"Business Growth" - Business-friendly policies/procedures, more jobs, more business revenue to city.

By Gloria Willingham

The visible blight of empty commercial spaces in Bellflower has led to a perception that the city does not want business here. In reality we need businesses here!

"If people would just follow the rules, they could do business here," "They don't wnt us to do business here," "Bellflower Blvd has too many vacant buildings," "Buildings have been vacant too long," "Its too hard to start a business in Bellflower," "Why can't I bring my business here?" "What kind of business does Bellflower want?" "I lost money just going through the process of trying to start a business here," "Bellflower doesn't care about ADA Compliance," "We need to just tear down some of these old vacant buildings and build new businesses that will bring revenue to this city," "Bellflower has too many people who own these vacant buildings and don't live here," "The city is scared to use its power of eminent domain," "Bellflower Blvd looks like a ghost town," "Bellflower Blvd is growing everyday," "The city gave me free rent so I'm happy...don't stir things up," "Bellflower has plans already to fill those empty buildings," "The public doesn't always know about the city's plans for development," "The city lost its redevelopment funding," etc.

One can quickly see the variety of comments that I heard. However one can also see that there is a lot of conversation regarding the need for a vibrant business community in Bellflower. I believe that we need more thriving businesses in Bellflower to occupy existing land space. I believe that there must be a clear vision of what the "re-developed Bellflower" will be and I will work with fellow city council members and those in planning and development to assure that vision is clearly developed and clearly communicated to our residents. We must have a vision of where we are trying to go and a plan to get there.

I will support the creation of more business-friendly policies and processes ultimately resulting in more businesses. I will support the development of incubators to assist Bellflower small business owners to thrive. I will support opening the doors to new developments in larger spaces.

Bellflower has commercial property that is clearly accessible from major freeways that remains vacant. These areas are ripe for large scale re-development and I will champion that redevelopment.

Related to the issue of business growth is the issue of codes, conditional use permits, and other land use issues to include the challenges of generational trusts... I will bring these issues to the table in city council meetings and open the door for all involved persons to come forward and address them openly for the public.

We need to increase businesses that will bring in more commercial tax revenue to the city, increase employment opportunities for our residents, improve the appearance and reputation of our city's commercial zones, and reflect the vision of who we are as a city. We must do this! For you! For Bellflower!