Panel OKs Seeking Grant to Hasten Valley Recovery

A Los Angeles City Council committee voted Friday to seek a $467,000 grant to help spur business growth in the San Fernando Valley, but the head of the panel predicted opposition when the grant application comes before the entire council.

The Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, a partnership of local business groups, hopes to use the federal grant to implement an economic recovery plan to deal with the effects of the Northridge earthquake on Valley businesses.

But Councilman Mike Hernandez, head of the Community and Economic Development Committee, questioned why no such plan is proposed for his East Los Angeles district or other parts of the city.

Although he backed the grant, Hernandez said other council members who represent areas outside the Valley may also question it.

“This is not going to be an easy sell,” Hernandez said. “I just don’t think it’s working to bring the city together as a whole.”

If approved, the grant would be funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration. The alliance would match the federal grant with $467,000 in private contributions and use it to implement the recovery plan over a three-year period and pay the salaries of three full-time positions.

Under the recovery plan, the alliance would strive to retain location businesses, attract new businesses and set up a permanent loan fund for small businesses.

Despite Hernandez’s concerns, the economic recovery plan would help revive the economy of the entire city, said John Rooney, president of the Valley Economic Development Center, a nonprofit group in Van Nuys that helped assemble the alliance’s economic strategy.

“We think it will have a major positive impact for the whole city,” he told Hernandez.

This was not the first time that earthquake recovery money had been at the center of disputes in the council.

On several occasions, council members from South and East Los Angeles have complained that their communities have not received their fair share of earthquake funds.

But Valley council members have argued that their constituents suffered the lion’s share of the damage and therefore should get most of the recovery funds.

The grant application is expected to be considered Friday by the full council.