Daily Business Report-Oct. 24, 2018
The Small Business Expo will be held Thursday at the San Diego Convention Center. (Credit: San Diego County)
County government looking
for vendors at Small Business Expo
One of the largest buyers in the region — San Diego County government — will be on the lookout for new vendors at the Small Business Expo Thursday at the San Diego Convention Center. The county’s Purchasing and Contracting Department is taking part in the expo’s one-day event from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attendance is free.
In an ongoing quest to find a wide selection of local vendors, the department makes a special effort to seek out small business owners and veteran-owned businesses to effectively meet its business needs. The county spent $1.2 billion on goods and services in fiscal year 2017-18. One out of every $5 that comes into the county is spent on goods and services through Purchasing and Contracting.
“Our job is to secure the highest quality goods and services necessary to support our county departments in a timely and efficient manner,” said Purchasing and Contracting Director Jack Pellegrino. “The more competition, the better contracting results for the county, which in turn allows us to better serve the public and ensure taxpayers’ dollars are wisely spent.”
Expo visitors can find out how to do business with the county by stopping by exhibitor booth 127. They can learn how to register for BuyNet and see what kinds of goods and services are needed. For example, the county recently advertised for educational instructors; engineering, project management and land surveying services; water treatment services; and janitorial services.
For more information, visit the Purchasing and Contracting Department website or call or call 858-505-6367. To register for the expo, visit Small Business Expo.
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Report: 562,500 jobs wiped out
in California by U.S.-China Trade
The ballooning trade deficit with China cost 562,500 jobs in California alone—and 3.4 million American jobs nationally—between 2001 and 2017, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute. This number ranks California as 1st in the nation for jobs lost because of trade issues with China.
Massive job losses caused by trade with China since 2001 overwhelmingly have impacted the manufacturing sector, the Economic Policy Institute said. The growing deficit almost entirely explains why manufacturing employment has not fully recovered along with the rest of the economy since the Great Recession.
“The growing trade deficit with China affects different regions in different ways,” write the authors of the report. “Some regions are devastated by layoffs and factory closings, while others are surviving but not growing the way they could be if new factories were opening and existing plants were hiring more workers. This slowdown in manufacturing job generation also is contributing to stagnating wages and incomes of typical workers and widening inequality.”
“China’s cheating on trade has real consequences,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “As this report shows, millions of hard-working Americans have been sidelined by China’s unfair trade practices, and also by our government’s unwillingness to respond.
Click here to read the full report and view an interactive map of all 50 states.
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Chelsea building 42 new low-income
apartments in Otay Mesa for families
Construction is underway on 42 new affordable apartments for low-income families at Pacifica Apartments, located in Pardee’s master-planned community of Playa Del Sol in Otay Mesa. Chelsea Investment Corp., the San Diego Housing Commission, and the non-profit , Southern California Housing Collaborative, are partnering on the $19.7 million project.
Apartments at Pacifica at Playa Del Sol are restricted to families with income up to 60 percent of the area median income, currently at $58,380 per year for a family of four. For a one-bedroom apartment, rents are anticipated to range from approximately $730 per month, $1,020 per month for a two-bedroom unit and $1,217 per month for a three-bedroom unit.
“Twelve of the 42 apartments are designated for families with a developmentally disabled member, a very high percentage of the total units,” said Chelsea Founder and CEO Jim Schmid. “This would have been impossible without the assistance of the Foundation for Developmental Disabilities, which provided a $750,000 loan toward this project.
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JPMorgan Chase commits $100,000 to create
development plan for San Diego Promise Zone
JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a $100,000 planning grant for the San Diego Small Business Lending Collaborative to create economic opportunity through creation of an Equitable Development Plan to meet the needs of entrepreneurs and small businesses in the San Diego Promise Zone, comprised of three of the city’s most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. As part of the firm’s $125 million, five-year Partnerships for Raising Opportunity in Neighborhoods competition, the San Diego Small Business Lending Collaborative will develop an equitable neighborhood plan and create a roadmap for long-term change in communities that have been historically left behind.
The grant will be used to administer 1,000 surveys in the San Diego Promise Zone to gather data on the capital and technical assistance needs of diverse small business owners, including business owners without storefronts. This data will inform the creation of a responsive, data-driven Equitable Development Plan that can be used to deploy start-up and expansion capital to diverse small business owners operating within the San Diego Promise Zone.
The San Diego Promise Zone covers a 6.4-square-mile targeted area that spans East Village and Barrio Logan east to Encanto and Emerald Hills.
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Scripps Health launches
year-round drug take-back kiosks
Scripps Health has opened three drug take-back kiosks adjacent to its on-site pharmacies, becoming the first health care organization in the region to offer year-round access to a free service for disposing of unused, unneeded and outdated prescription medications.
Patients can now drop off their unneeded pills, capsules, tablets and caplets at secure kiosks located at Scripps Mercy Ambulatory Pharmacy, 4060 Fourth Ave., Suite 110; Green Ambulatory Pharmacy at Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines, 10710 N. Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla; and Encinitas Ambulatory Pharmacy at Scripps Clinic Encinitas, 310 Santa Fe Drive, Suite 109, between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The Scripps drug take-back kiosks are part of the Scripps Opioid Stewardship Program, which aims to reduce the use of opioids and to help prevent patients from becoming dependent on these useful but potent pain reducing medications. If these drugs are used incorrectly, they increase the risks of addiction, overdose and death.
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County launches new online reservation
system for marriage licenses and weddings
The San Diego County Clerk’s Office will launch a new online and mobile friendly reservation system that offers customers the ability to schedule their marriage license and civil ceremony appointments online.
“The new system will allow couples to schedule their appointments at any time and no longer require them to either call or come into our offices just to make a reservation,” said Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk, Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr.
Couples can access the 24/7 appointment system in both English and Spanish by visiting www.sdarcc.com and selecting the “click to schedule” option. They will begin by selecting the office location that they prefer and then select a time from the available appointments for the marriage license application and for a civil ceremony if desired. Once the appointment is made, the system will send a confirmation email to the couple and allow for the option to receive a text message confirmation. They will also be able to modify their appointment online through a link provided in their confirmation email.
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General Atomics awarded contract
for Lithium-ion batteries for submersibles
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has been awarded a contract from U.S. Special Operations Command to develop and deliver a prototype Lithium-ion Fault Tolerant (LiFT) battery system capable of powering the propulsion and support systems for manned undersea vehicles capable of transporting Special Operations Forces and payloads for a variety of missions. The undersea mobility platforms can be deployed from the shore and various host platforms. GA-EMS is under contract to deliver the LiFT battery systems for integration and testing.
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Home Weed delivery
By Dan Morain | CALmatters
The Bureau of Cannabis Control proposes to reject the California Police Chiefs’ and League of California Cities’ position and permit home delivery of weed to people age 21 and older. A 15-day comment period is underway.
Two companies—Weedmaps, which advertises cannabis delivery services, and Eaze, which delivers cannabis—contributed $257,250 to California politicians and parties this year, and spent $315,000 on lobbying in the first half of 2018.
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Air Force puts the kibosh on the $1,300 ‘hot cup’
Air Force Times
The Air Force has temporarily halted purchases of the controversial $1,280 “hot cup” used to warm liquids on cargo and other aircraft amid a growing controversy over their price.
In a Tuesday interview, Air Mobility Command spokesman Col. Chris Karns said that units that try to requisition a new hot cup through the Air Force supply system will receive a message telling them “Do not order until further notice.”
Karns said the Air Force has also asked the Defense Logistics Agency to create a new part number for a 3-D printed replacement handle for the heaters, to make it easier for units to order them when the old handles break.
