What does the death of the LA Times Local Section mean?
The only thing surprising about the announcement that the LA Times is killing its local news section is that anyone was surprised. Sam Zell, the owner of the paper’s parent company, Tribune (yes, I know that an employee stock ownership plan is the nominal owner, but the ESOP is a tax dodge and employees have no power whatsoever), and his pirate crew of lieutenants have a near perfect record of making stupid moves. This is just another one.
This is also another case of Zell and team doing the exact opposite of what they said they would do. Zell took over a little more than a year ago – yes, it feels like it’s been longer – saying he wouldn’t cut because newspapers couldn’t cut their way to the future. As soon as he had control, he immediately began cutting. Zell also profanely declared in an infamous meeting in the Times’ now defunct Washington bureau, where I worked as a reporter at the time, that readers didn’t care about national news and that the paper’s future was in local news. (He suggested, insanely, that there was a bigger audience for coverage of the Santa Ana city council than there was for stories on national affairs). So it was only a matter of time before local news was gutted.
How Is “Compromise” a Win if Main Street Shuts Down?
It has become increasingly evident to Capitol insiders, pundits and others that the Governor and Legislature may be close to reaching a budget “compromise” in the coming days.
As the leading representative group for California small businesses, we must ask: “What, in fact, is the true meaning of ‘compromise’ if it shutters the few remaining mom-and-pop businesses already on life support and sends the last batch of working Californians to the unemployment line?”
When it comes to identifying small business as a “priority issue”, many of our elected leaders surely make a valiant effort to “talk the talk” during campaign season, but a select few truly “walk the walk” when it comes to making important, sustainable decisions that will protect the very men, women and families that sent them to Sacramento in the first place.
Small Business Seeks Short Delay in Clean Air Mandate
Concern that hastily implementing clean air laws would hurt small business is playing out over the requirement for gas stations to install Enhanced Vapor Recovery (EVR) systems by April. This issue reflects the bigger problem small business will face in going along with the mandates for AB 32, the state’s landmark environmental measure.
Gas stations, most independently owned, are required by the California Air Resources Board to install equipment by April 1 to prevent a relatively small amount of harmful vapors from escaping into the air. Given the cost of the equipment and the difficulty getting financing in these hard economic times, a number of small retailers find this hurdle impossible to meet.
According to a survey conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, 2.4% of those responding said they would shut down operations rather than try to comply with the mandate. While the Air Resources Board calculates that the cost of compliance can be met by adding .68 cents per gallon of gas, smaller outlets would have a larger burden.