Daily Business Report-Oct. 25, 2019
Smiling children having fun at The New Children’s Museum. (Photo by Dani Toscano)
New Children’s Museum leadership
responds to employees’ union vote
On Oct. 18 and 19, 2019, a group of The New Children’s Museum employees voted to enter into collective bargaining with the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 465. Of our 83 employees, 34 of the 48-member bargaining unit voted in favor. Following is the statement from Judy Forrester, CEO + Executive Director of The New Children’s Museum:
The New Children’s Museum leadership accepts the decision of our employees.
We understand that there is a national trend of unionizing museums including, but not limited to The Guggenheim, The Museum of Tolerance, Museum of Modern Art, The Exploratorium, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We appreciate the passion of our employees that led them to explore becoming part of this larger movement.
We agree that they should be able to pursue meaningful work and be fairly compensated. That is why we are proud to provide a very competitive package, including:
- Pay in excess of the San Diego living wage for full-time employees.
- Pay above minimum wage for part-time employees.
- Pay 100 percent of medical insurance for all full-time employees.
- Pay 100 percent of dental, vision and life insurance for all full-time employees
- Provide two weeks of paid vacation for all full-time employees.
- Provide 12 paid holidays for all full-time employees o Offer a 403(b) plan with company match for all part-time and full-time employees after one year or 1,000 hours, whichever comes first.
- Cover 100 percent of parking expenses for all part-time and full-time employees while working.
- Pay 100 percent of public transportation for all employees who use it to get to work.
NCM’s largest annual investment is in our people because it is they who enable us to fulfill our mission, and who help us provide a rich offering of programs, art installations, workshops and education.
We continue to be committed to serving our community and the children who are our future, and remain a uniquely mission-driven place to work.
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San Diego listed among top tech
hotspots in CBRE’s Tech-30 report
A new CBRE report ranks San Diego among the top 10 fastest-growing high-tech job markets in the U.S. with a growth rate of 19.7 percent over the last two years. The company’s annual Tech-30 report measures the tech industry’s impact on office rents in the 30 leading technology markets in the U.S. and Canada.
San Diego also ranked in the top 20 for office market rent growth, with an 8 percent increase between Q2 2017 and Q2 2019. The region saw nearly 6,000 new high-tech jobs created in 2017 and 2018, accounting for 77.5 percent of all new office jobs. San Diego now has more than 35,000 high-tech software/services jobs.
“I am very excited about the growth trajectory of the San Diego tech market,” said Andrew Ewald, first vice president in CBRE’s San Diego office. “Our research centers and universities continue to groom a world class labor supply that constantly innovates and develops new technologies, which leads to business growth.” He added, “San Diego is now home to numerous disruptive technologies that help introduce an entirely new base of companies to our market. In addition, there are three local tech companies who have reached unicorn status in the past year, which sends a message to the tech sector and venture capitalists that we have an ecosystem to support high growth companies.”
Venture capital investment in San Diego tech companies in H1 2019 exceeded the annual total of 2018. Robotics, automation, cybersecurity and SaaS platforms are the fastest-growing tech subsectors in San Diego, with three locally based tech companies exceeding the $1 billion valuation threshold for unicorn status in the past year. Major Bay Area tech companies have expanded in San Diego or are inquiring about potential expansion opportunities.
To read the full report, click here.
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California pursues a holy grail: high-tech
data to predict how wildfire will spread
California officials have opened a new front against fires with the use of technology, CalMatters’ Julie Cart writes.
In addition to spending $127 million on 12 new firefighting helicopters and seven C-130A tankers, the state has begun a $4.5 million pilot program that sends planes to scout fires.
The crafts are equipped with high-definition cameras and other computing gear. The information is fed into a supercomputer at UC San Diego and packaged for fire commanders, in minutes.
Other approaches being examined:
- Smartphone apps to guide residents along the safest evacuation routes during the smoke and chaos of fires.
- Equipment that utilities attach to power lines to provide real-time diagnostics.
- The use of artificial intelligence to “teach” remote cameras to monitor backcountry.
- Drones to observe fires.
- High-speed computing to predict and track fires.
Technology can only solve so much. Dave Winnacker, chief of the Bay Area Moraga-Orinda fire district.
“We are always going to need people who can operate without the information scaffolding support. … We can’t just say, ‘The Wi-Fi is down; we can’t fight a fire today.’”
Click here to read the full report.
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San Diego small business transactions 2019 Q3
Reported by BizBuySell.com
- Median asking price of businesses for sale in San Diego in Q3 of 2019 was exactly $200,000 compared to $200,000 at the halfway mark of 2018.
- Businesses listed in San Diego had a median revenue of $437,021 up from $429,680 at the same time in 2018.
- Median cash flow for San Diego businesses is $100,000 vs the median cash flow of $95,844 last quarter.
National Figures
A total of 2,454 small businesses were reported sold in the third quarter of 2019, an 8.6 percent decline compared to the same period last year, according to the BizBuySell Insight Report. This continues the trend of reduced transactions seen throughout 2019.
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Cross Border Xpress reports strong
quarterly growth and expansion
Cross Border Xpress (CBX), the 390-foot pedestrian bridge between the United States and Mexico connecting directly to the Tijuana International Airport, has announced positive year-over-year traffic counts for the third consecutive quarter.
Overall passenger traffic counts from July to September 2019 were up 30 percent compared to the previous year. To accommodate the growing number of travelers, CBX will be expanding key areas within the terminals, and recently added new technologies and services to further improve the travel experience.
As part of the expansion, CBX is in the midst of reconfiguring the departures lobby to include an additional e-gate, scheduled for completion by mid-November of this year. Since launching in April 2019, the automated e-gates have streamlined the entry process significantly by allowing passengers to simply scan their CBX ticket and airline boarding pass for quick and easy access to the bridge.
Additional noteworthy technologies include purchase kiosks where passengers can purchase CBX tickets, and computer stations where guests can fill out the required Forma Migratoria Multiple form (FMM) digitally to avoid long counter lines. Travelers staying in Mexico for longer than seven days will save a substantial amount of time with recently added QR codes that are printed directly on FMM forms for customs processing.
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NAVWAR completes first digital model
of systems on USS Abraham Lincoln
Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) accomplished a significant milestone in the digital engineering transformation with completion of its first digital twin, a system-of-systems digital model, representing a set of information warfare capabilities that will be installed on USS Abraham Lincoln in fiscal year 2020.
Aligned with the Department of Defense Digital Transformation Strategy, NAVWAR is shifting from a design-build-test methodology to a model-analyze-build methodology, enabling the ability to test and evaluate solutions in a virtual environment before delivery. This shift will increase system reliability and cybersecurity while decreasing risk for the warfighter.
“Digital engineering is vital in modernizing how we design, develop, deliver, operate and sustain systems,” said NAVWAR Executive Director Pat Sullivan. “It enables the use of digital models throughout the life cycle of a system, increasing system cybersecurity, interoperability and resiliency. This provides a solid foundation to enable us to fight and win the conflicts of the future.”
NAVWAR’s first digital twin, also known as Digital Lincoln, used NAVWAR’s model based systems engineering (MBSE) methodology, and its corresponding integrated dictionary, schema, and requirements framework to develop an end-to-end digital representation of five interconnected systems being installed on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
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Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility marks 10 years of service
A lot of celebrating Wednesday as the county of San Diego’s Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility turned 10 years old with a gathering of residents, family, employees and dignitaries to mark the occasion.
Edgemoor is a 192-bed community that is home to people having complex medical needs who require specialized care and can not be cared for in other long-term care facilities.
Newsweek magazine recently named Edgemoor the best nursing home in California. It has also received high performing ratings from U.S. News and World Report for the past eight years and routinely earns five out of five stars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
In 2017, Edgemoor received the Gold Excellence in Quality Award from the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.
The commitment to quality care and continuous improvement at Edgemoor supports Live Well San Diego, the county’s vision to improve the health and safety of residents.
In honor of the 10th anniversary, residents and some of their family members shared their stories about Edgemoor and the care they receive.
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One Medical opens third San Diego location at Westfield UT
One Medical, a member-based primary care provider, has opened its third location in San Diego, at Westfield UTC.
The UTC office joins locations in La Costa and Downtown San Diego, as one of over 70 offices in nine major metropolitan areas across the nation.
One Medical removes barriers between patients and their health via virtual care services that come along with an annual $199 membership, as well as comfortable, spa-like offices in convenient locations, the company said. It said it can bill in-office visits through a member’s insurance, much like other primary care providers, but is able to offer an elevated experience with exclusive access to 24/7/365 virtual care, same-day or next-day appointments, on-time starts for appointments, and a user-friendly app that makes it easy to book appointments and stay on track with health goals.
The just-opened One Medical office is located near the Macy’s wing at Westfield UTC and features three consultation rooms and an onsite laboratory. The office will also have a retail component featuring wellness brands that will rotate every three months. The current full-service location is temporary, with a pementant location at Westfield UTC to open in 2020.
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Julie Dill joins Dr. Seuss Enterprises as VP
Julie Dill has joined Dr. Seuss Enterprisesas vice president, global licensing, marketing and communications. Reporting directly to the president, Dill will also serve as a member of Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ executive team.
In her new role, Dill will oversee the consumer products division and lead Dr. Seuss’s international partners. She will also play an integral role in growing the base business, while moving Dr. Seuss into new product categories.
Prior to joining Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Dill served as vice president, marketing, creative and partnerships at BBC Studios. In that role she led the marketing strategy, planning and development for key drama franchises (including Doctor Who), the BBC Earth genre brand (including Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II) and leading content brands for the Americas.
She also served as vice president, marketing and licensing for 4Kids Entertainment, where she led global strategy, product development and marketing for kids’ TV franchises. An MBA graduate of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, her other experience includes product development for an online media site, a former joint venture with Hearst New Media and later acquired by NBC Universal’s iVillage.com, and product development and marketing roles with Fortune 500 companies Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Mattel and Disney.
