Los Angeles City Council candidate John Perron Jr. said the most important reason he is running for the soon-to-be-vacant Council District 4 seat is to make the future brighter for his three young children.

John Perron Jr.

To do so, the Toluca Lake resident hopes to boost tourism in the district, increase the use of solar power and apply the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in a different way, among other things.

“I’m seeking the power to be able to help, and I don’t have any other higher ambitions. I simply do not,” Perron, a Michigan native, said.

He said he currently leads the Renewable Energy Group at Sperry Van Ness, a commercial real estate company. Perron has also spent 21 years in the aerospace industry, and five of those years were spent researching and developing testing for solar power.

The candidate would like to see Los Angeles communities — or the city itself — form a coalition to buy solar panels as a group at a discount. While the cost for solar equipment has decreased substantially in recent years, group discounts would make them even more affordable for area residences and businesses, Perron said.

“It’s a good idea,” he said, adding that as far as he knows, group purchases have never been tried in Los Angeles.

Perron referenced Mayor Eric Garcetti’s calls to expand solar power on commercial rooftops, which he “definitely, definitely” supports. Utilizing solar can be difficult for developers, as they must submit a “blind bid” to participate in commercial solar programs in Los Angeles, he said. Further, it can often be difficult to sell accumulated solar power to utilities, which only have so much funding and capacity for the energy.

Having worked in the solar arena, Perron said it has become “very clear” that there are roadblocks standing in the way of the mayor’s effort. He said he would like to see the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) streamline the permitting process for solar users — and the process for customers to sell the energy back to the utility — possibly through the city’s rezoning plans.

“I think that’s great,” Perron said of the community plan updates, “and perhaps solar could be a part of that.”

He said he would lobby for the expanded use of market mechanisms that reward energy conservation and renewable energy production, such as carbon offsets, which offer incentives to companies that reduce their carbon footprint, and metered energy efficiency transactions, which allow investors in building energy efficiency to sell excess electricity back to the DWP.

Additionally, the city should implement building energy codes that stray away from “prescriptive” rules and move toward performance-based measures, Perron said.

To boost tourism, he would like to have Hollywood designated as an “uptown district” to further cement the area as a destination location. Perron, who is also the president of the East Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said the city could bring in some retail development and high-end stores to entice regional travelers, such as those in Orange County, Las Vegas and San Diego.

“Hollywood is self-perpetuating — it promotes itself — and we really should be able to dip into that,” he said, referencing rapid transit in Hollywood that links Universal City and downtown Los Angeles. “The infrastructure’s there. We have people movers.”

Perron said the designation would also create “base jobs,” which have a multiplier effect. He said the entertainment and tourism industries, for example, indirectly create additional employment opportunities that support their operations.

“It’s cultivating the future and creating it, as opposed to it just happening to us,” the council candidate said of the uptown designation.

Perron said he is an advocate for smart growth, and that he praised the Millennium Hollywood project before the city council. He said the project, which he believes is a little too big for the area, is the kind of development that would contribute to Hollywood’s neighborhoods being more walkable.

“You’ve got rapid transit. You’ve got retail. You’ve got groceries. You’ve got a place to live. …That’s what it used to be in the past, and that’s a great thing to aim for in the near future,” Perron said.

He said he believes that re-applying CEQA could help the city grow, but it must be done “intelligently.” Perron suggested that stakeholders in specific areas create a community-based report that spells out what kinds of impacts development would have on the environment. After it is thoroughly vetted by the community, developers could pay to commission a supplemental report, which would essentially serve as a community-based environmental impact report, he said. Implementing the idea would allow project opponents to challenge developments more quickly and opposition would not “just be a kneejerk reaction,” Perron said.

“Of course, everybody deserves their day in court,” he said. However, the goal of the community-based EIRs would be reduce the amount of litigation that can tie up projects, Perron said.

He said developers sometimes walk away from projects because of the cost of holding a property as litigation is filtered through the courts. Perron said Toluca Lake residents recently stopped the construction of a bread factory — only for an apartment building to take its place.

“Some of those [projects] may have been the perfect developments, but we’ll never know,” he added.

As for the Miracle Mile, Perron said he is not “overly familiar” with the area, but acknowledged the plethora of projects headed its way. He isn’t overly concerned with the construction impacts, though some projects will probably overlap.

“Yes, I absolutely believe that it’s absolutely necessary to focus on the highpoints, the highlights,” Perron said. “[The Miracle Mile] deserves the attention. I’m not worried about it. I’m a smart growth advocate, and that’s smart growth.”

He said he wants to advocate for Toluca Lake, but he wants to be a good steward for all neighborhoods in the district. Officials must focus on the city’s economy and growth, but it must not encroach too much, Perron said.

He said his council candidacy is his first time running for political office, and he is pleased to be running a grassroots campaign. However, Perron said all of the candidates running for the office are fit for the job.

“I just like my perspective,” he added.

Perron said he would be pleased to represent the area.

“I would have so much pride. It would be like when I had my children — as proud as I could be,” he said.

Perron is among nine individuals who have filed fundraising paperwork for candidacy in the 2015 election as of Tuesday. The others are Tara Bannister, Teddy Davis, Sheila Irani, Wally Knox, Joan Pelico, Carolyn Ramsay, Steve Veres and Oscar Winslow.