John Perez Leaves CRA/LA to Seek Assembly Seat

You resigned last week from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA) board. Before discussing why, please share both your policy contributions to the Agency and what you take away from your service on this Board.

Sitting on the CRA/LA board has been one of the most exciting experiences I've had. We've reshaped the way that the agency looks at its task. Historically, we've talked about building communities with housing and jobs. I think we've refined that and tried to make sure that it's the right balance of different types of housing and that we're bringing in quality jobs to serve the communities.

We've tried to put together a holistic plan that improves the quality of life for people living in the redevelopment areas of Los Angeles so that redevelopment is measured not only by physical infrastructure, but by the impact on quality of life to people that already live in the redevelopment area.

The Planning Report has carried a series of interviews with Cecilia Estolano, the executive director of the CRA/LA, about issues including, industrial land, South L.A., and affordable housing. Tie it all together: What's the significance of that agenda for all of Los Angeles and its constituents, present and future?

It is an attempt to integrate the work of the CRA/LA-that we shouldn't just look at projects on a project-by-project basis, but rather figure out how the pieces come together. There's an obligation in each redevelopment area to produce a certain number of affordable housing jobs. The last couple of years, we've looked at bringing in new housing to different areas. We've tried to make sure that, as we bring in market-rate housing, we also bring in affordable housing. Some communities need an infusion of one, some communities need an infusion of the other.

The same thing relates to trying to make sure that the agency is at the cutting-edge of smart planning. We've looked at doing more mixed use than has ever been done before; and, we've looked at doing more transit-oriented development than ever has been done before so that we serve as a participant in this effort to do elegant density in a city that is responsive to the growth in population and responsive in creating more opportunities for business and for residents.

Transit-oriented development has begun at Metro stations at MacArthur Park in Downtown L.A. and Boyle Heights. What is the role of the agency at those hubs, and what is the potential of those assets?

In North Hollywood we created a specific plan around the end of the Red Line and the beginning of the Orange Line. We created bonuses to help developers create better density around those two public transportation centers. We've also provided incentives for the use of open space that's accessible to the public. So, if you created 50,000 square feet of open space, you'd get 100,000 square feet of density in your building. That becomes smart density as opposed to sprawling density.

We've also tried to figure out what kinds of mixed use make sense for different communities. The mistake people make is only looking at Hollywood and Downtown, which have been hotspots. If you look at South Los Angeles, there has been a huge focus on transit-oriented development-a new focus on how we take advantage of the Gold Line running to the Eastside and to make sure that we relate the development to that.

In Downtown Los Angeles, we're looking at doing a renaissance along Broadway, which will incorporate a new mode of public transportation-bringing back the Red Car so that people don't just have to be underground or in a bus to experience public transportation. They can interact with the community. The Red Car will allow people to get on and off to see, firsthand, the history and the beauty that exists in Downtown Los Angeles. By having that interaction, it widens activity at the street level and really makes the redevelopment more real.

MacArthur Park, for example, is great. We have the Westlake Theater, which is a historic theater that's been underutilized for years. We have initiated a project to reuse and re-purpose that theater, make sure that it goes from being a swap meet to actually being a set of business and entertainment opportunities that serves that community better. We think it's going to be a catalytic program that's going to bring other development into MacArthur Park. MacArthur Park has changed a lot over the years; the park itself has gotten cleaner and safer, and we've revitalized the band shell to bring public entertainment that's free for the residents of that community, creating a much different streetscape environment in that area.

Boyle Heights has the same kind of activity. We're looking at catalyzing commercial corridors by revitalizing key parts of them. What you'll see is that the focus of the CRA/LA won't just be the big one-off projects like Hollywood & Highland or L.A. Live or Grand Avenue, but rather what we can do smartly in different parts of the city.

Just last week, I did a groundbreaking with Councilman Reyes for a streetscape improvement on Pico Blvd. that we'll take from the Convention Center going west with one-and-a-half miles of streetscape. We'll repave, create public art, create incubators for the local businesses, and allow people to come out and enjoy the community in a better way.

You're in the leadership of United Food and Commercial Workers. You come from the private side of the union movement. A lot of complaints have arisen in the business community that too much of public policy is focused on the $9/hour jobs and not enough on the $25/hour jobs. What could the city be doing, what is the city doing, and what are you doing as a union leader to move the agenda to try to create living wage jobs?

Two things: one is to create a basic standard so that when you have public investment in the project the way we have in many projects, you can extend the coverage of the living wage to make sure that those workers get a decent wage that allows them to have a decent quality of life. But really, a majority of those are service sector jobs, and there's only so far we can push the wage rate in those service sector jobs. The future of the economy in L.A. depends on a diversified economic system, not just a retail economic system or the service sector. We've got to reinvest in industrial development in the city and high-wage jobs that actually serve the community.

We're looking at focusing on new green-collar jobs that we can put in a variety of places. We've looked at a biotech center that relates to the campus at County/USC. The idea is that we need to make sure that we bring in different kinds of jobs in L.A. We shouldn't be hamstrung by having just service sector and retail jobs.

You also served on the board of the LAEDC. USC and LAEDC have been talking for a long time, as have the mayor and county supervisors, about what might be done to make L.A. a biotech center. Has L.A. missed that opportunity? Could green-collar jobs fill the economic opportunity needs of L.A.?

I'm not sure that it's a completely missed opportunity. I think we missed one way, and unfortunately, our previous administration didn't have the resources in place to take advantage of the opportunities to locate some of those biotech jobs. I think there's a second wave of biotech that makes sense for L.A. to try to attract.

But green tech is that next wave, and I think that we're in a unique position to place Los Angeles at the cutting-edge of green tech. Cities like Chicago have done great jobs of creating incubators in their urban core. I think Los Angeles is at the precipice of doing the same thing, and I think we're better situated to be the exemplar for the rest of the state and the country on locating green tech. These are jobs that are good for the environment, huge economic opportunities for the business community, and can create decent wages and benefits for the folks that work in them.

To get an idea of where you are heading, share with us the last actions you took on the CRA/LA board.

Today was a historic day. We had a few hundred people at the board meeting to discuss a local hire program-a local hire program that ties into the Project Labor Agreement Program. That allowed us to set aside construction jobs for residents of the city of Los Angeles that live in zip codes that have one-and-a-half times the unemployment rate of the county as a whole. That takes people out of poverty. It takes people out of unemployment, gives them a pathway to long-term employment at decent wages, and keeps the money within the city of Los Angeles.

This was a historic day because, not only did we set aside what would be 150,000 jobs over the next five years in construction with 30 percent of them going to local residents and ten percent of them going to local residents with significant barriers to employment, we did it in such a way that you got the labor movement, the development community, the nonprofit housing community, and the business community together. We have the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Central City Association speaking with one voice about this as a win-win opportunity. I think that that's one of the great examples of what we've been able to do at the Redevelopment Agency: bring disparate voices together to figure out win-win opportunities to help move the city forward.

What's next for John Pérez?

I've stepped off the board to explore a race for Assembly, representing Downtown, Pico-Union, MacArthur Park, East L.A., and some of the Southeast.

What will be your campaign's platform? Why are you running for public office, particularly the State Assembly?

The district I'm running for, the 46th Assembly District, is at the crossroads of two economies in the city of Los Angeles. You have some of the greatest pockets of poverty in the city and county. You also have some of the greatest economic opportunities and some of the greatest economic resources in the city. We have the industrial core of Los Angeles; we have the business center of Los Angeles. But at the same time, we have people living in tough situations, trying to survive.

My candidacy is about trying to bring those opportunities to folks, about improving quality of life, fighting for access to health care, making sure that educational opportunities exist for folks who live in this district, and to make sure that we really leverage the resources of the state to create quality jobs for the people who live here. I think that it really does mirror some of the work that we've tried to do in the CRA/LA over the last several years.