How the Virus May Change Us All

Chances are, the coronavirus pandemic will forever change the way you do business. For one thing, business travel may be reduced. Already, Zoom is zooming; one report last week said videoconferencing traffic in North America and Asia has doubled since the outbreak began. Once execs finally see for themselves that meaningful interchange really can get […]

Let’s Make Housing Scarcity Worse!

You know what really irks me? It’s the fact that people keep acknowledging that housing is a “crisis” in California, then doing things to make it worse. Just last fall, the legislature passed statewide rent control, limiting increases for rental buildings more than 15 years old. While it is an understandable impulse to try to […]

Tourists Could Visit Us. No, Really.

Here’s one oddity about the San Fernando Valley: There’s a bounty of cool stuff to do and see and experience. Yet a tourism industry is next to nonexistent. Will that ever change? Will tourism one day thrive in the Valley area? Well, maybe, just maybe – if you cross your fingers and dream. More about […]

Give Moms a Break or Suffer Costs

I’ve asked a dozen or so business operators in recent months if they’ve created lactation rooms yet. Most of them have given me a blank stare, with several saying they were unaware of the new state law, which went into effect Jan. 1. Alas, inaction could be costly. The reason: If an employer does not […]

Post-Midterm Magic for Investors

You’ve heard that if a National Football Conference team wins the Super Bowl in January, it’ll be a bull market that year? Or that when hemlines rise, so do stock prices? And that you should exit equities entirely in the month of October because that’s when bad things happen? Superstitions like those are pretty stupid. […]

Don’t Bank on This Dreadful Idea

If the city of Los Angeles goes through with a proposal to create a public bank, it will be a demonstration of both chutzpah and contempt. Voters already have told the city of Los Angeles to stay out of the banking business, and by a not-so-close 56 to 44 percent vote. That wasn’t some ancient […]

We Raise Taxes, Nothing Improves

When California’s gasoline tax went up a few weeks ago, there was a flurry of articles about how state motorists now pay the highest such tax in the country and how gasoline here typically costs $1 a gallon more than most other states. I wouldn’t mind paying more if I could boast that we have […]

Businesses Still Won’t Get No Respect

Maybe now the local business community will get more respect, you think? The Los Angeles Unified School District pretty much dissed the business community in the runup to the June 4 election. The district pushed a tax-raising question onto the ballot, ignoring the offer by businesses to work with the school district to come up […]

Scooters: Annoying or Reassuring?

At least some folks are annoyed that electric scooters are invading the San Fernando Valley. I’m not. I’m heartened to see them. OK, so maybe I’m a little annoyed. But for the most part, I’m pleased and even a bit reassured to see them. Why? Because it’s a sign that the area has grown up. […]

Inland Empire Forming North of L.A.

In case you haven’t noticed, a second Inland Empire is starting to take root to the north of Los Angeles. It’s the Grapevine area on the north side of the Tejon Pass. And while it is tiny compared to the vast tracts of warehouses that spread across the inland areas, well, big things usually start […]