People's Republic of Business

In the wake of that whole Gensler Santa Monica to Downtown move story, Frank Gruber considers why businesses flock to Santa Monica (where development is a pain in the ass), but require teeth pulling and subsidies to move to Downtown LA. He says it all comes from the liberal takeover in the city 30 years ago: "The answer is that Santa Monica has concentrated on public services to make the city a good place to live, and good places to live are also good places to work. While L.A. used redevelopment to subsidize office towers, which privatized the benefits and sucked development potential from the rest of downtown, Santa Monica has spent most of its capital on facilities that are open to the public or that benefit the public, such as parking structures, its bus system, parks, libraries, and affordable housing." [HuffPo]