Daily Business Report-Feb. 18, 2021
Erica Wood is photographed in her car near her home in San Diego on Feb. 6, 2021. Wood owns a small mobile piercing business. While struggling with unemployment benefits, she took out a title loan on her car and is now in debt as a result. (Photo by Peggy Peattie for CalMatters)
A hidden debt crisis
Why personal debt looks healthy despite worst year for jobs
Despite losing an unprecedented 2.4 million jobs last spring, California closed out 2020 with one of the nation’s lowest rates of personal debt, a 10 percent increase in new mortgages and soaring real estate prices. What gives? It turns out that wealthy Californians’ economic gains are likely cloaking the experiences of suffering residents — millions of whom are staggering under types of debt that go unaccounted in national measures, CalMatters’ Jackie Botts and Laurence Du Sault report.
And the true scope of debt resulting from the pandemic may take months to emerge: Although Gov. Gavin Newsom banned water and electricity shutoffs during the state of emergency, an estimated 1.6 million California households are late on water payments. And although the Golden State banned evictions through the end of June, hundreds of thousands of residents are behind on their rent.
Matthew Harding, UC Irvine professor of economics and statistics: “Once the dust settles, this is going to be a story of inequality.”
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Engineers earn NASA grant to enable flying taxis
By Katherine Connor | UC San Diego
Imagine fleets of small aircraft able to vertically take off and land from helipads in urban areas, transporting people to and from work; or shuttles with preset routes flying people to the airport or other major hubs.
This futuristic system of flying taxis and shuttles is one step closer to reality thanks to a team of engineers led by the University of California San Diego. They received a $5.8
million University Leadership Initiative grantto create computational design tools that will help U.S. companies develop more efficient air taxi designs, faster.
“This (three-year) project is part of a growing field called urban air mobility, an exciting vision enabling point-to-point, on-demand air travel within densely populated areas,” said John Hwang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego and principal investigator for the project.
Early roll out of this new class of vehicles is expected within five years, with a market study commissioned by NASA estimating these services will be profitable by the 2030s. In fact, United Airlines and startup Archer Aviation just inked a dealto purchase 200 of these eVTOL aircraft, expected to debut in 2024.
Gonzalez takes on Amazon with bill targeting working
conditions at warehouse distribution centers
Times of San Diego
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at improving worker conditions at warehouse distribution centers like one being built in her district.Last week, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Amazon has been building 3.4 million-square-foot facility on Otay Mesa Road for more than a year and could be completed by this summer with up to 1,500 jobs.
Gonzalez’s goal is to minimize on-the-job injuries and prevent worker exploitation related to quota systems.
Assembly Bill 701 would require employers to disclose work quotas their employees are expected to meet and would prevent employees from being punished for failing to meet a quota if the quota doesn’t allow them to comply with health and safety laws, or was not previously disclosed to them.
AB 701 would also require Cal/OSHA to propose new statewide standards to minimize injury and illness risks for warehouse distribution center employees.
New San Diego partnership supports
diversity and excellence in STEM
In line with a national effort to increase female and racial minority representation in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, scientists and scholars at two San Diego public universities are teaming up to provide the region’s underrepresented researchers opportunities for mentorship, networking and institutional support.
The Multi-Campus Transformatrion and Equity Network, an initiative at San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego funded by a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) — seeks to counter the isolation and stress some underrepresented faculty experience and create more equitable environments that support their academic careers.
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New reservoir to protect local drinking
water deliveries to be built in North County
A major construction project to improve drinking water supply reliability in North San Diego County will start in February after the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved an $11.4 million contract for the work to Pacific Hydrotech Corporation of Perris, Calif.
The Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project includes demolition of an abandoned steel tank, building a 2.1 million-gallon storage reservoir connected to the Valley Center Pipeline, and construction of an isolation vault and an underground flow control facility. The project is expected to be completed by winter 2022.
For more information on the Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project, click here.
Community groups help select new county
director of the Office of Equity and Racial Justice
Andrew Strong has been named director of the new Office of Equity and Racial Justice in county government. Strong brings 15 years of experience in local government leadership and community engagement.
The Office of Equity and Racial Justice was established by the Board of Supervisors in June to identify systemic bias within the county organization. More than 20 community groups were invited to participate in the director’s selection process, and 12 ultimately chose to be involved, including representatives from the API Initiative, Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance and Universidad Popular.
Strong brings a diverse background to the position. He spent nine years in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman before settling in San Diego. He joined the County of San Diego in the Human Resources Department and quickly earned promotions into key leadership positions, including the chief of staff of the Chief Administrative Office, which implements the policy directives of the Board of Supervisors and manages the day-to-day operations of the county.
The county will also soon begin recruiting for two additional positions to support the Office of Equity and Racial Justice.
Barbara Bry:
Relentless Pursuit Will Take You Further Than Good Grades
Barbara Bry joined Proflowers.com in April 1998 as vice president of marketing when the company was just an idea with four employees and no website. The company’s plan, to upset the flower cart by shipping flowers directly from the grower to the consumer instead of using retail stores, faced enormous logistical and marketing challenges.
Barbara will talk about the ups and downs of the company’s early history using the People, Opportunity, Context and Risk and Reward framework as well as weave in her own entrepreneurial journey. Proflowers.com, which became Provide Commerce, went public in 1993, and was sold to Liberty Media for $477 million in 2008.
Bry is one of the featured speakers at the 2021 San Diego Women’s Week March 15-19 sponsored by the North San Diego Business Chamber.
Micronoma raises $3.5 million in convertible note financing
Micronoma, a cancer detection biotech company that utilizes signals from the tumor-related microbiome to diagnose cancer at an early stage with liquid biopsy technology, announced the closing of $3.5 million in convertible debt financing. The contributions came from existing investor, US-based SymBiosis LLC, and new European investor The Seerave Foundation. The investments bring Micronoma’s total amount of funding to $6.5 million since the company’s first seed round six months ago.
Micronoma decrypts signals from some of the most ancient matter in the world, the microbiome, to detect cancer early, from all genomes. The additional financing will enable Micronoma to complete its validation study on lung cancer prediction, set up CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) operations, establish its go-to-market strategy utilizing its Oncobiota platform, and initiate work on a second cancer target.
VOXOX announces partnership with 310 Creative
San Diego-based VOXOX, a company that provides communications services to business, announced its partnership with 310 Creative, a marketing agency that is to amplify brand awareness for the company.
According to 310 Creative, it will help VOXOX take further advantage of HubSpot to attract a greater volume of website visitors, convert those visitors to promising leads and develop those leads into happy customers. “Through persona-driven content marketing and nurturing funnels, 310 Creative will tackle all aspects of marketing including inbound strategy and ROI, buyer journey mapping, sales process optimization, automation workflows and more,” according to the company.
LPC West and Alcion Ventures acquires
industrial building in Otay Mesa
LPC West, the West Coast arm of national real estate firm Lincoln Property Company, in a joint venture with Alcion Ventures, has acquired 7615 Siempre Viva Road, an 86,680- square-foot industrial building in south San Diego just north of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry at the U.S.-Mexico border.
LPC West and Alcion acquired the property in an off-market transaction from an owner-user which focuses on the production and distribution of canvas artwork. The seller has owned and occupied the building since it was developed in 2003. Following the acquisition, the company will remain in the building as the sole tenant.
Hera Hub expands ‘Learning Lounge’ openings
Hera Hub is expanding to San Jose, Salt Lake City, and Minneapolis through a partnership with CommonGrounds Workplace, by creating the ‘Learning Lounge.’ These newly embedded spaces at CommonGrounds Workplace will help to educate and accelerate female entrepreneurs.
The initial three locations will occupy 800-1,000 square feet within each CommonGrounds Workplace. This branded space will be a spa-like sanctuary and will host daily educational workshops, small events, and limited coworking hours. Memberships will range from $99 to $149, depending on the access level.
“Our new partnership with CommonGrounds Workplace will help us achieve our mission to support female entrepreneurs in building successful and impactful companies,” said Hera Hub founder Felena Hanson.
Locations
Salt Lake City – https://cgworkplace.com/location/132-s-state-st/
Minneapolis – https://cgworkplace.com/location/801-s-marquette-ave/
San Jose – https://cgworkplace.com/location/18-s-2nd-st/
Three new grants enable California Western
Community Law Project to provide legal
lifeline to underserved communities
California Western Community Law Project (CLP) has been awarded funding that will enable the program to continue to serve the increasing legal needs of San Diego County low-income individuals, which the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated.
A cy pres award for $6,800, will provide general funding to meet CLP’s largest needs of providing free legal services to low income and indigent communities in the County. A cy pres award is the distribution of money from a class action settlement to a charitable organization.
Price Philanthropies awarded CLP a grant of $25,000 to support CLP’s legal clinics and workshops in the City Heights community.
A grant award of $12,500 from the San Diego County Bar Foundation completes the trifecta of recent awards given to CLP. The award will support legal consultations and community legal education for low-income individuals across the county, enhancing the legal work CLP does on behalf of the community while supporting the training of future attorneys.
