Letter to the Editor: Downey's pro-business approach
Dear Editor:
Downey’s businesses are one of the pillars of our community. Thus, City Council and City staff take business assistance seriously, and have dedicated a tremendous amount of resources to the cause throughout the decades. Therefore, we feel compelled to reply to Mr. Fritz’s letter, “Downey's anti-business policies” dated August 9, 2021.
In March of 2020, when the world was confronted with a global pandemic, Downey was one of the only cities in the region that never stopped working to support our business community. We continued to help businesses through electronic application and plan submissions, and also established drop-off bins for those that did not have the means to submit electronically, as well as continued to conduct business license and tenant improvement inspections. We then opened our City Hall doors in June of 2020. Again, one of the only cities in the region to do so at that time. With the guidance of our City Council, we instituted COVID-19 business grant programs to further support our businesses. Unlike surrounding cities that offered grants in the amounts of $2,500 to $10,000, we thought it better to provide increased support to our businesses, and offered grants of $25,000. Additionally, we gave $10,000 grants to our Downtown businesses to establish outdoor dining parklets, as well as paid for and installed street k-rails to keep their patrons safe. We continue to seek federal and state funding to pass onto our businesses that may still be suffering due to the pandemic.
Pre-pandemic, we created the Downtown Property Owners Association, “The District@Downey”, to produce an income stream for Downtown property owners and businesses to enhance the area and support our Downtown businesses. We continue to work and seek guidance from The District @Downey regarding topics important to our Downtown businesses.
We have assisted over a million square feet of new business development within the past eight years. This new development includes, but is not limited to, the development of: The Promenade at Downey; the former Ford and Lincoln/Mercury auto dealerships with the new Commons and Crossroads Centers; the former vacant land to the future Marriot Springhill Suites hotel on Firestone Blvd., the former Fallas Paredes building to the future Footlocker site, and revitalization of the southwest corner of Lakewood Blvd. and Imperial Hwy., with yet another new Chick-fil-A restaurant.
A glance at the past three years, which includes a majority of time spent within a pandemic, reflects the Planning Commission and staffs approval of over 136 business development permits for a multitude of large and small businesses such as restaurants, lounges, spas, medical offices, salons, industrial, and cafes. Over that same three year period we issued 508 new business licenses, and 13,529 business license renewals. In fact, just in the last fiscal year alone, we successfully carried out the following:
• 139 Planning Applications
• 423 Businesses Assisted
• 4,531 Business Registration Renewals Processed
• 36% Increase in Online Business License Renewals
• 2,304 Building Permits Issued with a valuation of $119,457,103
• 9,062 Inspections
• 2,386 Development Applications
• 2,090 Development Plan Checks
• 7 Large Scale Projects in Planning
We believe these successes are antithetical to the claim that Downey is “anti-business.”
We also have provided federal and local subsidies to our largest sales tax producers to allow them to stay in town, redevelop and continue to flourish. In the once vacant and dormant northeast part of town, the City helped Giant RV redevelop their site. In the same area, Honda World Downey will pursue a large expansion to build a new dealership across the street, returning that corner to yet another auto dealership center in our City. On the bookends of Firestone Blvd., with the City’s assistance, Downey Nissan relocated and built a new dealership at the west end, and Maserati anticipates building a new dealership next to Alfa Romeo at the east end.
Mr. Fritz’s letter referenced concerns over application fees. City fees are meant to recover the cost of providing a service, not generate revenue from the services that are provided. The City of Downey conducted a fee analysis in 2016, and found that the cost to the City for processing a Code Amendment, that is the fee referenced by Mr. Fritz, is $11,792, but the City chose to reduce the fee charged to businesses, meaning that it would operate at a deficit in order to facilitate the cost to businesses and property owners. So the application fee of $6,533 referenced may seem significant but, the City partners in sharing the remaining $5,259 balance with its businesses.
As a department we operate from the precept that we can always do better. As such, we continually strive to make improvements in our service delivery. In 2018, with direction from our City Council, we implemented the results of a comprehensive business development permit audit, which analyzed the permit processes of Engineering, Planning, Building & Safety, Fire Department Inspections, and Police Department business development permit processes. We identified quality improvements to our permit submissions, with project transfers amongst various City divisions, applications and forms, social media communications, electronic counter check-ins, automated distribution of customer surveys, and staff customer service.
With its pro-business approach, the City will continue to strive to improve its processes daily and will remain committed to supporting businesses in any way it can. Recognized in 2017 as a “Most Business Friendly City” by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, we proudly stand by this motto and will aggressively continue to seek opportunities to better serve our business community.
Aldo E. Schindler
Deputy City Manager / Community Development
City of Downey