Time to increase role of local business.

BUSINESS needs to lead the way.

The new year has started off with a frenzy of activity, lots of economic reports and looks ahead at the future locally. Recently the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. released its economic forecast for the next year, Mayor James Hahn gave his State of the Valley speech and the LAEDC also released another report basically saying what's wrong with L.A. and the area and what needs to be done about it.

With most of it once again we find out there's a lot of work to be done and there are not a lot of answers of how to succeed in doing it.

As to be expected, Hahn reported that everything was great in the Valley (see the story on page 1) so nothing to worry about here. The LAEDC was much more temperate in its findings. Its forecast calls for things to be pretty good in our area in 2005 and into 2006. There will be job growth, international trade will be strong, tourism will pick up and the motion picture and TV production industry should have a good year. But the negatives include a shortage of quality industrial space and the lack of a proper image in the biotech industry. There's also the fact that any time developers try to get something done there's a zillion neighborhood influences coming out against it.

Those are just a few of the negatives. The LAEDC's other research report: "Recapturing the Dream, a Winning Strategy for the L.A. Region" has some interesting things to report. It blames politicians for a lot of the business problems here. They're not responsive to business interests and get too involved in "social" concerns such as inclusionary zoning to the detriment of economic vitality which benefits everybody.

Local politicians are better than others but many rules and regulations come down from the state and feds so it really doesn't matter if the local people like you.

So without being able to rely on all of the politicians, businesspeople need to really get more active. One of the reports cites the fact that a drawback in our local economy is the lack of an active, unified business voice to lead the way in fixing some of these things.

It shouldn't be a sweeping indictment. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association does a great job in putting business issues on the front burner and has had success. Other organizations such as the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and the VEDC also do a lot to help business. But they need much more involvement by everybody not just the same familiar faces. The report states that the economy is made up mostly of small and medium-sized businesses that don't have the time or don't want to get involved on a daily basis,

But they should--for the health and future of our economy. More should get involved in these organizations. There is power in numbers and many small and medium-sized business owners have a lot of good ideas about how to make things better. It just takes some commitment.

Let's face it. The report is right. Many governmental leaders just don't get it when it comes to making the decisions that keep our economy strong. Business leaders do, so let's take charge and guide the politicians and bureaucrats through the process. With many, strong businesses involved, such a force cannot be ignored. It worked with business tax reform but that's only the beginning.

Our New Web Site

We had an article about it in our last issue but it may have taken some readers up until now to actually look at it. The Business Journal has a new, drastically different web site at www.sfvbj.com.

Completely redesigned, it looks a lot better and is much easier to negotiate than our last site. But the major difference is we now can report news on a daily basis.

My staff and I are excited about the changes. We feel that we can offer much more to our readers and now have a great way to supplement our bi-weekly in-depth Business Journal coverage of the area's issues and events.

As an old daily newspaperman, it's especially gratifying to get the news out there not only quickly on a daily basis but essentially right away.

I've told my staff that we'll be "out" there more often covering meetings, events and just generally increasing our focus on what's going on in our area's business scene.

As I write this column, reporter Jonathan Colburn has just filed a story on the web site reporting on Mayor James Hahn's State of the Valley speech in Van Nuys. We've got a story on the site before the morning papers have it. The stories will be all business-related so at any given point in time, our web site will be virtually the only place you can get up-to-date Valley business news.

With the daily news updates we will "supplement" our regular bi-weekly print edition of the Business Journal. I stress the word "supplement" because these daily news updates can't do everything.

It will complement our coverage in our regular bi-weekly publication which I believe interpets, analyzes and explains news events and issues.

This new web site is easy to maneuver. Take a look.

After checking it out, let me know what you think. As with anything involving the editorial product of this newspaper, comments and suggestions are appreciated. And I thank you for them.

Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at [phone] or at [e-mail].