Last night, the City Council voted unanimously to direct the City Manager’s Office to explore the creation of a business and economic development officer.
In 2007, the City developed an economic plan that stated goals of making Long Beach the most business friendly city in California, creating additional jobs for residents and supporting and strengthen our neighborhoods. But in 2010, the City’s Office of Economic Development was dismantled amid funding woes.
As Vice Mayor Robert Garcia pointed out, the former Economic Development Bureau was primarily responsible for implementing the plan and once the bureau was eradicated, its various functions were disseminated to different departments and areas of operation within the City.
“Given the current economic climate, I think now is a really good time to reevaluate this,” said Garcia. “We need to think about what is good for Long Beach when it comes to recruiting and retaining business.”
Garcia was not necessarily negative regarding the way in which economic growth has been handled—mainly the City Manager’s Office, who has maintained many economic development functions (hiring vouchers, infrastructure investments, etc.), and the Mayor’s Office (business recruitment, preference contracts for local businesses, etc.)—but was nonetheless shocked that, given other cities comparable to our size such as Miami and Cincinnati, Long Beach lacks a specific person for economic development.
“The City has a unique opportunity to move forward on economic development in a new way,” Garcia continued. “There’s a lot of opportunities in the city for tech and green businesses and certainly the new economy sector.”
The shift towards a newer form of economic development was proposed via the creation of a new position, that of a business and economic development officer that would serve not only as a liaison to the business community, but someone that, in the words of Fourth District Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell, “has to be a deal closer.”
The proposal, though unanimously passed, was also unanimously criticized since a new position—obviously costly—is being proposed when scale backs in police, fire, and public forces are simultaneously occurring.
Fifth District Councilmember Gerrie Schipske was one of the most outspoken critics, stating, “I want to get across to the public that a lot of things are happening [even though] we don’t have one designated person… The public is looking at us after this budget process to work smarter, to work leaner and I would hope that perhaps we could find in-house talent that can help coordinate all these efforts we are talking about.”
Despite the criticisms, the motion was mainly accepted due to the fact that the vote does not instate the position, but requires that the City Manager return to the Council with the feasibility and cost of creating such a position. That return should occur within the next three months.
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