Downtown Aims for Trade Triumphs
Delegates on Mayor's Asia Trip Look for Aid with Business, Olympics
By Jacqueline Fox
Los Angeles Downtown News, Oct. 9, 2006
http://downtownnews.com/articles/2006/10/09/news/news02.txt

With his usual fanfare, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has begun a high-profile two-week trip to Asia, with the goal of boosting trade and tourism. While the city as a whole is expected to benefit from the mission aimed at marketing Los Angeles as an economic and cultural power center, a number of Downtowners are hoping that the community will get a bounce.

Representatives from the private and non-profit sectors, as well as the city's arts and cultural community, are among the approximately 50 delegates Villaraigosa has chosen to accompany him on the trip that began Oct. 8. They aim to do everything from boost business to secure funds for local projects to gain tips on how to bring the Olympic games back to Los Angeles.

Clearly, the team's collective purpose is to bolster an already vigorous import/export partnership with the Far East. But efforts will also center on enticing Asian business owners to consider Los Angeles a potential new home for ancillary locations for their companies, particularly businesses in growth-hungry mainland China, where marketing is still an emerging concept and many of the country's fastest-growing entities are showing interest in establishing a presence overseas.

"We always talk a great deal here in Los Angeles about how fast Asia is growing and what the potential is for us," said Peter Woo, co-owner of Megatoys, Inc., an importing company based in the Arts District. Woo, who is making the trip, has served as a key advisor on international trade to the city of Los Angeles for years, completing tours to Asia alongside former mayors Tom Bradley, Richard Riordan and James Hahn. "We want to meet with business owners in the Asian marketplace to reinforce our position as one of the most ideal cities in the country to set up shop," Woo said. "As businesses in China continue to grow and think about U.S. locations, we want them to think of Los Angeles first."

This is Villaraigosa's first Asian trade tour as mayor. Woo is scheduled to accompany him and some of the members of the team to Beijing, the first stop on the mission. Others will join the mayor in Tianjin, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, Seoul and Busan, South Korea and Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan.

Aiding Local Projects

Aside from aiding the city's manufacturing industry, Woo said one of the focuses of the trip will be on promoting the Los Angeles fashion and apparel industry, spotlighting local designers in cities like Shanghai and Hong Kong, where there is no shortage of influence from European competitors.

"The import business to Asia represents only a small segment of the overall economic picture with regard to Asia," said Woo. "Our goal is to also meet with key industry leaders there who can help promote our industries and take advantage of an opportunity to create more jobs back home in the process."

Many of the delegates will also be seeking support for individual causes connected to local arts and cultural centers. Bill Watanabe, executive director of the Little Tokyo Service Center, said he is accompanying the mayor to Asia in order to gain help, particularly in Japan, for building a long-hoped-for Little Tokyo gymnasium.

The $22 million project south of St. Vibiana's Cathedral would hold community space and athletic courts. Watanabe also envisions it hosting national martial arts tournaments and other sporting events (the LTSC is still trying to secure a ground lease and no timeline has been announced).He noted that the economic impact on Downtown Los Angeles is a vital component of the overall plan.

"The economic potential from bringing people in from out of town and overseas to attend a national championship would be a significant boost to the local economy," Watanabe said. "So one of my top reasons for going is to try to make a connection between Japan and our own Little Tokyo through the promotion of this project."

Olympic Dreams

Although it is only 2006, some members of the trip are already eyeing dates a decade in the future. Los Angeles is in the running to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Meanwhile, Beijing is reported to be making extraordinary progress on the construction of several new venues as it prepares to host the 2008 Games.

As some of the mayor's trade team see it, an important opportunity for exchanging strategies and experience with Beijing officials beckons.

"We have much to learn from a city like Beijing," said Barry Sanders, a member of the delegation and the chairman of the Southern California Committee for the 2016 Olympic Games. Currently Los Angeles is one of three U.S. finalists and is competing with Chicago and San Francisco. The United States Olympic Committee is scheduled to make a choice next March, after which the International Olympic Committee will take over. A host city is expected to be named in 2009.

Sanders, also an attorney with the Downtown office of law firm Latham & Watkins, said the city's bid for the 2016 Games calls for very little construction of new venues, but rather centers on expansion and revitalization of existing ones.

"We have almost no construction in our bid, but my main purpose for going on this trip is to tour these venues in Beijing and to meet with key players involved in the organizing of the supporting infrastructure," he said.

A Los Angeles Olympics would have a tremendous impact on Downtown. The Coliseum in Exposition Park was a focal point of the 1932 and 1984 Games. Meanwhile, Downtown would boast Staples Center and, by 2016, a completed L.A. Live. The 1,000-room Convention Center hotel would also be open by then.

"We will be, in many ways, working from the vantage point of a new city here in Los Angeles by 2016, due in large part to the tremendous growth we've experienced since we hosted the games in 1984, and the growth and development we expect to experience going forward," Sanders said. The trip is scheduled to end Oct. 21.

page 1, 10/9/2006 © Los Angeles Downtown News.