Daily Business Report-Feb. 18, 2014
Mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer (File photo)
Faulconer Announces 29-Member Transition Team
Mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer introduced a 29-member committee Friday that will help him make the transition from councilman to head of San Diego’s municipal government, City News Service reports. The committee, which will meet weekly over the next two months, will be co-chaired by Steve Cushman, vice chairman of the San Diego Convention Center Corp. board of directors, and former councilman Tony Young, who is now CEO of the San Diego and Imperial counties chapter of the American Red Cross.
“You represent the best of San Diego,” Faulconer told committee members at a news conference. “You’re here because you believe in this city.”
Among the members are homeless advocate Father Joe Carroll, retired Navy Rear Adm. Ronne Froman, retired Cox Communications General Manager Bill Geppert, architecture and design firm principal Vince Mudd and longtime LGBT activist Nicole Murray-Ramirez.
Also on the team is Michael Zucchet, a former councilman and now head of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association. Public employee unions strongly backed Councilman David Alvarez during the election campaign.
CSU San Marcos Launches Unique Course for Water Managers
It’s common knowledge that California’s reservoirs are drying up. What is less well known is that there is a looming shortage of people with enough knowledge and experience to manage those shrinking water resources, KPBS reports.
Dennis Lamb, general manager of the Vallecitos Water District, said this is worrying to insiders in the industry. “We’re just going to run short of people in a few years,” he said.
Lamb said when he retires, he will be part of a generation of top water managers leaving their jobs.
At the suggestion of Lamb and other higher level water managers, CSU San Marcos has decided to start a training course for water engineers, middle managers and others who may end up with the job of keeping water flowing.
“The bigger thing we’re looking at is to attract other people outside of the business into the industry,” Lamb said, “ so that we have enough well trained people to take us well into the future.“
Alan Styles of CSU San Marcos said there’s no shortage of teaching talent in this area, because of innovations in the water industry in Southern California.
“They’ve made huge investment in water transportation and analysis in this area, technologically and legally they’re ahead, so why not take advantage of that?”
Styles said with critical water shortages threatening the state, the university hopes the course will help meet future needs in the job market.
A preliminary eight-week course starts in March. Depending on demand, a full certificate course is planned for the fall.
World Trade Center San Diego Moving to SDSU
The World Trade Center San Diego is moving to San Diego State University where it will be hosted by the Center for International Business Education and Research. The move is expected to be completed by March 1.
The Center for International Business Education and Research, headed by managing director Mark J. Ballam, will provide operational leadership and oversight in conjunction with the World Trade Center board. Ballam has served on World Trade Center board for eight years.
“There is a new wind blowing in San Diego in terms of international business and global opportunity,” said World Trade Center Chairman Stephen G. Austin. “Leveraging the significant synergies between the World Trade Center and the Center for International Business Education and Research will allow us to capitalize on trade, education, research and economic development. Also, this move will provide organizational stability at a time when we do not have a president and CEO. We will conduct two trade missions to Australia and Germany, continue the International Relations Office and engage in activities related to the Global San Diego Export Plan.”
Lawyers Club to Host Judges at Bench-Bar Luncheon
Lawyers Club of San Diego will host 22 local judges and commissioners at its eighth annual Bench-Bar Luncheon on Thursday at the Westgate Hotel in Downtown San Diego — noon to 1:15 p.m. The annual luncheon brings together judges and attorneys in an informal, roundtable setting to discuss career pathways to the bench, courtroom do’s and don’t’s, court budget issues, and issues that confront the legal profession.
Participating judges include U.S. District Judges Irma Gonzalez (ret.) and Dana Sabraw; Fourth District Court of Appeal Administrative Presiding Justice Judith McConnell; Court of Appeal Justices Cynthia Aaron and Judith Haller; Superior Court Presiding Judge David Danielsen; Superior Court Judges Katherine Bacal, Yvonne Campos, Kevin Enright, David Gill, Garry Haehnle, Tamila Ipema, Melinda Lasater, Robert Longstreth, Sharon Majors-Lewis, Amalia Meza, David Oberholtzer, Pamela Parker, Laura Parsky, Stephanie Sontag, Randa Trapp; and Superior Court Commissioner Darlene White.
Tickets are $25 for Lawyers Club members; $40 for nonmembers; $20 for students; and $40 at the door, if space is available. Tickets are available online at www.lawyersclubsandiego.com.
Head of AT&T California Asks Employees
To Reduce Water Usage by 30 Percent
AT&T California President Ken McNeely, responding to Gov. Jerry Brown’s drought declaration, is asking the company’s 34,000 California employees to reduce their company water usage by 30 percent until the drought declaration is lifted. McNeely asked employees to stop washing AT&T’s California fleet of more than 15,000 vehicles, reduce facility landscape irrigation by half, turn off decorative water features or fountains at corporate buildings and remain vigilant in identifying water waste.
“Conserving enough water to maintain our farms and communities is critical to California’s economy,” McNeely said. “AT&T has been a integral part of the Golden State for more than a century — we’ve been partners through good times and bad, and we want to do our part to reduce non-essential water consumption.”
McNeely’s action follows a year-round collaboration between AT&T and the Environmental Defense Fund to identify water savings across AT&T’s operations. The project resulted in a suite of tools that U.S. commercial buildings can use to collectively save up to 28 billion gallons of water annually, equivalent to the amount of water that more than 765,000 Americans use at home in a given year.
Housing Market Overview
The Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors will present its 2014 Housing Market Overview with Selma Hepp, senior economist with the California Association of Realtors, starting at noon on March 6, at PSAR’s South County Service Center, 880 Canarios Court, Chula Vista. The event is open to the public. Cost to attend is $10 per person for PSAR members and $15 per person for nonmembers. Hepp will discuss the local housing market and forecast trends for 2014, including the latest research in housing and urban economics, foreclosures and demographic trends. Reservations can be made at www.psar.org or by calling (619) 421-7811.
Dempsey Construction Completes Renovation of Office Tower
Dempsey Construction has completed a $1.2 million exterior renovation of the Class A Centerside I office tower at 3111 Camino del Rio North in Mission Valley. The project consisted of an exterior re-imaging of the Centerside I office tower, including a reconfiguration of the surface parking lot and entrances, new landscaping, construction of a pedestrian bridge over the water feature separating the two towers and the construction of an outdoor amenity seating area.
The Centerside I & II office complex consists of a 13 and 16-story towers at 3111 and 3131 Camino del Rio North totaling 490,000 square feet of office space. Dempsey Construction worked directly with the Irvine Company on the project.
Erik Nitsche Named
Executive Chef
at Kona Kai
Erik Nitsche has been named executive chef at the Kona Kai Resort & Marina and its newly opened signature restaurant, Vessel. Nitsche has more tha 20 years of experience in the culinary field. He was previously sous chef at the Edgewater Hotel’s Six Seven Restaurant in Seattle. Before that, he worked in several kitchens, first in Australia and later in he Pacific Northwest, including O/8 at the Grand Hyatt. His initial introduction to Northwestern cuisine was at The Space Needle’s restaurant Skycity.
