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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Take a Look at Santa Clarita Economy

The San Fernando Valley’s in pretty good economic shape as Professor Dan Blake of CSUN reported a few weeks back at the Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s Business Forecast Conference. Blake said the Valley produced 2 percent more jobs in the last two years and earnings are up. Things seem pretty steady, the report says. Fast forward to Nov. 9 and the Santa Clarita Valley Real Estate and Economic Outlook conference. Information released at that event shows an even better climate in the northern part of L.A. County an actually enviable climate as compared to many other parts of the state. Despite a housing slump that seems to be really setting in there and elsewhere, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley seem to be doing the right things. Office and industrial vacancies are tight. There is still much building going on in this area with no end really in sight. But the key to Santa Clarita’s enviable economy seems to be its job diversity. As Chris Coates reports in an article on this issue’s front page, total jobs are expected to increase by 4,500 during 2006, mostly centered on retail, construction and hospitality. But even manufacturing, which has been in the doldrums elsewhere, has added 389 jobs in the Santa Clarita Valley. So, different from much of the rest of L.A. County where so-called service jobs seem to be the norm, the Santa Clarita economy is being fueled by the healthier addition of higher-paying manufacturing positions. The other valleys should be so lucky. Back to Business Bashing It’s time to keep a closer eye on the L.A. City Council. Business interests are in peril. In a relatively quick effort in recent weeks, the council took a huge step in drastically setting back any pro-business climate that may have been breeding in city hall with such actions as business tax reform in recent years. Last week, as columnist Marty Cooper relates at the top of this page, the council expanded the city’s decade-old living wage ordinance to include companies that don’t necessarily do business with the city in this particular case hotels near LAX. The current living wage in L.A. is $10.64 an hour, but whether you think that amount is still too low or too high is beside the point. L.A.’s government is meddling in private business and over-regulating. (By the way, Mayor Villaraigosa agrees with the decision.) That’s the last thing we need as we still continue to battle the exodus of companies from the city and the state due to over-regulation, high fees and taxes and expensive cost of living. Why throw this into the mix and make it worse? The city has no business arbitrarily singling out a group of businesses and telling them what they need to pay their employees. It does it with one group, it leaves it open to do it with others. Or how about a living wage ordinance for the entire city? The city has had the living wage standards for years with companies it does business with. I have a problem with that, too, but at least you can maybe justify it by saying that we’re only talking about firms doing city work and the city can hire who it wants. But these hotels are purely private businesses who may or may not do business with Los Angeles. They should be left alone. City councilmembers should be concentrating on trying to attract companies to L.A. that come from industries other than service groups such as hotels and restaurants. These firms would pay more than the service companies, more than just minimum wage. By the way, I feel we fell down at the Business Journal by not writing sooner about this impending council action. Perhaps that could have helped mobilize business forces against it a little sooner. But besides Councilmen Greig Smith and Dennis Zine here in the Valley who voted against the living wage ordinance as well as Bernard Parks, I think the other councilmembers had already made up their mind. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected] .

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