L.A. Commission Suggests Combining Ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles

Suffering from chronic budget shortfalls and dwindling numbers of jobs, Los Angeles city officials should take steps to improve accountability at City Hall and bolster economic development activity -- including combining the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, a residents' panel recommended today.

The Los Angeles 2020 Commission, a panel convened last year by City Council President Herb Wesson to come up with budget-balancing ideas for the city, issued today a report, titled "A Time for Action,"  which proposed steps to "put the city on a path to financial stability and renew job creation in Los Angeles."

The panel said there needs to be more regional collaboration to generate jobs, most notably by combining the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

"All too often the Ports of L.A. and Long Beach issue press releases boasting of new customers -- one only has to study the details to understand these customers are just switching from L.A. to Long Beach or vice versa and not bringing new jobs to the region," according to the report. "And with the ongoing widening of the Panama Canal, maritime trade is about to get a lot more complex -- and competitive. We should be competing with ports in other regions, not with each other."

Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor chairs the commission. Other members include former Gov. Gray Davis; former U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis; Brian D'Arcy, who heads the IBEW Local 18, the Department of Water and Power workers union; David Fleming, an attorney at Latham & Watkins and a board member on the Southern California Metropolitan Water District; Tyler Izen, president of the city's police union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League; and Thomas S. Sayles, senior vice president for university relations at USC and president of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners.

--City News Service