Huntington Beach council candidates talk business at chamber forum
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How is Huntington Beach faring as a business-friendly city? That depends on who you ask.
Business was the name of the game Wednesday night as 10 City Council hopefuls participated in a Chamber of Commerce forum at the Huntington Beach Central Library.
Incumbents, repeat candidates and first-time hopefuls all shared the stage as they were asked questions by Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Max Daffron during the two-hour event.
The candidates participating included, in alphabetical order, Brian Burley, Pat Burns, Ben Davis, Brenda Glim, Andrew Gruel, Amory Hanson, Casey McKeon, Taryn Palumbo, Rosalind Price and Erin Spivey. Brian Thienes was not able to make it due to a professional conflict, Daffron said, but his answers would be included in a recording released next week.
McKeon is the current mayor and Burns is a past mayor. They’re running for reelection, while Gruel also seeks to stay on the dais after being appointed to his seat last year. Four seats are open.
One of the several questions where candidates were asked to display either a thumbs up or thumbs down if they believed the city was business friendly. Seven said yes, but three — Burley, Glim and Spivey — said no.
McKeon, part of the current all-conservative council, highlighted decreases in homelessness and crime during his tenure, as well as the Streamline Surf City program that has increased the number of business permits issued.
“We broadcast that to the business community,” he said. “We landed huge companies. Last week, I toured Mach Industries, a leading defense company. They actually moved from Texas to California, which does not happen.”
But Burley, who is currently on the Huntington Beach City School District Board of Trustees, said he doesn’t believe the city is reaching its potential in terms of business growth.
“There’s a lot of barriers to entry,” said Burley, a Republican who is also running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 42nd District against Democrat Robert Garcia. “If you go to our permit department trying to get a permit, it’s like pulling teeth. You might actually have more fun pulling teeth.”
All of the candidates agreed that the city shouldn’t consider increasing sales tax to raise revenue, though three — Burley, Palumbo and Price — said it should consider increasing transient occupancy taxes.
The candidates were also split on whether the city should permanently close the first three blocks of Main Street, with eight saying no but Palumbo and Glim saying yes.
All candidates supported making changes to the city’s procurement processes to give greater advantages to Huntington Beach-based businesses. Nine supported forming a business incentive program that would provide tax and fee rebates to target industries to better attract investment into Huntington Beach, with McKeon holding his card sideways and saying, “It depends.”
Spivey, in response to a question about what businesses the city should seek to attract, mentioned that Pittsburgh used to be known as a steel city before reinventing itself. It did that by partnering with local universities and bringing healthcare companies into the city.
“We’ve seen job losses in many other industries, but healthcare continues to grow,” said Spivey, a former librarian in Huntington Beach. “Inviting healthcare to be here, revamping our Huntington Beach Hospital into a world-class facility like we see at Hoag, will not only support our community and bring new jobs here, it’ll support the businesses that exist.”
Glim, who works in medical education, said the city needs to rebuild its reputation to support its businesses.
“We’ve got to quit making national news,” she said. “Let’s be a nice, quiet city that just is famous for [a good] reputation.”
Hanson, who is on the city’s Historic Resources Board and running for council for the sixth time, indicated that he would like to see a performing arts center built to increase revenue for the city.
One question asked was how to improve consensus with colleagues to advance business-friendly policies. Gruel, a celebrity chef and restaurant owner in Huntington Beach, said the best way is to look at issues objectively and through the numbers.
“One thing I have learned, regardless of where you are in politics, is that we all kind of want to get to the same place,” he said. “We might just have disagreements as to how we get there, and the numbers are the best way to wipe away that emotion, which typically drives dysfunction.”
Price, who currently sits on the Community & Library Services Commission, said learning each other’s work styles would be important, while agreeing with Gruel that everyone has similar goals.
“I might go left, you might go right, but as long as we come together at the end of the day and end up to a consensus of where we want to see the community, where we want to see these businesses going, I think that’s most important,” Price said.
Daffron also brought up two large-scale projects in the works, the California Resources Corp. and Magnolia Tank Farm, which would each bring hundreds of housing units, as well as retail and hotel opportunities. He asked how to balance neighborhood concerns against the broader economic impact, and Burns admitted that was one of the most difficult parts of the job.
“For us, we as a council, we got to decipher what’s the greed and what’s the value to the community,” Burns said. “And I’m telling you, I don’t like greed.”
Palumbo, a nonprofit executive, said that clear communications with the public is key.
“At the end of the day, it’s about transparency,” she said. “It’s one thing to just say ‘we heard you, but now we’re going to do something else.’ It’s another to say ‘we heard you, we understand, and here’s how we’re going to try and address it, and here’s how we are just not able to address it.’”
Davis, an attorney who focuses on civil advocacy, said bringing back citizen commissions could play a big role in making sure residents have their voices heard.
