A View From My Chair 012925

​A View From My Chair

by Mike Stafford, Chairman of the Board 2025
​January 29, 2025

LA Must Be Exceptional Again, Too

It’s been quite a week plus a few days. Looks like American exceptionalism is back on the table. LA must be exceptional again, too, and chambers of commerce can help.

It’s not just about making America great as President Trump has said repeatedly and it’s not just how a country views itself like former President Obama famously pointed out in a 2009 news conference while visiting France “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

Sure the Greeks had the dawn of civilization and the Brits the Magna Carta but what have they done lately?

David Ulin in his book Sidewalking seems to echo President Obama’s view saying "One of the ideas I want to argue against is a sense of Los Angeles’ exceptionalism, that this city is fundamentally different than any other, although in many ways it is."

Again, it’s not just that LA is different from any other city or America is different from any other country or better or imperfect for that matter. What makes America and by extension Los Angeles exceptional is a unique experiment of the idea of self-government. 

I saw the makeshift press conference regarding the wildfires the other day with businessman Steve Soboroff taking charge alongside the Mayor as the newly appointed Chief Recovery Officer. The recent LA wildfires, with its mix of political errors and steadfast determination to overcome tragedy along with the public’s tremendous outpouring of support for victims and public safety personnel can be the catalyst for a renewed focus on establishing civic institutions as primary drivers of our civic leadership.  Our member chambers of commerce along with our community business partners have been active in the recovery process from the start.

Christopher Beem in the LA Times nearly 30 years ago wrote …America's civil society is not what it used to be. In the past generation, families have disintegrated and participation has fallen dramatically in neighborhood groups, civic and political clubs, churches, PTAs and volunteer organizations. Many therefore conclude that the collapse of civil society is largely responsible for the sorry state of American society. Intractable problems of crime, drugs and the underclass; escalating violence in the media and our streets; a shrill and belligerent political climate; rising tensions between races and classes; the evaporation of even the most basic social courtesies--all these examples of our unraveling social fabric ostensibly result from a collapsed civil society.

Many remember 40 years ago when Los Angeles seemed to be on top of the world.  In 2014 Rob Montz in Reason Magazine reflecting on that time wrote Los Angeles hit peak swagger in the mid-1980s. After a decade of dwindling population, Los Angeles County was again gaining, about 120,000 people per year. Hollywood had near-perfected the summer blockbuster. The city's downtown subway system was finally completed. And a Soviet-bloc boycott had left the L.A.-hosted 1984 summer Olympics to serve as an ostentatious demonstration of American exceptionalism.

His article’s title? Los Angeles Is Killing Itself: The romantic, popular conception of the city bears increasingly little resemblance to Los Angeles today.

An LA Commission 2020 report also written in 2014 summarized it this way: “Year by year, our City—which once was a beacon of innovation and opportunity to the world—is becoming less livable.

You can read the list of reasons here: LA 2020 Commission Planning Report

Rob Montz concludes his article by quoting one of the contributors to the LA Commission 2020 report, Milken Institute's Kevin Klowden "It boils down to if you can change how the bureaucracy works."

Montz concludes, “It's improbable the city can pull that off. Perhaps that's a pessimistic take, but does the recent history of Los Angeles justify anything else?”

There was a time in LA when chambers of commerce and the business community, along with many civic organizations were the drivers of so much of what was good in Los Angeles. Steve Soboroff leading the recovery efforts for the wildfire may also be reminding our government leaders how they should really serve the people.

BIZ NEWS OF THE WEEK  

Overture to Supersonic Flight? – Remember the days of the Concorde when you could leave France and arrive in America 90 minutes before you left? It’s been a long time but an American company just broke the sound barrier in the Mojave Desert. The company, aptly named Boom, is looking to bring back supersonic flight by developing a supersonic commercial airliner. CNN

ChAIna – ChatGPT was not available in China but Ernie was. Didn’t hear about Ernie, China’s answer to ChatGPT by search engine company Baidu? No one did. But now here comes Deep Seek and for sure Silicon Valley has heard of this AI venture. BBC

A Dollar an Egg? – That could be in our future. Forbes

​UCC UPDATE

UCC Executive Board – Meeting February 24
State of the County Luncheon – March 5
LAPD Captains Luncheon – April 2 

CHAMBER HIGHLIGHTS

Burbank Chamber
Mixer January 30
Claytivity Pottery Studio
5:30pm to 7:30pm 912 W. Isabel St. Burbank

Calabasas
Congratulations on the installation of the chamber’s new board this past Saturday night and for
70 year of serving the community.

Filipino-American
Mompreneurs – February 19 at 6pm

North Valley
Education Connection meeting February 5.

Sherman Oaks-Encino
As Los Angeles continues on the path to recovery, we’ve been so fortunate to connect with many of our members. We’re grateful to know that you’re safe, and we want to applaud the efforts you’ve made to help others.

We’ve been staying up-to-date through our elected officials and participating in various webinars and calls. With so much information out there, we encourage you to check trusted sources. We’re also updating our Wildfire Resources page as new information here. becomes available. If you have any updates or resources to share, please don’t hesitate to email us here.

Toluca Lake
Community Clean Up – February 22

West Valley-Warner Center
Reimagine Ventura Blvd. (Phase 2)

Date:  Thursday, January 30, 2025
Time:  6 pm to 8 pm
Place: Woodland Hills Library, 22200 Ventura Blvd.
Phase 2 is focused on "Greening the Boulevard;" trees / landscaping, community placemaking, and beautification, while also including pedestrian improvements (especially those required under the Americans with Disabilities Act). As a reminder, Reimagine Ventura Blvd focuses on the segment between Woodlake and Sale.  If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected], or Seth Samuels at [email protected].