A Can-Do City Shapes a Playa Vista Vision : DreamWorks: Package of incentives for the new studio marks a dramatic shift in L.A.’s approach to economic development.

A quiet revolution is taking place in City Hall. We have spent months producing a package of work that, in entertainment terms, is destined to be a megahit. The result is an incentives package with an important goal: Bring DreamWorks to Los Angeles. The creativity that went into designing the unprecedented incentives package for the new movie studio being launched by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen exemplifies a new “make it happen” attitude in City Hall, marking a dramatic shift in the city’s approach to economic development and city planning.

Should DreamWorks choose Los Angeles--and we are optimistic it will--our city will be home to much more than a new studio. Los Angeles will boast a multimedia business center anchored by DreamWorks that will bring together the best our entertainment industry has to offer with the best from the dynamic field of high technology. This new multimedia community in Playa Vista will be an international leader, a catalyst for thousands of new, quality jobs in our city and a global trendsetter for the multimedia industry.

DreamWorks’ arrival will also help bring forward the Playa Vista project, perhaps the most carefully scrutinized development Los Angeles has ever seen. With a carefully integrated mix of residential and commercial space, an extensive number of parks and a project to bring back Los Angeles’ last remaining wetland, Playa Vista is a model of what we can achieve here.

Unlike cities and states that have shown they will do anything to recruit a company, Los Angeles won’t be giving away the farm in its proposal to DreamWorks. The city’s package is an investment in the future of Los Angeles. Since our incentives have the ultimate aim of creating tax revenue, the city always stays ahead of the game.

Next week, the City Council will vote on the DreamWorks incentives package. It includes several programs being evaluated for citywide application, relevant to many businesses. Among these are a new business tax category that will provide favorable rates for multimedia businesses (an industry that developed after the last revision to the city’s tax codes) and a jobs creation tax credit to offset some of the costs of business taxes and utility user taxes for up to five years.

The DreamWorks package also includes a partnership with the Department of Water and Power in which the city-owned utility assumes some of the up-front costs of installing distribution facilities in exchange for a long-term contract for the purchase of electricity. That’s good business, especially with the advent of deregulation in the utility industry.

In applying a scalpel to certain city policies and practices that most impede business growth, we have spawned other policy initiatives. For example, the mayor’s office will soon be working with the City Council on a package to reduce the sewer connection charges for all classes of customers, citywide.

In all, this DreamWorks package builds on the work begun by L.A.’s Business Team and many council members and incorporates the efforts of 10 city departments. During the many months of negotiations with DreamWorks, we challenged city department heads with numerous requests. Their response has been extraordinary. They approached the project with real commitment and a can-do attitude.

The city of Los Angeles has given DreamWorks our best shot. It deserves the support of the entire City Council.