Valley businesspeople look for answers from candidates; opponents in runoff asked to be active in city reforms.

As Assemblyman Paul Krekorian and former Paramount Pictures Corp. executive Christine Essel gear up to compete for the District 2 seat on the Los Angeles City Council, local businesses will be focusing on which candidate will do more to improve the business climate in the city.

"We need someone that is going to help businesses create jobs by not overburdening them with onerous and duplicative regulation," said Stuart Waldman, President of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, emphasizing the importance of business tax reform. "We have businesses leaving this city and others who wouldn't even consider coming here at all, so this issue is extremely important," Waldman said.

Whoever wins the seat in the December 8 runoff could represent the District, which includes parts of Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Valley Village, Valley Glen, North Hollywood and Sunland Tujunga, for 14 years and have the potential to deeply impact business policy.

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"It's very important that whoever wins actively participate in business tax reform, and pays attention to business groups such as VICA and the Chamber of Commerce," said Mel Kohn a partner in the accounting firm Kirsch, Kohn & Bridge. "Ultimately they should show support for creating more jobs by making changes and reforming the business tax is a big piece of the puzzle."

Kohn, in representation of VICA, recently presented recommendations to the City Council for how to best structure a new Business Tax Advisory Committee. Streamlining and reducing the city's business tax is vital to economic recovery and long term job creation he said, and there is still a lot of room for the city to improve in this regard.

"When businesses are considering leaving the city or coming here, business tax is a tie breaker. Our business tax is still not competitive with surrounding cities like Burbank or El Segundo," he added.

Essel who started her career in accounting and finance and touts her 35 years of experience in the business world, says she understands how taxes in particular impact business communities.

"The numbers mean a lot to me. I understand the economic models in the business world, it's in my DNA," she said.

As part of her campaign platform, Essel has said she will work to streamline permitting and licensing processes for local small businesses and fight to implement tax incentives for L.A. companies that create good local jobs, as well as to encourage new firms to locate in the Valley.

Krekorian, who was a Burbank school board member before being elected to the State Assembly in 2006, says he will also be an advocate for businesses in City Hall helping cut taxes and red tape that push jobs out of the area.

"One of the biggest problems that pushes businesses out of Los Angeles is having to deal with the faceless, grey bureaucracy that is city hall, and not being able to penetrate through the byzantine permitting process that our neighboring cities don't have. It's just a lot easier to get things done in Burbank or Glendale or Santa Monica, or Santa Clarita. What we need is a Council that will fight to get through the bureaucratic red tape on behalf of businesses," he said during an August candidate forum.

Krekorian, has also been a strong advocate for what he calls job creation for the 21st Century, and the need to encourage investment and help build a local economy that creates jobs in green technologies, entertainment, and innovation-based industries.

In the midst of a fiscal crisis, and as the city faces a $500 million dollar deficit this year, both candidates have called for rooting out waste in the city, maximizing efficiency and prioritizing services like public safety.

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Both have highlighted the importance of collecting unpaid bills to the city. Over $1 billion dollars in back taxes, fees and fines are owed to the city according to an audit by the former City Controller Laura Chick.

Essel also supports creating a rainy day fund in the city budget to avoid cuts to vital city services during tough economic times, as well as the creation of a public website that tracks every dollar of spending by City Hall.

In heading to the runoff, Krekorian and Essel defeated eight candidates including Los Angeles School Board Member Tamar Galatzan and seven community and neighborhood activists who had criticized the two for moving into the District only to run for the $178,789 a year seat.

The seven identified themselves as grassroots candidates heavily involved with the community through neighborhood councils and homeowners associations and labeled Essel and Krekorian as "machine candidates".

Essel who raised the most money, $294,000 for the primary round, and Krekorian who raised $157,870, were also criticized for the amount of money they raised and much of the campaign focused on their political connections.

In the special election held Sept. 22. Krekorian led with 34 percent of the vote to Essel's 28 percent.

Less than 12 percent of registered voters turned out for the special election.

BY ANDREA ALEGRIA

Staff Reporter