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Mapping Out California’s Future

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger emphasizes the importance of his Strategic Growth Plan to California’s economy.

By Mary Ellen McCandless

Speaking to Bay Area community and business leaders at San Jose’s Tech Museum of Innovation in February, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger emphasized the importance of his Strategic Growth Plan to California’s continued economic success. The plan lays out more than $222 billion in infrastructure investments, of which $68 billion will be financed with General Obligation (GO) bonds. The governor wants the legislature to approve the entire 10-year plan as a single package; however, the GO bonds would be put before the people of California over a series of elections between 2006 and 2014.

California Fast FactsThe plan calls for investing over $100 billion in transportation to achieve thousands of miles of road improvements, hundreds of miles of new HOV lanes, increased mass transit use, and thousands of miles of additional bike and pedestrian lanes.

“My plan will reduce congestion by nearly 20% over the next 10 years, even though our population will increase,” explains the governor. “This is so important because traffic congestion alone costs California more than $17 billion a year in lost productivity.

“We will invest in our ports and make them more efficient. Right now trade is a major job creator in California,” he continues. “But if we don’t improve our ports, those jobs will disappear as we lose business to other states and nations. Our investment will mean more trains loading and unloading goods right at the ports, and trucks on separate toll lanes in the port areas, which will help our businesses get their goods to and from our ports more quickly and handle more trade.”

The Strategic Growth Plan also dedicates $2 billion to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases in the state, and makes investments in improving the state’s water quality and education system.

“Every dollar spent on construction in this state generates an additional $1.40 in economic activity,” says Gov. Schwarzenegger. “For every $1 billion in transportation investment, California generates $750 million in labor income and takes in an additional $64 million in tax revenues. For every $1 billion invested in road building, we add nearly 19,000 jobs for working families.”

Pet Food Maker Building New Plant in Victorville

Having no more room to expand at its corporate headquarters in the City of Industry, CA, and following a multi-year nationwide search for the ideal location, premium pet food manufacturer Nutro Products, Inc. chose the city of Victorville as the new location for its 385,000-square-foot dry dog food manufacturing, warehouse, and distribution facility. The company selected Victorville primarily due to its ideal location for product distribution and the competitive power rates provided through the city’s municipal utility.

“Victorville is a perfect fit for Nutro,” says Victorville Mayor Mike Rothschild. “Our location provides direct rail spur access, and we are at the center of major trucking routes—both are key to the distribution of its products throughout the country. The company was really sold on Victorville when it learned that the city could provide reliable power at reasonable prices.”

Victorville is located in Southern California’s Inland Empire North region (about 70 miles northeast of the City of Industry) and is in the heart of a multi-modal transportation network where rail, truck, and air transportation meet. The city is served by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, providing continental access. The city also is on Interstate Highway 15, which is considered to be the “economic lifeline” of Southern California, and is situated amid an interstate network that includes I-10 (connecting Los Angeles to cities to the east); I-58 (connecting central California to northern California); I-40 (connecting Southern California to major cities in the Midwest and beyond); and I-15 (connecting San Diego to Las Vegas and beyond).

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tours BP's hydrogen power project in Carson, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tours BP's hydrogen power project in Carson, CA.
Photo by State of California

The city has formed a municipal utility offering affordable and reliable power to industrial users at the city’s two industrial parks: Southern California Logistics Airport and Foxborough Industrial Park. It also is building a cogeneration power plant through which it will be able to sell low-cost electricity and steam as a byproduct of the electricity generation. The cogeneration plant is being constructed to encourage industrial expansion within the parks, and will be used by Nutro as well as by neighboring warehouse operations for ConAgra and M&M/Mars.

When completed, Nutro’s new manufacturing and distribution center will hire approximately 200 workers ranging from research and development employees to forklift operators.

Other major companies that have recently moved to the Inland Empire North region include Boeing, GE Transportation, Pratt & Whitney, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, and M&M/Mars.

Ambryx Biotechnology Relocates Corporate HQ to Riverside

Ambryx Biotechnology Inc, known for developing a new approach for cancer therapy called Retro-differentiational Apoptosis Cancer Therapy, is relocating its Irvine headquarters to Riverside, CA. Ambryx Biotechnology will occupy 1,700 square feet of a 16,000-square-foot building located in the city of Riverside’s 56-acre University Re-search Park (URP), which provides support for small and expanding technology-based companies engaged in research and development.

Engaged in Series A venture-funded research for new anti-cancer and anti-obesity drug development, Ambryx decided to relocate to the city of Riverside’s URP because of the buildings’ high level of amenities and the incentives offered by the city.

The brand new, fully-equipped buildings facilitate research and can accommodate the growth of biotech start-up firms. With close proximity to the University of California, Riverside, URP provides a strong technological support network. Firms can also take advantage of financial incentives offered by the state of California and the city of Riverside, such as special electric rate reductions.

“We first looked at relocating to an established technology-based city such as San Francisco or Boston,” says Helen Chen, vice president of business development at Ambryx. “Riverside offered key incentives such as lower rents, flexible lease terms, and a great source of people and knowledge at the university. These factors, coupled with Riverside’s business friendly environment, made Riverside the perfect choice for Ambryx.”

URP is a 56-acre, campus-style setting specifically designed for R&D and technology-based manufacturing business. The park has given a boost to technology-based companies engaged in research and development and light assembly. Tenants in the park benefit from a fiber-optic backbone designed to accommodate high-speed voice, data, and video systems for networking within the park or throughout the world. URP is located not only in the county of Riverside’s Highgrove Redevelopment Project Area, but also in the Agua Mansa Zone. Firms locating or expanding in this area may qualify for a variety of financial incentives offered by the state of California and the city of Riverside.

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