Daily Business Report-Feb. 7, 2017
Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum. (Photo by Chris Jennewein/Times of San Diego)
Mayors Reaffirm San Diego-Tijuana
Partnership Amid National Tension
The mayors of San Diego and Tijuana said Monday they are committed to cross-border collaboration despite rising political tensions between the United States and Mexico.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and new Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum met in Faulconer’s office and then addressed press from both sides of the border.
“Our partnership with Mexico is one of our greatest strengths,” said Faulconer. “At the end of the day, we have more in common with our neighbor Tijuana than not.”
Faulconer repeated his remarks in Spanish, then turned the podium over to Gastélum, who has been in office for just two months.
“We are separated by borders, but united by our common goals,” Gastélum said in English. “When jobs are created in Tijuana, they are created in San Diego as well.”
The meeting comes less than a week after President Donald Trump apparently suggested in a call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto that the United States might use its military to control drug cartels in Mexico. Both leaders later denied that was the intent.
Trump has also begun extending the wall between the two countries, and has vowed to renegotiate or terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement, on which business on both sides depend.
During questions after the statements, Faulconer declined to specifically address Trump’s actions, saying instead, “We can’t control what happens outside our cities, but I know this, we will continue our story of collaboration, our story of friendship.”
The two mayors plan to renew a memorandum of understanding in the next few weeks spelling out how the two municipal governments will cooperate. Department directors of the two cities meet frequently under the current agreement.
Former mayor and now Chamber of Commerce CEO Jerry Sanders described San Diego and Tijuana as a “model cross-border region” with a combined $230 billion economy. He noted that chamber members would soon make their 12th annual trip to Mexico City to reinforce the bi-national relationship.
Nikia Clarke, executive director of the World Trade Center San Diego, said manufacturing processes are tightly integrated between the two cities, with products passing back and forth multiple times during assembly.
“Forty percent of what we import from Mexico each year is actually American made,” she said. “What this county needs right now are people who understand the regional reality,
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SANDAG Knew Forecasts Were Wrong;
Went to Voters With False Promise Anyway
Emails obtained by VOSD reveal that top SANDAG officials were told the agency’s economic forecasts — and therefore the numbers it showed voters about last year’s Measure A — were way off almost a year before the 2016 election. Instead of acting, the agency continued to rely on numbers they’d been told were faulty, misleading voters in the process and keeping important information from potential watchdogs.
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Civic San Diego Awards $250,000
To Accion to Assist Small Business
Civic San Diego, a nonprofit, public benefit corporation created by the city of San Diego, has awarded Accion, a nonprofit microlender, a $250,000 investment to support small businesses in urban communities.
The contribution from Civic San Diego will bolster Accion’s capacity to provide funding to small businesses located in city ZIP codes that have a median household income of $60,000 or below such as Barrio Logan, City Heights, and Sn Ysidro. A focus of the fund will be to lend to businesses that are women, minority, or veteran-owned or are certified by the state as “Disadvantaged Business Enterprises.”
“The investment from Civic San Diego is truly appreciated by our organization,” said Accion CEO Elizabeth Schott. “We are a mission-based, inclusive lender that aims to fuel growth in underserved communities by offering access to capital, business advising from skilled and compassionate staff, peer networking and expert mentorship. This fund will allow us to provide more businesses in San Diego with the support they need to be successful.”
“Small businesses are the bedrock of the local economy and as these businesses grow and create new jobs, our neighborhoods thrive,” said Civic San Diego President Reese Jarrett.
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IGNITE @ UC San Diego Conference
Set for Feb. 22 at Price Center on Campus
The inaugural IGNITE @ UC San Diego conference Feb. 22 at the Price Center on campus is being held to connect young entrepreneurs with seasoned entrepreneurs. Students and community members across the Baja California region are invited to attend the conference free of charge.
The daylong conference is co-hosted by UC San Diego’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization and the student-led Entrepreneur Challenge.
“UC San Diego has an excellent track record as a major partner with life science and technology industries in developing new products, processes and services that are making a positive impact in the world,” said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “IGNITE @ UC San Diego moves us forward by opening the doors to binational collaboration among young talent and experienced entrepreneurs.”
As one of the top 15 research universities in the world, UC San Diego receives $1 billion in annual research funding. Faculty, students and alumni have launched or created technology for more than 650 companies and developed ideas leading to the second highest number of U.S. patents of any UC campus.
The conference includes three pitch competitions allowing individuals and teams to “sell” their ideas to successful entrepreneurs and investors. One contest, The Pitch @ Ignite, will invite friendly competition among students from the Cali-Baja region as they present to investors from the Tech Coast Angels for a $5,000 prize. Other events include a Startup Crawl, presented in collaboration with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, to take attendees inside some of downtown San Diego’s most vibrant new ventures.
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San Diego Retail Market
Finishes 2016 in Nice Fashion
Cushman & Wakefield’s latest San Diego retail market snapshot showed good growth for the region’s retail sector during the second half of 2016, outperforming the first half of the year. Driven by continued economic growth, San Diego’s retail market maintained steady and improved occupancy levels in 2016, with vacancy closing the year at 4.5 percent, down 30 basis points from midyear.
Tenants absorbed over 200,000 square feet from the market countywide in the second half of the year, nearly four times the level observed in the first half of the year. 2016 marked the fifth consecutive year of positive occupancy growth. Vacancy is down 50 basis points from a rate of 5 percent a year ago.
“Notably it had taken five years (2010 to 2014) to recover the 1.2 million square feet returned to the market in 2008 and 2009. Since mid-2014, San Diego’s retail market has now absorbed more than 555,000 square feet beyond those losses,” said Jolanta Campion, director of research at Cushman & Wakefield San Diego.
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Personnel Announcements
DLA Piper Names Troy Zander SD Office Managing Partner
Troy Zander has been named managing partner of DLA Piper’s San Diego offices. Zander concentrates his practice on representing lenders and companies in technology, life sciences and middle-market financing transactions.
Zander is hiring partner for the firm’s San Diego region. He is a member of DLA Piper’s North American Pro Bono committee and serves as the pro bono partner for the San Diego offices. He is general counsel, pro bono, of Feeding America, and previously served as chairman of the board of directors for the organization’s San Diego affiliate. Zander earned his J.D. from University of San Diego School of Law, and his B.A., cum laude, from University of California at San Diego.
Zander succeeds Robert Brownlie, who has served as DLA Piper’s San Diego office managing partner for nine years. Brownlie concentrates his practice on the representation of corporations and their officers and directors in complex business, securities and corporate litigation.
Shane Beard Elected to Fastsigns National Advertising Council
Shane Beard, franchisee of the local Fastsigns location on Mira Mesa Blvd., has been elected to serve on the Fastsigns National Advertising Council for Fastsigns International Inc., a franchisor of more than 650 independently owned and operated locations worldwide.
As a member of the National Advertising Council, Beard works with Fastsigns International providing strategic direction and advice for the development of marketing and advertising services, programs and materials designed to benefit franchise centers in North America. The National Advertising Council is comprised of six Fastsigns franchisees who are elected by other franchisees to represent them during two-year terms. Each member represents a specific region in the U.S. and Canada.
Beard has previously served on the National Advertising Council when he owned and operated two Fastsigns locations in the Chicago area. In 2016, he relocated to San Diego and took ownership of the Mira Mesa Blvd. center.
Katie Rooney Joins Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa as Regional Group Sales Manager
Katie Rooney has been hired as regional group sales manager for Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa.
Rooney brings over 10 years of sales experience to Rancho Valencia, recently named the No. 1 Hotel in California in 2017 by U.S. News & World Report.
Previously she held the position of senior national sales manager for the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego where she marketed the property and honed her hospitality sales experience, and as well as received the Award of Excellence from Benchmark Hospitality.
A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Isenberg School of Management, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Tourism Management, and has also held positions in marketing, catering and as the group sales manager at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston.
