PCBC stockholders approve new shares
Pacific Capital Bancorp shareholders passed two proposals on Sept. 29 that could make it easier for the capital-strapped banking firm to accommodate a new infusion of cash from investors and bolster its sagging stock price. Meeting at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort in Santa Barbara, shareholders quickly voted to give Pacific Capital’s board the power to Read More →
Financier not at fault in daughter
[Editor’s note: An update is attached below.] The late financier Michael Klein wasn’t negligent in the crash that killed him, his daughter and a pilot when their plane slammed into the side of a volcano in Panama on Dec. 23, 2007, a jury found. The Santa Barbara Superior Court jury instead found that the pilot Read More →
Foundation puts cash to work in soft commercial real estate market
In a typical week, I get about a dozen real estate deals in my inbox. Most of them are pretty forgettable, and some are only buzzworthy because, well … there’s nothing else to buzz about. Leases are few and sales are far between. So you can imagine my surprise when I heard from Ron Gallo, Read More →
Business tax violates Sol
First, a disclosure. My late father, Sol Dubroff, spent much of his career as a tax systems architect, working for the U.S. Treasury and later for the IMF and other development agencies. He absolutely detested the value added tax, or VAT. He accepted the fact that taxes are the price we pay for liberty and Read More →
Let them eat cupcakes
Call it comfort food if you will, but cupcakes may just be the perfect recession-proof little indulgences. In the Tri-Counties, cupcake bakeries – or cupcakeries – have proliferated over the past two years, and their owners say they’re only getting more popular. Maybe it’s because the HBO series “Sex and the City” shows its characters Read More →
