Citizens Panel Offers Its Ideas to Revive City : Quality of life: The group calls for new policies to avoid the exodus of commerce. Alliances between schools and community groups, companies and the retail sector are planned.

LONG BEACH — A report from a panel of civic leaders envisions a new Long Beach in the future but cautions city officials that an anti-business bias has held the city back in the past.

Long Beach’s waterfront should thrive with shops and restaurants, the panel said. Its public schools should be models for the nation. Its residents should live in safe neighborhoods sprinkled with civic gardens and parks.

The 44-page report was unveiled Tuesday to the City Council by a group of business leaders and educators appointed to a task force by Mayor Ernie Kell in May. And the community leaders promised to work to make it more than a wish list.

But they predicted an exodus of businesses from the city unless policies are changed.

The task force, which started with 82 members and grew to 120, advised the City Council to continue expanding the port, to make better use of the city’s airport and to shed the city’s anti-business reputation.

The plan offered few specifics.

“What we’re trying to do is improve the quality of life,” said panel chairman George M. Murchison, of Murchison and Marek accountants. “The committee is on the cutting edge to do something good . . . and to be a model for the nation.”

The members plan to incorporate as a nonprofit group within a month and help form alliances between businesses, schools and community groups, Murchison said.

The group’s board of directors, which has not yet been appointed, would solicit $600,000 over three years from corporations to set up an office and pay staff, Murchison said.

The group--which includes representatives from international trade, real estate, small and large employers, retail merchants, restaurants and hotels--criticized city policies that they say have discouraged business.

“What we have is a blighted retail sector that is barely hanging on,” said Henry Meyer of Hamburger Henry’s restaurant. “Long Beach is not a good place to conduct business.”

Meyer and others suggested the city simplify the way businesses get permits and establish a one-stop shop for business licenses.

“Long Beach has terrific resources, but we need to pull together,” said Renee Handler of McDonnell Douglas. “Long Beach’s large employers cannot be taken for granted.”

The group also wants to establish ties between businesses and the Police Department to form business-watch groups.

It suggested that the city promote its diverse ethnic communities, such as the Cambodian businesses clustered on Anaheim Street.

“We imagine . . . an Anaheim Street with exotic treasures you could only find by traveling around the world,” Meyer said.

Links between the group and Cal State Long Beach and the public school district also would be established.

City Council members praised the group’s efforts and promised to study the report.

Thomas Clark, who has served on the council since the mid-1960s, said he had not seen so many business leaders in the City Council chambers in years. Government used to be dominated by businessmen but in recent years has heard primarily from neighborhood groups, which have influenced decisions on such issues as the traffic at the city airport, he said.

Business interests “have got to be here when these issues come up,” Clark said.

More than 300 business leaders were on hand to support the group’s recommendations, many vowing to see the plan initiated.

“We’re taking governance into our own hands,” Murchison said.