Los Angeles to reach out to small and minority owned businesses
City contracts
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Los Angeles' top elected officials vowed to help small and minority-owned local businesses win more contracts with the city.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he would develop a "business inclusion program'' that would expand the city's pool of potential bidders to include more small and minority-owned local businesses, which he called "the lifeblood of the Southern California economy.''
"As these businesses prosper, so does the city,'' Villaraigosa said.
The announcement coincided with the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce releasing a report called "The Case for Minority Business Contracting Reform.''
The report said "The city of Los Angeles—specifically the Mayor's office—must do all it can to make sure all businesses have an equal opportunity to grow and to contribute to the city's immediate economic recovery.''
"Reforming contracting policies for minority businesses and enforcing those reforms with every city department and agency is a major step towards bridging the budget divide,'' it added.
GLAAAC Chairman Gene Hale said the report found that minority-owned businesses are not receiving what he considered an "adequate share'' of business contracts with the city.
He called on city leaders to "implement contracting reforms that will broaden opportunities for small local disadvantaged businesses.'' City Councilman Herb Wesson said he supported efforts to help not only minority-owned businesses but small businesses in general to flourish.
"The majority of the jobs that are created not just in the city and state, but in the country, are in small businesses, and those are the ones generally in need of some kind of assistance,'' he said.
Since minorities have higher levels of unemployment, the city should make an effort to help businesses that involve them, Wesson said.
"A team is only as strong as its weakest link and if minority businesses are the weaker links, we need to shore them up,'' he said.
The GLAAAC report urged the mayor to amend a 1985 executive order to direct city officials to make an effort to do with business local disabled veterans and local "disadvantaged'' companies.
The report also called for a study to determine if minority-owned business lag behind others when it comes to winning city contracts.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The City Council today unanimously elected Councilman Herb Wesson to be the panel’s first Black president.
Councilman Ed Reyes was chosen to serve as president pro tempore. Both will assume their new posts Jan. 2.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Assemblyman Gil Cedillo said today he will run for the 1st District seat on the Los Angeles City Council.
“Growing up here, I learned from a very early age that Los Angeles was a city of opportunities for anyone who had a dream of living a better life for themselves and their families,” Cedillo said. “I am announcing my candidacy for City Council District 1 because we need bold and experienced leadership to strengthen and protect the 'Los Angeles Dream.”’
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said today he welcomed news of a pending sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but said he wanted the new owner to be somebody local.
“It absolutely has to be somebody from L.A., somebody who loves this town, who believes in this city and understands that the Dodgers aren’t just a team. They’re a collective community asset,” the mayor said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, along with the heads of city and county public safety departments, sought to calm fears today about the region's readiness for a major disaster and concerns about elevated radiation in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis.
Villaraigosa issued five directives aimed at making the city's emergency response more efficient.
He called for the establishment of an Emergency Response Council, which he said will allow him to quickly activate only those city departments needed for a specific type of crisis.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Southern California boasts more manufacturing than any other region in the United States, which remains the world's largest manufacturing economy, according to a report issued today.
The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.'s study, "Manufacturing: Still a Force in Southern California,'' concludes that it is a myth that manufacturing is disappearing from the region and that all operations are moving to countries with low-cost labor.
