LA2050 Study Suggests Los Angeles Will Have Zero Businesses by 2050!

Carren Jao over at KCET's Departures has a story about the $1 Million Grant - to be split ten ways by local organizations - to plan for a better Los Angeles by 2050.  Now I've seen several mentions of this very worthwhile sounding project by the Goldhirsh Foundation but this is the first time I've had the chance to check out all the details.  And with LA's two top  needs being more and better jobs and a growing tax base to pay for everything else LA needs, when I saw the deadline for applications was coming up, I realized I'd better submit an application and downloaded the report to see what category I could apply under

But after reading the entire 72 page report on LA's future, I made the surprising discovery that by the year 2050 - Los Angeles will no longer have - or evidently even need - a business community.

Yes, according to this report, despite the fact that...someone...  is going to have to pay for all the great projects that will undoubtedly be proposed, and even though there is a section is about the need for more and better paying jobs -  there is no section  - or even mention - about the need for economic development or business development - or even a section on the existence of business.  There are also zero statistics or metrics measuring the business climate in Los Angeles or measuring the status of business in Los Angeles.   The only statistics are about incomes - and how low they are in LA - while the businesses that could create better paying jobs - are totally ignored.

 Now I would love to propose a project - and work with other people on - rebuilding LA's business infrastructure - but the the problem is that even the mere existence of businesses in the Los Angeles of 2050 is ignored to the point that 'business' is not even a topic - even though  the end benefits of business, jobs and incomes, are topics.

Then when I did a search of the entire 72 page study - other than when it was used as part of a person's job title - the word 'business was only used twice - and both times in conjunction with the Delta  Water Project, and not even... once... in connection with LA's present or future  - while the word businesses - was not even mentioned once.

Evidently - by 2050 - Los Angeles is projected to have finally reached its goal of being a 100% business-free zone.

Unfortunately, the complete exclusion of even mentioning the existence of a business community in Los Angeles from an entire report on the Los Angeles of 2050, despite the fact  that business creates all the jobs that pay all the taxes for all the public sector and non-profit jobs - is a clear demonstration of why Los Angeles continues to lose businesses and jobs and why there is not the money to solve the other problems that also need to be addressed.  Because the people who pay the bills  for the rest of us are leaving.

And again - this is a subject I would love to work on - but... it's clear no one else does.