Red carpet rolled out – Film Festival vendors count on last-minute reservations
UncategorizedThe stars are out for Santa Barbara’s film festival, but local companies are bracing for what a special appearance by the recession could spell for business. As the first major tourist attraction of the year on the South Coast, the 24th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival began Jan. 22 and continues through Feb. 1. Read More →
Venture capital in a freeze – But Santa Barbara med-tech company isn
UncategorizedIn December, Forrest Fleming went fishing in Dubai. Fishing for money, that is. Fleming heads Santa Barbara-based TrueVision Systems, which invented a 3-D projection system for surgical microscopes. The young 20-employee company was wrapping up its first year of revenue; it had pulled in $1 million. Fleming went to Dubai looking for investors for a Read More →
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa plans marketing blitz
UncategorizedThe Ojai Valley Inn & Spa is ramping up its marketing and offering a host of deals to lure vacationers during crucial mid-week nights. Like the rest of the hospitality industry, the high-end resort is fighting for a slice of a shrinking pie. Tri-county tourism promises to be one of the few bright spots in Read More →
Area jobs at stake as BofA losses mount
UncategorizedThousands of Ventura County jobs are in jeopardy after Bank of America announced a massive $1.79 billion fourth-quarter loss, the largest in nearly two decades. The report came almost exactly one year after Bank of America announced it would buy Countrywide Financial Corp., a Calabasas-based mortgage giant that had faltered badly amid the housing crisis. Read More →
How to tell if President Obama is getting the job done
ColumnsNow that the hoopla has died down and we’ve all gone back to work, it’s time to set some benchmarks for the new administration. Having been through a few of these cycles before, I’m not inclined to accept the “this time it’s different” line from anybody. It’s also been my observation that when really good Read More →
Tri-county real estate market might not rebound until late 2010
ColumnsEconomist Kirk Lesh had no good news for attendees of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project lecture on Jan. 15. In fact, most of the UCSB-EFP findings proved worse than attendees had anticipated. Lesh said during the presentation that the real estate market will be flat until at least the second or third quarter of 2010 Read More →
How Geithner can
OpinionHere’s a can’t-fail idea for getting the economy moving again — and preventing the big guys from getting all the government handouts and tax breaks. We’re proposing a new Treasury Department program for small businesses. Just for kicks, let’s call it The Geithner Exemption. Under The Geithner Exemption, any one of the nation’s 6 million Read More →
