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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
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Economically Injured Are Still Sick and Awaiting Treatment

The local hospital waiting room is full of economically injured people waiting for care.

They are in for a long wait I am afraid. The federal economic stimulus packages haven’t sent any checks yet, no one knows who will or won’t get the money and so the patient is still sick and awaiting treatment.

The Building Industry Association is not waiting to see the doctor, it is taking matters into its own hands , self-medicating if you will.

On March 10, dozens of BIA members showed up at the Carlsbad City Council meeting to illustrate their solidarity in proposing stimulus ideas of their own for the council to consider.

The program they propose is called Jumpstart Our Industry Now. Their concept has a subtitle: National Recovery Starts With Local Initiative.

Here are their main points:

– & #8201;Implement fee deferrals and regulatory reform that facilitate recovery.

– & #8201;Protect and extend existing entitlements and development approvals.

– & #8201;Implement planning principles and standards that facilitate infill and smart growth.

– & #8201;Allow development to proceed through the use of water demand offsets during meter restrictions.

– & #8201;Reduce the burden of inclusionary housing fees and requirements.

– & #8201;Use federal stimulus dollars to fund infrastructure, create private-sector jobs and stabilize home values.

– & #8201;The BIA is making the same presentation to city councils throughout the county in the hope that some or all of the ideas will be implemented.

The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce is working with the city staff and Council to put together an economic development roundtable discussion to create ideas, like the BIA’s, to help Carlsbad businesses.

The business community in Carlsbad has already gotten together, and with select members of the City Council, on stimulus ideas.

The roundtable being planned is the next step. Hopefully, chambers across the county are pursuing the same kinds of dialogue.

Sadly, the federal programs being established will not reach down to the local level to the degree necessary to actually stimulate the marketplace.

Small business has always been the leading job creator, and even though the economy is tough now, small-business owners will find a way to overcome their fear and take the lead.

Speaking of fear reduction, I obtained a copy of an interesting book on that very topic, “Stop the Fear, Finding Peace in a Chaotic World” by Gloria Boileau, a San Diego resident who specializes in coaching businesses. She is an international speaker and image expert. I recommend it for anyone who needs to be motivated or at least supported in some way.

The following are some quotes that I like:

– & #8201;”Courage is not an absence of fear, but the conquest of it.”

– & #8201;”Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: Could have, might have and should have” , Louis E. Boone.

– & #8201;”Fear grows in the darkness; if you think there is a bogeyman around, turn on the light” , Dorothy Thompson.

– & #8201;”Never let the fear of striking out get in your way” , Babe Ruth.

– & #8201;”Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That is where the fruit is” , Jackson Browne.

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person: “Always do what you are afraid to do” , Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I am a firm believer that the quicker we get rid of our fear, the quicker we will see prosperity return. We are still the greatest country in the world and we have always overcome all of the hurdles put in our way.

In North County news:

– & #8201;In Temecula, the fear of the economy hasn’t touched everyone. The Promenade shopping center is set to complete its 10-year growth plan with a $100 million wing of retail shops and dining facilities. The completion of the 127,000-square-foot lifestyle piece will bring the mall up to 1.2 million square feet. The new tenants began moving in March 22.

– & #8201;Westfield Group shopping centers is negotiating with the city of Escondido to extend its ground lease beyond 2038. The Australian company is planning on spending $200 million to expand the size of its North County Fair property by 500,000 square feet to 1.7 million square feet, which would make it the largest center in San Diego County.

– & #8201;Carlsbad-based Regulus Therapeutics, a developer of genetically based drugs, has raised $20 million in financing, and it is not from a federal stimulus program. The company is a joint venture of Carlsbad-based Isis Pharmaceuticals and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Mass. The money came equally from the two founding companies. Regulus was formed to do research and development on drugs based on small segments of RNA.


Ted Owen is president and CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.

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