californiareview . com
a positive resource for economic development practitioners in & around the Central Valley
 
In this issue...
Downtown Revitalization
Economic Trends, Forecasts
Business Attraction
Visitor-Serving Campaigns
Commercial\Industrial
Miscellaneous
Statewide EDOs 
San Joaquin Valley
Sacramento Valley
Surrounding Areas
University ED
Think Tanks, etc.
Business Media
vol. 003, nos. 006 Feb 10 - Feb 17, 2009

Greetings!

Californiareview.com is a free weekly resource for economic development practitioners in and around the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley regions.  This positive resource helps practitioners stay on top of regional economic news and trends.

/s/ Tony Daysog
Downtown & Neighborhoods
Sacramento Valley and Nearby Areas 
D'town Yreka improves parking (Siskiyou Daily News) 
 

EconomicDevelopmentNotes 
Nominate your city or EDO for an EDA "Excellence" award (EDA)
Nominate your city for "Fast Company" award (Fast Company) 
Former Rocklin assistant city manager honored (Cal City News) 
Oakdale named one of best "western towns" (Modesto Bee) 
CALED: stimulus summit: 2/19/2009 
CALED: annual conference: 4/15-17/2009
CRA: annual conference: 4/1-3/2009

Stimulus News
Stimulus for high-speed rail (Merced Sun Star, Washington Post)
Main Street USA awaits stimulus dollars (WSJ, NYT)
Not clear how stimulus will be awarded, say some (Yahoo)
Stimulus lowers cost of borrowing for cities? (Bloomberg)

Jobs Listing
. Economic Development Manager, Yuba City (CalOPPs)
. Economic Development Specialist, San Bernardino Co. (CB) 
. Planning Director, Calaveras Co. (CRA) 
  

 
 
Economic Trends, Forecasts 
Other states trying to steal our businesses (WSJ, SF Chronicle) 
Sacramento lost almost 24,000 jobs in '08 (Sac Biz Journal)
Activist talks about "buying local" (Christian Science Monitor) 
California exports fall with economy (Sacramento Bee)
D'turn affects Newman, Gustine retailers (Connect) 
Sacramento-area banks eye bailout (Sac Biz Journal) 
FDIC-shuttered County Bank back (Fresno Bee, Merced Sun Star)
WestAmerica to run County Bank (Sun Star, Mariposa Gazette) 
 
 
 
 
Economic Development Plans 
Tehama Co. commish review GP update (Press Register) 
Granite Bay updating community plan (Roseville Press Tribune) 
Turlock reviewing General Plan (Modesto Bee)
Strong turn-out for Taft rail road charette (Independent) 
Activists get court to temporarily halt Tulare GP (Valley Voice) 
 
 

 
Business Attraction, Retention 
Chico mall expansion on hold for now (Chico ER)
700,000 sqft retail project for Shasta Co. (Searchlight)
Auburn excited about Trader Joes (Auburn Journal) 
Wal-Mart buys land in Town of Paradise (Paradise Post) 
Home Depot opening in Auburn (Sacramento Bee) 
Manteca mom & pop grocer's key to success (Bulletin) 
West Sacramento bakery grows (Sac Biz Jrnl) 
Restaurants save by buying in bulk (Sac Biz Jrnl) 
Glenn Co. businesses get tech assistance (Press Register)
Third Fresh n Easy opens in Bako (Californian)
Sacramento mall reduces hours (Sacramento Bee) 
Bako Wal-Mart expansion gets okay (Californian)
Patterson concerned about new Wal-Mart (Irrigator) 
Elk Grove concerned about 24-7 Wal-Mart (Elk Grove Citizen)
 

 
 
Visitor-Serving Campaigns 
Lodi winery scene growing (Stockton Record) 

 
  
  
Commercial\Industrial Projects 
Residential, mixed-use
Tracy limits itself to 600 permits per year (Press) 

  
 
 
Miscellaneous
Logging conference goes on despite d'turn (Searchlight) 
Central Valley eyes eco-friendly growth (Modesto Bee) 
Fresno area officials lobby D.C. (Reedley Exponent) 
Firebaugh city manager talks in D.C. about census (Fresno Bee) 
Chico alters how it funds economic development (ER) 
Wal-Mart is health care innovator (Washington Post)
Land values fall around Fresno (Fresno Bee) 
Chico says it's a "fair trade" town (Chico ER)
 
Community "Third Place": Coffee Shops
Starbucks gets into instant coffee (Wall Street Journal) 
 
Internet Infrastructure, Access
"Do we need a new internet?" (New York Times)
Stimulus includes internet after all (San Francisco Chronicle)
 
State of Cities, Counties
City of Taft sits on healthy reserve (Midway Driller) 
Furloughs in Tehama County (Redding Searchlight)
Folsom garners high bond rating (Folsom Telegraph) 
Manteca considers furloughs (Stockton Record)
Turlock wrestles with $5 million gap (Journal) 
Ceres lets go of 11 workers (Ceres Courier) 
Locals help Manteca, Sanger close gap (Sanger Herald, Bulletin) 
Fresno Co., cities debate tax apportionment (Bee) 
Lathrop mulls over budget situation (Stockton Record)
 
Municipal bonds, insurance, etc.
Moody's reviews taxable municipal bonds (Bloomberg)
Possible muni bond oversight (Bloomberg, Bond Buyer) 
Still more upside to munis, says analyst (Business Week)
 
Agriculture: A Way of Life
Poor returns make fruit growers eye other crops (Times-Delta)
One of largest rice producers goes solar (Appeal Democrat) 
Light wine crop in Madera Co. (Madera Tribune)
Dairy industry sells cows to beef farms (Modesto Bee)
 
Community facilities
Makeover for Anderson amphitheater (Valley Post) 
Redding fixes bridge designed by famous architect (Searchlight) 
Brentwood's community center moving along (CC Times) 
Kingsburg starts planning skate park (Recorder) 
 
Alternative and Traditional Energy
Ethanol hits bump on road (New York Times, NBC News) 
Siskiyou Co. eyes hydro power (Siskiyou Daily News) 
High interest in equipment at ag-expo (Fresno Bee)
Ex-gang members install solar panels (Wall Street Journal) 

AsiaWatch: global customers, global competitors 
IMF: rapid recovery for Asia (India Times)
Indian outsourcing company outsources here (NY Times)
 
 
 
About Us
Californiareview.com is produced by Tony Daysog, a Senior Associate with an economic development consulting company, called Applied Development Economics. He earned his Master's degree in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley, where he also earned a Bachelor's degree in US History. You can reach him by e-mail at  tony_daysog@alum.berkeley.edu. 
 
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