May 22, 2009
California voters have resoundingly defeated budget propositions 1 A through E, ensuring crushing public debt and slashed services. City and County governments are also drowning in red ink. Private businesses will likely show weak profits this year. So what is the next best source of economic development in the Southern California?
The answer is, most likely, public / private partnerships on infrastructure. Friday, May 29, 2009, 7:30 a.m. – noon, Urban Land Institute Los Angeles District Council (ULI Los Angeles) will present At the Forefront of Infrastructure. It will explore how planners, developers, architects and contractors can leverage Federal Stimulus funds and County Measure R transportation funds into significant growth by Read More
May 15, 2009
As schools continue to face huge budget deficits, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill that offers some hope for education, students and the environment. The initiative passed by the House is “a multiyear school construction bill with the ambitious goals of producing hundreds of thousands of jobs, reducing energy consumption and creating healthier, cleaner environments for the nation’s schoolchildren.” Read More
May 14, 2009
Not Venezuela. Norway. The country of severe playwright Henrik Ibsen and severe composer Edvard Grieg grew its economy by just under 3 percent last year, while the rest of world descended into chaos. The government enjoys a budget surplus of 11 percent and its ledger is entirely free of debt.
According to Landon Thomas Jr.’s New York Times article this week, “With a quirky contrariness as deeply etched in the national character as the fjords carved into its rugged landscape, Norway has thrived by going its own way. When others splurged, it saved. When others sought to limit the role of government, Norway strengthened its cradle-to-grave welfare state.”
March 27, 2009
The economy is violently disrupting businesses and lives. When the world re-settles, will you still be standing? That’s the question RPR is asking with a new educational campaign called “Survive & Thrive.” Beginning Monday, March 30, RPR invites businesses to visit SurviveandThriveRPR.com, where the agency is offering a collection of how-to marketing guides for excelling in this difficult economy. Drawing from its 20 years of multi-disciplinary marketing experience, RPR’s guides share low-cost, high-impact solutions for public relations, web advertising, branding and integrated marketing. Read More
March 11, 2009
Terranea, the new $475 million resort situated on the 102-acre former Marineland site along the Palos Verdes Peninsula set to open in June 2009 – will create between 600 and 900 jobs ranging from management to service positions at the one-of-a-kind Los Angeles County resort. Terranea is managed by Destination Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based investment, development and management firm Lowe Enterprises. Read More
March 4, 2009
States are weighing-in on how they will direct Federal stimulus dollars and the first impacts will be in transportation funding. As this New York Times story details, “They may be old plans that the recession had forced a state to shelve, but multiplied by thousands, they will quickly get bulldozers rolling again and paychecks flowing. On the highway projects alone, the White House said Tuesday that 150,000 jobs would be created or saved.” The construction industry is applauding the jobs jolt. Mike Gibson, executive director of Associated Contractors of New Mexico, says his state lost 4,500 highway construction jobs last year.
February 19, 2009
With consumer confidence in the tank, companies now more than ever have to be strategic in the way they market themselves. Skeptical buyers certainly don’t want to feel as if they are being sold… not as financial portfolios plummet and reports of doomsday continue. With that in mind, one advertising veteran recommends implementing testimonial campaigns to promote an image or sell a product.
They’re authentic and more credible. This week, John Williams, president of LogoYes.com, contributed a story headlined “Use Stories to Add Oomph to Your Brand” to MSNBC.com. To view testimonial, storytelling campaigns created by Paolucci Communication Arts, click here.
February 16, 2009
Richard Florida, famous for authoring The Rise of the Creative Class, writes auspiciously in The Atlantic about “How the Crash Will Reshape America.”
“The places that thrive today are those with the highest velocity of ideas, the highest density of talented and creative people,” he says. He then sketches which areas are better poised to survive and thrive. For example, “Los Angeles has a broad, diverse economy with global strength in media and entertainment.” As for New York, because “the extraordinary income gains of investment bankers, traders, and hedge-fund managers over the past two decades skewed the city’s economy in some unhealthy ways,” the financial crisis may ultimately help New York by reenergizing its creative economy.” Read More
