In February, the city of Manhattan Beach hired its first ever economic vitality manager, Andy Sywak of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.
The position was originally created, along with three others, in October 2014, but remained unfilled after a public backlash over the cost.
But when the national city planning organization, the Urban Land Institute, visited downtown for a week and directed the city to fill the position “to address the traditional economic development activities needed by the city for an improved tax base and high-quality jobs that will help lessen the burden of property taxes on Manhattan Beach residents,” in its final report, the city moved forward.
Sywak’s duties will include working “to design and implement comprehensive business attraction, retention and expansion activities,” according to Assistant City Manager Nadine Nader.
His job will also include working with the new Economic Development Advisory Council, which was just formed last month.
Sywak began working for the city in February after almost four years as the director of economic development and government affairs at the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.
Before that, he was a grad student at UCLA getting his masters in public policy.
“It’s where my interest in economic development started,” said Sywak, who worked at several San Francisco newspapers — and owned one, the Castro Courier — before going to grad school.
Now Sywak lives in Westchester with his wife and two children.
He sees some similarities between Manhattan Beach and Beverly Hills, such as a population of roughly 35,000, as well as some differences.
“The business culture is much bigger” in Beverly Hills, he said, pointing to Rodeo Drive, which Sywak said generated $655 million in sales in 2014.
Sywak has already picked up on the tension in town between the desire to preserve the downtown as it has been in the past, and the forces of change.
He attributes the friction to the city’s density.
“If it were a really suburban community with a five-lane highway and a big mall on the other side of town,” people probably wouldn’t care as much, he said.
“The city is very adamant about preserving its character,” he said. “One thing that’s great about Manhattan Beach and Beverly Hills is that they’re very unique places. I know the residents — and businesses — want to preserve that sense of place. But it has to stay relevant and dynamic.”
Sywak pointed out that his title lost the word “development,” from when the job was originally created, in favor of “vitality.”
“At the city council meetings, people objected to the term ‘development,’” he said.
One difference between the cities that Sywak said posed a challenge was Manhattan Beach’s lack of a visitors bureau.
“Almost any city this size has one,” he said, pointing to the Hermosa Beach Visitors Bureau.
“The city of Manhattan Beach doesn’t have anything like that,” he said. “There’s no marketing of the city.”
There are some ideas that Sywak would like to bring from Beverly Hills if the community is supportive, such as targeted retention meetings with businesses. When Netflix announced it was leaving Beverly Hills, such a meeting revealed that the company wanted a rooftop space. That information was helpful since the city had restrictions on rooftop activity, Sywak said.
The assistant city manager indicated that this experience made Sywak stand out as an applicant.
“Andy had particularly strong experience with the retention aspect of economic development – outreach to key businesses and anchor tenants and connecting them with key city officials and area resources,” said Nader.
Sywak would like to survey the community on what kind of businesses it would like to see. So far, he’s heard a wine bar and a pharmacy.
“In traditional economic development, cities want anybody because business is a huge tax base,” he said. “In places like Manhattan Beach or Beverly Hills, you have to actively manage it for the business ecosystem as well as the residents.” ER
Note: This article has been updated to correct the date Sywak began working at the city and to clarify his position on the establishment of a visitors bureau. Sywak said the city’s lack of such a bureau was a challenge, as opposed to suggesting that it establish one.
