TITLE
Recommendation to, by motion of the City Council, request City Manager to work with the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce to schedule a public forum at which local business can participate and provide input to the City Council on what can be done to ease the regulatory burden and to spur job growth.
DISCUSSION
During the April 26, 2012 Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce's Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Luncheon," Russell Goldsmith, Chairman and CEO of City National Bank and Chairman of the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy & Jobs, was the keynote speaker. The Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs is a bipartisan nonprofit organization whose members include top leaders of the region's business, labor, academic and nonprofit communities focused on improving the local economy.
Goldsmith spoke of the importance of elected officials listening to the business community about what needs to be done (and not done) so that our local economy can grow.
Goldsmith specifically spoke of regulations that hinder private enterprise, noting that entrepreneurs are being strangled by red tape-unreasonable and arbitrary government regulation.
Long Beach's local economy needs to improve and so it would behoove the Council to take time to listen to our business community about what regulations and practices might be hindering private enterprise.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff time related to organizing the forum.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
COUNCILWOMAN GERRIE SCHIPSKE
FIFTH DISTRICT