January 1, Why LA Business Leaders Are DESPERATE for Change

Wyatt’s Take

• LA business owner says crime, homelessness, and wildfire response failures are driving voters to reject the establishment — even considering an outsider candidate
• Santa Monica ranked #1 most expensive place to do business out of 250 cities due to crushing regulations and taxes, while street-level crime makes it impossible to operate safely
• A year and a half after devastating wildfires, barely any homes rebuilt and victims feel abandoned — residents are angry and demanding accountability

A longtime Los Angeles business leader is speaking out about why voters across the city are fed up with the status quo. Crime, homelessness, suffocating regulations, and a bungled wildfire response have Middle America business owners ready for change.

John Putnam, president of Putnam Brands & Putnam Accessory Group and a former Santa Monica City Council candidate, told reporters that residents are seeing through the empty promises of career politicians.

“I think a lot of people are concerned about what’s happening, they really don’t know how to fix this, and I think the crime, the homelessness, the addiction, all the above behaviors of what’s happened in our city as politicians that are causing this, I think a lot people are seeing that,” Putnam said.

Putnam has been running his company for 40 years near downtown Los Angeles. He says when you drive around the city today, the decline is impossible to ignore.

“It costs so much to operate a business here,” Putnam said. “Out of 250 cities that were surveyed a few years ago, Santa Monica came in number one of being the most expensive place to do business and that’s because of all the regulation, all the other aspects.”

“But on top of that, if you can’t create an inviting environment and a safe environment and a clean environment, there’s no hope. I mean, the bottom line, there is zero hope in that arrangement. So we have to do something quickly and the pain is there. We just as voters, hopefully will determine what we have to do to change that.”

Crime has become a breaking point for Los Angeles residents. While politicians claim violent crime is down, business owners and residents tell a different story about what they’re experiencing on the ground.

“There’s all sorts of stats, it’s worse, everyone’s trying to sugar coat it in different ways, but the stats are out there, they’re saying crime is down, I think violent crime is down across the country, but all this petty stuff is happening,” Putnam said.

“It’s come in all neighborhoods. I mean you know it’s down in the south side of Los Angeles, east. It’s everywhere. You know even here in Santa Monica, we’re definitely being victims of this behavior of crime, and the drug addiction that’s running rampant in our city that’s causing this kind of criminal activity doesn’t really satisfy anyone. It doesn’t protect us. It doesn’t make us feel safe and it doesn’t help our community just to grow.”

Roughly a year and a half ago, devastating wildfires tore through Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, killing 31 people and destroying more than 6,000 structures. The fires came within miles of Putnam’s Santa Monica home.

Today, barely any homes have been rebuilt. Victims feel abandoned by their government.

Putnam says the wildfire response failures are “definitely a point of every conversation” among Los Angeles residents who are demanding accountability from their leaders.

“People are feeling left out, they’re not feeling like they’re being helped,” Putnam said. “I mean, their whole town, Altadena and Palisades were just destroyed. Beyond that, you had nail salons, you have all these hair salons, you had restaurants, these people are homeless from their businesses, their income and they aren’t getting the love and the attention they deserve, we need to come together and help those people.”

“That’s what’s frustrating. I think people are angry, but also just really concerned.”

The Los Angeles mayoral primary takes place Tuesday night. If no candidate receives 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a November general election.

Current Mayor Karen Bass faces criticism for her handling of the wildfires and the ongoing crime crisis. Progressive City Councilwoman Nithya Raman is also in the race, along with reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, whose home was destroyed in the Palisades fire.

Putnam says even though Santa Monica doesn’t vote for LA mayor, the winner’s policies will have a “trickle down” effect across the entire county.

“California’s got a big issue, but the city, especially where we live, Santa Monica is a byproduct of what’s happened in Los Angeles and across the world,” Putnam said. “In Santa Monica alone, we’re a people driven economy. 80% of our revenue comes from outside this city. We need revenue being generated from people that are coming here to visit.”

For small business owners like Putnam, the message is clear: high taxes, crushing regulations, rampant crime, and incompetent leadership are destroying what was once America’s dream destination.

Wyatt Matters

This is what happens when career politicians prioritize virtue signaling over basic competence. Business owners don’t want handouts or excuses — they want safe streets, reasonable regulations, and leaders who actually care about rebuilding after disaster. Los Angeles families deserve better than empty promises and declining neighborhoods. The anger Putnam describes isn’t going away until someone in power starts putting working people first.