Every month when the news media reports the latest "record trade deficit," what often goes unsaid is that this deficit means cargo handlers in Southern California are busier than ever. With the country's ever-increasing reliance on imported materials and goods, the logistics industry appears to be thriving. But developing the warehouses and distribution centers has become an issue in many Southern California communities.
Some of the most desirable office jobs are leaking overseas, and no one seems to know how to plug the hole in the employment dike. If the globalization trend continues as expected, it could dampen demand for commercial development and affect economic development strategies throughout California, especially in the Bay Area. >>read more
Long a land of big dreams and failed schemes, California City has lured a major automobile company to town with a redevelopment deal and environmental planning assistance. In March, Hyundai Motor America started building a test track and related facilities in California City that will employ about 100 people, which would make Hyundai the second largest employer in town. The project does have detractors, though.
Like scores of California suburbs, Pomona suffered the death of its downtown during the 1960s and 1970s. And, as elsewhere, the death was little noticed at the time because there was a great deal of newfangled housing, retail and office development elsewhere in town. But, led by two brothers who grew up in town, downtown now thrives around the Pomona Arts Colony.
Riverside's University Village - where city officials permitted a 25% reduction of required parking spaces - is evidence that when merchants, developers and a municipality are willing to flex, new retail development can thrive in existing urban areas.
The last project in the re-creation of downtown Anaheim is scheduled to break ground before year's end. The project will bring about 1,000 full-time residents to a district that has blossomed with private sector offices and government facilities during the last 25 years.
Stanislaus County, the City of Patterson, and a North Carolina-based developer have teamed together on a business park that all parties hope will bring employment to an area that has seen rapid housing development but minimal job growth.
Despite a sluggish California economy, the state agency charged with business development and job creation appears to be in for a substantial downsizing.
An economic downturn that has forced up Bay Area unemployment and office vacancy rates shows little sign of abating. Business leaders, economic development experts and analysts say that righting the greater Bay Area's economic ship will be neither easy nor quick.
A collection of San Joaquin Valley water technology companies is attempting to make Fresno the center of the "flow technology" world. Representatives of dozens of companies have been meeting regularly for nearly two years as part of the Water Technology Industry Cluster in hopes of boosting business and improving the San Joaquin Valley's economic status.
