Shopping for recovery: Camarillo looks poised for growth
Camarillo was hit as hard as anywhere else by the recession, but a mix of high-end technology and manufacturing businesses and a retail sector buoyed by the largest outlet mall in California could bode a strong recovery. Some of the city’s struggles in retail real estate are turning into opportunities for tri-county businesses that couldn’t Read More →
SLO County gets on same eco-devo page
More than 100 business leaders and the county of San Luis Obispo have produced what’s being called a first-ever economic strategy for creating more private-sector jobs on the Central Coast. The 45-page game plan was produced by the Economic Vitality Corp. of San Luis Obispo and funded with $50,000 from the county and more than Read More →
Ventura County launches eco-devo ad blitz
A coalition of economic development groups in Ventura County launched a federally funded campaign on Nov. 15 to sell the county as the ideal spot to build a business. The initiative is headed by the Workforce Investment Board of Ventura County, with participation from the Economic Development Collaborative-Ventura County, chambers of commerce in the county Read More →
Bright, but not as big: Solar projects could be downsized to protect wildlife
The two massive solar projects winding toward approval on San Luis Obispo County’s Carrizo Plain could end up generating 30 percent less energy than the 800 megawatts their corporate backers would prefer. That is according to draft environmental impact reports circulating for the California Valley Solar Ranch, backed by San Jose-based SunPower Corp., and the Read More →
Slow SLO recovery forecast
Like the rest of California, San Luis Obispo County is winding very slowly to a full economic recovery, forecasters at the Central Coast Economic Forecast said Nov. 5. The county’s unemployment rate currently hovers around 10 percent, and will likely stay above 6 percent until sometime in 2015, economists from the forecasting group Beacon Economics Read More →
U.S. should set inflation target, Fed economist says at UCSB
Setting the federal funds interest rate target at zero is a trap, and one the Federal Reserve would be better off avoiding, St. Louis Federal Reserve Economist Bill Gavin said at an Oct. 27 appearance at UC Santa Barbara. Warning of the dangers of the so-called “zero lower bound,” when the federal funds rate is Read More →