MAYOR DIDN'T MEAN THAT KIND OF INDUSTRIAL REDEVELOPMENT.Byline: GREGORY J. WILCOX Reynold Blight blight, general term for any sudden and severe plant disease or for the agent that causes it. The term is now applied chiefly to diseases caused by bacteria (e.g., bean blights and fire blight of fruit trees), viruses (e.g., soybean bud blight), fungi (e.g. was stunned stun tr.v. stunned, stun·ning, stuns 1. To daze or render senseless, by or as if by a blow. 2. To overwhelm or daze with a loud noise. 3. to find out that one of Mayor James Hahn's task forces is mulling mulling (mul´ing), n the final step of mixing dental amalgam; a kneading of the triturated mass to complete the amalgamation. the idea of creating an industrial development authority. No wonder. He's been the chairman of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Industrial Development Authority for the past 18 months and served on it since late 2000. But Roberto Barragan, a member of Hahn's Industrial Development Policy Initiative Task Force, has talked about establishing such an entity even though it already exists. And when asked to expand on that suggestion recently, Renata Simril, deputy mayor for economic development, said: ``If we do have an industrial development authority, how does it help us get to our end objective of making L.A. an attractive place to do business and grow our job base?'' Blight, who is retired from the city's community development department, might already know answers to some of Simril's questions if anyone in the Hahn administration cared to ask. ``It's been frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: because we're out there laboring in the vineyards,'' he said. The authority was created in the early 1990s and issues bonds that help businesses expand and create jobs, like the 200 that might be added by American Apparel American Apparel, LLC is a clothing manufacturer and retailer based in an 800,000 square foot factory in downtown Los Angeles, California. The company is most well known for making basic cotton knitwear such as t-shirts and underwear, but in recent years the product line has , a clothing manufacturer at 747 Warehouse St., which is downtown and not far from City Hall. The company is interested in obtaining $2.7 million from the authority. The IDA's money is used in areas such as Pacoima and the Eastside that have been declared empowerment zones. Barragan and Simril said Friday that their idea for an industrial development authority differs from what already exists. ``We have one but ... they're just a bond-issuing entity for the city,'' said Barragan, who is president of the Van Nuys-based Valley Economic Development Center. Said Simril: ``It's not the same. The IDA Ida (ē`dä), city (1990 pop. 91,859), Nagano prefecture, central Honshu, Japan, on the Tenryu River. It is an agricultural market and railway junction. Ren is on is totally different (from) what we have been working on for the last few years, a set of policies and recommendations so we can preserve and expand our industrial base.'' OK. But the IDA does take the pulse of the city's industrial base and it seems that the administration is not interested in its prognosis prognosis /prog·no·sis/ (prog-no´sis) a forecast of the probable course and outcome of a disorder.prognos´tic prog·no·sis n. pl. prog·no·ses 1. . The board has seven members, four appointed by the mayor and three by the president of the City Council. But the IDA is not represented on the industrial development task force, the mayor's Industrial Development Advisory Committee or his Industrial Development Policy Initiative Management Team. Friction might be one reason. Blight said that before Simril signed on with Hahn they had a conversation about the city's economic development efforts. Blight was blunt. ``I told her it was almost perverse per·verse adj. 1. Directed away from what is right or good; perverted. 2. Obstinately persisting in an error or fault; wrongly self-willed or stubborn. 3. a. the way the Mayor's Office approached economic development. There's been very little attention paid to job creation and economic development by the Mayor's Office.'' Simril maintains that the two have have never chatted about the topic. And the fact the IDA is not represented on the other high-profile panels is just an example of a different set of experts being tapped for a task. But it does seem like the authority is being marginalized. For example, when the seven-member Industrial Development Advisory Committee gathered for a series of presentations by city officials some months ago the IDA was excluded. Committee member Jack Kyser, chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., now thinks that might have been a mistake. ``It doesn't seem that there has been a thorough search of all the entities that the city has and that's something you need to do,'' he said. Given the opportunity to rethink the issue, Barragan said it might be time to tap this resource, especially if it could be spun off and given nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. status. ``They have no agenda to retain industrial business in L.A. or create industrial space. Now maybe they could. It might be a first step toward a full-fledged authority,'' he said. At least now they know about each other. Gregory J. Wilcox, (818) 713-3743 greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com |
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