How can Santa Ana attract more business?
That was the question Mayor Miguel Pulido asked at a forum last week featuring Mohamed El-Erian, a world-famous chief economist at Allianz SE, and Emile Haddad, chief executive of Five Point Holdings LLC (NYSE: FPH).
Haddad, who’s developing large-scale housing projects in places like San Francisco and Irvine’s Great Park, encouraged the mayor to put together a kitchen cabinet of executives from promising industries.
“Ask them what they need to make Santa Ana home,” he said. “There are lots of opportunities for cities to look at redevelopment and repurposing space.”
El-Erian advised Pulido to seek unique projects like the Orange County School of the Arts, or OCSA, which moved in 2000 from Los Alamitos to Santa Ana. He said that since his daughter began attending the school, his family visits Santa Ana more often for things as simple as eating at local restaurants.
The school “has widened my whole horizon” about Santa Ana, he said. “I wonder how Los Alamitos feels now about OCSA being here.”
The two made their comments during OCSA’s inaugural Creators & Innovators “OC Meets the Global Economy” series.
The event, which also included performances by OCSA dancing and musical groups, attracted 150 business executives and raised $83,000 to support the school’s technology initiatives and scholarships.
The executives spoke on a wide variety of subjects at the forum, which was moderated by Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman.
Here are edited excerpts of their answers to topical questions:
On trying to lure Amazon’s second headquarters to Orange County:
Both said they didn’t have inside information.
Haddad pointed out that Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos spent $23 million to buy a home in Washington, D.C., where he also owns the hometown newspaper.
“Logic dictates that he wants to be close to home.”
On no-growth movements emerging in Irvine:
Haddad pointed out that Ventura adopted no-growth measures in the 1990s.
“It basically shut down the Ventura economy. We don’t want that,” he said. “What we need now is leadership with a vision, both from the public and private side.”
On manufacturing in Orange County:
It’s tough to attract manufacturing because workers can’t afford homes here, Haddad said.
On the U.S. economy:
The economy has done well and will keep improving, El-Erian predicted. Two key reasons he gave are deregulation and the recently passed tax bill. A third is the economy being on the upswing in China, Japan and Europe, as well as the U.S.
“All your major engines are on at the same time,” he said.
On the state’s economy:
At the same time, it feels like the California economy is stuck in a low gear, El-Erian said.
“The state is like a car driven in second gear when it should be in fifth or sixth gear. We can do a lot better than we have.”
Haddad said he worries about poor education, segments of poverty, higher taxes on commercial property, and lack of building permits for lower-income housing.
On Orange County becoming the next Silicon Valley:
“We’re not going to create a second Silicon Valley here,” El-Erian said, citing the lack of critical mass in technology firms.
He urged that OC compete where it has advantages, such as in financial technology, which is still in an early stage.
“We are neither dominated by the financial side nor by the technology side, but we have a presence in both,” he said.
One promising area might be the healthcare industry and medical research, Haddad said. “We can become the capital of that world.”
On the perception of Orange County:
The younger generation “loves Orange County, but they think it’s boring,” Haddad said. “They’d rather sleep on a couch in San Francisco.”
He said OC doesn’t have a “24/7 lifestyle,” though pockets of Santa Ana are changing that.
“It’s a big issue.”
How to make OC more attractive:
As a developer in Irvine’s Great Park, Haddad is trying to build housing enabling people of different incomes or ages to live in close proximity. He said he wants to give people the ability to walk to places like restaurants instead of driving.
El-Erian said he’d like to see more think tanks in OC.
“Despite having great universities, we haven’t established this network of people who like to be exposed to great ideas.”
On changing mindsets:
When El-Erian’s daughter told him a few years ago that she wanted to attend OCSA, he replied, “I said an art education isn’t serious. Stay where you are.”
She eventually convinced him.
“What changed? I found there was no tradeoff between academics and arts—you can have them both.
“Now I’ve fallen completely in love with the place. I had to overcome my own mindset that was the legacy of an earlier time.
“Who would have thought that in Santa Ana you could have such an incredible jewel?”
