12 years ago my wife and I opened our own small business, a gift boutique called Serifos, in Silver Lake’s Sunset Junction neighborhood. That same year Eric Garcetti was elected to the Los Angeles City Council representing Silver Lake and the other neighborhoods that made up the 13th Council district. I should mention that we had recently bought our first house in Silver Lake and as newbie owners of both a home and a business, we had a dual interest in the renaissance of the neighborhood.
I say renaissance because in 2001 Silver Lake was not the independent small business mecca it is today. How did it happen?
As any small business owner knows, the key to success is good customer service. It was our good luck and the good fortune of the Silver Lake business community that our City Council member Eric Garcetti believed in and practiced great customer service. And good customer service is really about one thing – listening. And Eric listened. And then he got to work.
From his first day in office to today, Eric Garcetti has been a huge friend and supporter of small business. It’s not just his successful leadership on simplifying business taxes and regulations, but also his efforts to make the streets where we walk and work safer and cleaner through successful anti-graffiti programs like UnTag, his work creating more parks and green space - like the popular Silver Lake reservoir meadow or Polka Dot Park and so on - which then creates user friendly public areas that encourage foot traffic in car-friendly LA and attracts more people to your business. And last, but not least, his use of new technology to make a difference – like the City’s first constituent services phone app, so you can get potholes fixed from the palm of your hand, or the one stop business permitting center on his website. Eric will bring these kinds of innovations and new ideas citywide and create a business friendly 21st century LA.
As the former Chairman of the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce during this renaissance, I can tell you that organizing independent small businesses can be like herding cats. It is their very independent nature that makes them so unique. And that was a critical goal of the revitalization of the Sunset Junction business community – how to encourage and support growth, and bring in new businesses, while retaining the unique character of the neighborhood.
One often hears words like hip, trendy and cool to describe the Sunset Junction business community – heck, last year Forbes magazine named Silver Lake the hippest neighborhood in America (insert Forbes/cool joke here) – but at the end of the day, Silver Lake small business owners are the same hard working entrepreneurs you find in every corner of Los Angeles. From Echo Park to Leimert Park, from San Pedro to the San Fernando Valley, existing small businesses and future entrepreneurs desperately need a Mayor who understands how to simplify the system to create jobs and get our local economy back on track.
Working with Council member Garcetti, we made it happen and today Silver Lake is a world famous pedestrian friendly go to destination enjoyed by both local residents and visitors from around the world.
For over a decade, I have seen firsthand Eric’s sincere desire to work on behalf of his constituents, his support of small business, his understanding of how the distinct colors and flavors of each neighborhood are so important to the successful development of that corner of the city, and just his honest and true great love for this great city.
LA needs a Mayor like Eric Garcetti, a dynamic, visionary leader who makes sure City Hall works – that it helps businesses instead of standing in their way. So, for small business, for community development, for quality of life, and for a city that works for you, I ask you to join me on Tuesday and vote Eric Garcetti for Mayor. Let's help Eric bring his energy, his ideas, his ability to build consensus to solve problems, and his can do ethos that we have benefitted from here in Silver Lake and the rest of this district to the entire city of Los Angeles.
