In some facets of engineering, timing is everything. And Gorän Eriksson thinks the time is right for him to take on a new life challenge after owning esi Techtrans, Inc. for over 30 years in Culver City.
Eriksson, an engineer, said this year is the “right time” to launch his campaign for council after conferring with his wife and considering his business arrangements, which often take him abroad. “This is not something that just happened. It’s been a part of a process,” Eriksson began during an interview at his Overland Avenue office. “The timing is right and I think I have the knowledge and the kind of unique background where I can help the city. It’s a good time to run.”
Being a member of the council’s financial advisory committee has allowed Eriksson to get an up close and personal look at the city’s finances but also City Hall’s fiscal challenges. Newly elected members of the council will take office near the end of April and then will be faced with approving a budget less than two months later. But not Eriksson.
“The city is financially healthy so we can probably do many of the things that we want to do,” he said. “I already have a good understanding of the budget and I won’t have to do a lot of studying up when budget discussions are taking place.”
Three years ago the council voted to have what they call each department’s budget work plan conducted in public and this is one of the things that Eriksson is most proud of. “It came from a suggestion from the financial advisory committee and this was to show that we believe in financial transparency. If you’re going to be on the city council, I think that you should have been following the work plans,” he said.
Eriksson describes himself as a “life-long environmentalist.” In his office hangs a replica of a device that separates solid waste and gases that can be recycled as renewable energy and he has spoken at environmental conferences for several years. He is also involved in recycling tires.
Recently, a local self-described environmentalist attacked Eriksson’s environmental credentials in a blog post, cited what he claims is Eriksson’s opposition to hydraulic fracturing in the Inglewood Oilfield.
On the controversial topic of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” Eriksson, like council contender Scott Wyant, is concerned about a methane storage facility in Playa Vista and recommends that a survey of the facility should be conducted for any possible leaks.
A local blog stated that Erikson disagreed with the council’s decision to join other cities around the state in outlawing plastic bags two years ago. “They should have encouraged people to recycle, educated them to recycle and implemented a recycle program, while allowing stores to charge 10 cents for a paper bag or a re-usable bag. This would have given people choices,” Eriksson wrote.
“If they had done that, we probably would not have seen an increase in the uses of a produce bag. We will most likely not see an increase in buying trash-liners, which are heavier plastic.”
“[The vote] is a step backwards,” Eriksson wrote, “because now people think we have done something. We have not done anything.”
In an interview with the news in 2014, Eriksson again touched on recycling as a key component of sustainability. “We still don’t have an effective recycling program for all of the other plastic-based products,” he said.
Questioned about his prior statements, Eriksson said he was actually trying to get the council to go further and denies that he was opposed to the ban. “We should get rid of [single-use bags] but at the same time we should start looking at how we can get rid of all types of plastic. I wanted the city to take a comprehensive look at a recycling plan to get rid of all forms of plastic,” he explained. “We could have used the money to create a cleanup fund for cleaning up the Ballona Creek, like they do in Washington D.C.”
Regarding a ballot initiative in November by the plastic industry to overturn the current statewide ban, Eriksson said he have to examine the initiative before making a decision. “I prefer to look at all of these things— urban runoff, water filtration and plastic bags— as sustainability,” he said.
Eriksson, like the majority of the contenders for council, is against rent control and any type of rent stabilization. At a candidate forum he suggested that the candidates not talk about the subject any more “because it makes people anxious.”
Asked if people should not discuss controversial topics because they may or may not cause anxiety, Eriksson said he made the statement because rent control does not work. He cited New York Times columnist Paul Krugman as an opponent of rent control. “We have enough empirical data to show that rent control does not do what we think. It actually has a detrimental effect,” Eriksson argued.
Property owners in Culver City have raised rents when they hear discussions about rent control. “So let’s stop taking about it and solve the problem of affordable housing,” he suggested.
Eriksson said Culver City is trying to build more affordable housing and suggested using mixed use developments as potential sites for at least some moderately-priced housing. “You see this sometimes around transit –oriented housing,” he said.
Culver City is among the cities that have done the least to build affordable housing throughout the region since the late 1990s, according to a 2010 state report on housing.
Some areas of Culver City have been subjected to low-flying airplanes over the last three years and for some voters the topic has become a campaign issue. A former city council candidate, Stephen Murray, recently met with Eriksson and left impressed. “I have spent a great deal of time working with Gorän Eriksson on the overflight issue. He knows what needs to be done, is willing to take action and will fight to protect our community,” Murray wrote on a Facebook post.
As a native of Europe, Eriksson has a different view of public transportation than many Angelenos. He says the public has to be convinced that light rail can be used to commute not only to work but to social events as well and will bring the added benefit of removing cars from congested though fares such as Washington and Venice boulevards.
“It’s hard to convince people of this when you don’t have a system that connected,” he noted. “You will see developments happening all along the Expo Line and hopefully people driving less by building things like shopping closer to these stations. But we’re still not there on how to make it easier for people to get around without a car.”
Eriksson said voters can count on him to be level headed and to shy away from unnecessary partisanship if he is elected.
“I’m not a flamethrower. That’s not in my Swedish DNA,” Eriksson concluded with a smile. “The Swedes are coalition builders and that’s what I am.”
Gary Walker contributed to this story.
