Beutner Talks Business Policy, Lack of Leadership in Los Angeles

After more than a year on the job, Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner is continuing to try and change the culture of City Hall by making it more responsive and business-friendly. At the same time, the man who is considering a 2013 run for mayor has started to take shots at the leadership of the Los Angeles City Council and its approach to a financial crisis that could push the city to bankruptcy.

Austin Beutner

In a sit-down interview with The City Maven, Beutner talked about reaching out to Los Angeles businesses to ask point blank what the city could be doing better. From his efforts, the city has implemented the “Business Tax Holiday,” which exempts companies that move into Los Angeles from paying business taxes for three years, and pursued an ordinance that would favor local businesses in awarding city contracts.

However, there is much more work to be done, including a complete overhaul of the city’s tax code, Beutner said.

“It is really old and archaic, punitive. It is not competitive with the surrounding cities,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to lower the top rates. You can’t just wave a wand and do it because you’ve got to find resources from elsewhere. You’ve got to tighten your belt to offset it.”

For all the work on changing policy, changing the culture within 200 N. Spring St. has been just as important, Beutner said.

“Nobody comes to play Solitaire. Nobody comes to stare out the window and look at the dusty windows. They come to make a difference. I think it’s an issue of leadership. I think it’s an issue where those who have set the priorities haven’t followed through or haven’t measured themselves or held others accountable,” he said.

That leadership failure starts with the city’s electeds, according to Beutner, whose comments to The City Maven came the same day he made similar statements in a speech to the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

“It starts with the elected officials, for sure. It’s interesting to me – no comment on any one individual, they’re all well-intentioned – we just reelected half the city council. Did you recall the budget discussion before that? Was there one? No, and we have a $400 million deficit,” he said.

The deputy mayor pointed to the council’s recent decision to back off a plan to lease its parking garages as an example of the piecemeal budget decisions that occur on a regular basis. Following more than two years of discussion, and last-minute negotiations to protect free and inexpensive parking in Westwood and Hollywood, the parking deal died and left Los Angeles in a financial hole.

“I moved my whole family to Los Angeles more than a decade ago, and I didn’t move here thinking that cheap and easy parking is why we’d move here. Law enforcement, schools, roads, public transit that worked – those to me seem core,” Beutner said.

“We’re doing major, non-elective surgery. We’re in the triage unit,” he said of the budget situation.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hired Beutner in January of last year to improve the city’s business climate and job creation efforts. Beutner is the founder of the private equity firm Evercore Partners and a former partner at the Blackstone Group.