Consider this as a working premise: Los Angeles is one of a handful of cities with the potential to stake a claim to being capital of the Pacific Rim.

It would be a mostly symbolic notion.

But so is the Dow Jones industrial average or an Academy Award – both plenty worthy of consideration.

And so is the question of whether the City of Angels is destined to serve as the capital of the Pacific Rim – a powerful geographic designation that starts on the edge of any land touched by the world’s largest body of water and runs inland to varying degrees.

The list of contenders is arguable – put San Francisco; Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo; and Shanghai on a short list with Los Angeles.

The factors that would go into the role also are arguable – start with finance, media, innovation, education and transportation.

It is our good fortune as a journalistic enterprise to be assigned to cover the community of business in a city whose story has always been compelling and now seems to be approaching a historic moment as its very streetscape and character changes. Consider our front-page story on the most recent passenger counts at Los Angeles International Airport for a prime example of the pace of growth this city has seen since emerging from the recession.

It’s also our good fortune to be on the job in an era when there are so many ways for you – the members of this community of business – to communicate your thoughts about lofty matters as well as others much closer to the bone when it comes to what makes this city work toward its destiny.

You’ll find contact information on our entire newsroom below this note.

Send your thoughts on what cities might contend for the title of capital of the Pacific Rim, if you would. Or suggest other sectors that might factor into such a notion.

Feel free, also, to offer thoughts on whether this is a destiny worth pursuing. Might a symbolic title amount to little more than extra baggage for a city on the move?

A possible reason to pursue the distinction might be found in the fact that Los Angeles is neither the capital of government nor finance in the United States, where Washington, D.C., and New York hold those respective roles.

We are the second-most-populous city in the nation but the “Second City” title is forever plastered onto Chicago, no matter how far down that city drops in terms of population.

That leaves things a bit muddled in terms of perceptions – until you realize that Los Angeles has always looked out on the Pacific.