Spring 2012 Digital Edition

Jan Perry

Woman About Town

Under the watch of 9th District Councilperson Jan Perry, Downtown L.A. is assuming its rightful place as Los Angeles’ heart and soul.

By Elyse Glickman

Jan Perry is one of those rare politicians who practices and preaches the belief that actions speak louder than words. Though the gears have started rolling on her bid for mayor in 2013, she is relying on grass-roots achievement rather than podium speeches to demonstrate her qualifications.

In many respects, the mayor’s office is something she has actively pursued through her tireless work on the L.A. City Council since she was elected in 2001. Her approach to solving many of Downtown L.A.’s long-standing image problems was to develop long-term solutions rather than short-term stopgaps. In other words, rather than just gentrify a couple of buildings and generate some publicity for L.A.’s pre-existing and well-loved cultural institutions, she believes in making meaningful connections with the population and businesses affected to get the job done correctly and permanently.

“The fascinating thing about Los Angeles politics is that it is not enough to buy a lot of media time and yak at people through the radio and TV,” Perry muses over waffles at the Omni Hotel’s Grand Café. “To get results, you need to get yourself out there and spend quality time with the people to assess their needs and wants, and understand their neighborhood issues. You have to get to know them well enough so you can convince them that you can translate their needs and concerns into viable programs and initiatives that will be deliverable to them.”

Her thoughts on campaign promises and sometimes-contentious elections? Talk is cheap, but action is priceless. “I never worry about what other candidates do,” she affirms. “I only worry about what I do.”
On another level, Perry always knew a career built on public service was her destiny. When she first set foot in Los Angeles in 1974 for that year’s Rose Bowl, she knew this was the place she would be doing this in and promptly enrolled at USC to complete her studies. She had barely just purchased her textbooks when she was already getting involved in the community, and by extension, local politics. However, she makes it very clear that getting involved was not merely about proving herself or resume building.

“One of the first things I did was join up with the Joint Educational Project, an after-school tutoring project for the kids in the neighborhood,” she recalls. “It inspired me on several levels, reinforcing the values my parents taught me while enabling me to make a difference in people’s lives. Since then, my perspective on politics has been far broader than race or gender in the sense that I never wanted to be pigeon-holed or judged by what somebody may see on the surface. Furthermore, as a working mother out in the community, I have continued to broaden my view about the needs of others and what measures need to be taken to solve problems that affect individuals and the community such as economic downturns, job shortages, safety, and preserving a city’s character without compromising progress.”

During the nine years she has served on the city council, Perry has worn many hats on behalf of education, business, environmental, and economic initiatives. She cheerfully points out she will put her reputation on the line because of her deep-seated belief that anything accomplished Downtown will have a ripple effect throughout Los Angeles that will tie communities together. She sees the programs she’s helped set up as a litmus test for what could work throughout the basin and city.

Even with Perry’s successes, such as the creation of two wetland parks, the implementation of L.A. Live, historic building preservations, campaigns for employment training and retraining non-profit groups, and other initiatives, she knows Downtown is still very much a work in progress. She takes a proactive approach to the way she hopes Downtown will carry the rest of Los Angeles deeper into the 21st Century.

On Jump-Starting Tourism: Sights to be Seen

When it comes to tourism, numbers are on the rise. Perry believes the city will hit a critical mass in the near future with a Downtown epicenter where Angelinos from all walks of life can stroll, spend the day with their families, and experience world class art, architecture, performances, and other cultural experiences which will translate to more money for the city. Furthermore, with increased Convention Center space and L.A. Live, the city will be able to host larger, more ambitious conventions and business opportunities.
“The implementation of our world-class culture corridor is also providing greater incentive for people to conduct their business and recreational activities downtown,” she says. “On one end, you have the Los Angeles Public Library Main Branch with its iconic architecture, and further down the street, you’ve got The Colburn School (a world class music conservatory), the soon-to-open Broad Art Museum across the street, then the MOCA, Disney Hall, Music Center, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

On Empowering Individuals and Communities

Perry believes that one area in which Los Angeles has established a leadership position for the rest of the nation is the recognition that homelessness is a solvable problem that can be addressed with the development of permanent supportive and affordable housing and by supporting the programs that successfully address this problem.

“There is a recognition that there will always be people in society who may not be able to care for themselves,” she explains. “I am a believer that all L.A. residents deserve a decent quality of life, and for this reason, I committed myself to helping develop plans for construction of or repurposing of numerous mixed income and mixed use buildings. There is a strong emphasis on the way this project is operated and designed, so that new homeless housing and residents will fit right in with the rest of the community. Los Angeles will be perceived as the city that led the way in developing this innovative approach to assisting the homeless population with long-term solutions. The additional benefit is that new projects create jobs.”

Perry takes particular pride in her role in bringing L.A. Live and cultural institutions like the Music Center to life in terms of helping create programs that in turn produced both a job pool and a talent base of people at all income levels and skill sets. “Whenever I walk through those buildings there are people working there who say hello to me by name,” she says. “It makes me realize that I have done what I was supposed to do in helping create a targeted project that not only improves the area but also the quality of the lives of people who live there who needed a job.”

As communities grow, Perry also understands that retail and residential services such as supermarkets, dry cleaning, schools, a place to walk the dog, better public transportation, and bike paths need to be in place to keep living standards on the rise for progress to continue. “Putting these new amenities into effect has reversed the polarization that had taken place in the decades before,” she continues. “My objective is to keep bringing people and communities together to the point where they can integrate and turn the city into a more cohesive whole, more seamless from one block to the next.

On Bringing the Next Generation Downtown

“Five years ago, my chief of staff gave me information about Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone,” she says. “I became interested in exploring ways we could create that kind of opportunity in Los Angeles. This is a 20-plus-year commitment, but the concept focuses on a child within a family and infuses support and services into family to address the child’s needs (childcare, tutoring, nutritious food, medical care). It is a holistic approach that not only will ensure our city’s children get a world-class education, but also pull the family up with them.”

Perry is also involved in extending Downtown’s cultural opportunities to children throughout the city. Her programs include the busing of students and their parents downtown to free programs offered by MOCA, orchestra and theater rehearsals, as well as capitalizing on her existing relationships with cultural organizations like the British-American television to bring prominent actors and other public figures into classrooms throughout Los Angeles.

On Bringing New Business to Downtown.

Perry expresses that although a lot of work still needs to be done to bring more corporate offices and businesses into Downtown, the meteoric progress the area has made in the past decade will continue to have a positive effect on South L.A. and other adjacent communities.

“We work very closely with developers to expedite their projects to save on construction costs while opening up new job opportunities to a large pool of capable, well trained workers at all skill and income levels. With so many trade colleges and job training programs based in or around Downtown, we’re also emphasizing the importance of training people for green and renewable energy jobs to be ready for those changes.”

She also acknowledges that the ongoing improvements and implementation of the city’s public transportation system, originating from Downtown, will not only address environmental issues, but also create ways to make the city a greater cohesive whole. While new transit lines will be put into place, she also plans to use strategies such as pre-existing right of ways like the Exposition line corridor to connect the local residents and visitors to their business appointments and recreational activities.

“From what I have observed through programs discussed and implemented over the years to the city council, Downtown is a real testing ground for new ways to generate revenue and jobs for the entire city,” Perry explains. “Downtown L.A. has evolved to be recognized as the epicenter of the economic development agenda not just for the city but the entire county. As more people have moved themselves and their businesses downtown, they have created brand new communities as well as new jobs and employment opportunities, thanks to programs we have put into place. Since 2001, I have devoted myself to transformative activities for Downtown, and as mayor, I would be doing the same thing on the city council, but on a greater scale.”