State of the City: El Segundo leaders see brighter days ahead
Mayor Carl Jacobson led an unusual joint State of the City address in which he was joined by City Council members Bill Fisher and Suzanne Fuentes in giving a multi-perspective assessment of where El Segundo stands and what the future holds.
The good news, according to the officials, is that the city’s dynamic private sector continues to prove itself economically durable and continuously innovative. The bad news is that El Segundo has not been immune to the Great Recession.
The address, hosted by the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce August 4 before a packed room at the Hacienda Hotel, didn’t gloss over the ongoing economic malaise has cost city coffers nearly $10 million in revenue each year since 2008 and doesn’t appear to be at its end.
“Regarding the financial state of the city and our outlook for next year, I would have liked to be positive and tell you about the abundance of great new things we are going to be doing and working on,” Jacobson said. “Unfortunately it looks like next year will continue to be one of transition and uncertainty.”
Due to economic factors largely beyond the city’s control, Jacobson said projections indicate the city will continue to “take a hit” on sales and use taxes and reduced investment income, factors which combined with increased public employee retirement costs has already required the city to trim its workforce by 20 percent since 2008.
“To their credit, our employees have tried for the last several years to minimize the impact of staff reductions on the community and to continue to provide efficient and effective services,” Jacobson said. “However, in some cases it’s been impossible to do the same with less.”
Hope, Jacobson said, lies in several signs emanating from the business community. Fisher spelled those hopeful signs out. He listed a wide array of new expansions and openings. Time Warner has located its new sports broadcasting facilities in town, the Container Store and H&M opened this year in Plaza El Segundo, and Schat’s Bakery, El Segundo brewing, and Rock N’ Brew have all launched new venues downtown; the El Segundo School District is moving head with the private development of its former Imperial site; websites newly located locally include BeachBody.com, PCMall.com, and Stamps.com; and longtime local business stalwarts NRG and Chevron are both in the process of multi-million dollar reinvestments in their local facilities.
Fisher saw special significance in the near completion of the Hyatt Place Hotel at Campus El Segundo.
“The ground breaking there was a real sign to me of the economy moving forward, and more so, a company analyzing risk against opportunity still takes and decides to move forward,” Fisher said.
Aerospace, of course, remains the biggest and most reliable component of the local economy, Fisher noted, calling the local aerospace industry “a brain trust second to none in the world” responsible for protecting the country. The councilman was also particularly enthusiastic about technological advances in the private sector, such as an impending new T-5 data center on Nash and the planned expansion of the adjacent Equinox data center.
The city, Fisher said, must lead the way by providing its own investment in infrastructure. Towards that end, he pointed to the upcoming reconstruction of Maple Avenue and Aviation Boulevard as well as citywide upgrades in fiber optic lines as examples of the city doing its part to foster private sector growth.
“A city that invests in itself sends a signal to other to invest in it,” Fisher said. “So infrastructure improvements are critical for our city.”
Perhaps nowhere has the public/private partnership been more at play recently than in the Smoky Hollow business district, where the city has led efforts in attracting “new creative” businesses by bringing in the Urban Land Institute to conduct a study. The city is poised to enact zoning changes and commit to infrastructure improvements in the area in hopes of creating a high-tech “Silicon Beach” economic boom.
“I can’t help to think that someone sitting in a small incubator suite in Smoky Hollow someday will come up with the next great idea and possibly change the world,” he said. “It won’t be me, it may not be any of you, but one day it will happen, and it should happen here in El Segundo.”
Father Alexei Smith of Saint Andrews Russian Greek Catholic Church, in his invocation, gave thanks for what he called “the gift of El Segundo.” Council member Fuentes itemized some of those gifts, including a high-achieving school system, a thriving El Segundo Education Foundation whose recent $750,000 helped keep that school district achieving, an involved residential and business community and city employees who have been willing to make financial sacrifices in order to keep services largely intact. She also gave a nod to the locally based LA Kings.
“The Kings won their first NHL championship and brought the Stanley Cup back to El Segundo,” Fuentes said. “Do you realize the Kings spend more time on El Segundo ice than anywhere in the world? I personally refer to them as the El Segundo Kings.”
Fuentes expressed gratitude for this plentitude of gifts.
“I am thankful to live in El Segundo,” she said. “We live in one of the most desirable spots in the world: a small town with a big heart that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, a place where most of the world only dreams of living. And we are here.”