Business Is Not Enemy

Peter King’s and Joel Kotkin’s recent editorial and opinion pieces insinuate that corporations aren’t really leaving Los Angeles but are instead using the economic downturn as an opportunity to wiggle out of compliance with regulations.

With this kind of cynicism, no wonder our global competitors have the advantage.

Business leaders in Los Angeles are working 20-hour days six and seven days a week trying to comply with regulations in a decidedly limp economy. What they are trying to do is maintain the economic vitality of the region without their companies and employees becoming the next headline statistic in job layoffs, bankruptcies and plant closures.

In November, the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., a nonprofit organization with 285 member companies representing about 90,000 employees in the San Fernando Valley, held a one-day closed hearing on why business is leaving the area.

King and Kotkin might have been less than amused as honest business people with real problems worried about two key issues: over-regulation and California’s workers compensation fraud.

It’s time for the people of this city to wake up. Business is not the enemy; business is jobs. If we want business and jobs to stay in Los Angeles, we need to put aside our skepticism and work together in an increasingly competitive global economy.

BONNY L. MATHESON, Woodland Hills. Matheson is president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.