Mayoral candidates featured on panel

  ED RHEE Los Angeles mayoral candidates James
Hahn (above) and Antonio Villaraigosa
(below right) speak at the Inner-City Economics Forum Monday, held
at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. The panel also featured political,
business and academic leaders.

By Josh Wolf
Daily Bruin Contributor

Mayoral candidates addressed the public Monday as part of a
panel discussion on the future of the Los Angeles economy.

The panel, sponsored in part by The Anderson School at UCLA,
consisted of a collection of political, business and academic
leaders who joined to discuss the Inner-City Economic Report, which
presents the findings of the Inner-City Economic Summit from a year
ago.

Education was a recurring theme coming from both the panel
members and the mayoral candidates.

Bruce Willison, dean of The Anderson School, commented on the
connection between UCLA and the L.A. economy, exemplified by the
location of the discussion ““ Freud Playhouse.

  ED RHEE He said an important approach to inner-city
economics combines education, workforce training, technology and
the bolstering of both community safety and pride.

John Bryant, the founder and CEO of Operation HOPE ““ a
group that describes itself as a public/private partnership for
urban economic empowerment and hosted the discussion ““
addressed the changing definitions in economics. He paraphrased
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, in providing
a new definition of wealth: education, information and access to
these resources.

Bryant said no one vehicle can provide this for L.A., but the
government, the community and the private sector will have to work
together to achieve economic goals.

This sentiment was mirrored by Xavier Becerra, a member of the
United States House of Representatives who previously represented
Los Angeles in the California legislature. “Here in Los
Angeles, if we’re to succeed, we must do it as a
partnership,” Becerra said.

After these statements set the stage, James Hahn and Antonio
Villaraigosa, the two candidates in the L.A. mayoral run-off,
presented their goals for the city’s economy.

Misperceptions are the cause of the lack of investment in the
inner-city according to Hahn, and overcoming these stereotypes is
the key to advancing the inner-city economy.

Hahn, the L.A. city attorney, cited his success with bringing
new businesses into a community by decreasing gang activity. He
said by decreasing crime, his office was able to encourage the
infusion of new businesses that further improved the area. As a
result of this process, Hahn said both the government and community
members must work to attract businesses.

“We both have a responsibility to bring jobs to the
community,” Hahn said.

In response to a question from the panel, Hahn said he supported
paying city officials to participate in community outreach programs
in order to uphold the city’s responsibility to this
issue.

After-school programs that encourage children to explore their
interests in order to keep them off the streets and help businesses
feel comfortable investing in the area are central to Hahn’s
proposal, as is the need to prepare children for jobs in the new
economy.

Citing Stanford’s contribution to the Silicon Valley and a
similar relationship between schools in Boston and local
industries, Hahn encouraged the development of biomedical research
in collaboration with UCLA and USC.

Hahn emphasized the importance of his proposals in conjunction
with the panel discussion. “This needs to be more than an
event-oriented process.”

Villaraigosa spoke next and praised the nature of the report

“It doesn’t just identify problems, it reflects a
thoughtful process to identify assets,” Villaraigosa
said.

He said that this approach supports his idea that “there
are human assets here. There’s a whole community that wants
to be included.”

Villaraigosa highlighted many areas for improvement in this
process.

He called for measures that would encourage the development of
local industries instead of leaving companies to search for foreign
markets. He said Los Angeles is trailing the nation by 20 percent
in home ownership.

He blamed current officials for failing to pursue $200 million
that he made accessible for housing development projects through
his work at the state level.

Championing new thinking for schools, Villaraigosa suggested
incorporating parent centers, constructing parks and building 100
new schools with modern architectural styles to take advantage of
the available resources while decreasing class sizes.

“We should use the report as a blueprint: a creative
approach to inner-city financing,” Villaraigosa said.

And while not every problem is factored into this blueprint,
Villaraigosa still thinks the government can play a role.
“There’s not a program for every problem, but the
government can provide support.