THE BULLETIN BOARD
45
eye on Business
economic forecast offers 2013 heads up By Maggie Cox, Barnett Cox & Associates
E
very year, there’s a countywide economic forecast event held in San Luis Obispo County and attended by nearly 500 local business, government and non profit organization leaders. The Central Coast Economic Forecast (CCEF) is always enlightening and eye opening; some years fostering hope in the local economy and others giving us counsel to hunker down and wait for better times. I usually write about the event after the fact, sharing the insight and projections of the forecasters. But this round I want to change things up and write about it ahead of the upcoming November 9th event date. I may not know what the speakers will say, but I do know the information will be terribly useful and very important.
Business—from local to the international arena—has been on an exhausting roller coaster ride of ups and downs since 2008 (for some, even before that). There’s not an industry or organization that hasn’t felt the sting. And while in some quarters today business is improving, in others it’s still languishing and in a painful few it will never be back.
and Oakland and the LA Unified School District and moves on to the California Mortgage Association, the American Institute of CPAs, the Sacramento Kings and Kaiser Permanente. Chris will focus on the national and state scene. New to the dais this year is Jordan Levine, Beacon’s director of economic research. The UCSB alum who received an MA in International Economics from the University of Sussex is as skilled at providing analysis as he is offering comment to the Sacramento Bee, the San Jose Mercury and the Los Angeles Business Journal. Jordan will review local indicators—employment, building statistics, consumer spending and more, integrate it with on-the-ground interviews with local industry leaders, and then offer a briefing on what-to-expect in the coming year. That kind of information is gold: it offers an educated means of trying to stay ahead of the curve.
who might be interested saves the date (November 9) and plans to attend. I feel strongly because I remember a time when this kind of solid information wasn’t available in SLO County. I remember pasting together numbers from three-year-old retail sales tax reports, trying to figure out the real estate market and calling hotels one by one to get a sense of how tourism was doing. We all did a lot of guessing and while there’s still no certainty guaranteed, at least now we can make decisions based on real world, real time information. That seems like something to write about. Find out more at www.centralcoasteconomicforecast.com.
We are here for you.
In the middle of it all comes the Central Coast Economic Forecast. Why is this event important? For me, there are a number of reasons. The caliber of the speakers and the quality of the information just gets better and better. Start with the masterful and entertaining MC duties performed by Bob Wacker of RE Wacker Associates. Bob is fast and funny on his feet, asks questions that keeps the experts on their toes and knows how to keep a program moving.
And rounding the program out is a local favorite, John Myers. John was a long-ago reporter and news anchor at KSBY TV whose career took him to Sacramento and a post at KQED Public Radio. He became the go-to guy for analyzing Sacramento politics, filing stories through the popular California Report. When Sacramento-based KXTV News 10 created a position just for John, he jumped at the chance to return to TV as the station’s political editor. John will be addressing the CCEF just three days after the General Election and with some big issues on the California ballot, his presentation is certain to be a barnburner.
And the experts this year are quite expert. Chrism Thornberg, founding principal of Beacons Economics, is familiar to Central Coast audiences. He’s brash and confident, which he can get away with because he’s so knowledgeable. Chris’ firm is recognized throughout California for its spot-on forecasting. Beacon’s clients include a who’s who of public and private sectors organizations starting with the State of California’s Office of the Controller, the Cities of Los Angeles
You might get the feeling I’m a big believer in the CCEF. I am. I’ve been on the board for a number of years and I continue to be impressed with what a group of volunteers can do to generate such a valuable program for our community. We have the support of dozens of local sponsors who fund the research and the November presentation. I’m not writing about the program to hustle ticket sales—those take care of themselves. I’m writing about it now to make sure anyone
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O C T O B E R
2012
Journal PLUS