Touting Proposals to Foster Business Growth and Job Creation in Los Angeles, Wendy Greuel Unveils Policy Blueprint to Lead LA Forward
Los Angeles – At an event flanked by business, community, education, and environmental leaders, Wendy Greuel today unveiled a series of proposals to foster business growth and job creation in Los Angeles. The proposals are part of Greuel's newly released policy blueprint, which outlined her vision on how she would lead LA forward as the city's next Mayor.
During the event, Greuel discussed her plans to responsibly phase out the onerous business tax as a way to help retain and attract economic development and investment in LA, particularly in underserved areas. Greuel was the architect of the historic business tax reform, which helped to restore $100 million to LA businesses, and is exploring fiscally-prudent options to phase out the tax. Greuel also is seeking to create a $50 million tech jobs fund – leveraging existing and public and private sector money – to invest in local up-and-coming tech jobs and incubators that will create real jobs for Angelenos. And she supports reforming the city's contracting practices, holding departments accountable for ensuring contractors are paid on-time and provide opportunities to small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses.
"I'm running for Mayor because I want LA to be the best LA it can be," said Greuel. "At a time when the economic recovery remains fragile, city resources are stretched thin and fiscal austerity remains the catchphrase of the day – I know that the economy, jobs and the city's budget are top of mind for many of us in Los Angeles." Greuel said. "My experience working in both the private and public sector uniquely qualifies me to tackle this challenge and to lead LA forward. The City of Los Angeles has far too much talent and far too many resources to be falling behind other major U.S. cities. As Mayor, I will put a renewed emphasis on putting all of Los Angeles back to work and in restoring LA a regional leader in business growth."
Greuel's plan also features a series of cost-effective proposals for the near- and longer-term, including: balancing the city's budget in future years; revitalizing LA's public schools; guiding sensible and sustainable pension reform; reducing traffic congestion; keeping our neighborhoods safe and promoting a cleaner greener energy infrastructure – all while reforming the broken bureaucracy of City Hall.
"The Valley needs a Mayor who understands how businesses work and what businesses need to grow and flourish," said Stuart Waldman, president of VICA PAC. "Wendy Greuel is the only candidate for Mayor with small and big business experience. As a small business owner, she has a deep knowledge of the struggles businesses go through to stay afloat. And her experience as an executive in the entertainment industry at DreamWorks has provided her with a keen insight for what Hollywood needs to stay in L.A., instead of running away. Wendy has a plan to make LA a great place to do business, and to attract jobs to the City. We're excited to work with Wendy to make LA more business friendly and strengthen our economy back on track."
"Wendy has been a champion for women's business and as a business owner herself, she understands the unique challenges that women entrepreneurs face," said Jane Pak, CEO of the National Association of Women Business Owners. "This blueprint, which will reshape the way Los Angeles interacts with the business community, will help grow the economy, create good-paying jobs, and make sure Los Angeles workers and businesses are given preference for City contracts."
"As a longtime member of the Film Commission and former executive for DreamWorks studios, Wendy has the experience and understanding necessary to grow the economy and bring entertainment jobs back to Los Angeles," said Thom Davis, business representative of IATSE Local 80. "She'll be a strong advocate for incentives and reforms to keep not only filming jobs but all the ancillary services and economic activity that the industry brings. And as she laid out today, Wendy has a powerful vision for job creation that will help revitalize our City and create good-paying family jobs for Angelenos."
"Wendy Greuel has worked tirelessly to understand and respond to issues confronting so many different communities that make up Los Angeles, and has joined with them in celebrating their diversity," said former longtime Los Angeles Urban League President John Mack. "Wendy Greuel will be an outstanding Mayor, and her experience as Controller will help her take on the bureaucracy and make it more transparent and accountable. Her blueprint to bring efficiency and transparency to Los Angeles city government lays out a clear vision for a just, accountable city, one that is working for all the people of Los Angeles."
Other highlights of Greuel's blueprint to lead LA forward include:
Greuel will be discussing various elements of her policy blueprint in the coming days at events around the city.
To download a copy of the report and to review comments from other Wendy Greuel supporters, click here.
Leaders across Los Angeles praised Greuel's plan to lead LA forward.
"Our city is at a crossroads. We have high unemployment, a reputation for being business unfriendly, a structural deficit and a crumbling infrastructure," said Carol E. Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association. "The next mayor has a lot to do and we believe that Wendy Greuel has the skills, experience, independence and strength to take on these challenges. As she outlined today, Wendy will take decisive action to save the City money and help businesses start and expand in LA. It is our goal to work with the mayor in leading Los Angeles back to prosperity. To say it won't be easy is an understatement, but we don't accept the premise that it is impossible and that our problems are insurmountable. We believe that Wendy Greuel will get us there."
"Today Wendy Greuel unveiled a clear set of ideas that will help get LA's economy back on track. Wendy understands that businesses create jobs, and she'll make sure government is helping businesses in Los Angeles succeed," said David Fleming, the founder of the Los Angeles County Business Federation. "She'll help lower the business tax and cut red tape and bureaucracy at City Hall. And Wendy will actually work with and listen to business owners. I'm excited to partner with her to implement the proposals she outlined today."
"Los Angeles needs a Mayor who can lead us to a more environmentally responsible future, with more rooftop solar, a more environmentally responsible transportation system, and a reduced carbon footprint," said environmentalist and Pacoima Beautiful founder Marlene Grossman. "This blueprint for environmental protection is not only bold, it is practical and possible, and I am thrilled that Wendy Greuel has such a specific vision for a sustainable future here in our city."
"Wendy has always been a leader on the fight against gridlock, and I'm proud to see that she has laid out a comprehensive vision to improve our public transportation system, make our roadways more efficient, and lead us towards a more environmentally responsible future," said former Assembly Minority Leader Richard Katz. "She will bring common-sense solutions and invest in our infrastructure to combat traffic."
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Los Angeles – At an event flanked by business, community, education, and environmental leaders, Wendy Greuel today unveiled a series of proposals to foster business growth and job creation in Los Angeles. The proposals are part of Greuel's newly released policy blueprint, which outlined her vision on how she would lead LA forward as the city's next Mayor.
During the event, Greuel discussed her plans to responsibly phase out the onerous business tax as a way to help retain and attract economic development and investment in LA, particularly in underserved areas. Greuel was the architect of the historic business tax reform, which helped to restore $100 million to LA businesses, and is exploring fiscally-prudent options to phase out the tax. Greuel also is seeking to create a $50 million tech jobs fund – leveraging existing and public and private sector money – to invest in local up-and-coming tech jobs and incubators that will create real jobs for Angelenos. And she supports reforming the city's contracting practices, holding departments accountable for ensuring contractors are paid on-time and provide opportunities to small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses.
"I'm running for Mayor because I want LA to be the best LA it can be," said Greuel. "At a time when the economic recovery remains fragile, city resources are stretched thin and fiscal austerity remains the catchphrase of the day – I know that the economy, jobs and the city's budget are top of mind for many of us in Los Angeles." Greuel said. "My experience working in both the private and public sector uniquely qualifies me to tackle this challenge and to lead LA forward. The City of Los Angeles has far too much talent and far too many resources to be falling behind other major U.S. cities. As Mayor, I will put a renewed emphasis on putting all of Los Angeles back to work and in restoring LA a regional leader in business growth."
Greuel's plan also features a series of cost-effective proposals for the near- and longer-term, including: balancing the city's budget in future years; revitalizing LA's public schools; guiding sensible and sustainable pension reform; reducing traffic congestion; keeping our neighborhoods safe and promoting a cleaner greener energy infrastructure – all while reforming the broken bureaucracy of City Hall.
"The Valley needs a Mayor who understands how businesses work and what businesses need to grow and flourish," said Stuart Waldman, president of VICA PAC. "Wendy Greuel is the only candidate for Mayor with small and big business experience. As a small business owner, she has a deep knowledge of the struggles businesses go through to stay afloat. And her experience as an executive in the entertainment industry at DreamWorks has provided her with a keen insight for what Hollywood needs to stay in L.A., instead of running away. Wendy has a plan to make LA a great place to do business, and to attract jobs to the City. We're excited to work with Wendy to make LA more business friendly and strengthen our economy back on track."
"Wendy has been a champion for women's business and as a business owner herself, she understands the unique challenges that women entrepreneurs face," said Jane Pak, CEO of the National Association of Women Business Owners. "This blueprint, which will reshape the way Los Angeles interacts with the business community, will help grow the economy, create good-paying jobs, and make sure Los Angeles workers and businesses are given preference for City contracts."
"As a longtime member of the Film Commission and former executive for DreamWorks studios, Wendy has the experience and understanding necessary to grow the economy and bring entertainment jobs back to Los Angeles," said Thom Davis, business representative of IATSE Local 80. "She'll be a strong advocate for incentives and reforms to keep not only filming jobs but all the ancillary services and economic activity that the industry brings. And as she laid out today, Wendy has a powerful vision for job creation that will help revitalize our City and create good-paying family jobs for Angelenos."
"Wendy Greuel has worked tirelessly to understand and respond to issues confronting so many different communities that make up Los Angeles, and has joined with them in celebrating their diversity," said former longtime Los Angeles Urban League President John Mack. "Wendy Greuel will be an outstanding Mayor, and her experience as Controller will help her take on the bureaucracy and make it more transparent and accountable. Her blueprint to bring efficiency and transparency to Los Angeles city government lays out a clear vision for a just, accountable city, one that is working for all the people of Los Angeles."
Other highlights of Greuel's blueprint to lead LA forward include:
- Balancing the budget: Leveraging her experience as a fiscal watchdog, Greuel's initial budget proposals would cumulatively realize a total of approximately $175 million in deficit reduction, revenue restoration and re-programmed funding to ensure that all Angelenos can benefit from improved core services. At the heart of her budget proposals, outlined earlier this week, are plans to lower costs of employee health benefits and workers' compensation by 10 percent (a savings of $60 million); to change pension investment practices and spend less money on Wall Street fund managers (a savings of $40 million, conservatively); recouping lost revenue from parking lot tax evaders (estimated at $20 million in recovered revenue); and supporting local business by spending tax dollars locally (up to $10 million in new revenue).
- Reforming employee pensions: As someone who has broad-based support from both the business and labor communities, Wendy is ready to bring all parties to the table to tackle the problem of pension reform head-on. As part of those negotiations, Wendy will explore raising the age at which non-sworn employees can retire with their full pension; a two-tier system for current employees; a pension buyout option; capping the salary used to calculate pension benefits; as well as stopping pension spiking and ending double-dipping.
- Improving LA's education systems: As a LAUSD parent, Wendy strongly believes that all LA students deserve a world-class education system – one that supports stronger parent empowerment establishes a student's bill of rights; creates a leadership pipeline to support outstanding teachers and administrators; and also raises private funds to expand the nationally-recognized LA's Best after-school program, which Wendy helped start with Mayor Tom Bradley.
- Reducing traffic congestion: LA's notorious traffic congestion is not only a huge nuisance and inconvenience for city drivers, it also cost LA more than $10 billion in wasted time and fuel last year. Greuel is proposing a comprehensive set of solutions to reduce the burden of congestion by creating additional anti-gridlock zones and banning rush-hour construction; implement and leverage Measure R funds to accelerate construction of transit and highway projects aggressively implementing the city's bike plan; and using the power of technology to provide commuters with timely information. For the longer-term, Greuel also supports plans to facilitate more efficient goods movement and promote transit-oriented developments.
- Restoring public safety resources and keeping LA neighborhoods safe: Last May, in her capacity as City Controller, Greuel conducted an audit of the City's emergency preparedness capacity. And although some progress has been made, the majority of the audit's 56 findings have yet to be addressed. Greuel is also proposing longer-term solutions to keep neighborhoods safer by prioritizing new revenues gained as the city's economic recovery continues towards first responders and public safety – which would help realize her goal of putting an additional 2,000 cops on the street and establishing a Public Safety Trust Fund.
- Promoting cleaner energy: Greuel is seeking to ensure LA can meet its promise to achieve a more sustainable environment while promoting economic growth. That's why she supports increasing the use of energy-efficient technologies that create new local jobs and job training programs, while reducing costs. She supports plans to establish a cleaner mix of energy sources for LADWP while phasing out coal, while also maximizing energy efficiency and demand-side management programs. And she proposes to create an environmental cabinet led by a Chief Energy Officer to help better manage the city's energy and environmental footprint.
- On fixing the city's broken government: Greuel believes that the people of LA deserve to have a transparent, accountable budgeting process that effectively allocates the City's scarce resources; allows taxpayers to see how their dollars are spent; and evaluates how departments actually perform. She supports reducing the Mayor's and Council's operating budgets by 25 percent and requiring the City Council and Mayor to take a pay cut equal to those of city employees.
Greuel will be discussing various elements of her policy blueprint in the coming days at events around the city.
To download a copy of the report and to review comments from other Wendy Greuel supporters, click here.
Leaders across Los Angeles praised Greuel's plan to lead LA forward.
"Our city is at a crossroads. We have high unemployment, a reputation for being business unfriendly, a structural deficit and a crumbling infrastructure," said Carol E. Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association. "The next mayor has a lot to do and we believe that Wendy Greuel has the skills, experience, independence and strength to take on these challenges. As she outlined today, Wendy will take decisive action to save the City money and help businesses start and expand in LA. It is our goal to work with the mayor in leading Los Angeles back to prosperity. To say it won't be easy is an understatement, but we don't accept the premise that it is impossible and that our problems are insurmountable. We believe that Wendy Greuel will get us there."
"Today Wendy Greuel unveiled a clear set of ideas that will help get LA's economy back on track. Wendy understands that businesses create jobs, and she'll make sure government is helping businesses in Los Angeles succeed," said David Fleming, the founder of the Los Angeles County Business Federation. "She'll help lower the business tax and cut red tape and bureaucracy at City Hall. And Wendy will actually work with and listen to business owners. I'm excited to partner with her to implement the proposals she outlined today."
"Los Angeles needs a Mayor who can lead us to a more environmentally responsible future, with more rooftop solar, a more environmentally responsible transportation system, and a reduced carbon footprint," said environmentalist and Pacoima Beautiful founder Marlene Grossman. "This blueprint for environmental protection is not only bold, it is practical and possible, and I am thrilled that Wendy Greuel has such a specific vision for a sustainable future here in our city."
"Wendy has always been a leader on the fight against gridlock, and I'm proud to see that she has laid out a comprehensive vision to improve our public transportation system, make our roadways more efficient, and lead us towards a more environmentally responsible future," said former Assembly Minority Leader Richard Katz. "She will bring common-sense solutions and invest in our infrastructure to combat traffic."
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