Pasadena, Alhambra rank 20 and 21

Pasadena Star News  

By: Cynthia Kurtz                   

Posted 10/23/2013  

Thank you Livability.com. Finally, a study that doesn’t lump all of Southern California into one place called the “Los Angeles area.” 

Livability is an online publication that looks at life in small to mid-sized cities. Every month it publishes a top-10 list ranking some aspect of city life. It is always looking for the best places to live, work and visit. 

Once a year it selects the top 100 best cities to live in. These 100 cities are selected from more than 1,700 cities nationwide, so it is no easy task to make the list. This year two San Gabriel Valley cities not only made the list - they made the top 25 - Pasadena at 20 and Alhambra at 21. 

The rankings aren’t based on opinions or hunches. Access, affordability, choice and utilization of eight essential attributes of community life are examined - economy, health care, housing, social and civic capital, education, amenities, demographics and infrastructure.

Livability partners with two well-known organizations to prepare the Top 100 list. Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rothman School of Management prepares the index and Ipsos Public Affairs, a leading market research company, conducts survey research.

Pasadena’s highest score was for amenities. Livability looked at physical amenities, weather and the arts, which have a positive impact on developing creative and innovative communities. Is it any mystery why Pasadena scored well? Its historic neighborhoods, exceptional architecture, and exemplary climate all added points.

Being home to the Tournament of Roses, Rose Bowl, Kaiser Permanente and Caltech - the number one school in the world - are all amenities that are unmatched in any other place. With 16 museums, 11 performing art halls, restaurants and shopping all accessible by walking, Pasadena easily beat the average amenities score of 46 with a whopping 88. 

Alhambra scored especially high in demographics which includes diversity in race, education level, age and social economic status. Livability says diversity of demographics is necessary to get “diversity of opinions (and) better decisions for businesses, governments and societies.” The average diversity score was 50 but Alhambra blew the competition away with a 79.

All that adds up to a lively mix of businesses, events, international restaurants and markets. Having excellent schools, charming neighborhoods and an active nightlife also helped get Alhambra rank high on the list.

Some of the SGV’s neighbors were also winners. Burbank was 33, Glendale, which just so happens to have a city manager from the SGV, came in at 52 and Whittier 82.

Of course Livability didn’t find all the great SGV cities. Many others - Claremont, Glendora, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Duarte, and Monrovia just to name a few - are also great places to live. But SGV can’t take all the top awards in the same year!

Congratulations Pasadena and Alhambra for this well-deserved recognition.

Snak King honored as top business

Pasadena Star News  

By: Cynthia Kurtz                   

Posted 10/09/2013 
 
Every year the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership honors the movers and shakers who make the San Gabriel Valley such a special place. And every year I wonder if we will find honorees that are as deserving as past recipients. I shouldn't worry. Every year we find great companies, organizations and businesses to celebrate, and 2013 was no exception.

Our 2013 Business of the Year is Snak King - an inspiring SGV success story. In 2012 alone the company launched 107 new products, acquired Illinois based C.J. Vitner Co., one of the oldest names in the snack food industry, essentially doubled its work force to 900 employees, and more than doubled its floor capacity to 600,000 square feet, putting an exclamation mark on the company’s reputation as an industry leader. 

Success hasn’t come easily. Snak King was founded in 1978 to produce private-label pork rinds for a local tavern distributor. Chairman and CEO, Barry Levin, started on the production floor making pork rinds, running the fryer, operating the forklift, making sales calls, and keeping the books. The company lost $100,000 in its first year.

A year later, with the company losing money and just three employees, Barry was convinced by his family to take over the business. Two years later Snak King earned a profit. Barry reinvested those profits into the company and gradually added to the product line. In 1994, Snak King purchased its current location in the City of Industry.

Then in 2004, torrential rains caused the roof to collapse at the production facility. The company's future was at risk. Friends advised "take the insurance money and walk away." But the Snak King team rebuilt and retooled the facility at a cost of $30 million. It took three years to bring the facility back to full production, but they did it and they haven't looked back.

Today Snak King is one of the largest independent snack food manufacturers in the United States. Their own brands - Granny Goose, Jensen's Orchard, El Sabroso, The Whole Earth and Vitner's - can be found in stores, vending machines and supermarkets across the world. 

The formula for their success: a commitment to providing the best snack products for their customers and a focus on "team." Barry Levin is the face of the company but he quickly gives credit to his team. Focusing on the team, he believes, allows for greater innovation, better execution and stronger customer service.

Congratulations to Barry Levin and the entire Snak King team. We are proud to have you in the San Gabriel Valley.

Foreign trade zones create win-win

Pasadena Star News  

By: Cynthia Kurtz                   

Posted 10/02/2013 

There are several Foreign Trade Zones or FTZs in the San Gabriel Valley. They allow merchandise to be brought into the U.S. without paying the duties and excise tax upon entry. Instead, the tariffs are paid when the merchandise leaves the FTZ. 

FTZs have been around under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Commerce since 1934 so clearly they are providing value but many people don’t understand what that value is and how important they are in a region like the SGV. Recently Craig M. Pool, President of Foreign-Trade Zone Corporation was the speaker at the Industry Manufacturers Council (IMC) lunch. He promised to make FTZ’s simple kept his word.

Foreign trade zones are always located near U.S. points of entry. Property within the zone is considered to be outside the supervision of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That means the entry procedures and payments of duties are not required on the foreign merchandise as long as it remains in the FTZ. The duties are paid when the merchandise leaves the zone for “domestic consumption.”

You may be wondering what the big deal is. Why does the government bother authorizing and overseeing these zones just so duties and excise taxes are delayed. Mr. Pool explained why FTZs are good policy and good for business.

FTZs create jobs here. The combined tariffs on the components of a product are sometimes higher than the tariff on the finished product. In order to survive in a competitive market, companies have no choice but to assembly off shore. If the components are brought into and assembled in the zone, the jobs are created here and the company reduces costs by paying the tariff on the finished product. A win-win.

Sometimes a single major component has a higher duty rate than the finished product. For example, the duty rate for the motor used in the “Little Green Machine” vacuum cleaner is 5.3 percent. The duty rate for a vacuum cleaner is 3 percent. If the machines are assembled in an FTZ, it reduces the rate, reduces the product cost and creates jobs.

If during processing, your project has a high yield loss, paying the duty on the end product rather than the raw materials can add up to huge savings.

Duty deferral can be a big help to companies purchasing expensive production equipment. If the equipment goes into the zone and is held until it is ready to be put into use, no duties or excise taxes need to be paid until that time. The cash flow impacts on big projects or seasonal production facilities can be the difference between making or not making the purchase.

In the past the FTZ was a defined geographic area and to take advantage of the benefits, a company had to move some of all of their operations into the zone. That is changing. Now there are alternative frameworks available that allow a company to take advantage of the FTZ benefits without moving. If you are located within the “service area” of an FTZ, the benefits can come to you.

If you think your business might benefit, you can contact the U.S. Department of Commerce Foreign Trade Zone in Washington D.C. at 202-482-2862. 

Good time to update your emergency plan

Pasadena Star News  

By: Cynthia Kurtz                   

Posted 9/18/2013

September is National Preparedness Month and a good time to reassess your disaster plans.

The unfortunate truth is that most folks think about getting ready for a disaster right after a disaster. The American Red Cross is trying to change that thinking with the “Prepare the San Gabriel Valley Campaign” and their “Ready Rating Program.”

“Only six percent of Californians have made plans for what to do before, during and after a catastrophic event,” says Ben Green, CEO of the Red Cross San Gabriel Pomona Valley Chapter. “Preparedness is critical in preventing and alleviating the impact of disasters and city officials, businesses, and individuals are encouraged to participate in the campaign.”

If you are thinking that you really should review your plan, National Preparedness Month is a good opportunity to start. The Red Cross knows how important it is to be prepared now. They respond to 70,000 disasters every year. 

It’s not just earthquakes. Disasters come in many forms - wildfires, tsunamis, home fires, pandemics, heat waves, floods, landslides, downed power lines and terrorism. No one is immune from disasters at home or at work.

One-third of businesses have no plan for how they will respond if a disaster interrupts operations. But 82 percent of businesses say they would develop a plan if someone made it easy. 

The Red Cross’s Ready Rating Program makes it easy and convenient. Best of all, it’s free.

Ready Rating is on-line program at www.readyrating.org. After you sign up for the free membership, the 4 minute and 31 second “1-2-3 assessment video” will tell you everything you need to use the site.  

A simple questionnaire allows you to assess your current level of preparedness, create a tailor made plan, begin to implement the plan and even learn how to help others during a disaster. As a member you have access to your assessment anytime you want.

The site allows you to generate customized reports about your plan. Whenever you update your information, a new score card is generated enabling you to track your progress. This easy self-paced tool can dramatically improve your level of preparedness.

Revamp should create level playing field

Pasadena Star News  

By: Cynthia Kurtz                   

Posted 9/18/2013 

Let me start with apologies to my readers who are getting tired of so many columns about CEQA reform. However, for people who are interested in how policy is made, this issue is the gift that keeps on giving.

This was to be the year for CEQA “modernization.” The Governor said it would get done. SB 371 was introduced by Senator Steinberg and touted as the CEQA reform bill for California. Interested parties were engaged and business advocates asked for changes to give more certainty to timelines and reduce excessive litigation. 

However, Senator Steinberg said that what business wanted went “too far” and so didn’t include the business-backed changes in his bill.

Last week SB 743 popped up - a “gut and amend” bill also authored by Senator Steinberg. Gut and amend means that at the end of the session a bill that is clearly not going to pass gets rewritten with a new topic and purpose which has nothing to do with the original topic and purpose. When the changes are made at the end of the session, the bill can avoid all the pesky public hearings that are part of the normal legislative process

Last year when a CEQA reform bill that was backed by business was proposed by Senator Rubio at the end of the session there was a hue and cry that CEQA was too important to be changed through gut and amend legislation. Didn’t hear any objections to the process for SB 743. But I digress.

SB 743 expedites the CEQA process for the proposed new downtown Sacramento NBA basketball arena by allowing the project to go straight to court in the event there is CEQA litigation thereby giving more certainty to the timeline. It provides for mediation of disagreements over environmental issues as a shortcut to avoid litigation and requires the courts to issue a ruling within 175 days.

As reported in the Sacramento Bee, the bill was introduced to cut through what “Steinberg and others have called a burdensome environment impact study process under the California Environmental Quality Act.”

In case you aren’t following other northern California news, Senator Steinberg is a candidate for mayor of Sacramento.

I am not suggesting that SB 743 was a bad bill. The arena is not getting an environmental exemption. It will have to meet ALL environment standards. It will have to complete all the studies and reviews required under CEQA. It will have to mitigate its impacts. It will have all the public review required by the California law. 

What I am asserting is there should be a level playing field. If Senator Steinberg and the Legislature believe this process is good for the arena why shouldn’t it apply to other projects? SB 743 was pushed as a job-creation bill. In case there is any misunderstanding, developing housing, expanding manufacturing facilities, and building public infrastructure also creates jobs.

SB 743 passed. SB 731 did not.

Even after this state legislators will continue to scratch their heads and wonder why, year after year, California keeps ending at the bottom of the list of “business friendly” states.