Spirit of Community Involvement Honored at Awards
By Nathan Halverson
FAIRFIELD - Solano County's movers and shakers turned out by the hundreds Wednesday to honor local business leaders who have worked to improve their communities.
The 10th Annual Spirit of Solano awards hosted by Westamerica Bancorp. packed about 400 people into the Delta Breeze Club at Travis Air Force Base.
A real delta breeze would have provided some relief in the club as the room temperature was raised by jubilant attendees who clapped, laughed and provided standing ovations. Honored were eight award winners from industries varying from biotech to hospitality.
"These are the people in business who pursue positive endeavors," said host David Payne, president and CEO of Westamerica. "They raise the bar of excellence."
Hilton Garden Inn general manager Kevin Johnson, who was nominated by the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce, was awarded for his incessant commitment to community involvement.
"If we can be of service and help, we do whatever we can," he said.
Johnson has been instrumental in the push to grow tourism in Fairfield by helping to form the Fairfield Hotel Association, Inc. He also is on the Fairfield-Suisun chamber's board of directors, works with the Rotary Club; and serves on the board of directors of the Workforce Investment Board.
Each local chamber chose a winner from among its members.
Vacaville chose to honor Genentech, whose rapidly expanding business will likely bring an additional 500 employees to the area within the next few years.
Genentech is known for its inventive medical technology, but equally impressive is its innovative projects that reach out to the community.
Each year, Genentech passes out so-called Genenbucks to its employees as part of a program called Genentech Goes to Town. The faux money can be used at participating stores around Vacaville.
Since the company started the program about a decade ago, it has given out $1.3 million in Genenbucks.
It's one example of how the company works to create strong ties between its employees and the city, said Alan Van Buskirk, director of production services for Genentech.
"Genentech loves to give back to the community," Van Buskirk said. "It's a way to get people to shop downtown."
Many attendees celebrated the event's 10th anniversary.
"To me, the holidays really get kicked off with the Spirit of Solano," said Michael Ammann, Solano EDC president.
Kenny Ross, owner of car dealer Team Superstore Vallejo, rounded off the award winners and summarized with this: "Once you buy a house from Willie (Jefferson Jr. of Coldwell Banker), who used a sign from Sign-a-Rama, and you've filled the house with furniture from Comfort Furniture, you can buy a car from us to park in your new garage."
Reach Nathan Halverson at 425-4646 Ext. 267 or nhalverson@dailyrepublic.net.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
2006 Could be Big for Rio Vista
2006 Could be Big for Rio Vista
By Jeff Mitchell
Jim Holland and Kim Agamaite fish on a public dock in front of the Rio Vista City Hall, which may get a new marina. (Mike McCoy/Daily Republic photos)
RIO VISTA - In this sleepy river town of 6,800 residents, not much happens.
And, honestly, a lot of the folks who live here like it that way.
But starting next year, two projects are expected to get under way that will likely change the way the city looks and feels well into the future.
As new residential housing projects like the Trilogy project on the city's west side bring more and more people to Rio Vista, the city's ability to continue providing essential public services to its burgeoning population becomes harder and harder.
The answer, ultimately, is to increase revenues to the city's general fund through economic development, City Manager Brad Baxter said.
And boy, does Baxter have two whoppers in mind for 2006.
A massive lab facility
The first project involves the reuse of the former U.S. Army Reserve Center on Beach Drive immediately south of the city.
The 28-acre former military facility, turned over to the city in 2003 after going through an 8-year toxics cleanup, has been earmarked to become a massive laboratory facility for the California Department of Water Resources, the CalFed Bay-Delta program and the California Department of Fish and Game.
Other water districts with an interest in the Delta may sign up for office space in the complex. The massive Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has been named as one possible tenant.
The CalFed program is a combined state and federal multi-billion dollar effort that's charged with managing the preservation of the Delta region - a watershed that provides drinking water to 22 million state residents.
"We think the impact this facility will have on the city will be amazing," Baxter said. "Moreover, the lab will make for a good fit for Rio Vista. Our livelihood and our quality of life depends on the health of the Delta. Having the people who are responsible for that right here makes a lot of sense to me."
The facility, which also may contain a governmental conference center and some athletic fields, is expected to employ several hundred people, many in management positions and who hold post-graduate or doctoral level degrees.
Baxter said the city now holds a formal letter of intent from the state Department of Water Resources and expects to complete a development "memorandum of understanding" with the agency in the first quarter of 2006.
Marina or waterfront mall?
The second big thing expected to take shape next year will be the development of either a small-craft marina designed to handle several hundred vessels and which will feature upscale hotels, restaurants and some kind of entertainment venue or an upscale waterfront shopping facility - depending on who you talk with.
Unlike the former Army site, the marina project will involve the acquisition of several privately owned parcels stretching from the foot of the Highway 12 bridge west to the start of the city proper.
Because the project area is in a city redevelopment zone, the purchase of the land would likely involve some kind of public-private financing partnership, Baxter said.
He declined to name the developer or developers currently exploring the project but said both the marina and the Army Reserve site projects will likely come before the City Council in the first half of 2006.
Getting 'buy-in'
But Baxter - with artists' renderings of the marina project in hand - agreed that either form of the project will help generate the revenues the city needs to better serve a steadily growing residential population.
But as the two multi-million dollar projects move forward, the struggle will be to get "buy-in" on the part of the town's longtime residents.
He's already got the support of the town's business community.
"Right now, the waterfront is in a sad state of affairs," said Barry Waldie, a longtime Rio Vistan, local real estate broker and a member of the town's chamber of commerce board of directors.
"I can tell you this - the business community is overwhelmingly in support of any development on our waterfront. We need it. It's long overdue," Waldie said.
But Mayor Eddie Woodruff said the city will approach both projects with a level of sensitivity that's designed to engage those longtime Rio Vistans who are enamored with the town's "Mayberry-esque" culture.
"I think 2006 will prove to be a very big year for us. It's very important that we get as much support as we can muster from those who have been here the longest," Woodruff said. "Their support will be critical to our success."
Reach Jeff Mitchell at 427-6977 or jmitchell@dailyrepublic.net.
By Jeff Mitchell
Jim Holland and Kim Agamaite fish on a public dock in front of the Rio Vista City Hall, which may get a new marina. (Mike McCoy/Daily Republic photos)
RIO VISTA - In this sleepy river town of 6,800 residents, not much happens.
And, honestly, a lot of the folks who live here like it that way.
But starting next year, two projects are expected to get under way that will likely change the way the city looks and feels well into the future.
As new residential housing projects like the Trilogy project on the city's west side bring more and more people to Rio Vista, the city's ability to continue providing essential public services to its burgeoning population becomes harder and harder.
The answer, ultimately, is to increase revenues to the city's general fund through economic development, City Manager Brad Baxter said.
And boy, does Baxter have two whoppers in mind for 2006.
A massive lab facility
The first project involves the reuse of the former U.S. Army Reserve Center on Beach Drive immediately south of the city.
The 28-acre former military facility, turned over to the city in 2003 after going through an 8-year toxics cleanup, has been earmarked to become a massive laboratory facility for the California Department of Water Resources, the CalFed Bay-Delta program and the California Department of Fish and Game.
Other water districts with an interest in the Delta may sign up for office space in the complex. The massive Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has been named as one possible tenant.
The CalFed program is a combined state and federal multi-billion dollar effort that's charged with managing the preservation of the Delta region - a watershed that provides drinking water to 22 million state residents.
"We think the impact this facility will have on the city will be amazing," Baxter said. "Moreover, the lab will make for a good fit for Rio Vista. Our livelihood and our quality of life depends on the health of the Delta. Having the people who are responsible for that right here makes a lot of sense to me."
The facility, which also may contain a governmental conference center and some athletic fields, is expected to employ several hundred people, many in management positions and who hold post-graduate or doctoral level degrees.
Baxter said the city now holds a formal letter of intent from the state Department of Water Resources and expects to complete a development "memorandum of understanding" with the agency in the first quarter of 2006.
Marina or waterfront mall?
The second big thing expected to take shape next year will be the development of either a small-craft marina designed to handle several hundred vessels and which will feature upscale hotels, restaurants and some kind of entertainment venue or an upscale waterfront shopping facility - depending on who you talk with.
Unlike the former Army site, the marina project will involve the acquisition of several privately owned parcels stretching from the foot of the Highway 12 bridge west to the start of the city proper.
Because the project area is in a city redevelopment zone, the purchase of the land would likely involve some kind of public-private financing partnership, Baxter said.
He declined to name the developer or developers currently exploring the project but said both the marina and the Army Reserve site projects will likely come before the City Council in the first half of 2006.
Getting 'buy-in'
But Baxter - with artists' renderings of the marina project in hand - agreed that either form of the project will help generate the revenues the city needs to better serve a steadily growing residential population.
But as the two multi-million dollar projects move forward, the struggle will be to get "buy-in" on the part of the town's longtime residents.
He's already got the support of the town's business community.
"Right now, the waterfront is in a sad state of affairs," said Barry Waldie, a longtime Rio Vistan, local real estate broker and a member of the town's chamber of commerce board of directors.
"I can tell you this - the business community is overwhelmingly in support of any development on our waterfront. We need it. It's long overdue," Waldie said.
But Mayor Eddie Woodruff said the city will approach both projects with a level of sensitivity that's designed to engage those longtime Rio Vistans who are enamored with the town's "Mayberry-esque" culture.
"I think 2006 will prove to be a very big year for us. It's very important that we get as much support as we can muster from those who have been here the longest," Woodruff said. "Their support will be critical to our success."
Reach Jeff Mitchell at 427-6977 or jmitchell@dailyrepublic.net.
Nut Tree's New Era Begins
Nut Tree's New Era Begins
By Tom Hall/Staff Writer
Carol Yount discovered the Nut Tree in 1967, when she was hired as a management secretary at the restaurant complex.
She spent 22 years at the old landmark, writing out correspondence for the founding Power family and becoming a part of the close-knit, extended Nut Tree clan.
Thursday, she got to revisit the site and see a lot of familiar faces.
"When I got out of the car, the tears came streaming out of my eyes," Yount said. "Just being able to walk the grounds - it's so emotional."
Thursday marked a new chapter for the fabled Nut Tree, as work on rebuilding the California landmark officially began with a ground-breaking ceremony.
A bevy of developers, city officials and nostalgic Vacaville residents gathered at the site of the old Nut Tree just before noon to look at plans for the redevelopment project, chat with old friends and turn some dirt.
Mayor Len Augustine called the rebirth of the Nut Tree the biggest redevelopment project the city has ever undertaken.
"Here we are today when people thought it was mission impossible," Augustine told dozens of onlookers huddled under a canopy of trees. "This is the future of Vacaville."
The massive project includes a family amusement park with a roller coaster, bumper cars and the famous Nut Tree train; a 380,000-square-foot retail and dining complex, with Borders, Best Buy and PetSmart already confirmed as anchors; eight bocce courts and an open-air market pavilion.
Future phases call for townhomes, a conference center and perhaps two full-service hotels.
The original Nut Tree closed in January 1996. Numerous attempts to reopen the landmark since have failed. The city eventually purchased 80 acres of the property for $7.5 million in 2000.
The city is now finalizing its sale of that acreage to developer Nut Tree Associates.
Roger Snell, the master developer for the project who first approached the city in 2002, said once completed, the Nut Tree again will be a bright spot along the highway, catering to both children and adults.
Rick Capretta, whose Westrust Ventures is heading the retail and dining segment of the project, said Snell's enthusiasm for the Nut Tree drew him in two years ago.
"You walked out of that meeting with Roger and you said, 'Wow, he's really optimistic about the Nut Tree,' " Capretta said. "Two years later, and people are saying that about me."
Roy Moerkhe, who spent more than three decades working for the Nut Tree in retail purchasing and display, said he's thrilled that work is getting started.
"This is huge," Moerkhe said. "We've just been waiting for this for so long."
Moerkhe will be involved in helping the Vacaville Museum restore the Harbison House to its 1907 grandeur once it's moved about 800 feet to the northeast, where it will serve as a centerpiece for the family park.
Museum director Shawn Lum, donning a white hardhat emblazoned with the ubiquitous Nut Tree logo, said she was ready to get started restoring the historic home, which was built in 1907 and housed several generations of Powers.
"Let's go, let's get at it!" she laughed, weaving through the crowd.
Snell's daughter, Ali, helped remind visitors what high expectations the project would be held to. She stood next to a mock-up of the old Nut Tree fruit stand at which Helen Harbison Power first peddled her snacks in 1921.
Fresh peaches rested in small wooden crates at the stand, while Ali Snell told inquiring minds the history of the landmark. Just as was seen at Power's old stand, an American flag waved gently in the breeze nearby.
Yount, now a secretary for City Manager David Van Kirk, pointed out that it was the little details that brought back the memories: the checkered tableclothes, the fresh flowers all around, the breeze whistling through the shade-giving trees.
"It just makes you feel like the magic is back," she said.
Tom Hall can be reached at vacaville@thereporter.com.
By Tom Hall/Staff Writer
Carol Yount discovered the Nut Tree in 1967, when she was hired as a management secretary at the restaurant complex.
She spent 22 years at the old landmark, writing out correspondence for the founding Power family and becoming a part of the close-knit, extended Nut Tree clan.
Thursday, she got to revisit the site and see a lot of familiar faces.
"When I got out of the car, the tears came streaming out of my eyes," Yount said. "Just being able to walk the grounds - it's so emotional."
Thursday marked a new chapter for the fabled Nut Tree, as work on rebuilding the California landmark officially began with a ground-breaking ceremony.
A bevy of developers, city officials and nostalgic Vacaville residents gathered at the site of the old Nut Tree just before noon to look at plans for the redevelopment project, chat with old friends and turn some dirt.
Mayor Len Augustine called the rebirth of the Nut Tree the biggest redevelopment project the city has ever undertaken.
"Here we are today when people thought it was mission impossible," Augustine told dozens of onlookers huddled under a canopy of trees. "This is the future of Vacaville."
The massive project includes a family amusement park with a roller coaster, bumper cars and the famous Nut Tree train; a 380,000-square-foot retail and dining complex, with Borders, Best Buy and PetSmart already confirmed as anchors; eight bocce courts and an open-air market pavilion.
Future phases call for townhomes, a conference center and perhaps two full-service hotels.
The original Nut Tree closed in January 1996. Numerous attempts to reopen the landmark since have failed. The city eventually purchased 80 acres of the property for $7.5 million in 2000.
The city is now finalizing its sale of that acreage to developer Nut Tree Associates.
Roger Snell, the master developer for the project who first approached the city in 2002, said once completed, the Nut Tree again will be a bright spot along the highway, catering to both children and adults.
Rick Capretta, whose Westrust Ventures is heading the retail and dining segment of the project, said Snell's enthusiasm for the Nut Tree drew him in two years ago.
"You walked out of that meeting with Roger and you said, 'Wow, he's really optimistic about the Nut Tree,' " Capretta said. "Two years later, and people are saying that about me."
Roy Moerkhe, who spent more than three decades working for the Nut Tree in retail purchasing and display, said he's thrilled that work is getting started.
"This is huge," Moerkhe said. "We've just been waiting for this for so long."
Moerkhe will be involved in helping the Vacaville Museum restore the Harbison House to its 1907 grandeur once it's moved about 800 feet to the northeast, where it will serve as a centerpiece for the family park.
Museum director Shawn Lum, donning a white hardhat emblazoned with the ubiquitous Nut Tree logo, said she was ready to get started restoring the historic home, which was built in 1907 and housed several generations of Powers.
"Let's go, let's get at it!" she laughed, weaving through the crowd.
Snell's daughter, Ali, helped remind visitors what high expectations the project would be held to. She stood next to a mock-up of the old Nut Tree fruit stand at which Helen Harbison Power first peddled her snacks in 1921.
Fresh peaches rested in small wooden crates at the stand, while Ali Snell told inquiring minds the history of the landmark. Just as was seen at Power's old stand, an American flag waved gently in the breeze nearby.
Yount, now a secretary for City Manager David Van Kirk, pointed out that it was the little details that brought back the memories: the checkered tableclothes, the fresh flowers all around, the breeze whistling through the shade-giving trees.
"It just makes you feel like the magic is back," she said.
Tom Hall can be reached at vacaville@thereporter.com.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Travis to Reopen Main Gate
Travis to Reopen Main Gate
By Ian Thompson
The new Main Gate at Travis Air Force Base is expected to open in mid-December after 15 months of construction. (Judith Sagami/Daily Republic)
TRAVIS AFB - Travis Air Force Base residents and visitors will get an early Christmas present this year - a new Main Gate.
Fifteen months after it was closed for renovation, the gate - where Air Base Parkway enters the base - is expected to be reopened by mid-December with improved security measures capable of stopping even a big-rig truck.
"It will be nice to use that gate again," said Marianne Bissell, an Air Force retiree from Dixon who uses the Base Exchange. "The Hospital Gate was nice, but the Main Gate will be easier."
With both gates open for the first time in nearly two years, "traffic is going to be moving through much faster," said Capt. Michael Shirley, operations officer for the 60th Security Forces Squadron.
"The new state-of-the-art gate will provide the latest and greatest force protection measures that have been implemented across of the Air Mobility Command," Shirley said.
All that is left to be done between now and the gate's opening "is a little finishing work inside," 60th Civil Engineer Squadron Mechanical Engineer Rick De Bernardi.
Even so, the base is planning to close the Main Gate's outbound lanes from Dec. 12 to Dec. 18, dates that could change depending on completing the work at the North Gate.
The base's hospital gate was the first to be renovated and created little more than a minor inconvenience for people getting on and off base during 2004.
Work on the Main Gate started in September 2004, shortly after the Hospital Gate was reopened with the contractor, the Parsons Corp., originally saying the work would be done by February.
"There were some design issues, some construction issues," De Bernardi said.
Disagreements between Parsons and the Air Force stalled work early this year until an agreement was reached and the reopening rescheduled to September, then October and now to mid-December.
The work on the base's gates is part of an Air Mobility Command-wide project to redesign all the entrances to all of the command's bases across the U.S. to improve security and vehicle access.
Some Air Mobility Command bases in northern parts of the U.S. recently completed their gate projects, while others such as Travis, are just finishing the work up, De Bernardi said.
Now, the Main Gate is almost finished and on track for a ribbon cutting ceremony later this month, De Bernardi said.
The $5 million project will have a new visitors center, more parking and a vehicle inspection area.
The biggest change will be a traffic-calming curve to slow down the traffic as vehicles approach the gate. A new vehicle screening facility where long-term visitors will get entry badges will join the existing visitors' center.
Near this will be a vehicle inspection facility where security forces can pull aside suspect vehicles to be examined from top to bottom.
The hydraulically operated pop-up barrier was designed by Delta Scientific Corporation for the Navy and is used at several U.S. embassies around the world.
Travis' North Gate was closed to traffic Monday to also have security barriers put in and is expected to open again by Dec. 12.
Once the Main and North gates are finished, there are plans to improve the facilities at the South, or Commercial Gate. But no time schedule has been set because that project has yet to get funding, De Bernardi said.
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.
By Ian Thompson
The new Main Gate at Travis Air Force Base is expected to open in mid-December after 15 months of construction. (Judith Sagami/Daily Republic)
TRAVIS AFB - Travis Air Force Base residents and visitors will get an early Christmas present this year - a new Main Gate.
Fifteen months after it was closed for renovation, the gate - where Air Base Parkway enters the base - is expected to be reopened by mid-December with improved security measures capable of stopping even a big-rig truck.
"It will be nice to use that gate again," said Marianne Bissell, an Air Force retiree from Dixon who uses the Base Exchange. "The Hospital Gate was nice, but the Main Gate will be easier."
With both gates open for the first time in nearly two years, "traffic is going to be moving through much faster," said Capt. Michael Shirley, operations officer for the 60th Security Forces Squadron.
"The new state-of-the-art gate will provide the latest and greatest force protection measures that have been implemented across of the Air Mobility Command," Shirley said.
All that is left to be done between now and the gate's opening "is a little finishing work inside," 60th Civil Engineer Squadron Mechanical Engineer Rick De Bernardi.
Even so, the base is planning to close the Main Gate's outbound lanes from Dec. 12 to Dec. 18, dates that could change depending on completing the work at the North Gate.
The base's hospital gate was the first to be renovated and created little more than a minor inconvenience for people getting on and off base during 2004.
Work on the Main Gate started in September 2004, shortly after the Hospital Gate was reopened with the contractor, the Parsons Corp., originally saying the work would be done by February.
"There were some design issues, some construction issues," De Bernardi said.
Disagreements between Parsons and the Air Force stalled work early this year until an agreement was reached and the reopening rescheduled to September, then October and now to mid-December.
The work on the base's gates is part of an Air Mobility Command-wide project to redesign all the entrances to all of the command's bases across the U.S. to improve security and vehicle access.
Some Air Mobility Command bases in northern parts of the U.S. recently completed their gate projects, while others such as Travis, are just finishing the work up, De Bernardi said.
Now, the Main Gate is almost finished and on track for a ribbon cutting ceremony later this month, De Bernardi said.
The $5 million project will have a new visitors center, more parking and a vehicle inspection area.
The biggest change will be a traffic-calming curve to slow down the traffic as vehicles approach the gate. A new vehicle screening facility where long-term visitors will get entry badges will join the existing visitors' center.
Near this will be a vehicle inspection facility where security forces can pull aside suspect vehicles to be examined from top to bottom.
The hydraulically operated pop-up barrier was designed by Delta Scientific Corporation for the Navy and is used at several U.S. embassies around the world.
Travis' North Gate was closed to traffic Monday to also have security barriers put in and is expected to open again by Dec. 12.
Once the Main and North gates are finished, there are plans to improve the facilities at the South, or Commercial Gate. But no time schedule has been set because that project has yet to get funding, De Bernardi said.
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.
Suisun Lighthouse Should be Finished by July
Suisun Lighthouse Should be Finished by July
By Ian Thompson
SUISUN CITY - Suisun City's 52-foot-tall lighthouse should be up and running as soon as next summer, according to the project's manager, Chief Building Inspector Dan Kasperson.
"We hope to have an operating lighthouse by the Fourth of July celebration," Kasperson said.
The Suisun City Council is expected to award Blackshear Construction of Benicia a $623,000 contract tonight to build the structure city leaders are predicting will be the symbol of a rejuvenated Suisun City waterfront.
Blackshear was one of five builders who responded to a bid put out early in the fall to put up the structure that was designed by the ROMA Design Group of San Francisco.
"That is a good amount, considering it is a relatively small project," Kasperson said of the number of bidders. "There was interest because it was so unique."
The lighthouse was the product of a series of community forums in 2004. Residents and councilmembers figured it would be a unique and distinctive symbol visible from Highway 12.
It was designed to be a steel structure with alternating bands of black and white granite panels, simulating the paint scheme of coastal lighthouses and topped with a rotating beacon.
The city lit up the beacon on the waterfront in a public ceremony Oct. 1 after perching it atop a crane raised to approximately the height of what the lighthouse would be.
Suisun City's Redevelopment Agency is putting forward $530,000 to get the construction work started and city staff is recommending putting up another $200,000 to meet the contract price and any cost overruns.
"All of the costs are going to be reimbursed by fees generated from a surcharge on property sold by the Redevelopment Agency," Kasperson said. "The intent is that there will be no impact on city money."
The Suisun City Council, sitting as the Redevelopment Agency's governing board, meets at 7 p.m. tonight.
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.
Who: Suisun Redevelopment Agency
What: Awarding the contract to build a lighthouse on the waterfront
Where: Suisun City Council chamber, 701 Civic Center Blvd.
When: 7 p.m. tonight
Info: 707 421-7300
By Ian Thompson
SUISUN CITY - Suisun City's 52-foot-tall lighthouse should be up and running as soon as next summer, according to the project's manager, Chief Building Inspector Dan Kasperson.
"We hope to have an operating lighthouse by the Fourth of July celebration," Kasperson said.
The Suisun City Council is expected to award Blackshear Construction of Benicia a $623,000 contract tonight to build the structure city leaders are predicting will be the symbol of a rejuvenated Suisun City waterfront.
Blackshear was one of five builders who responded to a bid put out early in the fall to put up the structure that was designed by the ROMA Design Group of San Francisco.
"That is a good amount, considering it is a relatively small project," Kasperson said of the number of bidders. "There was interest because it was so unique."
The lighthouse was the product of a series of community forums in 2004. Residents and councilmembers figured it would be a unique and distinctive symbol visible from Highway 12.
It was designed to be a steel structure with alternating bands of black and white granite panels, simulating the paint scheme of coastal lighthouses and topped with a rotating beacon.
The city lit up the beacon on the waterfront in a public ceremony Oct. 1 after perching it atop a crane raised to approximately the height of what the lighthouse would be.
Suisun City's Redevelopment Agency is putting forward $530,000 to get the construction work started and city staff is recommending putting up another $200,000 to meet the contract price and any cost overruns.
"All of the costs are going to be reimbursed by fees generated from a surcharge on property sold by the Redevelopment Agency," Kasperson said. "The intent is that there will be no impact on city money."
The Suisun City Council, sitting as the Redevelopment Agency's governing board, meets at 7 p.m. tonight.
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.
Who: Suisun Redevelopment Agency
What: Awarding the contract to build a lighthouse on the waterfront
Where: Suisun City Council chamber, 701 Civic Center Blvd.
When: 7 p.m. tonight
Info: 707 421-7300
Monday, December 05, 2005
County could move ahead with post office purchase
County could move ahead with post office purchase
Solano County could buy the Fairfield-owned post office property outright, instead of linking it to a previously proposed property swap. The county would buy the building and adjacent land at 600 Kentucky St. for $1.8 million.
It would recoup this money over time by continuing to lease the property to the U.S. Postal Service. Eventually, the Postal Service could relocate and the county could use the property for fleet vehicle storage. County supervisors will discuss the proposal Tuesday....
Fairfield wants to get surplus county property in its downtown at 701 Texas Street. The city would like to sell this property to a developer to knock down the buildings and construct shops and apartments. The property is worth an estimated $950,000. The county was to swap the Texas Street property for the post office. It would have then paid the city about $1 million over four years to make up the difference in value between the two properties....
The post office proposal is only part of a bigger plan for Solano County. Supervisors on Tuesday will also hear about a management plan for the county's 133 properties....
Solano County could buy the Fairfield-owned post office property outright, instead of linking it to a previously proposed property swap. The county would buy the building and adjacent land at 600 Kentucky St. for $1.8 million.
It would recoup this money over time by continuing to lease the property to the U.S. Postal Service. Eventually, the Postal Service could relocate and the county could use the property for fleet vehicle storage. County supervisors will discuss the proposal Tuesday....
Fairfield wants to get surplus county property in its downtown at 701 Texas Street. The city would like to sell this property to a developer to knock down the buildings and construct shops and apartments. The property is worth an estimated $950,000. The county was to swap the Texas Street property for the post office. It would have then paid the city about $1 million over four years to make up the difference in value between the two properties....
The post office proposal is only part of a bigger plan for Solano County. Supervisors on Tuesday will also hear about a management plan for the county's 133 properties....
Outlook good for Bay Area economy
Posted on Sat, Dec. 03, 2005
Outlook good for Bay Area economy
S.F. Federal Reserve executive says inflation is controlled, but future of energy prices unclear
By George Avalos
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
SAN FRANCISCO - The national economy is firing on all cylinders, and the Bay Area economy has begun to chug at a faster pace, a top official with the Federal Reserve said Friday.
Those upbeat assessments of the economy came from Janet Yellen, chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She also believes inflation remains confined to its cage, although hazards still lurk because of the uncertain trend in energy prices.
As for interest rates, the Fed has yet to complete its campaign of raising them to keep the shackles on inflation, she said. Next year, Yellen will become part of the team of Fed officials that sets targets for short-term interest rates. Some analysts believe the Fed should suspend the rate increases, while others argue that rates must rise because the economy is so strong.
On Friday, the evidence continued to lean toward a vigorous economy. The nation created 215,000 new jobs in November.
"We have a labor market that is pretty robust," Yellen said in a question-and-answer session with reporters. She made the comments following a speech to the California Chamber of Commerce. "We have an economy that is growing at trend or a little above trend."
What's more, upward revisions replaced a preliminary estimate of job losses in September following Hurricane Katrina with a modest gain.
"Inflation is essentially under control," Yellen said. "The economy is in a range that is compatible with full employment. So this is really a wonderful situation. While risks abound everywhere, we are doing quite well."
The revisions in the estimates for nationwide employment payrolls mean the economy has created jobs for 30 consecutive months. That's the longest such run since a 33-month streak from 1997 to 2000.
"The economy is well-balanced and strong," said Brian Wesbury, an economist and chief investment strategist with Claymore Advisors LLC. "It involves job creation, and it is not only consumer spending, it is also business investment."
What's more, the Northern California region is showing plenty of signs that its economy and employment sectors have perked up. That would be a welcome departure from the dreadful labor markets in the years following the Internet bubble.
"Job growth in the Bay Area has picked up," Yellen said. "It's been pretty healthy over the last six to nine months."
The upswing extends even to the information technology sector, which was ravaged by the high-tech and dot-com meltdown of 2000.
"In the last couple of months. there has been a pickup in I.T. employment," Yellen said. "There has been significant job growth there in the Bay Area. And that is despite flat growth nationwide in I.T."
Other analysts agree with Yellen that a marked improvement is under way in the Bay Area. But Sean Snaith, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific, said the expansion has bestowed more economic riches in some areas than others.
"The East Bay is the engine of growth that has been pulling along with it a lot of the Central Valley and other parts of Northern California," Snaith said. "San Francisco and the South Bay are the caboose of that train."
Unlike other analysts who believe the Bay Area could lurch into tough times as the housing market ebbs and sectors such as construction wane, Snaith sees even better times ahead for the region.
"We are pretty bullish about the Bay Area and we have a positive outlook," Snaith said. "We are not among the chicken littles about the Bay Area."
Still, Yellen is among those who suspect the housing market has entered a pronounced slowdown, primarily because of the effect of rising interest rates and more costly mortgages.
"We are just starting to see some signs of cooling in house prices" in California, including the Bay Area, Yellen said.
Yellen cited data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Home price appreciation in the third quarter in the Bay Area averaged about 8.1 percent, OFHEO found. But in the previous two years, gains were in the 15 percent to 20 percent range, Yellen said.
"We may have some cooling in California in some markets, but nothing terribly pervasive, nothing dramatic," Yellen said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Avalos covers the economy, financial markets, insurance and banks. You can reach him at 925-977-8477 or gavalos@cctimes.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Sat, Dec. 03, 2005
Outlook good for Bay Area economy
S.F. Federal Reserve executive says inflation is controlled, but future of energy prices unclear
By George Avalos
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
SAN FRANCISCO - The national economy is firing on all cylinders, and the Bay Area economy has begun to chug at a faster pace, a top official with the Federal Reserve said Friday.
Those upbeat assessments of the economy came from Janet Yellen, chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She also believes inflation remains confined to its cage, although hazards still lurk because of the uncertain trend in energy prices.
As for interest rates, the Fed has yet to complete its campaign of raising them to keep the shackles on inflation, she said. Next year, Yellen will become part of the team of Fed officials that sets targets for short-term interest rates. Some analysts believe the Fed should suspend the rate increases, while others argue that rates must rise because the economy is so strong.
On Friday, the evidence continued to lean toward a vigorous economy. The nation created 215,000 new jobs in November.
"We have a labor market that is pretty robust," Yellen said in a question-and-answer session with reporters. She made the comments following a speech to the California Chamber of Commerce. "We have an economy that is growing at trend or a little above trend."
What's more, upward revisions replaced a preliminary estimate of job losses in September following Hurricane Katrina with a modest gain.
"Inflation is essentially under control," Yellen said. "The economy is in a range that is compatible with full employment. So this is really a wonderful situation. While risks abound everywhere, we are doing quite well."
The revisions in the estimates for nationwide employment payrolls mean the economy has created jobs for 30 consecutive months. That's the longest such run since a 33-month streak from 1997 to 2000.
"The economy is well-balanced and strong," said Brian Wesbury, an economist and chief investment strategist with Claymore Advisors LLC. "It involves job creation, and it is not only consumer spending, it is also business investment."
What's more, the Northern California region is showing plenty of signs that its economy and employment sectors have perked up. That would be a welcome departure from the dreadful labor markets in the years following the Internet bubble.
"Job growth in the Bay Area has picked up," Yellen said. "It's been pretty healthy over the last six to nine months."
The upswing extends even to the information technology sector, which was ravaged by the high-tech and dot-com meltdown of 2000.
"In the last couple of months. there has been a pickup in I.T. employment," Yellen said. "There has been significant job growth there in the Bay Area. And that is despite flat growth nationwide in I.T."
Other analysts agree with Yellen that a marked improvement is under way in the Bay Area. But Sean Snaith, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific, said the expansion has bestowed more economic riches in some areas than others.
"The East Bay is the engine of growth that has been pulling along with it a lot of the Central Valley and other parts of Northern California," Snaith said. "San Francisco and the South Bay are the caboose of that train."
Unlike other analysts who believe the Bay Area could lurch into tough times as the housing market ebbs and sectors such as construction wane, Snaith sees even better times ahead for the region.
"We are pretty bullish about the Bay Area and we have a positive outlook," Snaith said. "We are not among the chicken littles about the Bay Area."
Still, Yellen is among those who suspect the housing market has entered a pronounced slowdown, primarily because of the effect of rising interest rates and more costly mortgages.
"We are just starting to see some signs of cooling in house prices" in California, including the Bay Area, Yellen said.
Yellen cited data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Home price appreciation in the third quarter in the Bay Area averaged about 8.1 percent, OFHEO found. But in the previous two years, gains were in the 15 percent to 20 percent range, Yellen said.
"We may have some cooling in California in some markets, but nothing terribly pervasive, nothing dramatic," Yellen said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Avalos covers the economy, financial markets, insurance and banks. You can reach him at 925-977-8477 or gavalos@cctimes.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
� 2005 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.contracostatimes.com
Outlook good for Bay Area economy
S.F. Federal Reserve executive says inflation is controlled, but future of energy prices unclear
By George Avalos
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
SAN FRANCISCO - The national economy is firing on all cylinders, and the Bay Area economy has begun to chug at a faster pace, a top official with the Federal Reserve said Friday.
Those upbeat assessments of the economy came from Janet Yellen, chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She also believes inflation remains confined to its cage, although hazards still lurk because of the uncertain trend in energy prices.
As for interest rates, the Fed has yet to complete its campaign of raising them to keep the shackles on inflation, she said. Next year, Yellen will become part of the team of Fed officials that sets targets for short-term interest rates. Some analysts believe the Fed should suspend the rate increases, while others argue that rates must rise because the economy is so strong.
On Friday, the evidence continued to lean toward a vigorous economy. The nation created 215,000 new jobs in November.
"We have a labor market that is pretty robust," Yellen said in a question-and-answer session with reporters. She made the comments following a speech to the California Chamber of Commerce. "We have an economy that is growing at trend or a little above trend."
What's more, upward revisions replaced a preliminary estimate of job losses in September following Hurricane Katrina with a modest gain.
"Inflation is essentially under control," Yellen said. "The economy is in a range that is compatible with full employment. So this is really a wonderful situation. While risks abound everywhere, we are doing quite well."
The revisions in the estimates for nationwide employment payrolls mean the economy has created jobs for 30 consecutive months. That's the longest such run since a 33-month streak from 1997 to 2000.
"The economy is well-balanced and strong," said Brian Wesbury, an economist and chief investment strategist with Claymore Advisors LLC. "It involves job creation, and it is not only consumer spending, it is also business investment."
What's more, the Northern California region is showing plenty of signs that its economy and employment sectors have perked up. That would be a welcome departure from the dreadful labor markets in the years following the Internet bubble.
"Job growth in the Bay Area has picked up," Yellen said. "It's been pretty healthy over the last six to nine months."
The upswing extends even to the information technology sector, which was ravaged by the high-tech and dot-com meltdown of 2000.
"In the last couple of months. there has been a pickup in I.T. employment," Yellen said. "There has been significant job growth there in the Bay Area. And that is despite flat growth nationwide in I.T."
Other analysts agree with Yellen that a marked improvement is under way in the Bay Area. But Sean Snaith, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific, said the expansion has bestowed more economic riches in some areas than others.
"The East Bay is the engine of growth that has been pulling along with it a lot of the Central Valley and other parts of Northern California," Snaith said. "San Francisco and the South Bay are the caboose of that train."
Unlike other analysts who believe the Bay Area could lurch into tough times as the housing market ebbs and sectors such as construction wane, Snaith sees even better times ahead for the region.
"We are pretty bullish about the Bay Area and we have a positive outlook," Snaith said. "We are not among the chicken littles about the Bay Area."
Still, Yellen is among those who suspect the housing market has entered a pronounced slowdown, primarily because of the effect of rising interest rates and more costly mortgages.
"We are just starting to see some signs of cooling in house prices" in California, including the Bay Area, Yellen said.
Yellen cited data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Home price appreciation in the third quarter in the Bay Area averaged about 8.1 percent, OFHEO found. But in the previous two years, gains were in the 15 percent to 20 percent range, Yellen said.
"We may have some cooling in California in some markets, but nothing terribly pervasive, nothing dramatic," Yellen said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Avalos covers the economy, financial markets, insurance and banks. You can reach him at 925-977-8477 or gavalos@cctimes.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Sat, Dec. 03, 2005
Outlook good for Bay Area economy
S.F. Federal Reserve executive says inflation is controlled, but future of energy prices unclear
By George Avalos
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
SAN FRANCISCO - The national economy is firing on all cylinders, and the Bay Area economy has begun to chug at a faster pace, a top official with the Federal Reserve said Friday.
Those upbeat assessments of the economy came from Janet Yellen, chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She also believes inflation remains confined to its cage, although hazards still lurk because of the uncertain trend in energy prices.
As for interest rates, the Fed has yet to complete its campaign of raising them to keep the shackles on inflation, she said. Next year, Yellen will become part of the team of Fed officials that sets targets for short-term interest rates. Some analysts believe the Fed should suspend the rate increases, while others argue that rates must rise because the economy is so strong.
On Friday, the evidence continued to lean toward a vigorous economy. The nation created 215,000 new jobs in November.
"We have a labor market that is pretty robust," Yellen said in a question-and-answer session with reporters. She made the comments following a speech to the California Chamber of Commerce. "We have an economy that is growing at trend or a little above trend."
What's more, upward revisions replaced a preliminary estimate of job losses in September following Hurricane Katrina with a modest gain.
"Inflation is essentially under control," Yellen said. "The economy is in a range that is compatible with full employment. So this is really a wonderful situation. While risks abound everywhere, we are doing quite well."
The revisions in the estimates for nationwide employment payrolls mean the economy has created jobs for 30 consecutive months. That's the longest such run since a 33-month streak from 1997 to 2000.
"The economy is well-balanced and strong," said Brian Wesbury, an economist and chief investment strategist with Claymore Advisors LLC. "It involves job creation, and it is not only consumer spending, it is also business investment."
What's more, the Northern California region is showing plenty of signs that its economy and employment sectors have perked up. That would be a welcome departure from the dreadful labor markets in the years following the Internet bubble.
"Job growth in the Bay Area has picked up," Yellen said. "It's been pretty healthy over the last six to nine months."
The upswing extends even to the information technology sector, which was ravaged by the high-tech and dot-com meltdown of 2000.
"In the last couple of months. there has been a pickup in I.T. employment," Yellen said. "There has been significant job growth there in the Bay Area. And that is despite flat growth nationwide in I.T."
Other analysts agree with Yellen that a marked improvement is under way in the Bay Area. But Sean Snaith, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific, said the expansion has bestowed more economic riches in some areas than others.
"The East Bay is the engine of growth that has been pulling along with it a lot of the Central Valley and other parts of Northern California," Snaith said. "San Francisco and the South Bay are the caboose of that train."
Unlike other analysts who believe the Bay Area could lurch into tough times as the housing market ebbs and sectors such as construction wane, Snaith sees even better times ahead for the region.
"We are pretty bullish about the Bay Area and we have a positive outlook," Snaith said. "We are not among the chicken littles about the Bay Area."
Still, Yellen is among those who suspect the housing market has entered a pronounced slowdown, primarily because of the effect of rising interest rates and more costly mortgages.
"We are just starting to see some signs of cooling in house prices" in California, including the Bay Area, Yellen said.
Yellen cited data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Home price appreciation in the third quarter in the Bay Area averaged about 8.1 percent, OFHEO found. But in the previous two years, gains were in the 15 percent to 20 percent range, Yellen said.
"We may have some cooling in California in some markets, but nothing terribly pervasive, nothing dramatic," Yellen said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Avalos covers the economy, financial markets, insurance and banks. You can reach him at 925-977-8477 or gavalos@cctimes.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
� 2005 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.contracostatimes.com
Friday, December 02, 2005
Dump Expansion Plans on Hold
Dump Expansion Plans on Hold
By Barry Eberling
SAN FRANCISCO - The plan to expand the Potrero Hills Landfill warrants further scrutiny, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission decided Thursday.
The commission heard 10 appeals claiming the expansion plans violate Suisun Marsh protection laws. The Solano County Board of Supervisors in September voted 3-2 to grant a marsh development permit for the project, prompting the appeals. The dump is located in grassy hills that are included in the marsh buffer zone.
The commission could have dismissed the appeals outright, ending the matter. Instead, it ruled the appeals raise substantial issues and voided the county-issued marsh permit. It will hold a hearing Feb. 2, 2006, to decide whether the expansion can go forward as proposed.
Opponents raised 55 points of contention in their appeals. Not all of the points connected with him, said Commissioner Eric Carruthers, who represents Santa Clara County.
"Enough did to convince me there's a substantial issue," Carruthers said. "I do not know what the resolution might be."
Commissioner Larry Goldzband also decided there are substantial issues, but described it as a close call. Goldzband of PG&E is an appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He questioned whether a 27-member commission with appointees by various agencies can act with more wisdom than Solano County elected officials.
Suisun Marsh protection laws allow for a dump in the Potrero Hills, but only if the dump doesn't cause significant aesthetic or ecological harm. The dump serves Fairfield, Suisun City and various other communities within about 150 miles.
The private owner, Republic Services Inc., says the existing dump will fill up in 8 to 10 years. Expanding it from 320 acres to 580 acres could extend the lifespan an additional 35 years. Republic Services also wants to do such things as build a power plant powered by dump gasses.
The decision to take a look at the expansion came by an 18-0 vote, with one commissioner abstaining. Eight members were absent from the afternoon meeting at the San Francisco Ferry Building. Solano County's representatives - Supervisor Barbara Kondylis and the alternate, Supervisor John Silva - were absent.
Arthur Feinstein addressed the commission on behalf of one of the appellants.
More than 200 acres of grassland habitat would be lost to the expansion, he said. A bigger dump would also relocate a segment of Spring Branch Creek. Such actions violate marsh protection laws, he said.
"It's absolutely clear: Don't do it unless there is no impact," Feinstein said.
Larry Burch of Potrero Hills Landfill said the dump has operated for 19 years without hurting the marsh. The expansion involves the same soils and geology, the same trash volumes and the same people, he said.
"What's happened to have people lose faith?" he said. "We think that loss of confidence is something we don't deserve."
Potrero Hills Landfill will preserve and improve 654 acres of adjacent habitat, he said.
One part of the marsh protection law allows for the dump expansion, Goldzband said. Another part as interpreted by commissino staff does not allow for it, he said.
In February the regional commission will decide how to resolve the issue.
Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.
By Barry Eberling
SAN FRANCISCO - The plan to expand the Potrero Hills Landfill warrants further scrutiny, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission decided Thursday.
The commission heard 10 appeals claiming the expansion plans violate Suisun Marsh protection laws. The Solano County Board of Supervisors in September voted 3-2 to grant a marsh development permit for the project, prompting the appeals. The dump is located in grassy hills that are included in the marsh buffer zone.
The commission could have dismissed the appeals outright, ending the matter. Instead, it ruled the appeals raise substantial issues and voided the county-issued marsh permit. It will hold a hearing Feb. 2, 2006, to decide whether the expansion can go forward as proposed.
Opponents raised 55 points of contention in their appeals. Not all of the points connected with him, said Commissioner Eric Carruthers, who represents Santa Clara County.
"Enough did to convince me there's a substantial issue," Carruthers said. "I do not know what the resolution might be."
Commissioner Larry Goldzband also decided there are substantial issues, but described it as a close call. Goldzband of PG&E is an appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He questioned whether a 27-member commission with appointees by various agencies can act with more wisdom than Solano County elected officials.
Suisun Marsh protection laws allow for a dump in the Potrero Hills, but only if the dump doesn't cause significant aesthetic or ecological harm. The dump serves Fairfield, Suisun City and various other communities within about 150 miles.
The private owner, Republic Services Inc., says the existing dump will fill up in 8 to 10 years. Expanding it from 320 acres to 580 acres could extend the lifespan an additional 35 years. Republic Services also wants to do such things as build a power plant powered by dump gasses.
The decision to take a look at the expansion came by an 18-0 vote, with one commissioner abstaining. Eight members were absent from the afternoon meeting at the San Francisco Ferry Building. Solano County's representatives - Supervisor Barbara Kondylis and the alternate, Supervisor John Silva - were absent.
Arthur Feinstein addressed the commission on behalf of one of the appellants.
More than 200 acres of grassland habitat would be lost to the expansion, he said. A bigger dump would also relocate a segment of Spring Branch Creek. Such actions violate marsh protection laws, he said.
"It's absolutely clear: Don't do it unless there is no impact," Feinstein said.
Larry Burch of Potrero Hills Landfill said the dump has operated for 19 years without hurting the marsh. The expansion involves the same soils and geology, the same trash volumes and the same people, he said.
"What's happened to have people lose faith?" he said. "We think that loss of confidence is something we don't deserve."
Potrero Hills Landfill will preserve and improve 654 acres of adjacent habitat, he said.
One part of the marsh protection law allows for the dump expansion, Goldzband said. Another part as interpreted by commissino staff does not allow for it, he said.
In February the regional commission will decide how to resolve the issue.
Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.
Mission Solano Breaks Ground for New Shelter
Mission Solano Breaks Ground for New Shelter
By Brad Stanhope
FAIRFIELD - The chairman of Mission Solano's board saw a purpose in the wintry weather Thursday.
"If we really want a reason why this is necessary, we brought a little rain," said Tim LeFever, referring to homeless people left in the downpours.
As rain peppered a makeshift tent across Beck Avenue from the area where construction will soon begin on Mission Solano's "Bridge to Life Center," about 100 politicians, business people, community and religious leaders gathered to commemorate the groundbreaking on the $4.7 million first phase of the project.
Mission Solano, the county's largest homeless shelter, plans a three-phase project that will result in a 154-bed shelter, day-care center, education units and a dining hall on a 3-acre site near Cordelia Road. The event Thursday was a celebration of the progress for Mission Solano since its founding in 1998, as well as a preview of what is to come - including more fund-raising for the next phases.
The mission, in conjunction with the city of Fairfield, has a 95-year lease on the property, which is owned by Sheldon Oil. The money is already raised for the first phase - which will include a women's and children's center as well as the dining hall.
"It's fully funded - $4.7 million," said campaign chairman Gary Falati, a member of the Fairfield-Suisun School Board and former Fairfield mayor. "That's a major, major accomplishment."
He was one of about a dozen speakers, including representatives from the governments of Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville and Solano County. There were also several representatives from the building industry, including HomeAid of Northern California, the charitable arm of the Homebuilders Association, which has pledged at least half the $9 million cost to build the center.
Suisun City Mayor Jim Spering acknowledged the county long "ignored" the homeless population and said Mission Solano "finally has given synergy to address this problem. I think the solution is within our grasp."
Patrick Dutuerte, Solano County's director of health and social services, talked about meeting Mission Solano Executive Director Ron Marlette four years ago and their shared vision of helping those in need. He pledged the county would work with the mission as a partner.
Vacaville Councilman Steve Hardy added Mission Solano "would not say no and would not go away. That's why we're here today."
LeFever and others praised the local churches that opened their doors to 50 homeless people per night on a rotating basis since 1998. Marlette said the nomadic sheltering program won't stop when the center opens because there are too many people who in need - an estimated 4,500 per night in the county, according to a Solano County task force.
"We're going to continue to fight for the homeless and the needy in our community," he said.
Construction on the first phase is expected to start this winter and Marlette has said he hopes it will be finished within a year. Mission Solano continues to operate out of its current headquarters on Travis Boulevard.
Reach Brad Stanhope at 427-6925 or bstanhope@dailyrepublic.net.
By Brad Stanhope
FAIRFIELD - The chairman of Mission Solano's board saw a purpose in the wintry weather Thursday.
"If we really want a reason why this is necessary, we brought a little rain," said Tim LeFever, referring to homeless people left in the downpours.
As rain peppered a makeshift tent across Beck Avenue from the area where construction will soon begin on Mission Solano's "Bridge to Life Center," about 100 politicians, business people, community and religious leaders gathered to commemorate the groundbreaking on the $4.7 million first phase of the project.
Mission Solano, the county's largest homeless shelter, plans a three-phase project that will result in a 154-bed shelter, day-care center, education units and a dining hall on a 3-acre site near Cordelia Road. The event Thursday was a celebration of the progress for Mission Solano since its founding in 1998, as well as a preview of what is to come - including more fund-raising for the next phases.
The mission, in conjunction with the city of Fairfield, has a 95-year lease on the property, which is owned by Sheldon Oil. The money is already raised for the first phase - which will include a women's and children's center as well as the dining hall.
"It's fully funded - $4.7 million," said campaign chairman Gary Falati, a member of the Fairfield-Suisun School Board and former Fairfield mayor. "That's a major, major accomplishment."
He was one of about a dozen speakers, including representatives from the governments of Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville and Solano County. There were also several representatives from the building industry, including HomeAid of Northern California, the charitable arm of the Homebuilders Association, which has pledged at least half the $9 million cost to build the center.
Suisun City Mayor Jim Spering acknowledged the county long "ignored" the homeless population and said Mission Solano "finally has given synergy to address this problem. I think the solution is within our grasp."
Patrick Dutuerte, Solano County's director of health and social services, talked about meeting Mission Solano Executive Director Ron Marlette four years ago and their shared vision of helping those in need. He pledged the county would work with the mission as a partner.
Vacaville Councilman Steve Hardy added Mission Solano "would not say no and would not go away. That's why we're here today."
LeFever and others praised the local churches that opened their doors to 50 homeless people per night on a rotating basis since 1998. Marlette said the nomadic sheltering program won't stop when the center opens because there are too many people who in need - an estimated 4,500 per night in the county, according to a Solano County task force.
"We're going to continue to fight for the homeless and the needy in our community," he said.
Construction on the first phase is expected to start this winter and Marlette has said he hopes it will be finished within a year. Mission Solano continues to operate out of its current headquarters on Travis Boulevard.
Reach Brad Stanhope at 427-6925 or bstanhope@dailyrepublic.net.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Suisun City's Growing Business
Suisun City's Growing Business
By Nathan Halverson
SUISUN CITY - Residents are increasingly finding they can shop and eat in their own back yards, rather than drive to the more numerous retail centers in Fairfield.
In fact, a section of the city along Highway 12 is becoming the new drive-thru alley with a wide range of fast food stores opened or opening.
The city's business growth is a combination of concerted efforts by city officials and of natural growth as developers and business owners recognize the potential of under-served neighborhoods.
Currently 73 percent of Suisun City residents' taxable spending is made outside their city, according to city project manager Jason Garben. City officials want more of that taxable spending to stay local.
Primarily the money is going to Fairfield, which hosts the region's major retail spots like Westfield Solano mall.
Suisun City officials know they need more retail and commercial space to increase their tax revenues.
There are about 144 undeveloped acres available in the city, said Garben. Roughly 65 of those acres are good for commercial development, he added.
New developments
Several new retail areas are in various stages of development.
Wal-Mart has proposed building a new store on Highway 12 on a piece of land not yet incorporated into the city. The release of an environmental impact report for the proposed store and retail center there has been delayed from late November to February as issues of wetland protection and increased traffic need further review, said Alvaro da Silva, interim economic development director for Suisun City.
The city continues to redevelop and assist in adding commercial and retail space on Main Street, which has undergone a major overhaul since its more industrious days came to an end in the late 1980s.
Another new retail area is at the southeast corner of Highway 12 and Grizzly Island Road known as the Lawler Center. This site has grown with little city assistance.
"It's actually happening by itself," said da Silva.
A cluster of fast food restaurants opened there during the last few months, including a Quizno's Sub, Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits, Jack in the Box and Burger King. A Panda Express is under construction.
Construction drawings were recently submitted to the city for a seafood and grocery store with a bakery and deli. The store will be at 303 Lawler Center Drive.
The Lawler Center still has about 10 parcels on which to build.
More room to grow
Tim McCabe owns and operates a franchised It's a Grind Coffee House, which opened at Lawler Center in July. He said about 75 percent of his customers are Suisun City residents.
"It's mostly locals that know about us," he said.
He gets a lot of teachers from Crescent Elementary School, which was recently built, he said.
Just south of the center off Highway 12 is a mixed-use project named McCoy Creek.
The proposed development, for which construction drawings have yet to be submitted, will include 19 single family homes and five apartments above retail spaces, totaling about 6,000 square feet.
The site will also host an office building with four units. It is being developed by former city manager Camron Najoomi.
Kevin English of Fairfield-based Premier Commercial Real Estate Services is representing the site, which is zoned general commercial.
Reach Nathan Halverson at 425-4646 ext. 267 or nhalverson@dailyrepublic.net.
By Nathan Halverson
SUISUN CITY - Residents are increasingly finding they can shop and eat in their own back yards, rather than drive to the more numerous retail centers in Fairfield.
In fact, a section of the city along Highway 12 is becoming the new drive-thru alley with a wide range of fast food stores opened or opening.
The city's business growth is a combination of concerted efforts by city officials and of natural growth as developers and business owners recognize the potential of under-served neighborhoods.
Currently 73 percent of Suisun City residents' taxable spending is made outside their city, according to city project manager Jason Garben. City officials want more of that taxable spending to stay local.
Primarily the money is going to Fairfield, which hosts the region's major retail spots like Westfield Solano mall.
Suisun City officials know they need more retail and commercial space to increase their tax revenues.
There are about 144 undeveloped acres available in the city, said Garben. Roughly 65 of those acres are good for commercial development, he added.
New developments
Several new retail areas are in various stages of development.
Wal-Mart has proposed building a new store on Highway 12 on a piece of land not yet incorporated into the city. The release of an environmental impact report for the proposed store and retail center there has been delayed from late November to February as issues of wetland protection and increased traffic need further review, said Alvaro da Silva, interim economic development director for Suisun City.
The city continues to redevelop and assist in adding commercial and retail space on Main Street, which has undergone a major overhaul since its more industrious days came to an end in the late 1980s.
Another new retail area is at the southeast corner of Highway 12 and Grizzly Island Road known as the Lawler Center. This site has grown with little city assistance.
"It's actually happening by itself," said da Silva.
A cluster of fast food restaurants opened there during the last few months, including a Quizno's Sub, Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits, Jack in the Box and Burger King. A Panda Express is under construction.
Construction drawings were recently submitted to the city for a seafood and grocery store with a bakery and deli. The store will be at 303 Lawler Center Drive.
The Lawler Center still has about 10 parcels on which to build.
More room to grow
Tim McCabe owns and operates a franchised It's a Grind Coffee House, which opened at Lawler Center in July. He said about 75 percent of his customers are Suisun City residents.
"It's mostly locals that know about us," he said.
He gets a lot of teachers from Crescent Elementary School, which was recently built, he said.
Just south of the center off Highway 12 is a mixed-use project named McCoy Creek.
The proposed development, for which construction drawings have yet to be submitted, will include 19 single family homes and five apartments above retail spaces, totaling about 6,000 square feet.
The site will also host an office building with four units. It is being developed by former city manager Camron Najoomi.
Kevin English of Fairfield-based Premier Commercial Real Estate Services is representing the site, which is zoned general commercial.
Reach Nathan Halverson at 425-4646 ext. 267 or nhalverson@dailyrepublic.net.
New Center Aids Area's Cancer Care
New Center Aids Area's Cancer Care
By Amanda Janis/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com
Though its official grand opening isn't until this evening, patients began undergoing treatment earlier this week at Vacaville's new Solano Radiation Oncology Center - a state-of-the-art facility run by the Radiological Associates of Sacramento Medical Group.
The new center was prompted by the realization that patients from Davis, Vacaville and Fairfield were traveling to the group's various Sacramento-area locations, according to the Vacaville center's medical director, Dr. Anthony Pu.
"We really felt this community was under-served, from a radiology standpoint," he said, explaining that not all patients are treated by the local cancer centers at NorthBay Healthcare or Sutter Solano Medical Center. "There are quite a number of patients outside their systems that we can provide excellent care to."
Just off Davis Street on Bella Vista Road, the facility offers advanced services including
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy and Image Guided Radiation Therapy.
"The level of cancer care is really going to rise in the area," Pu said. "We will be the premier center in the area - I have no doubt."
The facility is also involved in clinical trials and the beta-testing of products for some vendors. This enables patients to benefit from the newest technological advancements and treatments before they officially hit the market, according to Ali Layeghi, who helps to determine the best course of treatment for individual patients as the center's medical dosimetry manager.
Layeghi is from Vacaville, and most of the staff from the Solano County area.
Pu remarked, "We care very much about the people of this community. It is our home."
According to Pu, patients at the Solano ROC will also have access to the group's radiation oncologists, staff and services at its other locations in Auburn, Roseville, Cameron Park, Carmichael and Sacramento.
Radiological Associates of Sacramento Medical Group provides radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation oncology services at 23 different centers, making it the largest private practice of its kind in Northern California.
Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.
By Amanda Janis/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com
Though its official grand opening isn't until this evening, patients began undergoing treatment earlier this week at Vacaville's new Solano Radiation Oncology Center - a state-of-the-art facility run by the Radiological Associates of Sacramento Medical Group.
The new center was prompted by the realization that patients from Davis, Vacaville and Fairfield were traveling to the group's various Sacramento-area locations, according to the Vacaville center's medical director, Dr. Anthony Pu.
"We really felt this community was under-served, from a radiology standpoint," he said, explaining that not all patients are treated by the local cancer centers at NorthBay Healthcare or Sutter Solano Medical Center. "There are quite a number of patients outside their systems that we can provide excellent care to."
Just off Davis Street on Bella Vista Road, the facility offers advanced services including
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy and Image Guided Radiation Therapy.
"The level of cancer care is really going to rise in the area," Pu said. "We will be the premier center in the area - I have no doubt."
The facility is also involved in clinical trials and the beta-testing of products for some vendors. This enables patients to benefit from the newest technological advancements and treatments before they officially hit the market, according to Ali Layeghi, who helps to determine the best course of treatment for individual patients as the center's medical dosimetry manager.
Layeghi is from Vacaville, and most of the staff from the Solano County area.
Pu remarked, "We care very much about the people of this community. It is our home."
According to Pu, patients at the Solano ROC will also have access to the group's radiation oncologists, staff and services at its other locations in Auburn, Roseville, Cameron Park, Carmichael and Sacramento.
Radiological Associates of Sacramento Medical Group provides radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation oncology services at 23 different centers, making it the largest private practice of its kind in Northern California.
Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.
Fairfield Set for Shelter's Construction
Fairfield Set for Shelter's Construction
Officials Break Ground Today on the First Phase of Mission Solano, a Comprehensive Homeless Services Center.
By Tom Hall/Staff Writer
TheReporter.Com
Building a bridge in the rather dry southwestern corner of Fairfield may not seem like a worthwhile project.
However, when that bridge isn't made to cross water, but rather to span the troubled times of some folks, it makes more sense.
Ground will break today on the first phase of Mission Solano, a $9 million comprehensive homeless services center, at the corner of Beck Avenue and Cordelia Road in Fairfield.
The first phase includes the "Bridge to Life Center," a resource that will accomodate more than 100 women and children.
"The center will offer a solution that is comprehensive and cooperative, one that uses proven, effective strategies and all available resources," said Ron Marlette, the executive director of Mission Solano.
He said the "Bridge" center will provide long-term relief for part of the county's homeless population not just by hosting beds, but by bringing together a number of area programs and services.
Among those services will be basic education, job training, one-on-one counselling, access to health services and money management training.
Future phases of the project are scheduled to include transitional housing for up to 48 homeless families, men's housing units and a full education and training center.
So far, $4.7 million has been raised for Mission Solano, Marlette said, enough to fund the first phase. The city of Fairfield has been a financial supporter of the project, as has nonprofit HomeAid.
Marlette said fundraising for the future phases will begin soon after work begins on the "Bridge" center.
Private fundraising is being kicked off in the community. The Fairfield-Suisun Christian Center will hold a benefit for the homeless center on Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. at its Suisun City location to raise money and awareness for the project.
For more information on the benefit, call Keisha McCalister at 720-6341.
Today's groundbreaking will be at the project site at 10:30 a.m.
Tom Hall can be reached at vacaville@thereporter.com.
Officials Break Ground Today on the First Phase of Mission Solano, a Comprehensive Homeless Services Center.
By Tom Hall/Staff Writer
TheReporter.Com
Building a bridge in the rather dry southwestern corner of Fairfield may not seem like a worthwhile project.
However, when that bridge isn't made to cross water, but rather to span the troubled times of some folks, it makes more sense.
Ground will break today on the first phase of Mission Solano, a $9 million comprehensive homeless services center, at the corner of Beck Avenue and Cordelia Road in Fairfield.
The first phase includes the "Bridge to Life Center," a resource that will accomodate more than 100 women and children.
"The center will offer a solution that is comprehensive and cooperative, one that uses proven, effective strategies and all available resources," said Ron Marlette, the executive director of Mission Solano.
He said the "Bridge" center will provide long-term relief for part of the county's homeless population not just by hosting beds, but by bringing together a number of area programs and services.
Among those services will be basic education, job training, one-on-one counselling, access to health services and money management training.
Future phases of the project are scheduled to include transitional housing for up to 48 homeless families, men's housing units and a full education and training center.
So far, $4.7 million has been raised for Mission Solano, Marlette said, enough to fund the first phase. The city of Fairfield has been a financial supporter of the project, as has nonprofit HomeAid.
Marlette said fundraising for the future phases will begin soon after work begins on the "Bridge" center.
Private fundraising is being kicked off in the community. The Fairfield-Suisun Christian Center will hold a benefit for the homeless center on Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. at its Suisun City location to raise money and awareness for the project.
For more information on the benefit, call Keisha McCalister at 720-6341.
Today's groundbreaking will be at the project site at 10:30 a.m.
Tom Hall can be reached at vacaville@thereporter.com.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Filling In
Filling In
Parkway Restaurant Construction Continues
By Amanda Janis/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com
Construction workers are hammering away toward completion on what will likely be the last of the commercial developments populating Nut Tree Parkway.
Wedged between Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant and the Chevron station, BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse and a 15,000 square-foot strip center are expected to open in February, according to BJ's Senior Vice President of Brewing Operations, Alex Puchner, and Gwen White, leasing agent for Cornish & Carey Commercial. A T.G.I. Fridays restaurant on the same site is expected to open in mid March, according to Mike Alazada, company spokesman. The later opening for T.G.I. Fridays is because the firm is building the restaurant as one of its new prototypes.
As for the rest of the site, "construction is on schedule and coming along nicely," said White, who represents the site's developer, John McNellis. She explained, however, that T.G.I. Fridays had purchased its parcel of land from McNellis, while the other tenants will lease.
According to McNellis, the strip center will include a 4,000-square-foot credit union, a 3,000-square-foot breakfast and lunch spot, and a host of smaller tenants, which he referred to as "the usual suspects." He was unable to divulge specific company names, as leases are in the process of being signed, but did say he thought T.G.I. Fridays, and particularly BJ's, would create a new, after-work and singles scene for Solano County.
Completion of the projects will mark the end of more than 15 years of development and redevelopment along Nut Tree Parkway, which runs parallel to Interstate 80 before becoming Orange Drive. The stretch of road is home to a plethora of retail establishments and restaurant chains, including the Vacaville Premium Outlets, Target, Mel's Diner, Wal-Mart, Fresh Choice, CompUSA, Old Navy, Applebee's, SportsMart, In-N-Out Burger, Sam's Club, Chili's, Michael's and more.
"Back in '88-'89, there really wasn't anything there," remembered Mike Palombo, Vacaville's economic development manager. He said that while building has taken place through the course of approximately 16 years, much of it occurred in spurts during the '90s.
"Between '89 and '95, a good chunk of the base stuff was built there," Palombo recalled. "The factory stores were first, then Vacaville Commons, then Power Plaza, and just lately we've seen in-fill projects, like Tahoe Joe's and Hometown Buffet."
When asked if the area might see further development in the future, Palombo said there are certainly opportunities for small development further out along Orange Drive, but that there is simply no room left on Nut Tree Parkway.
"It's really pretty much built-out with fairly new stuff," he said, "so I don't expect many changes there." Aside from the site of the old Coffee Tree restaurant, that is, which he said will likely be remodeled or eventually incorporated into a new development.
Chris Gustin, assistant director of the city's Community Development Department, agreed that Nut Tree Parkway was out of room, but was hesitant to call it quits on new development.
"If someone brings in a proposal on any piece of property that conforms to the underlying zoning requirements, we'd talk to them," he explained. "So if someone were to reconfigure a parking lot, for example, or find a way to change things and create a pad out there, we'd talk to them. More power to 'em."
"Especially if it's a restaurant," Gustin continued. "We like restaurants - it's a good land use and a good sales tax generator."
Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.
Parkway Restaurant Construction Continues
By Amanda Janis/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com
Construction workers are hammering away toward completion on what will likely be the last of the commercial developments populating Nut Tree Parkway.
Wedged between Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant and the Chevron station, BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse and a 15,000 square-foot strip center are expected to open in February, according to BJ's Senior Vice President of Brewing Operations, Alex Puchner, and Gwen White, leasing agent for Cornish & Carey Commercial. A T.G.I. Fridays restaurant on the same site is expected to open in mid March, according to Mike Alazada, company spokesman. The later opening for T.G.I. Fridays is because the firm is building the restaurant as one of its new prototypes.
As for the rest of the site, "construction is on schedule and coming along nicely," said White, who represents the site's developer, John McNellis. She explained, however, that T.G.I. Fridays had purchased its parcel of land from McNellis, while the other tenants will lease.
According to McNellis, the strip center will include a 4,000-square-foot credit union, a 3,000-square-foot breakfast and lunch spot, and a host of smaller tenants, which he referred to as "the usual suspects." He was unable to divulge specific company names, as leases are in the process of being signed, but did say he thought T.G.I. Fridays, and particularly BJ's, would create a new, after-work and singles scene for Solano County.
Completion of the projects will mark the end of more than 15 years of development and redevelopment along Nut Tree Parkway, which runs parallel to Interstate 80 before becoming Orange Drive. The stretch of road is home to a plethora of retail establishments and restaurant chains, including the Vacaville Premium Outlets, Target, Mel's Diner, Wal-Mart, Fresh Choice, CompUSA, Old Navy, Applebee's, SportsMart, In-N-Out Burger, Sam's Club, Chili's, Michael's and more.
"Back in '88-'89, there really wasn't anything there," remembered Mike Palombo, Vacaville's economic development manager. He said that while building has taken place through the course of approximately 16 years, much of it occurred in spurts during the '90s.
"Between '89 and '95, a good chunk of the base stuff was built there," Palombo recalled. "The factory stores were first, then Vacaville Commons, then Power Plaza, and just lately we've seen in-fill projects, like Tahoe Joe's and Hometown Buffet."
When asked if the area might see further development in the future, Palombo said there are certainly opportunities for small development further out along Orange Drive, but that there is simply no room left on Nut Tree Parkway.
"It's really pretty much built-out with fairly new stuff," he said, "so I don't expect many changes there." Aside from the site of the old Coffee Tree restaurant, that is, which he said will likely be remodeled or eventually incorporated into a new development.
Chris Gustin, assistant director of the city's Community Development Department, agreed that Nut Tree Parkway was out of room, but was hesitant to call it quits on new development.
"If someone brings in a proposal on any piece of property that conforms to the underlying zoning requirements, we'd talk to them," he explained. "So if someone were to reconfigure a parking lot, for example, or find a way to change things and create a pad out there, we'd talk to them. More power to 'em."
"Especially if it's a restaurant," Gustin continued. "We like restaurants - it's a good land use and a good sales tax generator."
Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.
Making it Big
Making it Big
Vacaville's own Pizza Pucks Expects to go Nationwide
By Amanda Janis/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com
A rapidly expanding Vacaville-based corporation expects to get the green light soon from the Federal Trade Commission to sell its food franchises.
Original Pizza Pucks CEO Eric Frakes said that "after three years of work with the FTC and about $350,000 in attorneys fees," the company anticipates final approval to arrive and to begin selling franchises in the first quarter of next year.
During the next five years, 11,000 new stores are projected to open nationwide, he said, with expansion concentrated at first in California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon.
Original Pizza Pucks has already received 500-600 inquiries and requests from would-be franchise owners, according to Frakes.
"We've got potential franchisees that have been waiting almost three years," he said.
The cost to open an Original Pizza Pucks franchise will be $45,000 for a franchises's first store, and $15,000 for additional stores. Total cost - from design to completion - will range from $225,000 to $300,000, Frakes estimated.
"We literally take you to turn-key," he said of the corporation's plans to interact with franchisees. Potential franchise owners will train for two weeks at the company's Vacaville headquarters, and each new store will have corporate employees in lead kitchen and managerial roles for the first month of operation.
"We're unique - we didn't just start another pizza franchise," he said, explaining that the firm's menu offers much more than just pizza, and that most new stores feature wireless internet access and flat-screen televisions.
And, according to Frakes, his is the only nationwide food franchise, to his knowledge, to ever originate from Vacaville.
At the beginning of November, Original Pizza Pucks opened its new headquarters and training facility on Vaca Valley Parkway, though the company intends to build its own facility in the Vacaville area in approximately three years. Frakes said they were looking at several possible sites in the same general vicinity.
The first store, at the Vacaville Premium Outlets, was opened in 2001 by Frakes as a sole proprietorship, after developing the signature Pizza Puck - a pizza that resembles the size and shape of a cinnamon roll. Original Pizza Pucks later incorporated in 2002, and its first franchise opened a year later in Sacramento.
Currently Original Pizza Pucks operates six stores under licensing agreements that will convert to franchising agreements. Local locations include the Vacaville Premium Outlets, Brenden Theatres, Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo and Westfield Shoppingtown Solano mall in Fairfield.
Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.
Vacaville's own Pizza Pucks Expects to go Nationwide
By Amanda Janis/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com
A rapidly expanding Vacaville-based corporation expects to get the green light soon from the Federal Trade Commission to sell its food franchises.
Original Pizza Pucks CEO Eric Frakes said that "after three years of work with the FTC and about $350,000 in attorneys fees," the company anticipates final approval to arrive and to begin selling franchises in the first quarter of next year.
During the next five years, 11,000 new stores are projected to open nationwide, he said, with expansion concentrated at first in California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon.
Original Pizza Pucks has already received 500-600 inquiries and requests from would-be franchise owners, according to Frakes.
"We've got potential franchisees that have been waiting almost three years," he said.
The cost to open an Original Pizza Pucks franchise will be $45,000 for a franchises's first store, and $15,000 for additional stores. Total cost - from design to completion - will range from $225,000 to $300,000, Frakes estimated.
"We literally take you to turn-key," he said of the corporation's plans to interact with franchisees. Potential franchise owners will train for two weeks at the company's Vacaville headquarters, and each new store will have corporate employees in lead kitchen and managerial roles for the first month of operation.
"We're unique - we didn't just start another pizza franchise," he said, explaining that the firm's menu offers much more than just pizza, and that most new stores feature wireless internet access and flat-screen televisions.
And, according to Frakes, his is the only nationwide food franchise, to his knowledge, to ever originate from Vacaville.
At the beginning of November, Original Pizza Pucks opened its new headquarters and training facility on Vaca Valley Parkway, though the company intends to build its own facility in the Vacaville area in approximately three years. Frakes said they were looking at several possible sites in the same general vicinity.
The first store, at the Vacaville Premium Outlets, was opened in 2001 by Frakes as a sole proprietorship, after developing the signature Pizza Puck - a pizza that resembles the size and shape of a cinnamon roll. Original Pizza Pucks later incorporated in 2002, and its first franchise opened a year later in Sacramento.
Currently Original Pizza Pucks operates six stores under licensing agreements that will convert to franchising agreements. Local locations include the Vacaville Premium Outlets, Brenden Theatres, Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo and Westfield Shoppingtown Solano mall in Fairfield.
Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Copart Acquires Central Penn Sales
Copart Acquires Central Penn Sales: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "Press ReleaseSource: Copart, Inc.
More C-17s could be headed to Travis AFB
Daily Republic Online Edition: "
Printed on: Tue, Nov 29, 2005
More C-17s could be headed to Travis AFB
By Ian Thompson
FAIRFIELD - Efforts to get more C-17 Globemaster IIIs built could increase the chances of seeing more of the new military jet transport stationed at Travis Air Force Base.
A contingent of Santa Barbara city officials are lobbying in Washington, D.C., to get contracts funded to build 42 more C-17s, which would be assembled at the Boeing plants in Santa Barbara.
This follows two weeks after a Senate vote that gives the Air Force the green light to buy 42 more of the airlifters, bringing the future C-17 fleet from 180 to 222 aircraft.
'We have pretty high confidence that if this is granted, a second squadron at Travis would be likely,' said Fairfield City Manager Kevin O'Rourke, who is also the Travis Community Consortium's director.
The Air Force has stated it is too early to say where such additional aircraft would go if the funds are approved. That would have to be compared against what the service's needs are.
Travis is preparing to receive a squadron of 13 C-17s, which would start arriving next year. The work on the buildings and services needed to support them are already under way.
The Senate voted on Nov. 10 to allow the Air Force to buy 42 more C-17 Globemaster III jet transports and recommended the Department of Defense reassess the need for more transport aircraft, according to an Air Force Times article.
This move doesn't require the Air Force to ask for the additional C-17s and it doesn't include any funding to pay for their construction.
It does promote keeping the production lines at Boeing plants open through 2012, instead of 2008, which was"
Printed on: Tue, Nov 29, 2005
More C-17s could be headed to Travis AFB
By Ian Thompson
FAIRFIELD - Efforts to get more C-17 Globemaster IIIs built could increase the chances of seeing more of the new military jet transport stationed at Travis Air Force Base.
A contingent of Santa Barbara city officials are lobbying in Washington, D.C., to get contracts funded to build 42 more C-17s, which would be assembled at the Boeing plants in Santa Barbara.
This follows two weeks after a Senate vote that gives the Air Force the green light to buy 42 more of the airlifters, bringing the future C-17 fleet from 180 to 222 aircraft.
'We have pretty high confidence that if this is granted, a second squadron at Travis would be likely,' said Fairfield City Manager Kevin O'Rourke, who is also the Travis Community Consortium's director.
The Air Force has stated it is too early to say where such additional aircraft would go if the funds are approved. That would have to be compared against what the service's needs are.
Travis is preparing to receive a squadron of 13 C-17s, which would start arriving next year. The work on the buildings and services needed to support them are already under way.
The Senate voted on Nov. 10 to allow the Air Force to buy 42 more C-17 Globemaster III jet transports and recommended the Department of Defense reassess the need for more transport aircraft, according to an Air Force Times article.
This move doesn't require the Air Force to ask for the additional C-17s and it doesn't include any funding to pay for their construction.
It does promote keeping the production lines at Boeing plants open through 2012, instead of 2008, which was"
Rockville Trails Estate, water district part ways
Daily Republic Online Edition: "
Printed on: Tue, Nov 29, 2005
Rockville Trails Estate, water district part ways
By Barry Eberling
FAIRFIELD - Rockville Trails Estates will try to get water for its 370 proposed homes without the help or hindrance of the Solano Irrigation District.
The controversial project - formerly called White Wing Estates - is to be located on 1,580 acres. This land is amid the rural hills north of Rockville Hills Park.
One necessity is finding water to serve the proposed homes, if the project is to go forward.
SID in 1982 agreed to provide water for an earlier incarnation of the project. Now the two parties have agreed to cancel that deal.
Rockville Trails Estates will pay $49,000 for a district well on the land and the district will give no promises as to the quality or reliability of the water.
SID agrees it will take a neutral stance when the developer goes to the Solano County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. It will give no opinions on the condition of the well and it will not object to any attempt the developer might make to form a public district to provide water from the well or Vallejo.
"We part on friendly terms," said Jim Daniels, SID engineering and planning manager. "They go off and do their project. And the district is done with that."
Officials with Rockville Trails Estates could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The county Local Agency Formation Commission must review the agreement before this parting of ways becomes official.
Rockville Trails Estates is working on an environmental study for its proposed project. That study must be completed before the project goes to the county Planning Commission.
SID in September wanted the developer to do studies on the well. The district was uncertain how much water might be available.
Plus, SID found minerals in the well water, Daniels said. The district was uncertain how easy it might be to provide water to the proposed development, he said.
The agreement takes such concerns away from SID. The environmental study will look at these questions. Solano County will decide if the answers in the study are sufficient.
Rockville Trails Estates is to be more than homes. It is to include 810 acres of open space with trails open to the public.
Earlier versions of the project generated controversy. Such groups as the Green Valley Landowners Association opposed White Wing Estates in the early 1990s. County supervisors turned that project down.
Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.
Printed on: Tue, Nov 29, 2005
Rockville Trails Estate, water district part ways
By Barry Eberling
FAIRFIELD - Rockville Trails Estates will try to get water for its 370 proposed homes without the help or hindrance of the Solano Irrigation District.
The controversial project - formerly called White Wing Estates - is to be located on 1,580 acres. This land is amid the rural hills north of Rockville Hills Park.
One necessity is finding water to serve the proposed homes, if the project is to go forward.
SID in 1982 agreed to provide water for an earlier incarnation of the project. Now the two parties have agreed to cancel that deal.
Rockville Trails Estates will pay $49,000 for a district well on the land and the district will give no promises as to the quality or reliability of the water.
SID agrees it will take a neutral stance when the developer goes to the Solano County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. It will give no opinions on the condition of the well and it will not object to any attempt the developer might make to form a public district to provide water from the well or Vallejo.
"We part on friendly terms," said Jim Daniels, SID engineering and planning manager. "They go off and do their project. And the district is done with that."
Officials with Rockville Trails Estates could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The county Local Agency Formation Commission must review the agreement before this parting of ways becomes official.
Rockville Trails Estates is working on an environmental study for its proposed project. That study must be completed before the project goes to the county Planning Commission.
SID in September wanted the developer to do studies on the well. The district was uncertain how much water might be available.
Plus, SID found minerals in the well water, Daniels said. The district was uncertain how easy it might be to provide water to the proposed development, he said.
The agreement takes such concerns away from SID. The environmental study will look at these questions. Solano County will decide if the answers in the study are sufficient.
Rockville Trails Estates is to be more than homes. It is to include 810 acres of open space with trails open to the public.
Earlier versions of the project generated controversy. Such groups as the Green Valley Landowners Association opposed White Wing Estates in the early 1990s. County supervisors turned that project down.
Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Fairfield responds to jump in crime
Article Last Updated:
Fairfield responds to jump in crime
By J.M. BROWN, Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald
Fairfield nearly made the top third of California's most dangerous cities, according to a new survey of crime in 2004.
The Solano County seat's crime rate ranked 35th highest among 90 California cities with populations of at least 75,000, according to an annual Morgan Quitno report released this week.
Lt. Tony Shipp, a Fairfield police spokesman, said the department takes stock in such reports and has recently created two task forces to tackle drugs and gangs, two problems that increase any city's crime rate.
The news was better for Vacaville and Napa, which were listed as the state's 24th and 27th safest cities, respectively. Benicia and American Canyon were not included in the survey because they are too small.
Vallejo was not included because of data reporting difficulties. Police officials have said personnel shortages caused the agency to fall behind.
Shipp said Fairfield, which curbed a spike in gang-related homicides two years ago, has actually seen a violent crime decrease so far this year.
"Drugs and gangs usually go hand in hand," Shipp said. "If you get a good grip on those two, you can usually bring down (other crimes)."
For its report, Morgan Quitno tallied the incidence of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and vehicle theft reported to the FBI by police agencies. The figures are then plugged into a formula that compares the numbers to national averages.
The report said Richmond, with more than 30 homicides this year alone, was the most dangerous city in California and the 11th most dangerous in the country. Other Bay Area cities that made the top third most dangerous list for California are Oakland and San Francisco.
The safest Bay Area city on the survey is Livermore, followed by Santa Clara and Daly City. The safest California city overall is Mission Viejo, which was named the fourth safest in the country.
While pleased that Vacaville was among the safest, Police Chief Richard Word said "we want to do better."
Although the city experienced an increase in crime last year, "we are pretty much holding even so far this year," Word said.
While police and school officials have curbed gang activity, he said the city is now battling an increase in auto burglaries and petty thefts, crimes the public can help solve by reporting suspicious activity.
Fairfield's Shipp said citizens can also help cut crime by reporting drug activity and fingering violent offenders. "We can't be everywhere at once," he said.
Although Fairfield ranks low on the crime survey, Robert Noyes, president of Solano Crime Stoppers, said the city's police are moving quickly to act on tips called in to his Vallejo-based organization, which expanded several years ago to include up-county towns.
"That's why we went countywide - north county was tired of their crime," Noyes said. "That's why Vallejo is a lot safer than Fairfield and Vacaville - we ran all of our criminals into their town."
- E-mail J.M. Brown at jmbrown@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6834.
Fairfield responds to jump in crime
By J.M. BROWN, Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald
Fairfield nearly made the top third of California's most dangerous cities, according to a new survey of crime in 2004.
The Solano County seat's crime rate ranked 35th highest among 90 California cities with populations of at least 75,000, according to an annual Morgan Quitno report released this week.
Lt. Tony Shipp, a Fairfield police spokesman, said the department takes stock in such reports and has recently created two task forces to tackle drugs and gangs, two problems that increase any city's crime rate.
The news was better for Vacaville and Napa, which were listed as the state's 24th and 27th safest cities, respectively. Benicia and American Canyon were not included in the survey because they are too small.
Vallejo was not included because of data reporting difficulties. Police officials have said personnel shortages caused the agency to fall behind.
Shipp said Fairfield, which curbed a spike in gang-related homicides two years ago, has actually seen a violent crime decrease so far this year.
"Drugs and gangs usually go hand in hand," Shipp said. "If you get a good grip on those two, you can usually bring down (other crimes)."
For its report, Morgan Quitno tallied the incidence of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and vehicle theft reported to the FBI by police agencies. The figures are then plugged into a formula that compares the numbers to national averages.
The report said Richmond, with more than 30 homicides this year alone, was the most dangerous city in California and the 11th most dangerous in the country. Other Bay Area cities that made the top third most dangerous list for California are Oakland and San Francisco.
The safest Bay Area city on the survey is Livermore, followed by Santa Clara and Daly City. The safest California city overall is Mission Viejo, which was named the fourth safest in the country.
While pleased that Vacaville was among the safest, Police Chief Richard Word said "we want to do better."
Although the city experienced an increase in crime last year, "we are pretty much holding even so far this year," Word said.
While police and school officials have curbed gang activity, he said the city is now battling an increase in auto burglaries and petty thefts, crimes the public can help solve by reporting suspicious activity.
Fairfield's Shipp said citizens can also help cut crime by reporting drug activity and fingering violent offenders. "We can't be everywhere at once," he said.
Although Fairfield ranks low on the crime survey, Robert Noyes, president of Solano Crime Stoppers, said the city's police are moving quickly to act on tips called in to his Vallejo-based organization, which expanded several years ago to include up-county towns.
"That's why we went countywide - north county was tired of their crime," Noyes said. "That's why Vallejo is a lot safer than Fairfield and Vacaville - we ran all of our criminals into their town."
- E-mail J.M. Brown at jmbrown@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6834.
California Coffers Swelling Again After Struggles
November 25, 2005
States' Coffers Swelling Again After Struggles
By JOHN M. BRODER
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 24 - After four years of tight budgets and deepening debt, most states from California to Maine are experiencing a marked turnaround in their fiscal fortunes, with billions of dollars more in tax receipts than had been projected pouring into coffers around the country.
The windfall is a result of both a general upturn in the economy and conservative budgeting by state officials in recent years, and it is leading to the restoration of school funding, investments in long-neglected roads and bridges, debt reduction, and the return of money borrowed from cities and counties.
In Sacramento, officials are setting aside part of a multibillion-dollar revenue windfall to build up California's depleted cash reserves. Delaware has appropriated money for a pilot program for full-day kindergarten, and Florida will spend nearly $400 million on a new universal preschool program for 4-year-olds. Some states, including New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Oklahoma, are pouring significant new sums into public colleges and universities after several years of sharp cutbacks.
One sign of the improved fiscal health, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers, is that only five states were forced to make midyear budget cuts, totaling $634 million, in the fiscal year that ended, for most states, on June 30. In 2003, by contrast, 37 states cut spending in the middle of the budget year, by a total of $12.6 billion, the association said.
But the good news is not universal and may prove short-lived. The Great Lakes States continue to be hammered by the loss of manufacturing jobs, and full recovery from the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast States will take years.
And experts warn that even though tax revenues are rising in most of the country, demands on state budgets - particularly for education, health care and pensions - are growing even faster.
"The general picture is that revenue is coming in better than expected for quite a few states," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.
"The problem," Mr. Pattison said, "is that the states are like the guy who had been laid off and his income went way down, and now he's got a job again. But in the meantime, he put a lot of expenses on his credit card, his kids' tuition went up and he tapped into his retirement fund. That's exactly what a lot of states did."
During the lean years, states resorted to a lot of one-time fixes to balance their budgets while maintaining services. They cut spending, raised taxes, drew down their rainy-day funds, relied on federal programs, delayed payments to employee pension funds and borrowed heavily. Now they are coping with the hangover from those stopgap solutions.
In California, for example, increased tax collections and the cumulative effect of state spending cuts produced a turnaround in the state's budgetary fortunes, to the tune of nearly $4 billion, according to analysts for the governor's office and the Legislature. Officials now project a surplus of $5.2 billion at the end of the current fiscal year, up from an earlier projection of $1.3 billion. But all of that excess revenue will be consumed during the coming fiscal year, and the state will find quickly itself back in the red unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agree on longer-term solutions to the chronic imbalance between revenue and spending.
"We still have to control the rate of growth in spending," said H. D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance.
Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican, sponsored a ballot measure this fall that would have forced reductions in state spending when revenue fell short of projections, but it was soundly rejected by voters, who responded to heated warnings from state employee and teachers unions that it would mean steep cuts in education and other services. Mr. Palmer said the governor would work with the Legislature on another approach.
The picture in New York is similar to that in California. New York entered the fiscal year that began in April with a projected deficit of $4.2 billion. Instead, because of a sharp rise in personal income taxes and capital gains receipts, the state now expects to end the year with a surplus of $1 billion, a $5 billion turnaround in one year. But Michael Marr, the communications director for the New York state budget office, said rapidly rising costs for Medicaid, education and other state programs demanded continued fiscal caution.
New York City has also seen a significant brightening of its fiscal picture. Income, sales and real estate transfer taxes are coming in above forecasts, cutting the projected deficit for the next fiscal year to $2.25 billion from $4.5 billion, the City Hall budget office reported this week.
New Jersey's finances, too, have benefited from the upturn in the economy and a relatively strong stock market, with state tax revenue growing at a double-digit rate over last year. New Jersey is one of several states considering tax cuts in the current fiscal year. The newly elected governor, Senator Jon Corzine, a Democrat, promised property tax relief in the recent campaign.
Indiana is also considering property tax cuts, perhaps offset by an increase in cigarette taxes. Lawmakers in Utah are looking at ways to reduce sales or income taxes after the state took in $90 million more in taxes than anticipated in the first four months of the current fiscal year.
Michigan's economy remains in the doldrums because of the deep slump in the auto industry, and its state budget woes have eased only slightly, said Jay Wortley, senior economist at the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency. Revenues are expected to grow by a modest 3.2 percent in the current year over the year just ended, Mr. Wortley said. But that rate of growth will not begin to make up for five years of cutbacks in virtually all state services, he added.
Mr. Wortley said prison costs were rising, local governments were not getting promised payments from the state and financing for state universities remained tight. The state is selling publicly owned property and is borrowing against anticipated revenue from the nationwide settlement with tobacco companies to make ends meet.
Despite all that, Michigan officials are debating a package of business tax cuts to attract and retain high-technology companies to replace the jobs lost in manufacturing.
State officials know that the tax cuts will create additional stress on the budget, Mr. Wortley said. "But they feel they have to do something to turn the economy around," he said. "The only thing state government can do to help business is to cut taxes."
And then there are Mississippi and Louisiana.
Both states entered the current fiscal year on a high note. In Louisiana, oil and gas royalties were coming in at a record pace and sales tax revenue was growing at a double-digit clip. Mississippi ended the last fiscal year with a healthy surplus, and the current year began strong, with sales, corporate and individual income taxes exceeding estimates in July alone by $22 million.
Then Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, followed by Hurricane Rita.
"In the absence of these storms," said Greg Albrecht, chief economist for Louisiana's legislative fiscal office, "we were rocking and rolling. Just before they hit, we were sitting around saying, Look at all the money we're going to have. We were finally going to come back from the recession of 2001."
"Then the storms came along and just pulled the rug out from underneath us," Mr. Albrecht said.
Louisiana has emptied its rainy-day fund and cut $600 million from its $7.3 billion annual budget, and the state is still looking for ways to fill what has become a gaping hole in its finances.
Mississippi, which was also hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, took out a $500 million line of credit to make up for lost sales and income taxes and to provide disaster assistance to state residents. J. K. Stringer Jr., executive director of the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, said that despite the devastation after the storm, revenue rebounded in October because of heavy spending by federal workers, insurance companies and thousands of evacuees from neighboring Louisiana.
But Mr. Stringer said the state faced unknowns that made it impossible to draft a budget for the coming year.
"We got things under control here," he said, "other than three little unknowns: how much state revenue we're going to collect, how much this thing is going to cost us and how much money we're going to get from the feds."
"Other than that," Mr. Stringer said, "we've got a firm handle on things."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
States' Coffers Swelling Again After Struggles
By JOHN M. BRODER
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 24 - After four years of tight budgets and deepening debt, most states from California to Maine are experiencing a marked turnaround in their fiscal fortunes, with billions of dollars more in tax receipts than had been projected pouring into coffers around the country.
The windfall is a result of both a general upturn in the economy and conservative budgeting by state officials in recent years, and it is leading to the restoration of school funding, investments in long-neglected roads and bridges, debt reduction, and the return of money borrowed from cities and counties.
In Sacramento, officials are setting aside part of a multibillion-dollar revenue windfall to build up California's depleted cash reserves. Delaware has appropriated money for a pilot program for full-day kindergarten, and Florida will spend nearly $400 million on a new universal preschool program for 4-year-olds. Some states, including New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Oklahoma, are pouring significant new sums into public colleges and universities after several years of sharp cutbacks.
One sign of the improved fiscal health, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers, is that only five states were forced to make midyear budget cuts, totaling $634 million, in the fiscal year that ended, for most states, on June 30. In 2003, by contrast, 37 states cut spending in the middle of the budget year, by a total of $12.6 billion, the association said.
But the good news is not universal and may prove short-lived. The Great Lakes States continue to be hammered by the loss of manufacturing jobs, and full recovery from the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast States will take years.
And experts warn that even though tax revenues are rising in most of the country, demands on state budgets - particularly for education, health care and pensions - are growing even faster.
"The general picture is that revenue is coming in better than expected for quite a few states," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.
"The problem," Mr. Pattison said, "is that the states are like the guy who had been laid off and his income went way down, and now he's got a job again. But in the meantime, he put a lot of expenses on his credit card, his kids' tuition went up and he tapped into his retirement fund. That's exactly what a lot of states did."
During the lean years, states resorted to a lot of one-time fixes to balance their budgets while maintaining services. They cut spending, raised taxes, drew down their rainy-day funds, relied on federal programs, delayed payments to employee pension funds and borrowed heavily. Now they are coping with the hangover from those stopgap solutions.
In California, for example, increased tax collections and the cumulative effect of state spending cuts produced a turnaround in the state's budgetary fortunes, to the tune of nearly $4 billion, according to analysts for the governor's office and the Legislature. Officials now project a surplus of $5.2 billion at the end of the current fiscal year, up from an earlier projection of $1.3 billion. But all of that excess revenue will be consumed during the coming fiscal year, and the state will find quickly itself back in the red unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agree on longer-term solutions to the chronic imbalance between revenue and spending.
"We still have to control the rate of growth in spending," said H. D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance.
Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican, sponsored a ballot measure this fall that would have forced reductions in state spending when revenue fell short of projections, but it was soundly rejected by voters, who responded to heated warnings from state employee and teachers unions that it would mean steep cuts in education and other services. Mr. Palmer said the governor would work with the Legislature on another approach.
The picture in New York is similar to that in California. New York entered the fiscal year that began in April with a projected deficit of $4.2 billion. Instead, because of a sharp rise in personal income taxes and capital gains receipts, the state now expects to end the year with a surplus of $1 billion, a $5 billion turnaround in one year. But Michael Marr, the communications director for the New York state budget office, said rapidly rising costs for Medicaid, education and other state programs demanded continued fiscal caution.
New York City has also seen a significant brightening of its fiscal picture. Income, sales and real estate transfer taxes are coming in above forecasts, cutting the projected deficit for the next fiscal year to $2.25 billion from $4.5 billion, the City Hall budget office reported this week.
New Jersey's finances, too, have benefited from the upturn in the economy and a relatively strong stock market, with state tax revenue growing at a double-digit rate over last year. New Jersey is one of several states considering tax cuts in the current fiscal year. The newly elected governor, Senator Jon Corzine, a Democrat, promised property tax relief in the recent campaign.
Indiana is also considering property tax cuts, perhaps offset by an increase in cigarette taxes. Lawmakers in Utah are looking at ways to reduce sales or income taxes after the state took in $90 million more in taxes than anticipated in the first four months of the current fiscal year.
Michigan's economy remains in the doldrums because of the deep slump in the auto industry, and its state budget woes have eased only slightly, said Jay Wortley, senior economist at the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency. Revenues are expected to grow by a modest 3.2 percent in the current year over the year just ended, Mr. Wortley said. But that rate of growth will not begin to make up for five years of cutbacks in virtually all state services, he added.
Mr. Wortley said prison costs were rising, local governments were not getting promised payments from the state and financing for state universities remained tight. The state is selling publicly owned property and is borrowing against anticipated revenue from the nationwide settlement with tobacco companies to make ends meet.
Despite all that, Michigan officials are debating a package of business tax cuts to attract and retain high-technology companies to replace the jobs lost in manufacturing.
State officials know that the tax cuts will create additional stress on the budget, Mr. Wortley said. "But they feel they have to do something to turn the economy around," he said. "The only thing state government can do to help business is to cut taxes."
And then there are Mississippi and Louisiana.
Both states entered the current fiscal year on a high note. In Louisiana, oil and gas royalties were coming in at a record pace and sales tax revenue was growing at a double-digit clip. Mississippi ended the last fiscal year with a healthy surplus, and the current year began strong, with sales, corporate and individual income taxes exceeding estimates in July alone by $22 million.
Then Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, followed by Hurricane Rita.
"In the absence of these storms," said Greg Albrecht, chief economist for Louisiana's legislative fiscal office, "we were rocking and rolling. Just before they hit, we were sitting around saying, Look at all the money we're going to have. We were finally going to come back from the recession of 2001."
"Then the storms came along and just pulled the rug out from underneath us," Mr. Albrecht said.
Louisiana has emptied its rainy-day fund and cut $600 million from its $7.3 billion annual budget, and the state is still looking for ways to fill what has become a gaping hole in its finances.
Mississippi, which was also hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, took out a $500 million line of credit to make up for lost sales and income taxes and to provide disaster assistance to state residents. J. K. Stringer Jr., executive director of the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, said that despite the devastation after the storm, revenue rebounded in October because of heavy spending by federal workers, insurance companies and thousands of evacuees from neighboring Louisiana.
But Mr. Stringer said the state faced unknowns that made it impossible to draft a budget for the coming year.
"We got things under control here," he said, "other than three little unknowns: how much state revenue we're going to collect, how much this thing is going to cost us and how much money we're going to get from the feds."
"Other than that," Mr. Stringer said, "we've got a firm handle on things."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
Economic picture good for Solano County
Article Last Updated: 11/25/2005 07:54 AM
Economic picture good for Solano
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen/Times-Herald, Vallejo
TheReporter.Com
A temporary economic dip will likely mean deep discounts at some stores during the holiday shopping season which traditionally starts today, a university economist says.
Meanwhile, a Solano County expert sees everything coming up roses locally, particularly over the longer term.
Dr. Sean Snaith of the University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center, which released its fourth-quarter U.S. economic forecast Tuesday, said several conditions conspired in recent months to slam the brakes on the national economy.
Barring more of the same, however, Snaith predicts the slowdown is temporary, but its timing may benefit holiday shoppers as retailers slash prices to lure spending-wary consumers.
Considering the Fed's raising of interest rates several times lately, two devastating hurricanes and skyrocketing energy and gas prices, that the economy isn't in worse shape proves it's bullet-proof nationally and regionally, Snaith said.
"There have been dramatic fireworks, but the roller coaster ride is subsiding. It's making a soft landing back on solid ground,"he said.
Despite the shocks to what Snaith calls the nation's Kevlar economy, its overall growth rate for 2005 is expected to be 3.5 percent, he said.
Mike Ammann, president of the Solano County Economic Development Corp., said that while there's no escaping the higher energy costs this winter, Solano County is poised for significant growth in the next three to five years.
"We're in better shape in Solano County than pretty much anyone else in the Bay Area," Ammann said. "We have a stable unemployment rate at about 5 percent and a more diversified economy. We no longer face uncertainties like the closure of Travis Air Force Base. And, housing continues to be built."
Ammann also cited Triad Communities' downtown and waterfront projects in Vallejo and the Solano County Fairgrounds project probably kicking off in 2006.
"If you look up and down Interstate 80 in Solano County," Ammann said, "you see major development breaking ground in the next few years."
Ammann cites Genentech's $750 million expansion and its 500 added jobs in Vacaville, the improvement or expansion of most of the area's hospitals, Travis' nearly completed C-17 facility, renovations in Vacaville, Benicia, Dixon, Suisun, Fairfield and Vallejo and other projects, all either under way or ready to start.
Solano Community College, for example, has campuses coming out of the ground in Vallejo and Vacaville, Ammann said. In Solano, the next three to five years is planned, announced and pretty much going to happen.
But there's still the short-term 2005 holiday shopping season to weather. With record high energy prices predicted this winter, the consumer is getting squeezed at the pump, at the thermostat and at the light switch, Snaith said.
"This is going to put a squeeze on budgets and may cause people to trim their family's holiday spending."
Snaith said that anticipating this, middle- and lower-end retailers will slash some prices, likely starting today.
"Expect retailers to come up with real aggressive discounts to get people into the stores and shopping early. They're not going to wait to see how things go," Snaith said.
Even with drastically reduced prices, Snaith said, retailers should expect a flat holiday shopping season, which traditionally begins the day after Thanksgiving.
The bad news for retailers is that "Black Friday" - the day most retailers go into the black for the year - won't be as good as they may have hoped for, as consumers struggle with high energy bills, Snaith said. But as the post-hurricane impact starts to diminish and as the end of the year approaches, things should start to turn back around.
Snaith describes hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which ripped through the Gulf states in August and September, as a traumatizing shock to the national economy. The federal rebuilding efforts, however, should act as a fiscal stimulant in the first part of 2006, he said.
"We should see continued steady, level economic growth beginning with the new year," Snaith said.
Report highlights:
• Higher energy costs will result in the weakest growth in real fourth quarter spending by consumers since 2002, with the worst hit to consumer durables, particularly big-ticket items.
• Much of the retail sector is expected to pursue aggressive pricing strategies early this holiday season.
• Energy prices have fallen from the post-hurricane peak but will remain the cause of the weakest quarter of real Gross National Product growth in 2005.
• GNP growth should surge the first part of 2006 as reconstruction spending ramps up in the Gulf states.
• Housing starts will begin declining at a measured pace as the residential real estate market cools.
• Investment spending and hiring growth will continue to grow more slowly over the next several years in response to diminishing demand for products and increasing cost of capital.
• Spending at the federal level will grow at the slowest rate since 2000, but state and local expenditures will expand to their best growth rate since 2002.
• The dollar should continue depreciating for the next three years.
• Prices should remain under control but core inflation will continue growing at a contained rate for the next few years.
• Unemployment should remain low, consistent with stable prices, for the foreseeable future.
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