I really hate the concept of a “czar” of anything. So that’s why I initially shrugged off Mayor Villaraigosa’s appointment last week of a jobs czar for the City of Los Angeles. Austin Beutner will be first deputy mayor and chief executive for economic and business policy. He’s been charged with the unenviable but absolutely needed job of creating jobs here – in large part by leveraging the city’s assets. In order to do his job, Beutner will be in charge of 13 city departments including Planning and Building and Safety, the Convention Center, the DWP, the airport and the harbor. He reports directly to Villaraigosa. As this position is set up, it looks like Beutner is going to be more important than the mayor – if he does the job right and doesn’t let the City of L.A. and its weird way of doing things get him down. Beutner will be in the limelight so he can be as loud as he wants to get the issues in front of the business community, the bureaucrats, the politicians and the public. And he doesn’t have to worry about getting elected or even about getting fired. Beutner, 49, is a billionaire and is doing this job for $1 a year. He’s a founding partner of Evercore Partners and was named the Blackstone Group’s youngest partner in 1989.The fact that he doesn’t have to worry about all that other stuff might be the reason that he might just work out. He’s a Westsider, but we won’t hold that against him. I don’t even care if he comes over to the Valley. He needs to just get connected to the issues and the people that can fix the problems that hurt Los Angeles wherever they may be. If he comes to the Valley, I want him to meet with businesspeople (especially small-business people) and not just make speeches at a hotel. Assign that task to the mayor. He loves to do it. Give a speech, that is. I think we’d all like to offer Beutner some advice as he embarks on what could be a meaningful experience or a complete disaster. One year from now he will either be a hero or back making another billion dollars in the private sector or spending his billion having fun somewhere. OK, here’s my advice. Readers, please e-mail your advice to [email protected]. We’ll publish it. Deputy Mayor Beutner, please: • If you haven’t already done this, tell the mayor to leave you alone and to not politicize anything that you do. The minute he does, start walking out the door and threaten to go to the press or to give speeches so that you can expose what really happens or doesn’t happen at city hall. • Remember that you are here to create jobs. If you’ve ended a day of work without any tangible evidence of creating a job then quit. • L.A. city officials think that things will run just fine here because it’s L.A., we’re one of the most famous cities in the world and it’s sunny and warm. Give them a dose of reality. Maybe bring a snow-making machine into councilchambers or something like that. • Spend the next several months doing nothing but talking to businesspeople and advocates of businesses in our city. We’ll come to you. Just have a notepad handy. • Keep your staff down to almost nothing. The less self-serving public operatives you have the better. I’m sure you’ve got the ideas, just have them help you call the right people and meet the proper deadlines. • Spend the day with a small manufacturer. After he tells you what he does everyday, give him a day off and run the business for him. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected].
