Company Town : Riordan Seeks $10 Million for New-Media ‘Incubator’ : Technology: Round-table participants agree L.A. needs a facility but are split over a site.

Meeting with leaders of Los Angeles’ fledgling new-media industry, Mayor Richard Riordan on Thursday suggested the city raise $10 million to build an “incubator” site to nurture an industry that could potentially be a cornerstone of the city’s economy.

And the three dozen representatives from local entertainment, computer and telecommunications companies who were gathered for breakfast at USC agreed unanimously: It was a good idea.

But in a split that demonstrated one of the main reasons Southern California is losing out to San Francisco in attracting multimedia companies, there was no consensus on just where such a facility--which would provide space and technical support for new-media firms--ought to be located.

“It needs to be near the ocean,” insisted Robert Kavner, who recently left his post as AT&T;’s multimedia chief to join Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency. The often-youthful artists, musicians and computer programmers who are developing the multimedia computer games and CD-ROMs and interactive television programs insist on it, Kavner claimed: “These kids want to ride their bikes and they want to get fresh air.”

Not surprisingly, the contingent from USC, whose film and engineering schools have created a sophisticated laboratory for entertainment technology, lobbied for the “Figueroa corridor.” And the delegates from Paramount Studios and the American Film Institute contended that Hollywood was the natural choice.

As dozens of new companies hoping to produce the new forms of information, education and entertainment products spring up across the country, cities and states are vying to become the geographic center of what could be a source of thousands of jobs. Riordan said Thursday that he doesn’t want Los Angeles to lose out.

“There’s a lot of activity in Northern California,” Riordan said. “One question is, why don’t we have more here? We do have some, but we should have many, many more. This industry belongs to Southern California.”

Executives cited the usual suspects: Taxes. Commuting. Quality of life.

“It’s very difficult to recruit people,” said Carl Rosendahl, chief executive of Pacific Data Images. “Of the 70 people we have in the Bay Area, four or five might consider moving here. Of the 30 or 40 we have in L.A., 30 or 40 would consider moving to the Bay Area. People just think of the Bay Area as a better place to live.”

Still, the skills of the traditional entertainment industry are becoming more important as technology makes it possible to use more sophisticated production techniques, and executives at the round table agreed that building an incubator could help Los Angeles become a force. But it isn’t clear where the money would come from--Riordan wasn’t offering any--and the industry leaders emphasized that any such project would have to be more than a building:

“What we need is to build a culture, a community where people want to hang out,” said new-media consultant Jonathan Seybold.

The mayor plans to hold other business round tables for textile, environmental consulting and equipment manufacturing, biomedical, computer hardware and software, and child-care industries.