Austin Beutner profiled on KPCC's 'Off-Ramp'

The former deputy mayor and probable mayoral candidate has been introducing himself around town as a guy who can gets things done. "Off-Ramp" producer Kevin Ferguson looks for some early impressions from Daily News reporter Rick Orlov and yours truly. A couple of snippets from this weekend's show:

"It depends on what's going on in the city at the time, and if people believe he can help with the local economy," Orlov said. "He's proven himself as being able to run a large organization like a city government. But he has to work with the City Council. The truth in city hall is you need 8 votes to get anything done."

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As Deputy Mayor, Beutner's mandate was to create jobs: he initiated a business tax holiday, wooed a Chinese electric car company and found ways to expedite the permitting process for small businesses. All in a little over a year. Mark Lacter--who covers business for KPCC and LA Magazine--says those measures worked, but incrementally. "The number of actual jobs that will come out of that remain a little bit unclear," he said. "To be fair to him, no one is gonna take a job like that and suddenly generate thousands of jobs. It's just not going to happen."

"Off-Ramp" airs Saturday from 12-1 p.m. and Sunday from 7-8 p.m.