Health care: The small business view
Dear President Obama: You recently sent out an e-mail asking small business owners to comment on health care reform. So, here is what I think. When I started the Pacific Coast Business Times 10 years ago, I made a commitment to paying fair wages and providing quality health care for all full-time employees. I have Read More →
Commercial vacancies on rise, but still below U.S. average
In its latest quarter report, Hayes Commercial Group said the overall vacancy rate now exceeds 5 percent in South County. That number stacks up favorably when compared to national rates, but is up 25 percent since the beginning of the year. The report showed that the number of lease transactions is up on an annualized Read More →
Foreclosure plague hits beach projects
In a sign that Ventura County’s residential real estate market may be nearing a bottom, a $37.5 million, 150-home development in Port Hueneme faces foreclosure and an Oxnard developer trying to launch a handful of condominium projects has filed for bankruptcy with $19.5 million in debt. In both cases, the loans go back to 2006 and Read More →
Budget squeezes recyclers
The deep cuts that resolved California’s budget crisis have come to your recycling bin. On July 1, the state pulled back on processing fees that it pays to recyclers and stopped some incentive programs altogether. Recyclers say the move is eating into their revenue at a time when the prices they get for recycled materials Read More →
Ventura Co. growers brace for citrus bug
Ventura County citrus packers are nearing an agreement designed to stop the potential spread of a pest and disease that could decimate California’s citrus industry if it infects the state’s orchards. After slamming growers in Florida for three years, the Asian citrus psyllid showed up last year near the California-Mexico border and has been found Read More →
Pismo OKs tax
Pismo Beach’s City Council approved a 1 percent tax on overnight stays that will fund tourism, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported. The council voted 4-1 in favor of the tax, which will go toward promoting the city to tourists, the newspaper said. Other cities in San Luis Obispo County – Morro Bay, Paso Robles Read More →
Oil initiative survives
A Santa Barbara County judge has invalidated a part of Venoco’s ballot initiative to approve slant drilling a site in Carpinteria into a lease offshore. Earlier this year, Venoco filed papers for a Carpinteria ballot initiative for its Paredon project, which would use an onshore rig to tap an estimated 20 million barrels of offshore Read More →
