Obama must pay more attention to small businesses
Every year roughly 600,000 people start new businesses in the United States. Every year about 500,000 businesses shut their doors. That small window of opportunity between the doors that open and the doors that close contains between 50 percent and 80 percent of all the jobs created in our country. I am laying out these Read More →
Mission
Though the recently completed Mission San Luis Obispo retrofitting project’s budget was originally estimated at almost $2.8 million, project manager John Fowler somehow managed to come in more than $400,000 under budget. And it wasn’t just a fluke. Fowler said he may have come in $2 million to $3 million under budget for a similar Read More →
Give bankruptcy judges right to impose sanctions
Now that the Obama administration has opened the door to reducing the home mortgage interest deduction for taxpayers earning more than $250,000 per year, we’ll throw another idea up against the wall and see if it sticks. Jeff Dinkin, a Santa Barbara attorney, has suggested that people who file fraudulent applications for mortgages or speculate Read More →
CLU snags quite a team
California Lutheran University scored quite a coup in late February when it lured the University of California Santa Barbara’s Economic Forecast Project team to Thousand Oaks. It marks a bold move for CLU’s relatively new president, Chris Kimball, who seems to have made a quick study of the political and economic landscape of the Tri-Counties. Read More →
Jafra hires new CEO
Jafra Cosmetics International, based in Westlake Village, announced the appointment of Friedrich Kroos as president and chief executive officer. His appointment is effective late January 2009. In his new role, Kroos reports directly to the executive board of Vorwerk, Jafra’s Germany-based parent company, and is responsible for the overall management of the direct selling Read More →
DoubleTree gets new GM
Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort & Hotel in Santa Barbara announced March 3 that Matthew La Vine had been named its general manager. In his new position, he will lead the resort’s 350 employees and oversee administration, human resources, food and beverage operations, sales and marketing, reservations, revenue management and guest services. La Vine comes to Read More →
Solar farm sees bright spot
A plan to build Topaz Solar Farm in San Luis Obispo jolted back to life March 2 when an Arizona solar company announced it had acquired multiple large solar projects from OptiSolar, a Hayward-based solar panel manufacturer. OptiSolar had planned to build utility-scale projects but was forced to lay off 300 people when it Read More →
