A panel of experts will discuss community revitalization in the post-redevelopment agency era at the only event in the 2012-2013 California Lutheran University Corporate Leaders Breakfast Series to be held in the San Fernando Valley.
The breakfast and panel discussion on “Community Revitalization: L.A. County and Beyond” will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 5, at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills.
California’s 400 redevelopment agencies were dissolved last year in order to transfer local property tax revenues from cities to the state. The panel will discuss alternatives for driving job creation, public infrastructure and affordable housing in these agencies’ absence. The panelists will be Bud Ovrom, general manager of the Building and Safety Department of the City of Los Angeles, municipal financier Stephen Heaney and redevelopment lawyer Seth Merewitz. Jim Rondeau, director of operations and programming for National Public Radio station KCLU, will moderate.
Ovrom joined Antonio Villaraigosa’s administration in 2005 and oversaw $17 billion in new construction, including LA Live, during the Los Angeles mayor’s first term. He previously served as CEO of the Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency and as the city manager of Burbank, Downey and Monrovia. He started his local government career as the assistant to the city manager of Simi Valley.
Heaney is a managing director and head of public finance for municipal finance company Stone & Youngberg. With more than 30 years of experience, Heaney has directed billions of dollars in public offerings for a wide variety of capital improvement projects throughout California and Nevada.
Merewitz is a partner in the municipal and redevelopment law practice group Best Best & Krieger LLP and leads the firm’s public-private partnership/joint venture group. Representing developers, landowners and public and private entities, he focuses on redevelopment, zoning, master-planned communities and military base reuse.
The Corporate Leaders Breakfast Series brings members of the business and civic communities together to share ideas and hear from prominent leaders in the region. This year’s series will conclude May 9 at CLU with a talk on the Naval Base Ventura County’s economic impact by U.S. Navy Capt. Lawrence Vasquez.