Big companies can afford armies of lawyers to keep government regulators at bay. Just look at the big banks’ response to the financial crisis or the clever-but-stupid way Plains All American used the courts to get around state pipeline regulations, then had a nasty oil spill due to negligence or worse. But rare is the Read More →
It was a retail icon, a testament to the 1990s rise of State Street in Santa Barbara as a shopping mecca. The very name oozed luxury and aspiration. Saks Fifth Avenue. And soon it will be gone. The property at the corner of State and Carrillo streets in the 1000 block of the center of Read More →
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Amid a startup wave in Santa Monica, a revitalizing downtown and an emerging tech corridor on Highway 101, a younger and hipper group of entrepreneurs is beginning to reshape the corporate culture of Greater Los Angeles. That’s part of the reason why it put a smile on my face to see two companies from Ventura Read More →
When it comes to oil and politics, the conventional wisdom has been that Central Coast politicians can’t overplay their hands in expressing outrage over environmental issues. That conventional wisdom is about to get a major test. Already a parade of elected officials has toured the damage wrought by the May 19 oil spill that made Read More →
You might call it the Mindbody-Appfolio effect. The pair of $100 million-plus initial public stock offerings filed last month has caught the attention of dealmakers from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. Add to that the stunning, $1.4 billion sale of Lynda.com to Linkedin and you have the most buzz in the region since the Read More →
While the cleanup of the Refugio oil spill is progressing, albeit slowly, the politics of petroleum extraction have overtaken events on the ground. Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson and Assemblymember Das Williams have called for new rules for oil pipeline safety. In Ventura County, Supervisors Steve Bennett and Linda Parks have questioned the future of oil production Read More →