Hard-Hit Cities to Get Boost From New Group : Recession: Economic council will provide information on creating and retaining jobs. The program is expected to be in place in six months.

A new group, the South Bay Economic Development Council, has been formed to unite communities under the banner of improving the region’s economic health in the face of a recession and the loss of aerospace jobs.

A spinoff of the South Bay Assn. of Chambers of Commerce, the council will be a clearinghouse for South Bay cities seeking ways to improve their economic health.

The council, which is expected to be in place within six months, will be composed of the chief executive officers of unspecified local firms, said Walt Dougher, a vice president of the South Bay chamber who is organizing the council.

Dougher said the council will focus on retaining and creating jobs, which many chambers do not do. The council will be a network among top business people and elected officials to help them find ways to revitalize the local economy. A city seeking to increase jobs might ask the council what other cities are doing and what state or federal programs are available to them.

The South Bay chamber announced the formation of the council Friday at its annual State of the South Bay Economy meeting.

Economists estimate that since 1989 more than 80,000 technology jobs have been lost in Los Angeles County, with the South Bay, the bedrock of California’s aerospace industry, taking the biggest hit.

Officials fear more jobs will be lost if the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, a space technology research and development center that is key to the region’s aerospace companies, is relocated. The Defense Department is drafting a list of bases to close or relocate as a cost-cutting measure.

In the past, the Los Angeles base, which employs about 7,000 people, has been considered a candidate for closure. South Bay politicians and business leaders, worried that the ripple effect of the base closure could mean a loss of more than 50,000 jobs, have mounted a lobbying effort to ensure the base is not on the closure list, which will be released March 15.

Last week, 17 business leaders returned from a trip to Washington where they met with the Air Force chief of staff, members of the Base Closure Commission, which will submit a final list to President Clinton, and a top aide to Defense Secretary Les Aspin.

Although the officials with whom they met remained neutral, some members of the South Bay contingent came away with cautious optimism that the base will be spared.

“My own very personal impression was that it is not going to be on the list this time, but I think they are looking for a reason to close it,” said Alan M. Schwartz, a South Bay chamber official and spokesman for the Washington delegation.

Schwartz and others on the trip said it appeared that Air Force officials would prefer to have the Space and Missiles System Center, the chief component on the base, at a more traditional air force base.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Willard McPeak “said, ‘We have been trying to close the Los Angeles base for five years,’ ” said Kevin Peterson, president of the South Bay chamber and a member of the Washington delegation. “It’s viewed by the Air Force as being an oddball facility. I got the sense they would be more confident having that operation in an Air Force environment.”

Still, he and others said defense officials appeared heartened that the community and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina del Rey) had taken an aggressive stance toward saving the base. Defense officials also appeared receptive to the delegation’s point that moving the base would strike a severe blow to the region’s and California’s already weak economy.

At Friday’s local conference, officials from 18 South Bay communities provided glimpses of their economic problems. For most, the situation appears bleak, especially with the prospect that Sacramento may take more of their property tax revenue to balance the state budget.

In the bedroom community of Rancho Palos Verdes, Mayor Susan Brooks said the city has few sources of commercial revenue and cannot afford to give more to the state.

“Basically, what we have here is a fish out of water,” she said.

Hermosa Beach anticipates an $800,000 budget shortfall because of decreasing property tax revenues and loss of businesses.

“Businesses are leaving us because there is no place for parking and they can’t keep their doors open,” said Albert Wiemans, Hermosa Beach mayor.