Famed hollywood film producer Steven Spielberg flew in and out of the Yuba County Airport in his private Boeing 737 aircraft numerous times in December for movie filming and production. The movie is based on the Francis Gary Powers story of being shot down in a U2 aircraft over the USSR while on an aerial reconnaissance mission in 1960. Although the U2 did not arrive at Beale Air Force Base until 1976, Spielberg selected Beale as one of the locations that will be featured in the upcoming movie. Additional shooting sites include New York City and Berlin, Germany.

Tom Hanks stars in the unnamed cold war film as James Donovan, an attorney sent in by the USSR to negotiate on behalf of Powers who was held in the infamous Vladimirsky Prison and (spoiler alert) released 21 months later after his capture.  Powers was the first of many spies to be exchanged on Berlin's Gleinicke Bridge. This movie will be the fourth Hanks has been directed by Steven Spielberg. Other well-known actors working with Hanks include Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, and Alan Alda. 

Powers died in a Los Angeles news helicopter accident in 1977. His son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., gave a presentation December 15, 2014 at the Hillcrest Plaza about his father's capture and imprisonment, and was also on hand to provide consulting for Spielberg's movie script.

Spielberg's film is scheduled for release by Disney's Touchstone Pictures and Dreamworks in October, 2015.

Grant Writing Workshop Hones Regional Funding Skills

Non-Profit Federal Funding Opportunities Promoted by Congressman

Congressman John Garamendi noticed something different about the Yuba-Sutter Region - it was not obtaining the same share of per capita federal dollars as similar or surrounding jurisdictions. Staff of Garamendi's 3rd Congressional District which includes eight Northern California counties will be providing a coordinated effort to support a regional grant writing workshop to encourage increased grant applications and successful funding opportunities for local non-profit organizations and agencies.

Congressman John Garamendi

Introductory grant writing and advanced techniques will run in two separate training sessions Wednesday, March 11, 2015 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Yuba County Board Chambers. 

"Providing the tools for the small and large non-profits within our region to experience greater funding success will greatly benefit the private sector businesses and individuals they are serving," noted Garamendi.

Garamendi believes that the workshop should be driven by the relevant needs and goals of community stakeholders and leaders within the region leading to the development of a Grants Initiative Network - a community collaborative driven by key stakeholders familiar with the various needs of community non-profits, government agencies and local organizations currently seeking funding support. 

The 2030 Yuba County General Plan update was approved in June, 2011. Since then the process for bringing 1980's-era planning codes into the 21st century has been proceeding through a public input meeting held November 19 with public comment completed December 5, 2014. It's anticipated that the revisions will increase agritourism business opportunities and that the code updates will be formally approved by Fall, 2015.

Some of the County's existing zoning regulations are dated, cumbersome, and don't reflect current objectives and needs. An updated Development Code will add clarity and certainty, as well as be easier for residents, business owners, property owners, developers, staff and decision makers to use and understand. 

"This will enable us to expedite service to you," said Planning Director Wendy Hartman. "An updated Development Code will also help make the Yuba County General Plan vision a reality by preserving existing neighborhoods and protecting agricultural operations, while allowing new businesses and job growth. In addition, overall development quality, design, and review processes in Yuba County will be enhanced with updated regulations."

While the 2030 General Plan presents a broad vision and policies for the County, the Zoning Ordinance designates permitted uses and provides specific development standards and regulations for various uses on individual parcels. Zoning regulations affect land use, design, parcel size, building heights, density, setbacks, landscaping, fencing, and other aspects of property use. For example, the Zoning Ordinance specifies how tall commercial buildings can be or how far houses should be set back from the street.

 The Development Code implements the County's General Plan and determines the type of uses and development standards that will apply to different properties within the County. Developers, public agencies, residents, and do-it-yourselfers may want to review the current draft and participate in future workshops and public hearings. To review the draft document or to receive email notifications of upcoming meetings related to the Development Code Update, please visit here. 

Yuba-Sutter Economic Development Corporation/District is working with its north state partners, Sierra Economic Development Corporation/District, Arcata Economic Development Corporation, Superior California Economic Development District, and 3CORE, Inc. to find solutions for local businesses.

With the help of a grant from USDA's Rural Business Enterprise Grant and Rabobank, the newly formed California Finance Consortium is undertaking a capital gap assessment and writing a business plan to launch as a multi-agency capital access corporation.

The service region will include 22 counties within the five agency collaboration. These counties include Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sacramento Sutter, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, and Yuba.

As a priority of each agency and the related service region, this collaboration began in 2011 with the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding that outlined the need to access, create, and provide reasonably-priced credit and related technical assistance services to healthy, expanding small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations.

Each CFC agency understands that non-metropolitan areas have difficulty competing for public funding and raising private capital for unmet community needs. Most public and private funders are looking for intermediaries that can provide not only reach into particular markets but also impact in terms of competence and performance metrics. Many funders don't want to manage multiple relationships. These funders prefer a few relationships that can demonstrate economies of scale for a particular region-the bigger the region, the better.

The CFC framework is not unique. What is unique is that this approach is being developed and implemented by participating agencies in these underserved areas. This region has no comparable agency based in the region, operated by agencies with boots on the ground, built on a common, pragmatic vision of capital access and related business assistance.

The CFC includes two federally-designated Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI-Arcata EDC and 3CORE, Inc. Four members of the CFC (Yuba-Sutter EDC, Sierra EDC, Superior California EDD, and 3CORE) are federally-recognized Economic Development Districts (EDDs). The EDDs work with cities and counties to develop a) a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy; and b) identify priority projects that may compete for local, state, federal, foundation, or other private funding.