December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015 Section A

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ege The Coll s es Of Busin ion at r t Adminis B At CSUL

Health Wise Impact Of Addiction

It Was A d Year Very Goo P e Se g. 4

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lbbusinessjournal.com

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Civic Center

Black Gold

Architect Gibbs Speaks Out On Project

Long Beach Assessing The Budget Impacts Of The Falling Price Of Oil ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer

■ By DAVE WIELENGA Contributing Writer

ince Long Beach was first S immortalized as an oil town in famed author Upton

A

few hours before the city council made its December 9 decision to junk the civic center that has hovered and hunkered across six blocks of Downtown Long Beach since 1977, the man who once led the all-star team of architects that created the complex answered the telephone in the same Bixby Knolls office where he drew the blueprints four decades ago.

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Looking Ahead It Was An Eventful Year, But A Better One Awaits ■ By GEORGE ECONOMIDES Publisher’s Perspective his has certainly been an T eventful year internationally and across the United States.

Long Beach also made its share of news.

From the rise of the Islamic State of Syria to a pending shift in (Please Continue To Page 15)

Sinclair’s novel Oil!, the city has been known for its oil production, derived from the oil field lying beneath it. The sale of that oil provides a steady stream of cash into Long Beach’s Tidelands Fund, which funds important city

Dignity Health, which provides health care at more than 40 hospitals and care centers in California, Arizona and Nevada, announced last week that Joel P. Yuhas has been named president and CEO of St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Hospital Chief Local Resident Joel Yuhas Named CEO Of St. Mary Medical Center ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Contributing Writer

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wide-ranging search for new leadership at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical CenterLong Beach ultimately led back home when Joel P. Yuhas, a resident of Bixby Knolls and a former St. Mary executive, was selected president and chief executive officer. His first day on the job is January 5, 2015.

“Joel was the unanimous choice among representatives from all our key stakeholder groups who participated in the

interview process,” said a written statement from Steve R. Barron, the senior vice president for the Southern California operations of St. Mary’s corporate parent, Dignity Health. “His impressive record of success and leadership achievements in the health care industry, along with his familiarity with St. Mary Medical Center and Long Beach, made him the obvious selection.”

Yuhas had been executive vice president and chief operating (Please Continue To Page 17)

services and capital projects. But oil is a volatile commodity, and, as its production ramps up elsewhere in the country, its price has dropped to nearly half of what the city budgeted to receive for capital projects, and $20 per barrel below what it budgeted for operations, according to John Gross, the city’s director of financial management.

As of December 20, the price (Please Continue To Page 4)

Going Green From Disney To Louis Vuitton, The Lighting Design Alliance Creates Sustainable Illumination ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer n a renovated, former cosmanufacturing buildIing metics on the border of Signal Hill and Long Beach is a company with an international list of clientele including the likes of Disney, Louis Vuitton and Beats

By Dre. The Lighting Design Alliance, founded by CEO Charles “Chip” Israel in 1992, specializes in illuminating everything from single-family homes to the entire Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas and, whenever possible, does so

with energy-efficient, sustainable lighting designs.

Since the Lighting Design Alliance was founded, the company has grown from three employees to 30, Israel told the Business Journal. The alliance handles about 300 projects per year. “We fortunately have a very strong design team here, and everything we do is by repeat business,” as well as word of mouth, he noted. A portfolio of the company’s work features dizzyingly long lists of projects, not only throughout the United States but also in countries such (Please Continue To Page 12)

Happy Holiday Wishes . . .

From The Long Beach Business Journal Team.

Our Next Issue Publishes January 20, 2015.

Our Offices Are Closed December 24-28 And December 30-January 1 Long Beach Business Journal 2599 E. 28th Street, Suite 212 Signal Hill, CA 90755-2139 562/988-1222 • www.lbbusinessjournal.com

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE

PAID Long Beach, CA PERMIT NO. 254

Section B Is A Focus On The Hospitality And Tourism Industry Pictured is John Jenkins, Jr., General Manager of The Queen Mary.

(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE 2 Long Beach Business Journal

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

3 Newswatch 3-Update On Railway Project mediation 3-Furloughed Union Employees Win In Court, Get Paid 4-Port-Owned Chassis Pool Moves Forward 6-Herlinda Chico Announces Bid For Special Council Election 6-Long Beach Wins Big Grant From Bloomberg Foundation 8-Long List Of New Laws Impacting Business

10 Going Green 10-Talco Plastics Major Recycler 12-The Lighting Design Alliance, continued from Page 1

14 Real Estate 14-Leases And Transactions 14-Green Light For Historic Ocean Center Building

15 Publisher’s Perspective 16 Long Beach Civic Center 17 In The News 17-New Resident Manager For Merrill Lynch 17-76-Year Christmas Tradition For F&M Bank Continues 17-Wing Chun Temple Opens In Signal Hill

18 Perspective Realty Views Apartment Construction Up, But Rents Down

By Terry Ross Effective Leadership Santa Claus’ Secret For Getting The ‘Right’ Things Done By Mick Ukleja Third Sector Report The Nonprofit Label: A Threat To Community Progress? By Jeffrey Wilcox HealthWise Impact Of Addiction

By Mario San Bartolome, M.D.

Section B Focus On Hospitality Tourism • Industry Overview • Hoteliers Feeling The Love As Occupancy, Room Rates Up • From Omelet Cook To GM Of The Queen Mary • Multiple Hotel Renovations Planned • How Long Beach Spells Success: The Pacific Ballroom • Attractions Report Growing Revenues, Visitor Counts • CVB Online Outreach Puts Spotlight On Long Beach

@LBBizJourn

And Retail Real Estate

GET ALL THREE FOR FREE . . .

DIGITAL DIGIT TAL

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W WWW.LBBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM WW.LBBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM

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NEWSWATCH December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Long Beach Business Journal 3

begin. That’s plenty of time to kind of, Railway Project hopefully, resolve this. And everybody is still talking.”

Mediation City Pays Union Meetings: ‘Nothing Resolved’ Employees Millions For Court-Rejected ■ By D W Contributing Writer Furloughs ■

AVE

IELENGA

After three mediation sessions it remains difficult to assess the prospects for reaching an out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit pending against the City of Los Angeles over its approval of a 153acre rail yard that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad (BNSF) plans to build in a part of the Port of Los Angeles that abuts West Long Beach neighborhoods and schools.

“We had three days of mediation and nothing is resolved,” reports Mike Mais, Long Beach Deputy City Attorney. “But we are still in mediation . . . and still hopeful. We’re just kinda taking a break for the holidays.”

The process, overseen by retired Sonoma County Judge William L. Bettinelli, is intended to avoid years of costly and complicated litigation that may await if the suit filed in June 2013 goes to trial as scheduled in November 2015. But in this case, mediation means managing logistics that could easily become tangled, too.

Although widely presented as a Long Beach vs. Los Angeles showdown, the lawsuit actually features seven petitioners, including the City of Long Beach and the Long Beach Unified School District as well as environmental organizations, businesses threatened with relocation and neighborhood groups.

“I’ve never been involved with a case that has seven petitioners, each of them with attorneys and clients” Mais says.

“Simply calling a meeting with the petitioners group alone amounts to coordinating the schedules of a good 30 people.

When you add some pretty large crews from the City of L.A. and BNSF – oh, and the judge’s schedule, too – it’s really one of those things you have to play by ear.”

The actual mediation?

“The judge usually does a shuttle diplomacy back and forth between the parties to see if there’s any movement, to see if there’s a common ground that can be reached,” Mais explained.

Mais says he went into the first three mediation sessions simultaneously hoping he’d come out with something definitive to report and realizing he’d be surprised if he did. He’s still not about to predict an outcome or a timeline for reaching one – not when the next meeting hasn’t even been scheduled.

“I guess it will depend on how close the parties can get,” he says.

“Remaining very, very far apart may end the process. If they get close and it becomes a matter of hammering out details, then things could go on and on, depending on scheduling.

“We’re definitely not there – not at either scenario – but we’ve got, literally, a full year before the trial is scheduled to

■ By BRANDON FERGUSON Last week, the city’s unionized workforce got a de facto Christmas bonus: $3.9 million in back pay – $1 million of which was interest. The payout was for a

mandatory furlough the city had ordered in 2009, which the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled in 2012 had violated the city’s negotiation obligations.

In the midst of the Great Recession, the city was negotiating with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), which represent most of the city’s employees, in an effort to reduce costs. Facing a budget shortfall of more than $16 million, the city explored various options with the IAMAW such as imposing hiring freezes and placing limitations on contracting authority. The parties were unable to reach an agreement.

During the May 5, 2009, council meeting, then-Director of Human Resources Suzanne Mason said if the city didn’t

impose the furloughs, it would be required to layoff 200 employees in order to generate enough savings to balance the budget prior to the end of the fiscal year.

“We must do something now,” she said.

The Long Beach City Council passed a resolution ordering the 40-hour furloughs, which took place between June and September 2009. Firefighters and police officers, both considered essential employees, were not furloughed.

Following the council vote, the IAMAW filed an unfair labor practice charge with PERB, which ruled that the city had violated its obligations under the MeyersMilias-Brown Act by unilaterally imposing furloughs before conferring with the union in good faith.

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NEWSWATCH 4 Long Beach Business Journal (Continued From Page 3)

It Was A Very Good Year Throughout 2014, the College of Business Administration has had the pleasure to share its story with this fine paper’s readers. CBA is a wonderful college with dedicated and committed faculty, staff, and students, and the articles illustrated the many ways that our faculty and staff touch the lives of our stuCBA alumni

By Dr. Michael Solt, dents.

Dean, might have learned about College of Business new programs or activiAdministration, California State ties that have been added University, since they graduated.

Long Beach Hopefully all readers sense CBA’s dynamic nature and how we continually strive for excellence.

On campus, decisions are made against the standard: will this enhance and improve student success? We are also career-focused, and I believe that the articles demonstrate our commitment to student success, academically and professionally. My conversations with alumni indicate that CBA has always helped its graduates achieve the “American Dream” of career success, a better life, and upward mobility. I know that CBA students have always worked while going to school, and then tirelessly pursued careers to get ahead.

Nothing has changed: we continue to help our students make the “American Dream” a reality. I recently visited business schools in China and Korea. People there are pursuing Dreams, too. Whether American, Chinese, or Korean Dreams we all want the same thing: successful careers, financial stability, and home ownership. It was sometimes difficult to tell whether I was in Beijing, Seoul, or SoCal. This series about CBA is ending, but what's past is prologue, according to Shakespeare.

My Asia trip showed that CBA must continue to evolve and adapt to ensure our students’ success in the globally competitive world.

Stay tuned for future developments.

I thank George Economides for the idea for this series and his staff for their support during the year. The collaboration of our faculty, staff, and campus and community partners was essential in making this series happen. I very much appreciate each author’s effort to craft an article that brought to life all that our college represents. Long Beach is a wonderful community, and it was an honor and privilege to show how CBA is a vital part of this community. Finally, I thank the readers of our column and for the encouraging feedback we have received.

(The College of Business Administration at Cal State Long Beach is an AACSB accredited business school that provides undergraduates and MBAs with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in their careers and to propel the economic development of our region.)

The city appealed the PERS’ decision to the California State Court of Appeals, which issued a ruling in August. Though the court argued that an employer can make unilateral decisions before bargaining obligations are met, it specified that an employer may only do so in the event of a fiscal emergency. The court reasoned that the city failed to prove its case.

“When the city unilaterally imposed the furloughs, it had untapped reserves (in its budget stabilization fund) that exceeded the savings to be generated by the furloughs,” the court argued.

City Attorney Charles Parkin, who at the time of the council decision was an assistant city attorney, explained to the Business Journal that he hadn’t been present for the discussion that had ended in a staff recommendation to impose the furloughs. He added the city had believed it had legal standing to order employees to take time off.

“I believe there were discussions on the [fiscal] emergency and whether the emergency was sufficient. I think the [court’s] decision gives us additional instruction in the future, but, at the time we made the decision, we believed there was a legal basis for implementing the furloughs,” Parkin said.

Workers received the back payment on December 19 as part of their regular paychecks. The IAMAW represents more than 3,500 city employees in various fields from trash collection to office workers. Calls to two IAMAW representatives seeking comment for this story weren’t returned. ■ (Brandon Ferguson is a former staff writer for the Business Journal)

Port-Owned Chassis Pool Proposed To Harbor Commission ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer Port of Long Beach (POLB) Chief Executive Jon Slangerup’s proposal for the port to operate its own fleet of chassis, the trucking equipment used to haul containers, was scheduled for the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners’ review yesterday, December 22, after the Business Journal went to press.

If created, the fleet of chassis, commonly referred to as a chassis pool, would help alleviate congestion caused by a lack of the equipment available for truckers to move cargo during peak shipping times. A shortage of chassis combined with larger-than-average shipments coming to the port has backed up the flow of goods going to and from the port in recent months.

Other factors have been at play in congestion as well: months-long negotiations between the longshore workers’ union and the organization representing their employers have led to fewer workers being deployed to the port to move cargo in the past month or so, Slangerup recently told the Business Journal.

Congestion has been so prominent that some companies diverted holiday cargo from the Port of Long Beach, opting to send it instead to other West Coast ports, through the Panama Canal to the East Coast or even by airfreight, according to Dr. Noel Hacegaba, chief commercial officer for the Port of Long Beach. “It’s hard for us to quantify exactly how much cargo has been diverted, but we know cargo has been diverted to other gateways,” he told the Business Journal.

Slangerup’s recommendation to the board was to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for a private party to partner with the port to create its own pool of about 3,000 chassis for use during peak shipping times. “This would be a fleet we would reserve for peak demand. When I say peak demand, I’m not just referring to your holiday peak season, but I’m also referring to your peaks week to week,” Hacegaba said. “So, when a large vessel arrives at any given container terminal, our chassis pool will be made available when the existing supply is not sufficient to meet the demand.”

The port “is open to all ownership models [of a chassis pool], including POLB-owned assets, or scenarios where private parties may own the assets,” Slangerup’s recommendation stated. If approved, the RFP would be issued in early

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015 January and the deadline to respond would be January 30.

The commission would approve a contract in March and the chassis pool would become operational in June, according to the proposal.

Another of Slangerup’s initiatives to get cargo moving faster through the port was to open a temporary storage yard for empty containers at Pier S, operated by Pasha Stevedoring. The storage yard is set to open December 29, according to Hacegaba. “It’s a temporary storage yard that allows truck drivers who are entering the harbor to drop off their empty containers at that site and then proceed to the yards to pick up empty cargo,” he explained.

Due to the peak holiday shipping season combined with some of the worst congestion the port has ever experienced, terminals have been too full for truckers to drop off empty containers, thus making it impossible for them to return their chassis for use by other truckers. “By creating such a yard, we are allowing and facilitating the ingress of chassis in to the yards . . . but it also frees up space in the yards so, instead of having empty containers stacked up and taking up space, those empties can be taken off-site and make more space for inbound cargo,” Hacegaba said.

Congestion issues at both ports have lessened in the past two weeks, Hacegaba noted. “Based on the figures we’ve seen, especially the numbers of vessels at anchor, we can see that we are past the peak in terms of congestion,” he said.

“We don’t see the same number of vessels at anchor that we did five or six weeks ago. We used to see from six to eight; now we’re seeing anywhere from one to two.”

In addition to the port’s initiatives to alleviate current congestion and prevent it in the future, port staff has been focused on meeting with beneficial cargo owners – the entities that own the cargo that is shipping through the port – to understand their needs, Hacegaba said. “We’ve been spending a lot of time talking to them, recognizing that they’re the ones making the decisions where the cargo goes. And our emphasis and our objective in meeting with them has been: number one, to update them; number two, hear their concerns; number three, answer their questions; number four, tell them the steps we are taking and initiatives we’re leading, and build confidence in our port and in our gateway.” ■

Black Gold (Continued From Page 3)

per barrel of crude oil was $57.13. For fiscal year 2014-2015, the City of Long Beach had budgeted for the price of oil to remain at $100 per barrel to fund capital improvement projects in the Tidelands area (oil-producing areas around the city’s shoreline) and $70 per barrel to fund city operations such as police, firefighters and lifeguards, according to Gross.

“Yes, the falling oil prices are a concern. Exactly what the impact is, we’re still working on [determining that]. It would be nice if prices were stable, but they’re not,” Gross told the Business Journal. “[City] staff recognized even as the price was above $70 that there was an issue,” Gross said. “Staff is looking at it both in terms of what the falling price means in terms of revenue and what is our recommended strategy.”

In addition to potential impacts to vital city resources such as police and fire, Gross said city staff is examining how the falling price of oil might impact capital improvement projects.

“There are a whole series of capital projects that have been approved in the past and are planned for the future,” he said.

“Those include such items as seawalls, the Belmont Aquatic Center, the Alamitos Bay Marina, the Belmont Pier and the Rainbow Lagoon project,” in addition to other projects such as beach restrooms, he explained. “Those are all projects that have been at one time or another approved by city council or are on the five-year plan. So the question is, are those projects impacted, are they not impacted? That is what we are trying to ascertain.”

Gross and city staff are working on a report outlining potential impacts to the Tidelands Fund, which he estimated would be completed by the end of the year. The Long Beach City Council likely won’t take any action on the report’s findings until next year, as the council is not scheduled to meet again until January 6. ■

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NEWSWATCH 6 Long Beach Business Journal

Herlinda Chico Announces Bid For 4th District Seat ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Contributing Writer Herlinda Chico has resumed her run to represent the 4th District on the Long Beach City Council, joining another former candidate for the office, John Watkins, in the race toward a special election to replace Patrick O’Donnell, who gave up the seat halfway through his four-year term when he was elected to the state assembly on November 4.

Daryl Supernaw, who lost a runoff to O’Donnell in 2012, is also considering another shot.

Chico declared her intentions on December 18, the morning after the city council set the date of the special election for April 14, 2015. However, no candidacy will be legitimate until proper paperwork is submitted and approved during the official filing period, which the council established between January 5 and January 16, 2015.

Chico, who served as a legislative aide to former 7th District councilmember Tonia Reyes Uranga, began campaigning for the 4th District’s council seat two years ago.

O’Donnell had just completed his second term and was running for the state assembly seat Bonnie Lowenthal said she was vacating to pursue the state senate office that Alan Lowenthal had just left for a seat in Congress.

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015 But Ricardo Lara’s strong challenge to Bonnie Lowenthal’s senate aspirations set off a chain reaction. When she decided to run for another term in the assembly, O’Donnell decided to seek a third term on the city council and Chico decided to withdraw and wait . . . until now.

The winner of the special election will complete the final two years of O’Donnell’s term, which expires in July 2016. ■

Mayor Garcia Says Bloomberg Grant Is A ‘Transformative Opportunity’ ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Contributing Writer Mayor Robert Garcia says Long Beach’s economic development will be the first challenge addressed with the $3 million, three-year Innovation Grant the city just received from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

“It’s time to focus on innovative economic development for the 21st century,” Garcia said in an announcement prepared by his staff, describing the grant as a “transformative opportunity.”

The Innovation Grant program, a project of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, calls for the formation of Innovation Teams (or “I-Teams”) composed of a new chief innovation officer, a social scientist researcher, a data program-

mer, a designer and technology innovation fellows. The teams are intended to function as in-house consultants, moving from one priority to the next, at each stop charged with finding and applying new ways for city halls to deliver services that improve the lives of residents.

Garcia and City Manager Pat West will lead Long Beach’s I-team, which Garcia’s office indicated will initially suggest how to best stimulate growth, create jobs and leverage resources, particularly through the online delivery of services. From there, the team will help improve services, enhance civic engagement and uplift neighborhoods and business districts.

Long Beach is among 12 cities in the United States selected for Innovation Grants this year out of more than 90 applicants.

Other cities chosen include Los Angeles, Jersey City, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, Boston, Peoria, Rochester and Seattle. For more information visit Bloomberg.org. ■

Congressional Funding Includes Millions For At-Risk Youth Advocacy By Rep. Alan Lowenthal Gets Program Funding Approved ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Contributing Writer STARBASE and Sunburst, militarily underpinned educational outreach pro-

grams that operate locally at the Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB) in Los Alamitos, have received $56 million in federal funding to continue their work with thousands of at-risk youth, thanks to advocacy by Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) and Congress’ last-minute passage of a $1.1 trillion national funding package.

STARBASE, created by the U.S. Department of Defense, is based upon the study of so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects, aiming its influence at fifth-grade students who are historically under-represented in such classes – those with disabilities, socio-economic disadvantages or living in extremely rural or urban areas. The STARBASE program at JFTB serves nearly 4,000 students a year and will share in a $25-million allotment.

Sunburst, one of the California National Guard’s Youth Challenge programs, helps 16-to-18-year-old high school dropouts redirect their lives during a 22-week residential stay at JFTB. Lowenthal helped secure a $31-million increase in funding for the military-style program, which not only steers participants back onto a path to graduation through the teaching of standard classroom subjects, but to successful lives beyond a diploma through the emphasis of values, life skills and self-discipline.

“Our 21st-century economy requires 21st-century skill sets,” Lowenthal said in a statement released by his office in Washington, D.C. “These programs at the JFTB are doing great work for our community, and we must continue to prepare our youth for the future.” ■

Facade Improvement Preparation of a Housing Pacific Coast Hwy Sanitary Sewer Cellular and Multiband Two-Way Radio Building Material, Lumber & Related Fuel Dispensing Truck 2500 Gallon Diesel Publication Printing for Parks, Rec & Marine

RFP DV15-012 RFP DV15-027 WD-0413 RFP DC15-038 ITB LB15-020 ITB FS15-030 ITB PR15-37

01/16/15 01/15/15 12/17/15 01/08/15 01/07/15 12/30/14 12/29/14

**Some of the listed projects have scheduled mandatory pre-bid meetings which may have already occurred due to publication lead times** Bidder Registration Register with the City of Long Beach at www.longbeach.gov/purchasing to receive notifications of bid opportunities. Additional details on upcoming bids and how to register can be found on the website.

Small Business Enterprise Program Take advantage of the City of Long Beach Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program. To learn more about becoming a part of the SBE Program and certification process, visit the City’s Purchasing website.

www.longbeach.gov/purchasing

www.longbeach.gov/pw/towing/auction.asp

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NEWSWATCH 8 Long Beach Business Journal

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

New Employment Laws Affecting Businesses In 2015 Prepared By The California Chamber Of Commerce ■ By GEORGE ECONOMIDES Publisher Some of the new laws for 2015, such as mandatory paid sick leave, make significant changes to California’s legal landscape. Other new laws make changes to different parts of existing law or may only affect employers in specified industries, such as farming.

Unless specified, the following list of new legislation goes into effect on January 1, 2015.

More details are available in a free CalChamber white paper, available here.

Leaves of Absence Mandatory Paid Sick Leave The biggest news in the leaves of absence arena is mandatory paid sick leave.

AB 1522, the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who worked in California for 30 days at an accrual rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked.

Employers are allowed to limit an employee’s use of paid sick leave to 24 hours or three days in each year of employment and may put a maximum cap on total accrual of 48 hours or six days.

The effective date for employers to begin providing the paid sick leave benefit is July 1, 2015.

The law contains many different nuances, such as detailed recordkeeping and notice requirements, including a new poster requirement. The law also contains penalties for noncompliance.

Time Off For Emergency Duty: Expanded Category AB 2536 adds new personnel to the list of employees eligible for protected time off for emergency duty.

AB 2536 also requires an employee who is a health care provider, as defined, to notify his/her employer when he/she is designated as emergency rescue personnel and also to notify the employer at the time that the employee learns that he/she will be deployed for emergency duty.

Discrimination, Harassment And Retaliation Protections Several new laws expand employee protections for 2015.

Protections For Unpaid Interns And Volunteers AB 1443: Adds unpaid interns and volunteers to the list of individuals protected from harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA); Prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals in an unpaid internship or another limited duration program to provide unpaid work experience for that person; and

Extends religious belief protections and religious accommodation requirements to anyone in an apprenticeship training program, an unpaid internship or any other program to provide unpaid experience for a person in the workplace or industry.

Nondiscrimination: Driver’s Licenses For Undocumented Persons AB 1660 makes it a violation of FEHA for an employer to discriminate against an individual because he/she holds or presents a driver’s license issued to undocumented persons who can submit satisfactory proof of identity and California residency. Such discriminatory actions will constitute national origin discrimination under FEHA. These driver’s licenses are often referred to as “AB 60 driver’s licenses,” after the name of the bill passed last year.

AB 60 driver’s licenses are scheduled to start being issued on January 1, 2015.

AB 1660 clarifies that actions taken by an employer that are required to comply with federal I-9 verification requirements under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) do not violate California law.

AB 1660 also provides that it is a violation of FEHA for an employer to require a person to present a driver’s license, unless possessing a driver’s license is (1) required by law; or (2) required by the employer and the employer’s requirement is otherwise permitted by law.

AB 1660 further requires any driver’s license information obtained by an employer to be treated as private and confidential.

Immigration-Related Protections AB 2751 expands the definition of an unfair immigration-related practice to include threatening to file or filing a false report or complaint with any state or federal agency. Current law extended the protection only to reports filed with the police.

AB 2751 also clarifies that an employer can’t discriminate against or retaliate against an employee who updates his/ her personal information “based on a lawful change of name, [S]ocial [S]ecurity number, or federal employment authorization document.”

Prohibition Of Discrimination Against Public Assistance Recipients: Public Reports AB 1792 prohibits discrimination and retaliation against employees receiving public assistance; which is defined as meaning the Medi-Cal program.

AB 1792 also requires state agencies to prepare an annual list of the top 500 employers with the most number of employees enrolled in a public assistance program. The reports will be made public and will be prepared starting in January 2016.

“Employer” is defined by the law as an individual or organization with more than 100 employees that are beneficiaries of the Medi-Cal program.

Harassment Prevention Training: Prevention of Abusive Conduct AB 2053 requires employers that are subject to the mandatory sexual harassment prevention training requirement for supervisors to include a component on

the prevention of “abusive conduct,” beginning January 1, 2015. “Abusive conduct” is specifically defined by the new law.

This new law does not mean that an employee can sue for abusive conduct in the workplace unless, of course, the conduct becomes discrimination or harassment against a protected class. The law merely requires training on prevention of abusive conduct.

Harassment Prevention Training: Farm Labor Contractors SB 1087 imposes specific sexual harassment prevention training requirements on farm labor contractors, including a yearly training requirement for supervisory employees and training for nonsupervisory employees at the time of hire and every two years thereafter. The required content for the training is not as involved as AB 1825 training.

The law also places restrictions on the ability to grant a license to a farm labor contractor who has engaged in sexual harassment, changes the exam requirements and increases licensing fees, bonding requirements and penalties.

Wage And Hour Several new laws will increase employers’ wage-and-hour obligations in 2015.

Many of the new laws in the wage and hour arena deal with increasing penalties and expanding liability, instead of imposing significant new obligations on employers.

Increased Liability For Employers That Contract For Labor AB 1897 imposes liability on employers who contract for labor. The purpose of the law is to hold companies accountable for wage-and-hour violations when they use staffing agencies or other labor contractors to supply workers.

In brief, if a labor contractor fails to pay its workers properly or fails to provide workers’ compensation coverage for those employees, the “client employer” can now be held legally responsible and liable. The law contains specific definitions and exclusions.

For more information, review the Labor Contractor (AB 1897) – Fact Sheet.

Rest And Recovery Periods SB 1360 confirms that recovery periods that are taken pursuant to heat illness regulations are paid breaks and count as hours worked. SB 1360 reiterates what is already in existing law in this area and was passed simply to clear up any confusion employers may have had.

Waiting Time Penalties The Labor Commissioner can cite an employer who pays less than the minimum wage; the citation can include a civil penalty, restitution and liquidated damages.

AB 1723 authorizes the Labor Commissioner to also include in this citation process any applicable penalties for an employer’s willful failure to timely pay wages to a resigned or discharged employee, also called “waiting time” penalties.

The law does not create new penalties; just a new way for the Labor Commissioner to enforce existing penalties.

Another new law, AB 2743, provides a

waiting time penalty if unionized theatrical and concert venue employers violate any agreed upon timeframe for payment of final wages contained in a collective bargaining agreement.

Protections For Complaints Under The Labor Code AB 2751 clarifies that the $10,000 penalty against an employer who discriminates or retaliates against an employee who complains of Labor Code violations will be awarded to the employee or employees who “suffered the violation.”

Timeframe For Recovery Of Wages: Liquidated Damages AB 2074 states that a lawsuit seeking to recover liquidated damages for minimum wage violations can be filed any time before the expiration of the statute of limitations that applies to the underlying wage claim, which is three years.

Some recent court cases had held that liquidated damages claims had to be filed within one year.

Child Labor Law Violations: Increased Remedies AB 2288, the Child Labor Protection Act of 2014, provides additional penalties for violations of California laws regarding employment of minors, including a penalty of $25,000 to $50,000 for “Class A” violations involving minors 12 years of age or younger.

In addition, the statute of limitations for claims that arise from violations of employment laws is tolled, in other words, delayed or suspended, until the minor is 18 years of age.

Foreign Labor Contractors SB 477 is noteworthy for employers that use foreign labor contractors to recruit foreign workers for California assignments. The new law, in part, requires foreign labor contractors to meet registration, licensing and bonding requirements by July 1, 2016.

Employers are prohibited from using non-registered foreign labor contractors to supply workers in California. SB 477 also imposes disclosure requirements and other obligations on foreign labor contractors.

There are penalties for noncompliance and joint liability for employers who use nonregistered foreign labor contractors and potential for civil action.

Prevailing Wages A number of bills signed this year relate to prevailing wages. Employers who provide services or construction work on public works projects for the government or public entities must pay the prevailing wage, which is usually significantly higher than the minimum wage.

The bills include: AB 26; AB 1870; AB 1939; AB 2272; AB 2744; and SB 266.

One notable bill, AB 1939, allows a contractor to bring an action against “hiring parties” to recover any increased costs (including labor costs, penalties and legal (Please Continue To Next Page)

1_LBBJ_DEC_23_2014_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 12/21/14 5:03 PM Page 9

NEWSWATCH December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Long Beach Business Journal 9

fees) incurred because of a determination that the work performed on the project was a covered public work and is subject to prevailing wage laws.

Another notable bill, SB 266, responds to concerns regarding delays in determining whether a project is a public works project for prevailing wage purposes.

lations and also to issue civil penalties.

An employer can appeal the citation.

AB 1634, in effect, prohibits the state Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board from modifying civil penalties for abatement or credit for abatement unless the employer has fixed the violation.

In cases of serious, repeat serious or willful serious violations, AB 1634 will generally prohibit a stay or suspension of an abatement requirement while an appeal or petition for reconsideration is pending, unless the employer can demonstrate that a stay or suspension will not adversely affect the health and safety of employees.

BACKGROUND CHECKS Several new laws relate to criminal background checks.

Criminal History Information In Public Contracts AB 1650 requires contractors who bid on state contracts involving on-site construction-related services to certify that they will not ask applicants for on-site construction-related jobs to disclose information concerning criminal history at the time of an initial employment application.

Services To Minors AB 1852 requires a business that provides specified services to minors to provide a written notice to the parent or guardian of the minor receiving those services. The written notice should address the business’s policies relating to employee criminal background checks.

Workplace Safety Several new laws pertain to workplace safety.

Penalties For Failure To Abate Safety Hazards Cal/OSHA can require an employer to abate (fix) serious workplace safety vio-

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Previously, the Labor Code required an immediate report by telephone or telegraph. The reference to telegraph is removed and replaced with e-mail.

Workplace Violence Prevention Plans: Hospitals SB 1299 requires Cal/OSHA to adopt standards by January 1, 2016, that require specified types of hospitals, including general acute care hospitals or acute psychiatric hospitals, to adopt workplace violence prevention plans as part of the hospitals’ injury and illness prevention plans. The intent is to protect health care workers and other facility personnel from aggressive and violent behavior. ■

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GOING GREEN 10 Long Beach Business Journal

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

North Long Beach’s Talco Plastics Recycles Mil ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer At the northernmost part of Long Beach, bordering the City of Paramount, Talco Plastics, Inc.’s Post Consumer Plant recycles 350 million plastic containers every year, according to Ajit Perera, vice president of post-consumer operations.

The company was lured to Long Beach by city staff in 1993. At the time, the city had recently been designated as a recycling market development zone by the State of California’s CalRecycle program, according to Jim Kuhl, manager of the Long Beach Environmental Services Bureau. “There are 40 zones in California. It is a program that offers low-interest, below-market loans,” he explained. “Talco got about $4 million in loans to help them create their line and their business,” he recalled.

Perera explained that the post-consumer recycling segment of Talco’s business was originally located in Whittier, with the company’s industrial recycling plant. The loans available through CalRecycle, and obtained with the help of the city, enabled Talco to create an individual facility in Long Beach dedicated solely to post-consumer plastics recycling. The plant employs 35 people, many from surrounding neighborhoods, Perera said.

“This is a good city to be in. The city has been forthcoming and [has] worked with us many times,” Perera said. “You know, we are

running a recycling facility in the middle of a residential area. We run into issues with the neighbors on and off and the city has always come [to our aid],” he added. Even though neighbors sometimes complain about noise, a tour of the facility typically alters their opinions of the plant, Perera said.

“I have people who come and say, ‘I live around the corner, I want to know what you’re doing here because we hear all this noise and we don’t like it.’ I say ‘Come and walk the plant, see what we do. We’re cleaning the world one bottle at a time.’ And then they leave with a very good feeling.”

About 95 percent of the plastic Talco recycles is sourced from California and purchased from material recovery facilities (MRFs) such as locally based Waste Management, which collects post-consumer recyclable material for the City of Long Beach, Perera said. Talco buys and recycles a specific type of plastic found mostly in milk and juice containers, water bottles and detergent containers.

“Water bottles or detergent bottles, if you put [them] in your recycling container, actually eventually end up here for processing,” Kuhl said during a tour of the plant led by Perera. MRFs sort plastics by type and then bundle and ship them to businesses like Talco, which bid for them at competitive rates.

“Normally, when you go to the store, the price is marked and you buy. This is the other way around,” Perera said of his busi-

ness. “As the buyer, I have to make an offer and bid for it. And then they [the MRFs] will go around and whoever bids the highest gets it . . . A lot of buyers will generally try to offer a higher price than the market hoping that load comes to them. So it is a very competitive business and we get squeezed in the margin,” he explained.

California has created a competitive market for recyclable plastics because the state requires a specific percentage of recycled content to be used in certain containers, such as those holding laundry detergent, Kuhl explained. “That helps drive the demand for their products,” he said.

Bundles arriving at Talco are stacked high above the ground in rows, making for colorful makeshift hallways behind the plant.

When plant workers are ready to recycle the materials, they break open the bundles by sawing through them, Perera said. “Then we have infrared technology that sorts the plastic further,” he said, explaining that, even though MRFs sort plastics before sending them to purchasers like Talco, other types of plastics and contaminants are often mixed in. Varying types of plastics are used in different materials, and differing plastic compositions cannot be mixed when recycling them for reuse, he explained.

Contaminants sometimes come in the form of trash. “We get trash cans, pallets, toys, water hoses, syringes. I mean you name it, we get it here – including the kitchen sink, which we have found,” he said.

Talco Plastics, Inc.’s Post Consumer Plant in North Long Beach recycles mi reuse in manufacturing similar goods. Ajit Perera, vice president of post-con check out Talco’s finished recycled product during a tour of the plant. (Pho

1_LBBJ_DEC_23_2014_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 12/21/14 5:03 PM Page 11

GOING GREEN December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Long Beach Business Journal 11

les Millions Of Containers For Reuse Each Year

rth Long Beach recycles millions of plastic containers each year. The company turns used plastic containers into small pellets for a, vice president of post-consumer operations for Talco, and Jim Kuhl, manager of the Long Beach Environmental Services Bureau, ng a tour of the plant. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Other contaminants are chemicals stored in plastic containers. “People use containers for very different stuff. They will take a milk jug and put their motor oil in it,” Perera said. “We hate to see bottles with engine oil, because we have water treatment,” he said, explaining that, before plastics are recycled for reuse at

A worker at Talco Plastics sorts through used plastic containers to remove any contaminants or unwanted plastics that the company is unable to recycle. The company recycles a specific type of plastic found in detergent containers and milk and juice bottles into a pelletized material, which is purchased by plastics manufacturers. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Talco, they are washed. “We usually recycle our water 15 times before we use it . . . Oil changes the chemistry and really makes a muck of things.”

Because of these contaminants, Talco typically loses 25 percent of the material it purchases. “It goes back into the trash as residue, because some of the bails are so heavily contaminated,” Perera said.

After contaminants and unusable plastics are sorted out and usable plastics are sorted by color, Talco grinds up the plastic, washes and dries it and then remakes it into tiny pellets to be sold to plastics manufacturers for reuse. “It goes back into detergent and oil containers, or it goes into trash containers, pipes, sheeting, nursery pots . . . That is the whole recycling cycle,” Perera said.

Manufacturers take the pellets and typically mix them in with newly made plastic, although in some cases more environmentally conscious companies will use 100 percent recycled plastic in their products, Perera said. Most Long Beach residents have some plastic recycled by Talco on their properties – the company that manufactures the city’s trash cans sources its plastic from Talco.

“We sell 2.5 million pounds of plastic every month,” Perera said. The market is growing, too, he noted. “I don’t want to mention names, but the largest retailer in the world is making a push right now to put more post-consumer material in their products. So we have seen more and more people calling us and requesting more material.” ■

1_LBBJ_DEC_23_2014_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 12/21/14 5:03 PM Page 12

GOING GREEN 12 Long Beach Business Journal

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

The Lighting Design Alliance

The Lighting Design Alliance Founder/CEO Chip Israel looks down from a bridge in a long hallway at his company’s offices on Temple Avenue in Long Beach. The skylights above him light the entire hallway. In the evening, multi-colored energy-efficient lighting installed in the skylights illuminates the area. The lights are able to change color at varying speeds, and are controlled by a panel in the hall. The firm designed the illumination for the new SLS Las Vegas (top photograph, provided by company), a hotel and casino built in the location of the former Sahara Hotel and Casino on the Vegas strip. In center photograph, also provided by The Lighting Design Alliance, the firm’s 22,000-square-foot offices are lit primarily by daylight from 80 skylights of varying types and sizes. Pictured, larger skylights illuminate a gaming area for the 35 company employees. In bottom photograph, a skylight in the office is outfitted with motorized mirrors that follow the sun throughout the day, maximizing the amount of daylight streaming through the glass. Electric lights are located within the skylight for use during nighttime. (Photographs by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

(Continued From Page 1)

as China, India, Italy, Lebanon and Qatar.

The alliance has satellite offices in Colorado, Texas, Dubai and Shanghai. Israel travels about 20 days each month due to the company’s wide reach. “I was in India last night and I just got back,” Israel said as he led the Business Journal on a tour of the company’s headquarters in Long Beach off Temple Avenue on December 15. “We’re doing a nine million square-foot building there,” he said, adding that the project is a $1 billion home for one of the wealthiest people in the world.

The home is being built with some of the most up-to-date and sustainable lighting available to serve as a technological showcase, he noted.

Back in the U.S., the alliance’s headquarters, designed by Israel, serve as a model for sustainable lighting designs and as a portfolio and showcase for the company’s clients.

“The whole idea is to use as little electrical as possible,” Israel said as he explained the various types of sustainable lighting elements in his company’s offices.

To achieve that end, the building harnesses and relies heavily upon what Israel called “the most logical and most overlooked” source of illumination: daylight.

The Lighting Design Alliance’s headquarters has 80 holes cut into the ceiling to allow natural light in through several different kinds of skylights. Variations of a small type of skylight consisting of a metal cylindrical tube that extends from the ceiling all the way to the top of the roof are found throughout the building in places one would normally see recessed lights, such as in front of bathroom mirrors and above desks.

Sunlight enters the tube on the roof and bounces off the inner reflective surface, illuminating interior spaces. Lights are affixed to the inside of the fixtures for night lighting. “The idea is we can bring light through multiple stories,” Israel said of the fixtures, which he called solar tubes.

Towards the back of the building, a large open office space is lit primarily by many large skylights – some flush to the ceiling and others angled. The angled skylights have motors attached to their windowpanes so that workers on the floor can open or close them to let heat escape rather than turning on air conditioning, Israel said. Other skylights have mirrors attached to them which rotate with the sun as it moves throughout the day, allowing sunlight to bounce inside. Installations of colored art glass below these skylights reflect colors and patterns on the office walls at different angles as the sun moves, allowing the skylights to do double duty as illumination and art.

Through conserving electricity in the day by illuminating the office with daylight and reducing the need for indoor climate control, the Lighting Design Alliance is able to operate with an energy load of about 0.1 watt per square foot, while most office buildings operate at one watt per square foot, Israel said.

Using daylight works well for buildings that are one or two stories tall, but after that it gets trickier, Israel noted. “If it’s a 30-story building, then some of these daylighting techniques would not work. However, we work with other people and universities who are trying to bring light in horizontally,” he said.

“It’s very easy to do that in the first 10 to 15 feet [from a daylight source], but what’s tough is 15 to 30 feet away from a window . . . There are techniques where we can bounce light off of films on windows so it hits the ceiling and kicks in further,” he explained.

While most of the Lighting Design Alliance’s building is illuminated by daylight, it is also outfitted with light emitting diode (LED) lights, which are more energy efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs “ooze light” in many directions and overheat easily, Israel said. LEDs do not create much heat and produce stronger light that is easier to focus on a certain point, such as a desk or an art piece. “The LEDs are a directional light source.

In other words, they are like mini flashlights . . . so if you have a high ceiling and you want to shoot the light [on the ceiling] to the ground, the LEDs can be much more efficient,” he explained.

The Lighting Design Alliance is working to make LEDs even more efficient, (Please Continue To Next Page)

1_LBBJ_DEC_23_2014_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 12/21/14 5:03 PM Page 13

GOING GREEN Long Beach Business Journal

13

both in terms of lighting performance and the amount of material needed to make their fixtures. A prototype of an LED lamp shining light on a pool table at the Lighting Design Alliance is built to a much smaller profile than usual, Israel pointed out. “The one over the pool table is a fixture that is about the thickness of a piece of cardboard, where before it used to be four to six inches tall,” he said. His company has proposed use of the lights at the nearby Los Cerritos Center mall.

Much of the energy used to power lights in alliance’s offices is harnessed through the use of solar cells. If it weren’t for the energy needed to run the employees’ computers, Israel speculated the building would be able to operate at net zero energy use.

Helping to reduce the amount of energy used are photocells – little sensors placed around the building and in lights that automatically detect whether or not enough daylight is available to light an area. When the sensors detect there is insufficient daylight, the electric lights turn on. Israel hopes to further develop the technology so that every light fixture will come with a sensor, rather than the sensors having to be installed later at more cost.

In addition to the Lighting Design Alliance’s many year-round projects, Israel said company representatives teach guest lectures at universities. The alliance also often hosts architectural and design firms, such as the American Institute of Architects, at its Long Beach office for meetings and special events. ■

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1_LBBJ_DEC_23_2014_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 12/21/14 5:03 PM Page 14

REAL ESTATE 14 Long Beach Business Journal

Leases And Transactions Inco Commercial Realty announced the following transactions: • 2H Property 3060 LLC purchased a 31,502 square feet of land at an undisclosed site in Long Beach for $240,000. Bill Townsend of Inco handled the transaction.

• Reddy Urgent Care signed a five-year lease for 2,450 square feet of retail space at 4284 & 4288 Katella Ave. in Los Alamitos.

Inco’s Debra Orth handled the transaction.

• Herman Stephen Duran signed a three-

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015 year lease for 1,500 square feet of retail space at 9025 Slauson Ave. in Pico Rivera.

Inco’s Orth and James Arias handled the transaction.

Coldwell Banker Commercial BLAIR WESTMAC announced the following transactions: • Per Ankh Life Skills leased 2,040 square feet of office space at 2429 Pacific Ave. in Long Beach. Coldwell Banker’s Becky Blair and Hosseinzadeh handled the transaction.

• Tigrami LP purchased 7,900 square feet of industrial space at 1340 W. Cowles St. in Long Beach for $925,000. The property was sold by the Curtis L. Corporon Trust. Coldwell Banker’s John Eddy and Tyler Rollema handled the transaction.

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F Friday, riday, January 9th Peter eter R Rooney ooney of SARES REGIS Guest speaker P Park Group will discuss the details of Douglas P ark and other projects in Southern California.

Friday, Friday, F February ebruary 6th Long Guest speaker L ong Beach City Manager Pat Pat West W est will discuss recent appointments, plans Center,, and other city for the new Civic Center developments.

• The City of Long Beach purchased a 4,830-square-foot office building at 1858 Atlantic Ave. for $380,000. The property was sold by the Michael E. Crawley & Patricia S. Crawley Trust. Coldwell Banker’s Blair handled the transaction.

• The Los Angeles County Offices of Education leased 5,670 square feet of office space at 440 W. Anaheim St. in Long Beach for $307,048.68. Blair and Eddy handled the transaction.

• Anytime Maintenance on Wheels LLC leased 3,250 square feet of industrial space at 1667 W. 9th St. in Long Beach. Eddy and Rollema handled the transaction.

• Gluefolder LLC leased 2,400 square feet of industrial space at 3395 E. 19th St. in Signal Hill. Eddy handled the transaction.

• Alfonso P. Madrid leased 6,400 square feet of industrial space at 1327 W. Gaylord St. Eddy and Rollema handled the transaction.

• Audiuva, dba/Zounds Seal Beach, leased a 700-square-foot retail space at 2908 Westminster Ave. in Seal Beach.

Coldwell Banker’s Brian Russell and Sheva Hosseinzadeh handled the transaction.

Lee & Associates announced the following transactions: • Vanguard Logistic Services leased 2,891 square feet of office space at the 5000 E. Spring Street building near the airport. Lee & Associates’ Jeff Coburn and Shaun McCullough represented the landlord, 5000 Spring LLC, and the tenant was represented by CRESA. • Universal Technical Institute leased 3,595 square feet of office space at the

5000 E. Spring Street building. Coburn and McCullough represented the landlord and JLL represented the tenant.

• JSA has leased 1,875 square feet of office space at the 100 W. Broadway building. Lee’s Coburn and McCullough handled the transaction.

• Stearns Lending, LLC signed a lease for an unidentified amount of office space at the 5000 E. Spring Street building.

Coburn and McCullough represented the landlord and Jack McNutt of Newmark represented the tenant.

• LPC West LLC purchased a 150,000square-foot office building at 3131 Katella Ave. in Los Alamitos from Supermedia Services. McCullough represented the buyer. ■

Planning Commission Approves Design For Ocean Center Building The design by Studio One Eleven Principal Michael Bohn, AIA, to revitalize Long Beach’s historic Ocean Center Building was approved unanimously by the Long Beach Planning Commission on December 18. The site is located at Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue and aims to serve as a key pedestrian linkage between upper and lower Pine Avenue. The proposed adaptive reuse of the building calls for converting 69,108 square feet of office space to 74 residential units. ■ – From Staff Reports

1_LBBJ_DEC_23_2014_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 12/22/14 9:42 AM Page 15

PUBLISHER’S PERSPECTIVE December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Looking Ahead (Continued From Page 1)

relations with Cuba to souring relations with North Korea to the vote for Scottish independence to the Ebola outbreak in Africa – to name but a few – there has been much for the media to report. There also seemed to be more tragedy during this year than usual across the globe as conflicts raged in schools, shopping centers and neighborhoods throughout the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia.

In the U.S., the divide among political parties widened as President Obama’s support gradually slipped throughout the year and Republicans swept the mid-term elections in resounding fashion. While people throughout the country raised their arms in protest to a grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri, race relations were further rocked by the on-camera death of a black man at the hands of police officers, followed this past weekend with two New York police officers being assassinated.

There has indeed been much turmoil. On a brighter note, it appears the job market continues to gain momentum and may be the strongest of the past seven years.

Residents of Long Beach experienced a transition in leadership as Robert Garcia became the city’s first openly gay mayor, first Hispanic mayor and its youngest mayor, while five of the nine city council seats changed hands. As the year draws to a close and the city embarks on the development of a grand civic center, Long Beach may be facing renewed financial

Long Beach Business Journal 15 concerns as its reliance on oil revenue is being challenged by drastically lower rates.

At the Business Journal, the close of this chapter in the publication’s 27-year history is welcomed, as 2014 proved to be the newspaper’s most difficult, due to unexpected internal changes. But we embrace the future with a fresh approach, new energy and new ideas. And, like most residents of this great city, we are optimistic that we are entering a year that promises new experiences and unprecedented potential for growth.

In 2015, the Business Journal is devoting two pages in each of its 25 editions to support entities that are vastly underappreciated for their importance to the economic vitality of our city: the arts and nonprofit organizations, also known as the Third Sector.

The Arts Council of Long Beach, headed up by Victoria Bryan, and the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership, under the guidance of Linda Alexander, are each receiving one full page to use as they wish to promote the mission of their respective organizations and to encourage support and involvement with their activities. We hope Business Journal readers take the time to learn more about these organizations – and the many groups and thousands of people involved with each of them – to better understand the critical role they play in moving our city forward in a direction that touches – and benefits – all citizens and businesses.

Our first edition of the year publishes January 20. On behalf of everyone involved with the Business Journal, happy holidays and our best wishes for the new year. ■

1_LBBJ_DEC_23_2014_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 12/21/14 5:21 PM Page 16

CIVIC CENTER 16 Long Beach Business Journal

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Architect Don Gibbs (Continued From Page 1)

Donald H. Gibbs wasn’t exactly waiting on the results of the council vote. At age 80, he is still working. Many of his days still begin by commuting from his home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the landmark midcentury modern structure that has housed Gibbs Architecture for more than half a century.

Besides, Gibbs had no doubt that the current civic center was doomed, and that the new one, constructed through a public-private partnership, was a lock.

“I think it will be unfortunate,” Gibbs said. He started to say more, but stopped himself. “I can’t really criticize the project accurately because I haven’t followed all of that real closely. But I’m afraid the publicprivate partnership is going to cost the public a lot more money than it needs to.”

Ultimately, the city council’s decision was unanimous. The old civic center was out because of its vulnerability to major earthquakes. Gibbs was irritated by the talk of seismic shortcomings.

“Nobody knows what ‘seismically unsafe’ means unless you’re comparing a particular standard to a particular earthquake,” he said. “City hall met the code at the time it was built, like any other building, but seismic requirements keep changing. If you want to parse words, city hall is up to code now because everything is grandfathered in.”

Gibbs says he’s examined seismic assessments of the building.

Donald Gibbs with his son, Kurt, at their Long Beach Boulevard office in Bixby Knolls.

(Photo by Tom Underhill)

“That’s one of the advantages of being an architect – you do a good job and you can be proud while you’re driving around,” he said. “It’s quite satisfying, really.”

Although Gibbs received the civic center assignment more than half his life ago, the opportunity to build a house for his hometown may constitute the most prestigious entry on a resume that’s practically a registry of Long Beach landmarks: the Galaxy Towers on the bluffs of Ocean Boulevard, the Terrace Theater downtown, the Performing Arts Center and The Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach. It sounds like the most-enjoyable, too.

“If you ever get the chance to do your city hall, go for it,” Gibbs chuckled during a civic center study session at the Aquarium of the Pacific in 2012. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Nonetheless, by the time Long Beach officials gathered to dedicate the new complex in 1977, the high point of Gibbs’ career had acquired a downside – lots of people didn’t like the structures, they didn’t mind saying so, and their initial chilliness didn’t seem to warm with time. Over the years, these sour opinions festered into a bad reputation.

AVIATION & AEROSPACE (=0(;065 (,96:7(*, There’s no denying that the civic center buildings weren’t the kind that come to INTERNATIONAL TRADE 05;,95(;065(3 ;9(+, most minds at the mention of a city hall or library. The Allied Architects skipped the FINANCIAL SERVICES -05(5*0(3 :,9=0*,: Greek columns, Gothic spires and Roman TECHNOLOGY ;,*/5636.@ rotundas. Instead, they delivered structures in a genre that expresses its Late Modern HEALTH CARE /,(3;/ *(9, heritage in a motif of scarred, unpainted REAL ESTATE 9,(3 ,:;(;, concrete blocks and periodic plantings of groundcover and hedges, a landscape of UTILITIES <;030;0,: gray and green geometry that was deployed OIL & GAS across six full blocks of Downtown Long 603 .(: Beach. Lack of love for the complex may 9,;(03 RETAIL have made it easier to push a replacement.

“It looks like the basic frame is sound, like the welds are good,” he said. “The concrete precast panels on the corners probably should be looked at to be sure they’re OK.” But Gibbs is suspicious about the process that led to the city council’s decision.

“Something else is going on,” he asserted. “It wouldn’t be the first time a project was passed because politicians wanted to leave their mark.”

Of course, the current civic center is a mark that Gibbs most likely expected to be leaving, a monument to his work with a team – called Allied Architects – that featured such Long Beach luminaries as Hugh Gibbs (Don’s father), Edward Killingsworth, Kenneth Wing and Frank Homolka.

Gibbs has enjoyed spotting city hall’s 20-story tower during his commutes to Long Beach.

A nuanced address by Councilmember Suja Lowenthal at that same 2012 study session invoked many long-standing negative perceptions of the current complex.

Lowenthal decried a past full of “misguided city projects” and “weaknesses in planning.” She fantasized about building an amphitheater and stocking it with a full schedule of musical events. She worried about “the soul of our city” and testified to her faith in “the importance of public spaces in a city’s identity.”

“Somewhere in the very near future I do see a better civic center,” she said, “one that really is a great public space for the community – one that is our public living room.”

Gibbs agreed, and during his turn at the podium he sought to show Lowenthal the similarity of their visions.

“One of our objectives was to create this plaza – or living room – around city hall,” he began, his eyes searching the theatre for Lowenthal. “For example, there is an amphitheater – well, what was an amphitheater – that was designed” . . .

Gibbs stopped, thrown off track when he realized Lowenthal wasn’t in the theatre.

“Oh, I guess she’s left already,” he said, as much to himself as to the crowd, before continuing.

“So the amphitheater was designed with seats, originally. We wanted to have concerts there, and speeches, and people meeting there.

“But the city council at the time said, ‘We can’t have seats because we don’t want anybody gathering there. We don’t want people around voicing their opinions.’ So this idea of the city’s living room and all, that was one of our goals, but it wasn’t . . . uhhh . . . hmmm . . . politically attainable at the moment.”

Gibbs’ explanation accounts for the large, angled, curving swath of grass between the library and city hall, but he insisted that opportunity of four decades ago had not been lost.

“The structure to do the amphitheater,” he said, “is still there.”

It won’t be for long. The new civic center is projected to be completed by 2019. Gibbs isn’t looking forward to the day the old one is gone. But he insists he is looking forward.

“Life goes on and you move on to other things,” he says. “I’m going to have fun with that rather than getting into the fight.

The question is, ‘When do you stop looking forward and start looking back?’ The answer for me is, ‘Not yet.’” ■

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IN THE NEWS December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Long Beach Business Journal 17

New Resident Director Of Merrill Lynch Long Beach Announced

Christmas Tradition Continues For Farmers & Merchants Bank

Nathan Lee is the new resident director of Merrill Lynch’s Long Beach office located downtown in the Landmark Square office tower. The position requires Lee to lead the Long Beach team of financial advisors who provide integrated wealth management strategies to local families, individuals and businesses. Lee, a resident of Palos Verdes, joined Merrill Lynch in 2004. He received his master’s degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. “Nathan’s proven leadership and outstanding reputation make him the perfect candidate to lead our Long Beach local office,” said Nathan Crair, managing director West Long Angeles complex, in a statement.

“Nathan’s years of experience will enhance our ability to offer the highest quality of service and integrated solutions Long Beach’s sophisticated investors have come to expect from Merrill Lynch.” The global wealth management division of Merrill Lynch is among the largest businesses of its kind in the world. Staffed with 14,000 advisors, it oversees $2 trillion in client balances. Global wealth management specializes in goals-based wealth management, including retirement planning, education, legacy and other life goals through investment, cash and credit management. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

New St. Mary CEO (Continued From Page 1)

officer at St. Mary for three years when he departed in 2007 for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). A hospital press release quotes him as “thrilled” to be back on the grounds of the iconic downtown campus, describing it as a “privilege.”

“St. Mary’s tradition of caring for all people in need . . . as well as its distinguished reputation for quality and service made the hospital a true community asset,” Yuhas said in a press release from the hospital.

Yuhas gained lots of experience during his eight years away from St. Mary’s.

He spent two years as president of UPMC Horizon Hospital, a 210-bed community teaching hospital with two campuses. For a year of that stint Yuhas stepped in as interim president at UPMC Northwest, where he oversaw an acutecare hospital and a skilled rehabilitation/hospice/independent living facility.

In 2009 Yuhas became president/CEO of UPMC’s Beacon Hospital and senior vice president of its international operations, giving him responsibility for facilities in Ireland that included a 214-bed community hospital in Dublin, a pair of cancer centers and a half-dozen satellite clinics. ■

For the 76th year, Farmers & Merchants Bank delivered apples to the chiefs of the Long Beach Police and Fire Departments – one for every member of the public safety departments to thank them for their dedication and service to the Long Beach community. At right, F&M Chairman of the Board and CEO Daniel K. Walker presents apples to the city’s new Chief of Police Robert Luna, and below to Fire Chief Mike DuRee, with an appreciate Santa looking on.

(Photographs provided by F&M Bank)

Moffatt & Nichol, an international engineering firm specializing in maritime-related projects, recently hired Alaedin Moubayed as bridge lead and senior project manager based in the company’s Long Beach headquarters. In his new position, he is overseeing large-scale transportation projects. Moubayed has 26 years of experience in structural and civil engineering, and has specialized in transportation projects such as freeway improvements and widening projects, and designing bridges. He holds a masters degree in civil structural engineering from California State University, Long Beach and a bachelor’s degree in the same field from the United States International Wing Chun Temple, a new martial arts school that opened in Signal Hill in March, is holding its public grand opening on December 27 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 2601 E. 28th St., Suite 308. Owners Sifu Clark, left, the school’s instructor, University. He is a member and Jennifer Niu, administrator, are hosting the event. Clark’s philosophy for the school is built on a concept of well-rounded of the American Society of martial arts education, which includes instruction in Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. According to its web site, “Wing Civil Engineers and the Chun is known for its directness and deflectiveness, effecience and effectiveness, and economical of energies and motions, Construction Management which makes Wing Chun Gung Fu System to be the most unique and lethal fighting system. For more information, visit: Association of America. ■ www.WingChunTemple.com. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

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PERSPECTIVE 18 Long Beach Business Journal

Vol. XXVII No. 25 December 23, 2014January 19, 2015 EDITOR & PUBLISHER George Economides SALES & MARKETING EXECUTIVE Heather Dann SALES & MARKETING ASSISTANT Cori Lambert OFFICE ASSISTANT Larry Duncan EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT SENIOR WRITER Samantha Mehlinger CONTRIBUTING WRITER Dave Wielenga PHOTOJOURNALIST Thomas McConville COPY EDITOR Pat Flynn The Long Beach Business Journal is a publication of South Coast Publishing, Inc., incorporated in the State of California in July 1985. It is published every other Tuesday (except between Christmas and mid-January) – 25 copies annually. The Business Journal premiered March 1987 as the Long Beach Airport Business Journal. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited unless otherwise stated. Opinions expressed by perspective writers and guest columnists are their views and not necessarily those of the Business Journal. Press releases should be sent to the address shown below. South Coast Publishing also produces Destinations and the Employee Times magazines.

Office South Coast Publishing, Inc. 2599 E. 28th Street, Suite 212 Signal Hill, CA 90755 Ph: 562/988-1222 • Fx: 562/988-1239 www:LBBusinessJournal.com Advertising and Editorial Deadlines Wednesday prior to publication date.

Note: Press releases should be faxed or mailed. No follow up calls, please.

For a copy of the 2014 advertising and editorial calendar, please fax request to 562/988-1239.

Include your name, company and address and a copy will be sent to you. Distribution: Minimum 22,000.

Regular Office Hours Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Business Journal Subscriptions Standard Bulk Rate: $28.00 1st Class: $70.00 (25 issues – 1 year)

December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Santa Claus’ Secret For Getting The ‘Right’ Things Done ow we know Santa manages a large staff and produces a huge volume of products. He is obviously very skilled at producing the right culture and motivating a very large workforce with a variety of talents. I’m sure he deals with the budg■ EFFECTIVE etary constraints that come LEADERSHIP

By Mick Ukleja from running a worldwide enterprise.

Yet there is also a great tip, not just for managers and leaders, but for each one of us individually. Just like Santa, each one of us must prioritize if we are to navigate successfully.

And what would that be? How about make a list and check it twice? Why? Because if you are wise, you’ll prioritize. And this is a great way to set yourself up for the coming year!

Here are four things we can learn from Santa.

1. Make A “To Do” List. Like Santa, our “to do” list helps us organize our daily activities. When I say lists, I’m not just talking about “don’t forget to pick up the milk.” I’m talking about seeing your list as a part of your personal goals for living.

2. Put Them In The Right Order. This brings perspective and priorities to your list.

Rather than see it as a “things to do,” see it more as “things that have to get done.” Make sure you are doing the right things – the things that are important to you.

This is where the Pareto Principle comes into

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play. The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto brought to light a principle that helps everyone achieve more with less effort. It’s been called the 80/20 Principle. Eighty percent of your productivity is brought about by 20 percent of your effort. The percentages may change depending on what you are doing, but the formula shows the imbalance between what you do and what you get out of it. To look at it another way, most of your efforts in achieving what you want are irrelevant to what you really want or value.

As you make your list of things that have to get done, take the time to prioritize them. It’s time well spent. Remember these are goals and strategies for what’s important to you. So if you have 10 things on your list and you only accomplish the top 2, chances are you will have accomplished 80 percent of what’s important to you.

Not having them in the right order could result in you accomplishing eight of the “to do’s,” yet only doing 20 percent of the important.

The Pareto Principle is not a law of nature.

It is simply an observation. The point is that effort and reward are not distributed evenly.

This goes along with “The Law of Diminishing Returns.” In other words, each additional hour spent usually results in accomplishing less. I personally discover that at the end I am spending lots of time on minor details.

Knowing how to prioritize and WHAT to prioritize is the key. Knowing that we need a horse and getting one is great. Knowing that we need a wagon and getting one is terrific.

Yet if we place the cart before the horse we

Impact Of Addiction ociety is slowly moving away from the idea that addiction is an individual problem, perhaps a problem of someone who lacks will power or self-control, and moving toward viewing addiction as a serious ■ HEALTHWISE medical problem.

By Mario San Addiction has many Bartolome, M.D., faces and can affect anyone regardless of age, race or income and its consequences are often far reaching.

What is the impact of addiction?

Family: Addiction affects the whole family.

Children who grow up around drug abuse are more likely to abuse drugs themselves and become addicted. A 2012 study showed that more than 23.9 million Americans over the age of 12 had abused drugs. Youth are particularly at risk for substance abuse, especially those who begin using at an early age.

Costs to Society: Between medical costs, crime-related costs and other associated costs, substance abuse costs our nation more than $484 billion per year, which is nearly four times the amount of other chronic conditions, like diabetes.

Mental Health: Addiction has a common connection with mental illnesses often making it more difficult to treat. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, studies have suggested that nearly one-third of people with all mental illnesses and approximately one-half of people with severe mental illnesses also experience substance abuse. In addition, more than one-third of alcohol

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abusers and more than one-half of drug abusers are battling mental illness.

Crime: Many crimes are a result of drug use and may even cause harm to others, such as driving under the influence. Alcohol and marijuana are the biggest contributors to driving under the influence. Drug abuse also is a contributing factor to violent crimes including homicide, theft, assault, domestic violence and child abuse.

Addiction and the Brain Addiction is a disease of the brain and body.

Over time it changes the way the brain functions and affects behaviors.

Continued drug use alters the areas of the brain that are responsible for simple functions and behaviors. Since drugs are chemicals, they interfere with the body’s communication system. Drugs affect the level of dopamine found in the limbic system of the brain that regulates emotions and feelings of pleasure.

When drugs enter the body, a surge of dopamine is released, usually much higher than an amount released during a natural behavior that causes pleasure, such as love.

When too much dopamine is released, our brain begins to recognize that behavior as one of pleasure and will begin to repeat it.

It is a natural process of the brain to repeat pleasurable behaviors like eating. Over time, the brain begins to learn to repeat these “unnatural” behaviors – leading to addiction.

If the brain is constantly being hit with a surge of dopamine, as a result of drugs, the brain will naturally begin to produce less dopamine or lessen the response to it. Without the same response from the brain, that person will need more drugs to induce the same levels of pleasure or simply tolerance.

will not be nearly as productive as if we placed the horse before the cart.

Having things out of order or sequence results in wasted effort. Not understanding the order of priorities in our lives results in less power to succeed.

3. Make a “To Don’t” List. It might sound a little harsh, but Santa figured out who not to visit (naughty or nice). It’s easy for me to get distracted and chase things – good things – but not the best things. I have actually made a “To Don’t” list. I look at those “wonderful” opportunities and then give myself permission not to do them. We live in a target-rich environment. So many things are distractions – and I’m not talking about “naughty” things. Make sure your list includes the things that are important to you. If it doesn’t, put those items on the other list!

4. Stay The Course. Your prioritized Things To Get Done list is both focused and concise.

It’s your action plan for the day. Week. Month.

Just like Santa, forget about managing time and focus on managing priorities. Time takes care of itself when the right things get done.

As Roy Disney once said, “When priorities are clear, decision-making is easy.

(Mick Ukleja has co-authored several books including Managing the Millennials. He helps organizations create environments in which all generations can thrive. He is a keynote speaker and president of LeadershipTraq, a leadership consulting firm. His clients have included Fortune 500 corporations and non-profit organizations. Check his weekly blog: www.leadershiptraq.com.)

Treatment Addiction is a treatable disorder and it’s approach varies. Detoxification from a drug is a process and it takes place in a wide variety of settings. Most detoxification will happen in an outpatient setting, but other options include: • Physician office • Freestanding urgent care center or emergency department • Freestanding substance abuse treatment or mental health facility • Intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization programs • Acute care inpatient • Residential Detoxification is not the treatment, but the first step toward long-term recovery.

Successful recovery depends on the continuation of treatment after detoxification. In fact, the linkage from detoxification to treatment leads to an increase in recovery and a decrease in repeated detoxification, treatments and relapse. Recovery also leads to reductions in crime and expensive medical treatments.

Overcoming addiction is not only a physical process, but emotional. Therapy and behavioral treatments are just as much a part of recovery as detoxification and medication treatments, if not more important.

There is no one size fits all treatment.

Each individual must receive a plan of care that looks at each aspect of his/her health.

Some people may need months or even years of treatment. Addiction is treatable; and as a community, it’s a treatment we should invest in.

(Mario San Bartolome, M.D., is the medical director, Addiction Medicine Program, MemorialCare Center for Mental Health & Wellness, Community Hospital Long Beach.)

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PERSPECTIVE December 23, 2014-January 19, 2015

Long Beach Business Journal 19

Apartment Construction Up, But Rents Down and upply demand is a pretty basic principle of real estate – and nowhere has this been more evident than during the past few years during trying economic times when the ■ REALTY VIEWS demand for properties

By Terry Ross slowed and, even with little new development, the supply was outstripping the demand.

For the residential rental market – particularly apartment units – the decrease in construction and the increase in the number of renters made this segment of the market stronger than housing sales. Since the number of people able to afford to buy or to keep a home had dwindled, and mortgage qualification standards became more stifling, the pool of renters over the past few years increased – thus creating more consumers in the market to rent with pretty much a static supply of rental units.

With a real estate slump going on more than seven years and various market segments experiencing peaks and valleys within that trough, it is interesting to note that the increased development activity over the past couple of years has changed this supply-and-demand dynamic.

Now that there is an increased supply of rental units, the run-up in rents that investors had enjoyed over the past few years because of short supply is starting to reverse. Because construction on new apartments is back in full swing in many markets and vacancy rates are beginning to

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trend upward, the robust rent increases enjoyed previously by landlords in most U.S. metro areas are expected to decelerate to below 2 percent in 2015 as the multifamily market shifts from full recovery into an expansion phase. According to the commercial real estate information group, CoStar Group, and its panel of economists, apartment vacancy rates will rise in 46 of the 54 top U.S. metro areas over the next year due to the heavy increase in apartment construction. Citing the group’s most recent analysis, the U.S. apartment vacancy rate will rise from the current 4.1 percent to over 5 percent by the end of 2015.

Although a significant trend shift, apartment vacancies are still expected to remain near 10-year lows across most of the nation, even with the addition of hundreds of thousands of new units.

The report also noted that more than 220,000 new units were added during 2014 and another 250,000 units are projected for delivery in 2015, according to CoStar Portfolio Strategy’s Francis Yuen, referring to the recent CoStar Third Quarter 2014 Multifamily Review and Outlook. “At this point in the cycle, we’ve seen supply take hold almost everywhere,” Yuen said.

“Some late-recovery markets like Las Vegas aren’t seeing vacancy increases yet, but even there, developers are beginning to find opportunities.” Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Houston have each seen more than 10,000 units delivered over the past four quarters, while apartment inventories in smaller markets like Charlotte and Raleigh have increased by nearly 5 percent.

Denver and Houston, each with upwards of

20,000 units under construction, will see record deliveries over the next two years, Yuen added.

Despite the expected impact on rents from all the new construction, analysts noted a widening affordability gap because most of the new building is for expensive luxury properties. In the Oakland/East Bay Area, for example, the average income has risen by about 15 percent to more than $75,000 in the strengthening economy.

However, rents have grown by a staggering 30 percent over the same period and now require more than 25 percent of annual income, Yuen said.

“Lack of affordability is certainly something we are beginning to see capping rent growth, especially at the high end of the market,” Yuen said.

Meanwhile, concessions offered to induce renters, which in the past have usually increased quickly when supply accelerates, have so far remained below 3 percent and are mostly seen with new properties trying to lease up for the first time. “We’ve been surprised by the low levels of concessions we’re seeing today, given the large amount of new supply,” said Luis Mijia, CoStar’s director of U.S. research for multifamily. But, with rent growth slowing further and more supply on the way, property income growth is also expected to finally slow down heading into 2015, which may prompt investors to buy more office buildings rather than apartments in search of higher yields, the analysts noted.

Net operating income (NOI) for apartments, which peaked at about 6 percent in mid 2012 and which was the only major

property type to show growth from 2010 to 2013, is now the only sector to show yearover-year income deceleration. How much of an impact all the new apartment units will have is still being debated. That’s because demographics and sagging singlefamily homeownership rates continue to work to the advantage of the rental apartment market. As renters follow jobs to growing Sunbelt metropolitan areas, roughly 67 million Americans are in the prime renting demographic between ages 20 and 34 – or about 7.5 million more than in 2000. Meanwhile, the rise in the number of single-family home sales and in sales prices has slowed in recent quarters, and the average U.S. homeownership rate continues to drift downward, now standing at 64.4 percent.

“Renters are still facing economic ambiguity, and the speed at which they are coming into the rental market is still greater than the rate that they are becoming home buyers,” Mejia added. “The economy is strong enough to push renters into the rental pool, but not strong enough to promote home ownership, a double benefit to the apartment market.”

Although not a strong enough trend to worry most analysts yet, the increasing supply of apartments does present a danger on the horizon if this supply overwhelms the demand and starts to erode occupancy and rental rates in the future.

(Terry Ross, the broker-owner of TR Properties, will answer any questions about today’s real estate market. E-mail questions to Realty Views at terryross1@cs.com or call 949/457-4922.)

The Nonprofit Label: A Threat To Community Progress? f there is one topic, when put into print, that can raise more eyebrows than any other, it would have to be an accusation of bias.

It’s that demonstration of prejudice ■ THIRD SECTOR by some, whether REPORT

By Jeffrey Wilcox founded or not, who create a destructive viewpoint that relegates people into a box. A prejudice at work also represents a limited ability to consider the merits of considering an alternative point of view about “those people.”

During a recent presentation to a group of business leaders that offered a proposal for how a nonprofit group could increase services and contributions, build a larger corps of active volunteers, and organize itself for increased efficiency, the galeforce nature of bias bullied its way into the conversation.

“You are thinking like a nonprofit person,” are seven words that changed the tenor of the entire meeting. It also threatened to derail and dismiss six months of committee activity, strategy testing and facilitative leadership.

There was clearly a difference of opinion whether shaping the future of the nonprofit rested in a project management

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model used by large companies to solve business problems or an organizational development process involving volunteers, discretionary charitable dollars, and stakeholder relationships as leveraged equity. Unfortunately, the point was lost with the label.

While questioning the best pathway for any organization to chart a profitable future is vital and necessary conversation, discounting the work as a product of a “nonprofit person,” insinuated that a subclass of inferior, if not faulty, thinking was at work.

Unfortunately, this destructive bias exists in far too many nonprofit boardrooms and organizations which ultimately marginalizes great leaders and stops promising processes from moving forward.

The term “nonprofit” actually refers to a corporation that has a unique relationship with the Internal Revenue Service because of a stated social benefit intention. It was never meant to infer that those corporations were second-class citizens or their leaders were second-rate executives.

If anything, the distinction was given with the expectation of increased business rigor as opposed to less.

The destructive nature of prejudice aimed at “nonprofit people” has been a gut-wrenching and emotionally-laden reality for the men and women who have chosen careers that demand overhead lev-

els unthinkable to most small businesses, rely on volunteers with expectations that far exceed those of many employees, and must produce service results derived from analytics that aren’t rooted in consumer satisfaction.

The nonprofit sector has a long history of bias perpetuated by those who perceive their jobs are to rescue nonprofit organizations from the seemingly uninformed and inferior people who govern or run them. Traditionally, “charity work” was considered “woman’s work” and the struggle for economic, political and social equality between the sexes are deeply rooted in the employment, board relations and compensation practices of the sector. Many nonprofits first hired “secretaries” for their boards rather than “chief executives” for their institutions.

The religious origins of many nonprofits firmly positioned its leaders as informed missionaries or practicing clergy. Their leadership, therefore, was regarded as a form of conscience rather than construct.

Regardless of the origin, nonprofits and their leaders throughout history have found themselves standing in the middle of the crowded intersection of bias as it relates to the status of women, the organizing and advancement of communities of color, the role of religion in society, and the perceived lax business practices of charity.

Despite all of this, the rate of business failure among nonprofits is lower than the private-sector. The numbers of corporate people desiring to move into nonprofit work is accelerating. Interests in corporate social responsibility, social enterprise development, and socially-responsible consumerism is at an all-time high. And, as corporations have emphasized diversity training amongst their ranks, it has been nonprofit leaders who have worked handin-hand with business giants to develop methodologies to reduce bias throughout their organizations.

The time has come for each of us to ask ourselves what is being insinuated when a person, an organization or a process is labeled “nonprofit.”

Creating social profits and financial profits are equally essential to developing communities and sustaining their long-term well-being. Until “nonprofit” is viewed as having mastered a unique and vital skill set that produces a unique set of results, communities are destined to fall short.

(Jeffrey R. Wilcox, CFRE, is president and chief executive officer of The Third Sector Company, Inc. He can be reached at: jwilcox@thirdsectorcompany.com)

@LBBizJourn

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