To get 60 seconds of time with Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon, one only has to go on YouTube.
McKeon introduced a “Minute with the Mayor” video series this year, where he highlights businesses in Surf City.
McKeon credited Kriss Casanova, the city’s economic development manager, with coming up with the series’ name.
He said since the series launched, more than 50 Huntington Beach businesses have applied to be featured.
“I’m just trying to knock them out,” McKeon said at Thursday morning’s annual mayor’s breakfast. “I make a commitment. I’ll get to every single one. Last Friday, I filmed five. The two Fridays before, I filmed another five. So, we’ve got 15 in the can.”
Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon makes opening comments at the mayor’s breakfast, at the Lorea inside the Pasea Hotel & Spa in Huntington Beach on Thursday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Business was the theme of the day at the event, hosted by the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce at the Pasea Hotel & Spa across from the beach.
The mayor’s breakfast featured a business leaders panel moderated by McKeon that included Duke’s Huntington Beach general manager Ryan Clancy, Orlando Precision president Frank Mauro, Beef Palace Butcher Shop owner Calvin Free and Pasea director of sales Michael Crockenberg.
“We know how safe it is, how clean it is, but some of the rhetoric around Huntington Beach is actually sometimes the opposite,” Crockenberg said. “We get a lot of people that inquire about coming here, and then we talk about the safety, we talk about the walkability. We talk about how clean it is.
“If you go out in the evening time and walk around — and we’ve actually had people decide not to come here because they’ve said they don’t feel comfortable and they don’t feel safe coming to Huntington Beach — and we know that is not the truth.”
Guests attend the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce’s mayor’s breakfast, at the Lorea inside the Pasea Hotel & Spa in Huntington Beach on Thursday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
McKeon said that crime is down more than 27% in the last three years in the city, with homelessness declining each year as well.
The second panel at Thursday morning’s event featured McKeon, Huntington Beach city manager Travis Hopkins, Mike Daniel of the Orange County Inland Empire Small Business Development Center and Paul Simonds of the Orange County Business Council.
Daniel said that 95% of all businesses have less than 10 employees and do less than $1 million in sales.
“How can we get them over that hurdle?” he asked. “That’s really where, I think, where marketing comes into play … We want to give them all of the tools that exist. I think the great part about what we do is, if you’re a business that needs a team of consultants to help you, that’s what we’re here for.”
He added that funding comes from the federal government, the state and different lenders, so it’s a free service to the end user.
Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon makes opening comments at the mayor’s breakfast, at the Lorea inside the Pasea Hotel & Spa in Huntington Beach on Thursday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
The Streamline Surf City program, which includes 28 initiatives designed to modernize and simplify the city’s permitting process, was recently recognized by the Orange County Business Council.
McKeon also knows that businesses are looking forward to the Fourth of July festivities, specifically as the country turns 250 this year.
“Independence Day is on a Saturday,” he said. “The whole weekend, we’re going massive.”
