Villaraigosa picks up business baton

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan named an influential group of civic leaders 15 years ago to streamline what was said to be a tortuous city permitting process that made Los Angeles seem almost hostile to business.

Many of the 83 proposals, however, ended up on a shelf collecting dust.

Now, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has pledged to fix the same problems and dozens of others believed to impede investment.

But some key business leaders fear that Villaraigosa may be too distracted by other issues to propel the economic agenda -- even as they applaud him for taking it on.

“We’re feeling a loss of momentum,” said William C. Allen, president of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “The question is, who is in charge of turning recommendations into actions that will actually create jobs?”

Villaraigosa appointed Allen and more than two dozen other civic leaders in 2006 to analyze how Los Angeles can reinvigorate its flagging economy.

The Los Angeles Economy & Jobs Committee recommended in January 100 steps to spur economic development. In a echo of the past, one of its proposals -- No. 77 -- called for implementing ideas put forward in 1995 by Riordan’s Development Reform Committee, including a plan to simplify the cumbersome permitting process.

The Villaraigosa committee found that only the Department of Building and Safety had implemented most of the Riordan-era recommendations, adding, “All other departments fell behind.”

Members of the current committee brought the Riordan report to Villaraigosa’s attention during a dinner last summer also attended by his chief of staff, Robin Kramer, and Deputy Mayor Bud Ovrom. According to those present, Villaraigosa told Kramer -- who also served as Riordan’s chief of staff -- and Ovrom to assign the unfinished Riordan recommendations to department managers with deadlines.

Some from the committee say they have yet to hear back from Villaraigosa.

“We were hopeful that economic development and job creation would be elevated to a higher position in the mind of not just the mayor but all his general managers,” said Gary Toebben, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of Villaraigosa’s jobs committee.

“All of us wanted to help the mayor accomplish that. So far, we don’t know what’s happening.”

A Villaraigosa spokesman denied Thursday that the mayor had failed to act. Gil Duran said Villaraigosa had moved aggressively to foster economic development, advancing several recommendations from both committees.

Villaraigosa is expected to announce a plan next week that would make it easier to build housing, offices and other projects by slashing the number of development review agencies from 12 to two. The Planning Department and Building and Safety would make all decisions under the new system, which has been bandied about for years by various groups and elected leaders, mostly recently City Council President Eric Garcetti.

Duran also pointed to an “economic action plan,” unveiled by Villaraigosa last month, that aims to provide 100,000 people with living-wage jobs by July 2010 through education, job training and placement programs. Villaraigosa also has sought to spur economic activity at the city’s busy seaport while reducing deadly truck emissions there, and he has announced deals with overseas air carriers to use L.A. and Ontario international airports.

“No one can argue legitimately that we haven’t been making progress on implementing these recommendations,” Duran said. “There is tremendous momentum.”

Russell Goldsmith, chairman of City National Bank and the head of Villaraigosa’s jobs committee, said it was premature to judge the mayor’s progress less than 60 days after the second report was released.

Goldsmith said the mayor and his staff appeared engaged in the issue and that Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Grunfeld had kept in touch as the staff determined which of the 100 recommendations could be implemented. Grunfeld is scheduled to give committee members an update this morning.

“Would I like it to be going faster? Sure,” Goldsmith said. “But am I under the impression that they are working at it? Yes. I’m not concerned at this point.”

--

duke.helfand@latimes.com