greenhouse gas restrictions than any other state. Our goal was to step back and look at the economics of inner‐city development – what works and what doesn’t – and use that information to start a common‐ground conversation. The title of the project, negotiated with the Los Angeles Urban League and the California Business Roundtable (CBR), through CBR’s communications firm, KP Public Relations, was “Common Ground, Common Goal: Improving California’s Regulatory Business Climate, The Impact on Urban Communities.” Our research approach was two‐pronged. First, Professor Drennan, with the assistance of Luskin Urban Planning master’s degree student Ann Brown, would conduct a review of the literature, looking at the major academic journals in urban planning and economics over the past 10 years. Drennan and Brown summarized the most up‐to‐date research findings and contrasted those with available data on employment, income, and poverty in the Los Angeles and surrounding regions. Second, Taner Osman, through the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) database, examined 22 years of business firm behavior in Los Angeles, with regional, statewide and national comparisons. The NETS database allowed us to look at employment, business types, relocations, start‐ups, and closings down to the zip code level. Our aim was to put together a long‐term picture of business development as well as to test assumptions that came up conversationally with the CBR and the LAUL. For instance, the CBR, along with such business organizations as the California Chamber of Commerce, have long believed – from strong anecdotal evidence from their membership – that there has been a serious, long‐term business exodus from California on the part of firms seeking a less onerous state and local tax and regulatory regime. At the same time, they have argued, firms are less likely to relocate to California for the same reasons. The NETS database would allow us to test these assumptions. Such testing could be done statewide, regionally, and by zip code to see if and how relocation not only affects the state’s economy, but also regional and even neighborhood economies. We agreed that we would present the data in three sessions during the summer of 2013 to audiences assembles by CBR and LAUL. The first presentation would be an overview of the
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