Outlook 2012

Outlook2012 February 26, 2012

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BIG happenings at the port Port of Stockton has a couple of giants operating on the waterfront — two giant harbor cranes. The state-of-the-art behemoths each tower 220 feet and weigh 400 tons. A2

backbone of the economy From the freeway, S.J. County is dominated by big boxes, fastfood restaurants and outlet malls. But the county also is home to vibrant shopping districts where local businesses prosper. A4

changing face of farming Agriculture has historically remained San Joaquin County’s leading industry, but the types of crops and farming practices have changed dramatically over the decades. A6

A2 Sunday, February 26, 2012 The Record outlook

marine highway

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Randy Jerwa, dock superintendent: “They’re just the biggest, coolest toys I’ve ever had my hands on.”

CLIFFORD OTO/The Record

A crane operator gets a feel for one of the Port of Stockton’s two new giant cranes earlier this month. The cab sits 85 feet above the ground, providing a panoramic view of the port.

BIG changes ahead at Port of Stockton port’s new giant cranes by the numbers Height of operator’s Lift capacity: 140 tons Height: 220 feet (compared with 30 tons for cab: 85 feet Weight: 400 tons port’s older cranes) Stairs to cab: 87 steps Cost: $5 million each

By Reed Fujii

David Gutierrez, crane operator: “The only thing this thing needs is a microwave, kitchen, TV and a living room.”

By then the port hopes to have a dozen long-shore workers trained to operate the STOCKTON — If Santa Claus cranes. came a little late to the Port of Each crane requires two Stockton this year, nobody’s operators, meaning four could complaining. be needed at any one time. And Santa’s sleigh, in the form of if demand pushes crews to work the U.S.-flagged Ocean Titan, And port officials have said double shifts, the port could arrived in the first week of the cranes, capable of handling quickly run short of qualified January to deliver two giant a wide variety of cargo types operators, Jerwa said. harbor cranes. and able to propel themselves “We need a decent size crew,” And those tagged to operate up and down the mile-long he said. the state-of-the-art behemoths wharf at Rough and Ready David Gutierrez, one in train— each reaching as high as 220 Island, will open tremendous ing on the new cranes, said they feet and weighing 400 tons — business opportunities beyond offer very exact control. couldn’t be more pleased. the marine highway.

“It’s very quiet, very smooth,” “I love it,” said Mike Holman, Each has a maximum lift he said. as he participated in operator capacity of 140 tons, compared “(Compared to) some of the training earlier this month. “I with the 30-ton capacity of the older equipment, if you stop haven’t been so happy in a long port’s older cranes. while it’s swinging, while picktime.”

Also, unlike the containering it up or putting it down, it “They’re just the biggest, specialized lifts most comkeeps going.” coolest toys I’ve ever had my monly installed at U.S. ports, Looking up to the operators hands on,” said Randy Jerwa, they can be put to use lifting cab, a transparent cockpit 85 dock superintendent, who special project cargo, such as feet in the air, Gutierrez said, helped oversee the selection power-plant generators, electric “It’s a little intimidating lookand delivery of the cranes. windmill towers, oil refinery ing, but once you get up there Of course, no jolly elf paid for vessels and the like. They could into the seat, you feel very, very the cranes. Their cost, nearly also be used for bulk cargo and, easy in your head.” $5 million apiece, came out of a given their greater capacity, The operator trainees had $30 million federal transporta- make loading and unloading practiced using the crane to tion grant to create a so-called ships faster and more efficient. stack orange traffic cones. marine highway, linking the “These are very fast, they To make it more interesting, ports at Stockton and West Sac- are highly efficient and very anyone who knocked a cone ramento by barge with the Port versatile,” said Mark Tollini, over had to go down the 87 steps of Oakland, one the nation’s deputy port director shortly of the spiral staircase that leads busiest container ports. after taking delivery of the two to the cab level, pick up the cone, and then walk back up.

The cranes will give the two machines.

With heating and air condiinland ports the new capability Port officials report the maof handling container cargo, rine highway project, expected tioning, the crane cab is rather transferring the ubiquitous to become operational in April, cozy.

“The only thing this thing steel boxes between barges and has already attracted new cusneeds is a microwave, kitchen, trucks. The aim is to stimutomers. Some hope to be able TV and a living room,” Gutierlate economic activity as well to avoid highway weight limits as reduce regional highway applied to containers hauled by rez joked. congestion and air pollution by truck to pack more goods, and Contact reporter Reed Fujii trimming truck traffic between thus value, into every shipment at (209) 546-8253 or rfujii@ recordnet.com. the Central Valley and Oakland. sent to Oakland by barge.

Record Staff Writer

The Port of Stockton’s new giant cranes will give the port the capability of handling container cargo, transferring steel boxes between barges and trucks. The aim is to stimulate economic activity as well as reduce regional highway congestion and air pollution by trimming truck traffic between the Central Valley and Oakland.

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outlook

real estate

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S.J. home prices attracting global interest

By Joe Goldeen

housing help

Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON — Cash is king when it comes to buying a home in San Joaquin County.

And a lot of those kingmakers are coming from outside the county, the state and even the country.

Savvy investors have known for some time that the place to pick up a bargain investment in property is right here in Stockton, where the average price of a single-family home has plummeted 68 percent from a high of $378,000 in December 2005 to $120,000 six years later.

“The reality is that it’s an attractive investment, particularly the stuff at the median price level and below that has a pretty active rental market.

Even if you are paying propertymanagement fees, you get a pretty decent rate of return,” said economist Jeffrey Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center and an associate professor at University of the Pacific’s Eberhardt School of Business.

“It’s these cash buyers that have put a solid floor under the prices for these mid- and lowerpriced properties,” Michael said.

Since mid-2009, the average home price has remained relatively steady, decreasing just $10,000 during the past 30 months.

“I think the investors have done just a fine job stabilizing the market,” Michael said.

While individuals with cash to invest have always looked to property, Realtor Imran Poladi has witnessed the marked increase in investment buying firsthand over the past four to five years.

For those who want to make a decent return, Poladi pointed to a home once priced at $350,000 in Stockton’s long-established Country Club neighborhood that is now valued at $65,000.

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joe goldeen/The Record

For sale signs are plentiful in the Weston Ranch neighborhood south of Stockton as well as other newer developments in the city.

It can be rented out for $850 a month, earning the investor more than $10,000 a year before expenses.

“It’s a very competitive rental market. I’m seeing a lot of outside money purchasing properties, mainly all cash,” said Poladi, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Stockton and 2011’s Central Valley Association of Realtors president.

One Southern California investor has purchased 26 homes in the Stockton market and put them on the rental market, according to longtime property manager Diane Starr, owner/broker of Starr Property Management.

In addition to investors with cash, Starr has seen an increase in a different kind of rental property owner — those facing

default on their mortgage.

“They can’t sell their house, so they become a landlord by default. There’s a good mix now of investment properties and landlords by default,” Starr said. “And we’re not seeing rent increases.”

Of the 213,000 occupied housing units in San Joaquin County in 2010, 61.7 percent — or 131,000 — were owner-occupied, according to the American Community Survey, while 38.3 percent — or 82,000 — were renter-occupied. The same survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, reported 10 years earlier that 60.4 percent of housing units were owneroccupied while 39.6 percent were renter-occupied. That was based on total occupied housing units of 182,000, or more than

31,000 fewer homes. However, during that same decade, the county added about 45,000 new housing units, the vast majority of them single-family homes.

By 2010, the survey reported 18,209 vacant housing units compared with 7,531 vacant units in 2000.

Demand for lower-priced rental homes remains strong, according to the Housing Authority of San Joaquin County that operates about 1,100 units of public housing and coordinates the Housing Choice Voucher program to place about 4,500 families in subsidizedrent homes.

“The wait list is staggering.

Families can be on it upward of two years before they can get assistance,” Housing Authority board chairman Rudy Willey

said.

The wait list for a Housing Choice Voucher, in which the renter pays 30 percent and the Housing Authority pays 70 percent — at market rates — is more than 10,000 families. The wait list for public housing is almost 12,000 families.

Local mortgage banker Colleen Stewart with Platinum Home Mortgage of Stockton said purchases are keeping her industry busy right now, fueled by both the lower asking prices and interest rates less than 4 percent.

“We are in a sellers’ market, oddly enough. They dictate everything now — title and escrow and no concessions. It’s too competitive for the seller to pick up costs,” Stewart said.

Willey, a veteran Realtor

• Making Home Affordable: makinghomeaffordable.gov • Avoiding foreclosure: (800) 225-5342 or hud.gov/foreclosure/ • HOPE NOW: (888) 995-4673 or hopenow.com • Housing Authority of the County of San Joaquin: (209) 460-5000 or hacsj.com • San Joaquin Fair Housing (for information on tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities): (209) 451-3471 or sjfairhousing.com • Bank of America: (888) 683-6405 or homeloanhelp. bankofamerica.com • Citibank: (866) 272-4749 or citimortgage.com/Mortgage/ displayHomeOwnerAssistance.do?page=overview • GMAC Mortgage (Ally Bank): (877) 941-4622 or gmacmortgage.com/finform/hhstart.htm • JPMorgan Chase Bank: (866) 550-5705 or chase. com/chf/mortgage/keepingyour-home • Wells Fargo Bank: (800) 678-7986 or wellsfargo.com/ homeassist/ with Art Godi Realtors who also teaches real estate principals and practice at San Joaquin Delta College, said it’s no secret that investors are interested in local property because “the prices are so low. One of our agents in the office is Chinese, and she has some clients who buy up to 10 properties for cash.”

Willey said these investors see it as the right time “because it just pencils out. Rents previously did not pencil out at the top of the market, but now it is back and it does pencil and does make sense to have a rental with a positive cash flow.”

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/ goldeenblog.

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small businesses

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MICHAEL MCCOLLUM/The Record

Bea Bowlsby has owned and operated Tipton’s Stationery and Gifts in downtown Manteca since 1961. “We often hear the girls say ‘my mother was registered here,’ ” Bowlsby said of the store’s wedding registry.

Mom-and-pop shops still backbone of S.J. economy

By Dana M. Nichols Record Staff Writer

food restaurants and outlet malls. To some extent, national statistics bear that out.

Civic Economics analyzed every metropolitan area in the nation and created an index where 100 represents areas with the average proportion of dollars going to local retailers and restaurants. San Joaquin County scored an 80, well below the national average.

Yet the county is home to a number of vibrant shopping districts in which local businesses prosper.

And a number of business-

Sheri Didreckson, owner of Sheri’s Sonshine Nutrition in downtown Lodi: “I would say my main focus has always been on the best customer service possible and we’ll jump circles, summer saults, flips, whatever we need to help the customer.”

STOCKTON — Just a few decades ago, Americans did most of their buying and eating out in places such as Stockton’s tive director of the Miracle Mile Miracle Mile or Lincoln Center: Improvement District that shopping districts dominated serves businesses on Pacific by locally-owned, independent Avenue south of University of retailers. the Pacific.

But the rise of big-box stores, Another Civic Economonline retailers and chain ics study calculated that an restaurants has changed homeindependent, locally-owned grown business formulas. office supply store in Phoenix Now, locally-owned, indereturned about 33.4 percent of pendent stores capture only its revenue to the local econabout 48 omy vs. 11.6 percent of the Denise Jefferson, executive director of the percent for a retail dollars national chain Miracle Mile Improvement District: spent in the “The point that most people don’t understand is competitor.

United States, the amount of money that leaves the community Similar studaccording over the when you shop the big box stores and how much ies to a study last decade money stays in the community when you shop the Civic have found the small guys.”

Economics that in a variconsulting ety of business firm issued in types and October 2011. improvement districts and locations, local owners spend That same study found that other organizations are workfar more of their revenues lofrom 1990 to 2009, the propor- ing to maintain and increase cally on salaries, supplies and tion of drinking and dining dol- local shopping options. merchandise. lars Americans spent on local, “The point that most people Those studies also found that independent bars and restaudon’t understand is the amount housing values tend to be higher rants declined from 71 percent of money that leaves the comnear locally-owned shopping to 64 percent. munity when you shop the districts than near chain-domiPeople passing by on freebig box stores and how much nated malls. ways might think that San money stays in the community Jefferson and other San Joaquin County is a wasteland when you shop the small guys,” Joaquin County business of anonymous big boxes, fastsaid Denise Jefferson, execuleaders are working hard to

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maintain the vitality of local shopping.

Businesses in the Miracle Mile Improvement District, for example, assess themselves and spend the money to promptly remove graffiti, pick up trash, hire security patrols and organize special events — such as monthly music nights in which virtually every bar and restaurant has live performers.

Lincoln Shopping Center in north Stockton houses and promotes many locally-owned businesses. Downtown Lodi and downtown Tracy also have special districts to help merchants.

Yet even in places that have no special district — like downtown Manteca — many independent local businesses thrive.

“I feel like we go the extra mile to please the customer,” said Bea Bowlsby, who has owned and operated Tipton’s Stationery and Gifts in downtown Manteca since 1961.

One big draw: Tipton’s sells forms needed by many of the professional firms and other businesses near downtown Manteca.

Margarit Newton, an employee for a Manteca-area trailer manufacturer, made a recent weekday visit to Tipton’s for exactly that reason.

“They provide a lot of forms for the manual general ledger that a lot of other places don’t carry any more,” Newton said.

Tipton’s also offers fine china and a wedding registry. “We often hear the girls say ‘my mother was registered here,’ ” Bowlsby said.

Sheri Didreckson offers a similar explanation for why her business, Sheri’s Sonshine Nutrition, has operated for a quarter century in downtown Lodi.

“I would say my main focus has always been on the best customer service possible and we’ll jump circles, summer saults, flips, whatever we need to help the customer,” Didreckson said.

“I think that people like to see people’s faces and get to know them as people. They like the personal touch. A chain approach might not find the same person there the next time you come in.”

helpful hints Local, independent retailers offered these tips for opening a successfull shop or restaurant: • Connect with customers: Personal connections are the major reason customers will come to you instead of a national chain store. Use social media and email to build repeat visits.

• Location, location, location: Prime, pedestrian-friendly districts such as historic downtowns are where the action is. Locate where there’s foot traffic.

• Control costs: Restaurants going into business now may want to consider doing an order-at-the-counter or selfserve model.

• Occupy a unique niche: Don’t compete with online retailers where you have no advantage. Products where customized service is needed, such as specialized sporting goods and offering lessons, provide a local value.

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/ calaverasblog.

2/27/2012 10:55:57 AM

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changing face of agriculture

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Today’s growers adapt with times to survive

By Reed Fujii Record Staff Writer

Spring has come to Empire Island.

Even with a cold wind knifing across the San Joaquin Delta, 23 acres of blueberry bushes are in bloom, looking as attractive as possible to the bees that will carry pollen from blossom to blossom and help bring in a heavy crop of fruit.

Owner John Glick likes what he sees.

“We’re on target as far as what we anticipate our production to be,” he said, which should be about 200,000 pounds, or 100 tons, of certified organic blueberries.

The enterprise, Delta Blue Blueberries (deltablueberries. com), is a family affair, with Glick’s wife, Katrina, helping with marketing and their four high school and college-age children pitching in as well.

They help with mowing weeds between the rows, coordinating harvest activities and selling the fresh fruit at farmers markets in Sacramento and Berkeley.

“It’s good for learning to deal with the public. It’s good for learning business,” Glick said.

And it’s a pretty good business for San Joaquin County, too.

Area growers produced an estimated 6,400 tons of berries in 2010, valued at nearly $24 million. That’s enough to lead all other California counties in blueberry production.

But surprisingly it is a relatively new business.

San Joaquin County farm officials did not even count blueberries until 2005, earlier lumping them under the term bushberry, which includes fruit such as cranberries, gooseberries and elderberries, or simply miscellaneous fruit.

Glick himself planted his first test plot of 3 acres in 2003, followed by 20 acres more in 2004.

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In the 1930s, it was barley; in the ’50s, asparagus was king; wine grapes now rule, but as any S.J. farmer knows, nothing stays the same

Bruce Blodgett, executive manager of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau: “Now we’re in a global marketplace and having to find commodities that we can sell, not just locally, but in the global marketplace.”

mascot and is the namesake for the town’s other high school, Tokay High.

Now, nearly all grapes in the Lodi area are wine varieties.

San Joaquin County used to be a major provider of so-called truck crops — annual vegetables and fruits, such as squash, peppers, melons and cucumbers — and they remain significant crops.

But Blodgett said more and more acreage has gone into permanent crops, including almonds, walnuts, winegrapes and olives as farmers react to changes in consumer demand.

“If they have the ability to adapt and change, they’ll be fine. If they don’t have the ability to adapt and change, those are the ones that will get into trouble,” he said.

Glick hopes to expand his market by developing a fruit spread from his blueberries, and CALIXTRO ROMIAS/The Record boosting e-commerce efforts, as John Glick checks on a relatively new crop in S.J. County — blueberries. “The time to recognize there’s an opportunity is not to well as continuing to market indo that when everybody is already on board, but ahead of them,” says Glick, who cultivates 23 acres of blueberries in the Delta. season berries through farmers markets, Raleys supermarkets and to regional restaurants.

“The time to recognize Blodgett, executive manager of Just in the past 10 years, fornia that has shrunk to just “You continually have to there’s an opportunity is not the San Joaquin Farm Bureau. county farmers stopped grow6,600 acres in 2010. to do that when everybody is The pace of change has ing sugar beets, once one of the “It’s still a big commodity for source new places to sell just to already on board, but ahead of quickened in recent decades. region’s top 10 crops, with the us, but it’s a huge, huge decline,” stay in the game,” he said.

He recently landed a U.S. Dethem,” Glick said.

If you gathered a group of closure of a mill in Tracy.

Blodgett said. partment of Agriculture grant That approach typifies the farmers together 30 or 40 years That same period has seen Barley was a top 10 crop in dynamic nature of agriculture. ago, Blodgett said, “The only the emergence of blueberries, the 1920s and ’30s, but now it is to help develop and produce his organic spreadable fruit.

While historically it has been thing they would be really talk- as well as olives grown for oil, lumped in with miscellaneous “Five years from now, I could and remains San Joaquin ing about was the weather and Blodgett noted. field crops by farm officials.

County’s leading industry, the what that was doing to their There are numerous other Another shift may be seen in see planting more (berries) and developing a larger spreadable types of crops grown in the area production. examples. crop varieties. fruit spread side of this,” Glick and farming practices have “Now we’re in a global In the 1950s, the county had The flame Tokay, a table said. changed dramatically over the marketplace and having to find 55,000 acres of asparagus ungrape, was once the leading decades. commodities that we can sell, der cultivation. With increasing variety in area vineyards. It Contact reporter Reed Fujii “It’s an industry that has not just locally, but in the global competition from growers in inspired Lodi High School to at (209) 546-8253 or rfujii@ recordnet.com. been able to adapt,” said Bruce marketplace.”

Mexico and Southern Caliadopt the Flame as its team

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customer loyalty

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Running a business can be tough, especially in a tough neighborhood

By Jordan Guinn Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON — The era of online shopping and big-box retail centers is challenging enough for locally owned, independent businesses.

For mom-and-pop merchants in economically depressed and crime-ridden neighborhoods of Stockton, those obstacles are fringe issues.

In a city where graffiti wraps around tree trunks, robberies are a daily threat and there are nightly reports of random gunshots, merchants must be vigilant to stay in business — and safe.

But small business owners in some of Stockton’s grittiest areas are continuing to operate by offering a personal experience, paying attention to detail and maintaining their storefronts.

They do it because they are invested in the community and its residents. And because they take pride in their work.

Their reward comes in the form of satisfied customers who offer repeat business and tell their friends it’s worth the trip to the blighted areas.

“To a certain extent, we offer things you can’t get elsewhere because there’s personalized service,” said Jayson Louie, co-owner of Louie’s Market on East Main Street. “The little things we do help us — like cutting meat to order. You tell me what you ordered and I’ll remember it next time you come in.”

Establishing lasting relationships and personal connections with customers is what has helped the market stay in business since 1945. Louie’s family took over the market 20 years ago, he said.

The threat of robberies and vandalism are always a concern, but it’s not a new issue, according to one business owner.

Jeff Nelson, owner of Port Stockton Nursery: “We know our neighbors around the area, and they’ve been good to us.”

“It’s the same-old, sameold across Stockton,” said Jeff Nelson, owner of Port Stockton Nursery, also on East Main Street.

Crime has been an issue in the city for generations, Nelson said, and one way to protect a business is through community relations.

“We know our neighbors around the area, and they’ve been good to us,” he said.

Nearby residents help out by reporting suspicious behavior around the nursery, Nelson said.

Louie said fellow merchants and city advocates are excellent resources as well.

He pointed to Velvacon & Pittsburgh Paints next door as

an ally. The owners will provide touch-up paint and lacquer for when areas on the block are tagged, he said.

Although his storefront has been vandalized with spray paint on occasion, Nelson said the design of his business benefits him. The exterior of the nursery features wooden boards spaced about 8 inches from each other, and Nelson said it isn’t conducive to tagging.

“The bus stop gets the worst of it,” he said. “They usually don’t do the front (of the nursery) because the wood is so dry they have to coat it a couple of times.”

In addition to personalized service, low prices are key to

success for the nursery and market, according to the owners.

At Port Stockton Nursery, Nelson looks to grow as many plants from seed as possible, and he has used plastic fixtures to irrigate his crops for more than 20 years.

Not only is the plastic more durable, it is easier to replace and isn’t a target for scrap thieves, he said.

Like the owners of Louie’s Market, Nelson said Port Stockton Nursery is benefitted by its relationship to its customers and the community.

“We live by word-of-mouth,” Nelson said. “We draw customers from the Bay Area, Napa and as far away as Fresno because of it.”

Contact reporter Jordan Guinn at (209) 546-8279 or jguinn@ recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/crimeblog.

CALIXTRO ROMIAS/The Record

Jayson Louie, right, and Kirby Joe are co-owners of Louie’s Market in downtown Stockton. “We offer things you can’t get elsewhere because there’s personalized service,” Louie says.

“The little things we do help us — like cutting meat to order.”

Louie’s Market, on East Main Street, has been in business since 1945.

Establishing lasting relationships and personal connections with customers is what has helped the market stay in business, says coowner Jayson Louie.

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community outreach

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Businesses & employees provide lifeblood of charities

By Zachary K. Johnson Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON — Businesses in San Joaquin County have to pay attention to their bottom lines.

But they also have an opportunity to keep an eye on the financial health of the local charities that help residents make it through tough times.

“It’s local businesses and business leaders that provide the life’s blood — which is funding — to our nonprofit community,” said Andy Prokop, director of United Way of San Joaquin County.

Over the past decade, United Way has funneled $3 million to $4 million annually to the county’s nonprofit organizations. Most of the funds go to a core group of about 150 organizations, though in some years checks have been written to upwards of 2,000 organizations. Prokop said the business community makes that possible.

“Without business involvement ... we wouldn’t be in business,” he said.

This is particularly important in the age of government budget cuts, he said.

The partnership between business and nonprofit groups works in different ways. Thousands of employees in the county contribute regularly through automatic payroll deductions. And many businesses encourage employees to volunteer. The United Way’s fundraising campaign is helped by business executives on loan.

“They are on someone else’s payroll, but work in our house.”

And businesses large and small help organizing volunteers accomplish a wide range of work in the community — from doling out food to the homeless to building homes.

On any given weekend at one of Habitat for Humanity’s homes under construction, teams of volunteers will be hanging sheet rock, painting walls and doing everything in between, said Sherry Dickhoff, office manager.

“It’s vital to our projects to have the groups come out, especially (from) the business community,” she said.

Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@ recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/johnsonblog.

a few of the many institutions that reach out to those in need A snapshot of a few of the ways local institutions reach out to those in need in San Joaquin County:

Brookside General Insurance Services owners Rudy Mendoza, front left, and his wife, Leticia Mendoza, wearing scarf, join their employees with some of the toys they donate annually to Charterhouse Center for Families.

This past holiday season they donated toys to 500 children in San Joaquin County.

Bank of Stockton Co-founded by a Bank of Stockton executive and launched with the help of $20,000 from the bank, the Stockton Asparagus Festival brings together volunteers, businesses and visitors to eat asparagus, have fun and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities.

The festival started in 1986. And in the years before and since, the morethan-a-century old bank and its employees have donated time and money to local organizations, from little leagues to large charities.

Community involvement is just part of being a community bank, said Douglass Eberhart, the bank’s board chairman and chief executive.

Times are tough for charities right now, but the bank is consistent. It contributes in good times and bad, he said.

“We don’t just jump on when things go haywire — we’re there all the time.”

The bank receives a flood of requests — several every day, execs said — and has a formal process to handle the influx. In general, the bank looks for groups without access to public funds, but the bank is reluctant to plug holes in operating deficits.

Brookside General Insurance Services About three years ago, Rudy and Leticia Mendoza, both 41, opened Brookside General Insurance Services.

For years before they started the business servicing insurance policies for the trucking and other industries, the Mendoza family would adopt a family and help them celebrate Christmas.

But when Leticia Mendoza started looking for a family to sponsor about four years ago, the charity she reached out to didn’t respond to her request. So she pulled out the phone book and found Charterhouse Center for Families, which runs programs that reach children throughout the county.

That first step led to something Mendoza calls “Everlasting Smiles.”

calixtro romias/ The Record

Brookside General Insurance doesn’t just support the gift-giving program, Charterhouse Executive Director Mikey Kamienski said. “They are the program.”

Last holiday season, they brought gifts to 500 children.

“We’ve been very blessed and fortunate ... and we wanted to give back,” Leticia Mendoza said. Employees take part every year, and she reaches out to family and friends, too. They all come together for a gift-wrapping party.

That includes the Mendoza’s three children, ages 6 to 15, because it’s important for them to know there are others who are not as fortunate as they are, she said.

Mendoza said she came up with the name for the program because she remembered the smile that would come to her face as a child when she received a gift. And growing up, sometimes those gifts came from charitable organizations, she said.

“When I think back on my childhood, the community was there for me.”

University of the Pacific Speaking of smiles, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry invited low-income

children and families to the University of the Pacific earlier this month for free exams as part of the Give Kids a Smile event, which it co-hosted with the San Joaquin Dental Society.

Faculty, students and staff at the dentistry school reach 2,000 patients in 100 events a year, and the dentistry school is just a small part of Pacific.

“It’s a really great example how the university can be responsive to community needs,” said Jennifer Torres, community relations manager.

It precedes Pacific’s push for more involvement, which began at the start of 2010 and is called Beyond our Gates.

Since then, the program has brought together a wide range of community leaders with the university to find out how best to make real progress on longstanding and challenging issues.

The group has targeted improving literacy in children. Early literacy is a key to future success in the classroom, Torres said.

Pacific gets involved outside the campus in other ways, too — from volunteering to tutor school-age children to helping to build affordable housing.

“We have talented and dedicated peo-

ple at the university — from students to faculty to staff — to serve the people in our community,” said Pamela Eibeck, Pacific’s president.

General Mills Leaders at the General Mills plant in Lodi also take on leadership roles by serving on the governing board of nonprofit organizations. Locally, that includes organizations such as the Lodi Boys & Girls Club, the Salvation Army, San Joaquin A+ and more. About 80 percent of the plant’s 500 employees give money to the United Way of San Joaquin, and the total sum is matched by the company, according to General Mills.

“We have no bigger partner,” said United Way Director Prokop.

General Mills has been a part of the community for about 60 years, said Rich Mullenbach, the plant’s financial manager.

And it’s not just money and leadership; the company donates food to local food banks — usually cereal — and its employees put in hours as volunteers, he said. “It’s something that is part of our nature and our character.”

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attracting green businesses

S.J. not Bay Area, but ...

Tech companies taking a second look at county

CLIFFORD OTO/The Record

An Electric Vehicles International technician works to convert a delivery truck to run on electricity at EVI’s plant in Stockton. EVI is building 100 electric delivery trucks through a multimillion dollar contract with delivery giant UPS. EVI Marketing and Sales Director Frank Jenkins said by converting UPS’ brown trucks to green energy, they will be able to travel 90 miles per charge.

By Keith Reid Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON — When people think of the United Parcel Service, the international company’s well-marketed catch phrase describing its brown delivery trucks likely comes to mind: “What can brown do for you?”

Stockton’s Electric Vehicles International company, however, had a different thought: “What can green do for brown?”

EVI is hard at work building 100 electric delivery trucks under a multimillion dollar contract with UPS, a company that wants to modernize its California fleet. EVI Marketing and Sales Director Frank Jenkins said the brown trucks will go 90 miles per charge.

“This is unique to California right now, because the state is progressive with the California Energy Commission,” Jenkins said. “Other states are still catching up. New York and New Jersey are almost there.”

Progressive green-energy leaders in California are the main reason EVI moved to Stockton in 2009, Jenkins said.

On top of that, San Joaquin

recordnet.com

now have to commute to the Bay Area.

“What I try to get across is that we are a superior market location. Take the Central Valley with the Bay Area and the six-county Sacramento region County’s central location in Applied Aerospace has worked … we’re right in the middle of the state and access to major in Stockton for more than 50 that,” Ammann said. roadways — Interstate 5 and years producing equipment that Local business leaders also Highway 99 — and to the Port is found on spy planes, NASA pitch the lifestyle in the Valof Stockton makes the area satellites and robotic vehicles ley. People will want to work ideal for businesses looking for that have been sent to Mars. and live here, Lodi Chamber an edge in the market.

• ArmorStruxx opened in Lodi of Commerce President Pat Local Enterprise Zones that in 2008, manufacturing Mine Patrick said.

“I’ve always been told by peoprovide tax breaks to new busi- Resistant Ambush Protected nesses helped make the move vehicles for the military with is ple in economic-development circles that once it pencils out affordable as well. laminated armor. between A and B, businesses “It’s a huge job market here,” San Joaquin Partnership will go to the community that Jenkins said. “It’s been hit hard, CEO Mike Ammann said the people want to live in,” Patrick but there are great opportunicounty already is an internasaid. “Here in Lodi we offer ties.” tional hub filled with experia California wine lifestyle, a EVI is not the only employer enced employees in science, pretty affordable housing marthat is bringing high-tech work technology and math. The ket compared to other places to the Valley. agricultural businesses that where wine grapes grow, and so • Teichert Construction are the heart and soul of the many different activities: Delta bolstered its Tracy operations county demand people who with the state’s largest power are digitally savvy and who are fishing, boating and kayaking.”

Jenkins said all those reawindmill. The 260-foot high engineers, he said. sons attracted EVI, too. structure spins at 120 mph and “These are science-related So when a brown truck runproduces 1.5 mega-watts of jobs in the Ag sector,” Ammann power. said. “We have the types of folks ning on green power delivers a package to your neighborhood, • Expansions at the Applied who have those type of educathink about Stockton.

Aerospace Structures Corp. at tional backgrounds.” the Stockton Metropolitan AirAmmann said a tech comContact reporter Keith Reid port serve as a model for company that wants to come to San at (209) 546-8257 or kreid@ recordnet.com. Visit his blog at panies in the aviation industry Joaquin County would attract recordnet.com/lodiblog. that would want to locate here. employees who live here, but

Mike Ammann, San Joaquin Partnership CEO: “What I try to get across is that we are a superior market location. Take the Central Valley with the Bay Area and the six-county Sacramento region … we’re right in the middle of that.”

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changing consumerism

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Green businesses catering to conscientious consumers

By Robin Nichols

sustainable living is likely a factor in consumer behavior.

“There’s a lot more mindfulYou are what you eat. And ness in terms of these things what you buy. that people are buying,” Walchli Modern consumers are besaid. “In general businesses are coming more aware of personal responding to what consumers health in relation to what they are asking for.” put into their bodies, as well as One such business is Epic the effect of purchases on the Plastics in Lodi, which crecommunity and the environates environmentally friendly ment. landscape products from post“(For trends), the first one I consumer recycled plastics. would cite is what is being reFrank Cvetovac, sales and ferred to now as conscientious operations manager of Epic, consumerism, which includes also said he believes increased the environment and other awareness is part of the reason kinds of purchase behavior that behind the movement. reflects personal values,” said “(Consumers) see what we’re Suzanne Walchli, an associdoing to our planet. A landfill ate professor of marketing at … is a pretty disturbing experiUniversity of the Pacific. “Also ence. Any kind of diversion is concerns about corporate convery well respected and apduct, whether there’s a response preciated. We divert 15 million to the environment. (And) pounds annually from landfills. things that reflect responsibil“I think everybody would ity to oneself … like getting the like to or should like to contribhealthier foods and the no trans ute in regards to sustainability, fats.” whether it’s turning your lights An increased public awareoff … or buying recycled prodness about climate change and ucts. I think everybody gets a Record Staff Writer

warm feeling from that.”

Location and politics also play a part.

“We are, as Californians, very progressive politically. …

We like to lead the way on what should be done and raise the bar for the status quo,” Cvetovac said.

And while local consumers may be willing to put money into the future, there’s still concern about where their money goes right now.

“Because of the economy being down for a while there’s still an entirely different trend with a little bit more pragmatic shopping, which runs counter to that in some ways. There’s still a great deal of uncertainty, a mild anxiety among consumers,” Walchli said.

Consumerism is changing in America, slowed a bit by economic uncertainty, but changing all the same.

Contact LENS editor Robin Nichols at (209) 546-8274 or rnichols@recordnet.com.

CRAIG SANDERS/The Record

Epic Plastics of Lodi produces bender boards out of recycled plastic. Operations manager Frank Cvetovac, above, says Epic Plastics’ recycling operation diverts 15 million pounds annually from landfills.

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future shop

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Smartphones revolutionize how consumers shop

By Jo Ann Kirby Record Staff Writer

There are apps for saving you money.

Using one to compare prices this past Christmas, Stockton mom Jennifer Woehrle discovered one retailer had not only a better price for the iPod Touch she wanted to purchase, but it also offered a bonus gift card.

“The app is called RedLaser,” Woehrle said of the application available for iPhone and Android mobile devices. “If you’re in a store and scan the bar code on that item, it looks up the prices at other stores to compare it for you.”

Score!

A recent survey by Prosper Mobile Insights found that consumers are using smartphone technology to their advantage — sometimes in the shopping aisle.

In a Dec. 29-through-Jan. 3 survey of 360 smart phone and tablet users, 40.6 percent revealed that they had priced products while inside a store and then left to purchase it elsewhere.

And that’s not all. Many, 35.8 percent, used their smartphones while shopping to read product reviews.

Others used apps to “check in” at a store in order to receive a discount or scanned a “quick response” code to learn more about the product.

Increasingly, consumers are also making purchases via their mobile devices.

In January, the Pew Research Center released new survey data on smartphones and shopping.

It found that more than half of adult cellphone owners used their cellphones while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions.

Want to save money?

There are plenty of apps to download.

The Coupons App works with

CALIXTRO ROMIAS/The Record

A Pew Research Center survey on smartphones and shopping found that more than half of adult cellphone owners used their phones while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions. your phone’s GPS capability to show you coupons for stores and restaurants within a 20mile radius.

Like RedLaser, the Barcode Scanner app lets you use your iPhone camera to read UPC codes. Once the app has captured the barcode, it will provide links and prices for the item at numerous online stores,

allowing you to compare prices and get the best deal. When you’re shopping in a store, you’ll know whether to snag what appears to be a deal or buy it online instead.

While these and other smartphone apps, such as Google Shopper, Amazon PriceCheck and ShopSavvy, are a good thing for savvy consumers, it could

prove costly to local brick-andmortar retailers if shoppers are able to track down a better deal before they get to the checkout stand.

“Internet technology has been continually making it easier for consumers to comparison shop, and this is just one more step in that progression that creates better informed

consumers and increases the pressure for retailers to offer low, competitive prices,” Jeffrey Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific, said.

So far, RedLaser hasn’t revealed a significant savings that would prompt Woehrle to ditch one store for another on everyday purchases. Say, for instance,

such as groceries.

But, it’s definitely a tool in her purse for big-ticket purchases.

“For smaller items, the price difference isn’t worth the gas to leave one store and buy it at another,” Woehrle said. “If it’s a big item, though, it can be worth it.”

Contact reporter Jo Ann Kirby at jkirby@recordnet.com or (209) 546-8256.

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