ORANGE : Mayor Wants Panel to Attract Businesses

Mayor Gene Beyer will ask City Council members this week to create a committee to find ways to curb the exodus of area businesses and lure new industry into the city.

Referring to the business community as the city’s “lifeblood,” Beyer said the committee could suggest solutions as varied as easing regulations on banner advertising for merchants to using redevelopment to attract big business.

“With the problems with the state budget, now more than ever it is critical we keep the sources of our city’s income,” Beyer said. He suggested the committee include himself, Councilman Mike Spurgeon, Orange Chamber of Commerce representatives and community members. “We need to be more aggressive,” he said.

Recently the city Redevelopment Agency used incentives to persuade TRW, the city’s second largest private employer, not to relocate out of state. The agency negotiated an incentive package including a rent agreement that will save TRW $2 million over 10 years. TRW employs 1,200 workers.

Some hailed the deal as a progressive way to stem the tide of business dollars flowing out of California, but others criticized it as an alarming precedent that could lead to expensive demands from other big employers. Some also wondered about the message sent to small businesses, who don’t have big-name clout but offer equally valuable jobs.

But Beyer, who said deals such as the TRW package are necessary to combat California’s increasingly bad reputation among businesses, said that small businesses will be targeted by the proposed committee.

“Every strip-center mall you go by seems to be half-empty,” said Beyer, who cited the failure rate of small businesses in the face of rough economic times. “They are even more vulnerable than the larger businesses, and just as important to us.”

The council-approved committee would include all or most of the membership of the Chamber of Commerce Business Retention Task Force, a 17-member group that includes state Sen. John R. Lewis, St. Joseph’s Hospital President Terry Belmont, Orange National Bank President Wayne F. Miller and South Counties Oil Co. President Frank P. Greinke Jr.

The task force on July 25 released a 35-page report charting retention problems and suggesting solutions such as creating a mall to house area auto dealers, streamlining city permit processes and pushing for more affordable housing for workers. Beyer said these findings could figure into the future work of the proposed city committee.