When newly elected L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti was named to chair the council’s economic development and employment committee, more than a few eyebrows were raised in L.A.’s business community.
After all, Garcetti is the latest in a line of liberal council members from Hollywood who have taken positions on the living wage and other issues opposed by local businesses.
What’s more, while some may be impressed with the 30-year-old Garcetti’s bio a Rhodes Scholar who has worked on sustainable development projects in Ethiopia and Burma, a university professor, and a jazz composer it shows little in the way of private-sector experience. And the economic development and employment committee he chairs has the task of reviewing key projects and setting wage and benefit policies for companies receiving city funds.
So far, business leaders and lobbyists are willing to give Garcetti the benefit of the doubt. They say they’re impressed with his intelligence, his ability to be a quick study on complex issues and his willingness to listen to all sides of an issue before making a decision.
At the same time, his background and public comments point to a progressive stance on many development issues certainly not to the extent of former City Councilmember Jackie Goldberg, who moved to the state Assembly last year, but enough to fray the nerves of many a business lobbyist.
“Where Jackie was somebody who took things head on, convinced she was right and would win the day, Eric might look at the same goal and be more politically strategic, more willing to engage in the give-and-take that is typical of politics,” said one lobbyist.
At this early stage, Garcetti hasn’t really been tested on an issue where his core constituencies labor and younger, progressive Democrats are in direct opposition to the business community.
Living wage issue
One such issue, expanding the city’s living wage law, is almost certain to come before the council this term. Garcetti himself said he is well aware of the need to balance business concerns with larger social goals.
“I intend to stand by my principles on issues like the living wage, but also be a coalition builder,” he said. “Many of my friends are entrepreneurs and I know how difficult it is to start a business. Yet I’ve also been able to dialogue with labor unions. I believe my ability to go between these two worlds is crucial.”
Garcetti conceded in an interview last week that his resume may not show much private- sector experience. But that doesn’t mean he’s lacking marketplace knowledge. As a Rhodes Scholar at the London School of Economics, Garcetti studied methods of bringing capital to under-served areas. He also spent time in Ethiopia and Asia helping to jump-start businesses there by finding lenders to make microloans.
“While L.A. has nowhere near the conditions you find in those countries, it does have under-served areas, and finding ways to get capital into those areas is going to be one of my top priorities as chair of the economic development and employment committee,” Garcetti said.
Those words can mean different things to different people one reason the business community is generally taking a wait-and-see approach.
“He has this intense desire to use economic development as a tool to improve everyone’s lives,” said Daniel Weiss, managing partner of a private equity firm called the Angeleno Group who has known Garcetti since he was a child. The two now serve together on several non-profits, including the Pobladores Fund, which steers capital to community-based organizations focused on human rights, immigration and economic development.
Immigration services
Garcetti’s international experience will serve him well in developing ties between L.A.’s ethnic businesses and various government agencies. One of his goals: establishing an office for immigrant information services, with a section devoted to helping immigrant entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.
“When I was in places like Thailand, I found that business owners had a deep distrust of government and learned not to look for government for solutions,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be like that here.”
Another goal: pursuing incentives to attract certain industries to L.A., including energy technology (“We really should be a leader in this field,” he said), biotechnology and entertainment.
“We can do business with him,” said Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Central City Association, a powerful lobby of downtown businesses. “There’s no question he has liberal goals that could come into conflict with business. But when we interviewed him as a candidate last spring, we found him open to other points of view.”
Schatz said that initial impression was backed up during last week’s council deliberations on the second phase of the Staples Center plan. “He said, ‘Let’s not prejudge the issue of a subsidy and say it’s a bad thing. Let’s look at this analytically.'”
But as much as he may want to help jump-start businesses, Garcetti faces substantial pressure to exert leadership on issues like affordable housing and especially the living wage. In fact, living wage advocates were one of his core constituencies during the campaign.
“The expectations for Eric are that he becomes a leader on the council on the issue of quality jobs,” said Madeline Janis-Aparicio, executive director of the Living Wage Coalition. “During the campaign, he showed the qualities of a leader, of someone who can convince his colleagues to go along with him.”
Garcetti said he recognizes the need for wider application of the city’s living wage law. “The fact is, people are finding it very difficult to survive in huge areas of this city.”
But he also indicated he might be flexible on how that goal is achieved.
Above all, Garcetti said he did not want to be typecast as a crusading social progressive.
“There’s this perception out there that socially progressive policies are the only things that matter,” he said. “One can fight for the living wage but also strive to reduce business taxes. Business must be part of the solution, although it should not bear the entire burden.”
