’s downtown is in the middle of a renaissance – and you can see it in the cranes rising from the skyline – from Eli Broad’s $140 million art museum to downtown’s first Whole Foods to new condos and apartments to the new Target, more hotels and a $160 million renovation of Macy’s Plaza. There’s a major Western milestone coming – L.A.’s first new office tower in nearly 25 years. The 73-story, $1.1 billion investment in Los Angeles is the new Wilshire Grand Hotel and office tower. In fact, GQ Magazine has described Los Angeles as having the “coolest new downtown in America.”
• Growing Mass Transit: Ridership on the Expo Line jumped nearly 40 percent between August 2012 and August 2013. Measure R, a tax approved by voters in 2008 for mass-transit improvements, is being put to very good use and will invest more than $30 billion in Los Angeles plus billions more in federal funds to build out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 12 new public rail lines to connect our neighborhoods. This will ease traffic congestion, spur trade and tourism, improve air quality, boost development in these transit corridors (see Culver City) and create more than 210,000 high-quality jobs. Soon, the widening of the 405 freeway on the Westside will be completed, easing traffic congestion for literally hundreds of thousands of drivers.
• An Expanding USC: After years of unnecessary delays, the $1 billion USC Village project was approved in December by the city Planning Commission. That means that USC can now apply for permits to construct a town square for the university, including retail, student housing and academic space. The project will cut down on traffic congestion and is expected to create 8,000 permanent jobs.
• A Much Improved LAX: One of the LAEJC report’s key recommendations six years ago was improving LAX, the second largest job generator in our region, which the city owns. Under Gina Marie Lindsay’s leadership, LAX is making significant improvements. The new Tom Bradley International West Terminal is a state-of-the-art facility where Los Angeles welcomes its most valuable visitors. More airlines are now bringing A380s to LAX than any other U.S. airport. Many other capital improvements to the other terminals are moving ahead. A key to all this was the City Council’s approval last year of the airport’s much needed and delayed plan to move the north runway to enhance productivity, safety and more investment at LAX. This momentum needs to be maintained by city officials to ensure all of this happens and that Metro’s rail system is finally connected to LAX.
• Public Safety: This is a vital prerequisite to a healthy economy. The police force is larger today and crime has been dropping for 11 straight years.
• A Vibrant Tech Community: More than $720 million in venture capital flowed into L.A.-area firms just in the third quarter of 2013 – more than double the amount in the second quarter. Our tech bankers are seeing that L.A.’s Silicon Beach is a dynamic and growing hub for tech and entertainment companies. It posted the biggest venture capital deal in the United States in the third quarter – the $500 million investment in Beats Electronics in Santa Monica, demonstrating the dramatic potential for L.A.’s growing base of firms that blend technology and entertainment. We are now attracting and retaining more of the tech talent from our own world-class universities.
These are just some of the positive things. Of course, there are very real problems, such as the quality of education at the Los Angeles Unified School District, pension costs that the city cannot afford, too many unemployed Angelenos, poverty and too much traffic.
Clearly there is still much more that needs to be done for Los Angeles to solve its problems and optimize its remarkable resources and opportunities as a thriving and diverse world-class metropolis. Government at every level needs to do much more and be truly proactive to help business, labor, non-profits and universities grow jobs and the economy.
Despite all its challenges and problems, Los Angeles has the talent, resources and opportunities to create more economic prosperity for its citizens. Fortunately, both our new mayor and our City Council president are focused on job and economic growth. It is important that they, and all of us, see Los Angeles as it really is and then do what is needed to maintain Los Angeles as a city that is the envy of the world for its many strengths and opportunities, industries and entrepreneurs, cultural and educational resources, and much, much more.
While much has been accomplished and much more remains to be done, Los Angeles is definitely on the way up.
Russell Goldsmith is chairman and chief executive of City National Bank.
