By HOWARD FINE

Staff Reporter

With the appointment of Alfonso Salazar as the new head of L.A.’s Business Team, the Riordan administration has once again turned to the group’s well-respected senior staff to lead the city’s business-assistance efforts.

Even as other parts of the Riordan administration reportedly are losing focus, the selection points up a key element to the Business Team’s success: its management structure. Salazar is one of four “senior business development representatives” credited with keeping the organization focused.

“The L.A. Business Team has been very well trained, so they know exactly what they can do and what they cannot do,” said Larry Kosmont, an independent business and real estate consultant. “That gives a business certainty when they enter the process. Even if it’s bad news they can’t waive that fee or an additional permit is needed at least the business knows about it up front.”

Kosmont said part of the reason the Business Team has been so successful is that Mayor Richard Riordan and much of his staff come from the private sector.

“They know what businesses expect from government,” he said.

That private-sector experience has helped the Business Team achieve a string of recent successes. Earlier this month, it scored a big victory with the City Council’s approval of the 38-story, $250 million office tower that JMB Realty Corp. is proposing to develop in Century City, L.A.’s first new high-rise of the 1990s.

That followed City Council approval in May of the massive TrizecHahn project at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. The Business Team helped the developer with everything from gaining assistance from the Community Redevelopment Agency to presenting its proposal to the City Council to obtaining city permits.

While the booming economy has played a role in these successes, outside observers also credit the Business Team’s organization and training.

Rocky Delgadillo, deputy mayor for economic development and the Business Team’s first leader, has won praise for his ability to close mega-deals, like the TrizecHahn project and the redevelopment of the General Motors plant.

(On occasion, Riordan himself has picked up the phone to convince executives to stay or expand within the city, as he did last year with La Brea Bakery.)

Delgadillo also is considered politically astute, enabling the Business Team to line up labor and business support for projects on the City Council, according to Greg Nelson, chief of staff for City Councilman Joel Wachs.

“One of the keys to their success has been to get business and labor to step in and argue the case for them,” he said. “This gives the Business Team leverage when it comes time to get projects approved.”

Each of the senior staffers has a geographical area and one or two key industries for which he or she is responsible. Besides Salazar (and now, his yet-to-be named successor), there are three senior business development staffers:

? Jeff Walden, who handles the Westside, with its multimedia and high-tech industries. He helped close the DirecTV deal in which the Hughes Electronics subsidiary moved into 200,000 square feet of space on an 11-acre parcel near the west end of the Marina Freeway. He also helped ad agency giant TBWA Chiat/Day Inc. relocate from the famous Binoculars Building in Venice to larger quarters near the Marina Freeway.

? Steve Carmona, who focuses on the Eastside and Harbor areas. He is credited with keeping United Parcel Service in Los Angeles, and expediting the redevelopment of the former Rykoff-Sexton site at Seventh and Alameda streets in downtown, including luring Tech Systems, an office furniture maker that employs 350 people.

? Helmi Hisserich, who has spearheaded efforts to redevelop Hollywood. She played a key role in the TrizecHahn project at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue and has helped on numerous other redevelopment projects in the area. She took over the post from Lesa Slaughter, who was promoted to director of the Business Team and then, just recently, was appointed as Riordan’s chief of staff.

Salazar, a 30-year-old native Angeleno appointed last week to be Business Team’s new director, joined the group last year after serving as acting director of Riordan’s Infrastructure Grant Program. He was most recently the Business Team’s senior business development representative for the San Fernando Valley and the area just north of downtown. He helped close the deals for redevelopment of the General Motors site in the Valley, as well as the expansion of Federal Express at Taylor Yards.

Salazar said in an interview late last week that he plans to focus on expanding and attracting high-growth industries to the city, as well as bringing more companies and jobs to the inner city and the Pacoima area.

“With the economy doing so well now, we are going to be more strategic in our approach,” Salazar said. “When we first started out three years ago, we were primarily trying to keep companies here from leaving. Now, we are sharpening our focus to attracting high-growth industries multimedia, entertainment, international trade companies.”

Among the companies receiving assistance from the Business Team in recent months are Panasonic Broadcast & Digital Systems Co. in North Hollywood and interactive communications company DigitalFacades in the Marina del Rey area.

In the first quarter of 1998 alone, the Business Team helped attract 99 businesses to Los Angeles, more than half its full-year total of 183 businesses.