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 →
San Luis Obispo County named least affordable in California
Even though the flurry of foreclosures in the past few months has driven home prices down and made owning a home a realistic dream, recent data suggests that one county’s buyers are still looking at a very unaffordable market. According to findings from the California Association of Realtors, San Luis Obispo County was the least Read More →
Memo to California GOP: Don
Mayor Richard Riordan built the modern Los Angeles. Supervisor Brooks Firestone kept Santa Barbara County from splitting. Gov. Ronald Reagan created the economic foundation for the Silicon Valley boom. What ever happened to achievement-driven Republicans? If you ask state Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, the GOP in the Golden State is locked in a battle Read More →
Exports of region
With a population of 1.3 billion, China is undoubtedly the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. But as Chinese families rise to the middle class at unprecedented rates, the country is starting to be viewed as something different: a relatively untapped market for wine and other “Western” goods. According to export experts, serious wine sales to China have Read More →
Half-baked Apple store takes shape behind walls on State St.
Ask anyone what the worst-kept secret in town is, and they’ll tell you: the new Apple building in downtown Santa Barbara, which is undergoing an extensive renovation. The computer giant is spending a small fortune – and making a large racket – demolishing and rebuilding the 9,594-square-foot retail space at 928 State St., which housed Read More →
SLO pays a hefty price for curbing free enterprise
The toll of bankruptcy, foreclosure and financial mayhem in San Luis Obispo County is adding up to more than $120 million. That’s a tremendous amount of money for a county of just 250,000 residents, and the total seems destined to climb higher before things turn around. Reporting by staff writer Stephen Nellis in the current Read More →
