FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mayor Hahn announced today that he has won the endorsement of the Central City Association of Los Angeles (CCA), which represents 450 businesses and organizations employing over 300,000 people.

"The direction of the economy, job growth, housing solutions and development reform are critical to L.A.'s future and are key concerns of the business community," said CCA President and CEO Carol E. Schatz. "We determined Mayor James K. Hahn is the most qualified candidate to provide the economic leadership this city needs. Our decision to endorse Mayor Hahn is based on his solid understanding of what makes business work and investment grow in this city, and is also in recognition of his commitment to the revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles."

"We starting to see a huge turnaround in Downtown," said Mayor Hahn. "I'm proud to have worked with the Central City Association to reduce crime, build housing and attract job-creating investments to improve this dynamic neighborhood. Downtown is truly becoming a great place to live, work, and play and we're going to keep up our momentum to make it an even better neighborhood in the next four years."

In the Central Area, violent crime is down by almost 24 percent and homicides are down by 35 percent.

Mayor Hahn's support of the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance has been key to turning around Downtown Los Angeles. This ordinance makes it possible for unused or under-used commercial buildings to be converted to housing, retail stores and offices. Mayor Hahn made Adaptive Reuse a priority by bringing the program into the Mayor's Office and expanding the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance citywide after seeing its success in Downtown. Currently, Adaptive Reuse is responsible for more than 10,000 housing units in the development pipeline from housing for the recently homeless at the St. George Hotel to $1 million condominiums at the Flower Street Lofts.

The recent improvements Downtown are helping drive the construction of the first Downtown supermarket in 50 years; the more than $1 billion Grand Avenue Project that will comprise housing, a 16 acre park, offices and a hotel; and the LA Live project that will include a 7,000-seat live theatre, restaurants, housing and, for the first time, a hotel adjacent to the Convention Center.

Under Mayor Hahn, Los Angeles went from having one of the nation's worst records on housing to having the nation's largest local housing trust fund. The city's $100 million Housing Trust Fund has helped Los Angeles double the pace of housing production under Mayor Hahn. Mayor Hahn has also proposed a $500 million housing bond to help more working families and create thousands of neighborhood-improving and job-creating housing developments.

Mayor Hahn has also supported and signed into law sweeping business tax reforms, including an elimination of the tax for 60 percent of Los Angeles businesses; a 15 percent across-the-board cut for other businesses; single category filing; and increasing to two years the moratorium on business taxes for new businesses.

The Central City Association of Los Angeles is a business advocacy organization representing more than more than 450 businesses, trade associations, and non-profit organizations employing more than 300,000 people.

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