corporate presence 2012 focus

(Mike Bafan is the president of Long Beach-based TABC, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. He is pictured in the facility’s coil yard full of sheet metal for partsproduction. See story on Page B-12. Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Corporate Presence AndAnnual Interview WithMayor Bob Foster

Corporate Presence AndAnnual Interview WithMayor Bob Foster

1_LBBJ_SectionB_Sept11_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 9/8/12 4:51 PM

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MAYOR BOB FOSTERSeptember 11-24, 2012 Long Beach Business Journal B-3

AnnualInterviewWithLongBeachMayorBobFosterF or the sixth consecutive year,

Long Beach Mayor Bob Fostersat down with Business Journal

staff for a lengthy, in depth and candidinterview covering a wide range of issuesimpacting the city – and on a personalnature: what are his future plans? He says he plans to announce his dec-

sion on whether to seek a third termsometime after the November 6 electionand, hopefully, before the end of the year.In the interview, he admits that he is“struggling” with the decision.If he chooses to go for a statewide

office, a long list of individuals – includ-ing several current councilmembers – areexpected to battle for the mayor’s post inthe 2014 primary. If, instead, he opts for athird term, it would be as a write-in can-didate. But even as a write-in, Fosterwould be strongly favored to win anotherfour years.The two-hour-long interview was

conducted at the Business Journaloffices on September 6 with PublisherGeorge Economides and Senior WriterTiffany Rider.Part of the interview – related to the

controversy swirling around the move ofthe port administration building – isprinted separately and appears on PageXX. Both interviews are available onlineat: lbbusinessjournal.com.

LBBJ: From a financial standpoint, isthe city better off in the current year or thecoming fiscal year, and why?Foster: It’s a better year in a bad environ-

ment. That’s the way I would describe it.Last year we had about a $20 million gap.I call them gaps; they’re not really deficitsbecause we balance our budget every year.This year the gap was close to $16 million.So we are better off from that standpoint.But you have to stand back a little bit. Whatyou want to say is, “What will we look likefor the next three years?” My goal is to try to get the city to struc-

tural fiscal balance by the time I endoffice in 2014. We were well on our wayto doing that before the state came in andtook money and added new pension costsand what have you. But I still think wehave a reasonable chance to get struc-turally balanced by the beginning of fiscalyear 2015. We’re more fortunate thanother cities. We’re better managed. Wedon’t have very much debt, and we havesome oil revenue when other cities don’t.While it’s not a pleasant time to be in localgovernment – it’s tough – that’s when youhave to really be disciplined. I have to givecredit to the city council. With rare excep-tion, they have been pretty good at stayingfiscally disciplined. We work hard tomake sure we do that.LBBJ: Can you reassure Long Beach

citizens that the city is in decent finan-cial shape and that there is no chance ofbankruptcy?

Foster: It’s not even an issue for LongBeach. Look at the cities that have gonebankrupt. You have Mammoth Lakes.They lost a lawsuit in their little city; $43million. Look at the pensions and whatappears to be pretty gross mismanage-ment – not even doing audits – in SanBernardino. Stockton has had a lot oftrouble with overspending and a lot ofdebt. We don’t have those issues here. Wedon’t have the debt load. We’ve reformedour pensions with almost all of theemployee groups. We’ve held the line interms of spending. If you look at what we’ve done here, our

general fund has less money in it than fouryears ago. That includes all of the costincreases in all of the contracts with labor.That speaks to the discipline that we’vehad. . . . We audit all of our incomestreams. We are a very tightly managedcity. It doesn’t mean we don’t have prob-lems. It doesn’t mean we don’t make mis-takes. But we are nowhere near that issue.

Pension ReformLBBJ: Since the International

Association of Machinists (IAM) voted“no” on the proposed contract, what’s next?Will you push for a ballot measure?Foster: Yes. I’m going to have a ballot

measure because I said I would. It’s thatimportant. It needs to get resolved. I’mvery disappointed in IAM. What I tried todo here with all of the employee groups isto get pension reform that would produce

immediate savings for the city – certainlywith firefighters and police, it has – and yethave little or no impact on take-home payfor the employees. LBBJ: Did IAM give you a reason why?Foster: Their management put it out

without a recommendation. I think that it’sa disservice to the membership. If you’rean ordinary person working, you’re preoc-cupied with working and family and every-thing else. You may not know all of theseissues as thoroughly. Leadership has aresponsibility to inform their members, andthey just said they’re not going to make arecommendation here. LBBJ: The contract is good through

September 30, 2013, so are you going tohave a measure before then?Foster: Yes. The idea is to do it in the

March or April [2013] timeframe. LBBJ: So this will be a special election?Foster: It will be, but you’re talking

about probably at least [an impact of] $12million the way we’re drafting this.LBBJ: If you end up with an open seat

on the council, could you combine thoseelections?Foster: Sure, you could combine them.

You try to minimize costs. The cost, if Iremember right, is on the order of some$800,000. But you’ve got a substantial sav-ings here. It’s worth the effort.LBBJ: Is the pension reform you’ve

implemented working as you had envi-sioned?

Mayor Bob Foster, in his sixth year as Long Beach’s top elected official, is pictured at the Aquarium of the Pacific. (Photograph by Andy Witherspoon)

(Please Continue to Next Page)


MAYOR BOB FOSTERB-4 Long Beach Business Journal September 11-24, 2012

Foster: Yes. I think this fiscal year andnext fiscal year there will be just about a$10 million annual savings, which equatesto about $100 million over 10 years.LBBJ:What about other cities? Are you

setting a model for them to follow?Foster: I think some other cities have

done this . . . we’ve done everything thatwe can under PERS [Public EmployeeRetirement System] rules. We’ve movedall of our employees except IAM up totheir full contribution for PERS. We havea second tier, which is lower. If we canimplement all of these changes, includingIAM, over a decade it comes to about$240 million in savings. LBBJ: It’s always confusing how

CalPERS sets the percentage each yearthat the city must pay. Aren’t we thelargest member of CalPERS?Foster: We are the largest city in the

Cal PERS system.LBBJ: Has there ever been discussion

of maybe changing the system?Foster: We challenge it all the time.

The problem is – and this gets into thewhole issue of pension reform at the statelevel – even with the increased require-ment – they’re like capital calls in busi-ness – it’s about $7 million a year for us.Every time they change the investmenttarget by 25 basis points, it costs us about$7 million. In addition to that, they haveanother capital call because their invest-ments have not reached their target. Soit’s a substantial amount of money. Evenwith all of that, we are still not keepingpace with the unfunded liability. It’s like

paying a negative amortization on amortgage. What really needs to be done, and what

I would hope that would have been doneat the state level, is to put some reformsin place that will start making a dent onthat unfunded liability. The new tiers willhelp start bringing that down, but . . .what we really need to do is have theability to negotiate the unearned pensionbenefit going forward. . . . What troublesme is the state is not paying enoughattention to the unfunded liability, andmost of the things they did will have verylittle effect on that. They’ve done somegood things. The pension package thatwas passed has some positive elements init, but if you’re a city that already took upthe fight to do pension reform, it doesn’tdo much for you.

Increasing RevenueLBBJ:What could the city council do to

help increase revenues? Are any ideasbeing examined?Foster:Well, we can’t print money.LBBJ:You’re not the Federal Reserve?Foster: You know, we do look for rev-

enue where we can find it. This councilalways looks at the price of oil. But one ofthe things that we did about four years agowas Becki [Ames, the mayor’s chief ofstaff] and I went up to Sacramento onLabor Day. We were able to get legislation– and the agreement has finally been struck– to have enhanced oil recovery in theWilmington area; not to expand the field. We have two problems with oil. One is a

very volatile price, so you really want to beconservative about what price you use. But

the other problem is you have decliningproduction. What this holds the promise ofis that in the near future, maybe three orfour years, you’ll start having that produc-tion come up again and either go back to ahealthy level or even go above that. It’shard to predict. So that will be more barrelsof oil at whatever price you have. Therewill be more dollars coming into the city. Ithink that will happen in the future. Sothat’s one thing. The truth is, you don’t have much in the

way of tools to go out and get revenue.The best thing you can do is try to attractbusiness here and try to be a business-friendly place. But short of putting a taxmeasure on the ballot, it’s pretty hard to[increase revenues]. We can do things likehow we looked at our parking tickets. Weweren’t doing a good job of collecting onthem. We’re going to do that. And we’relooking for areas where we haven’t beenas efficient as we should have been infines. We’ll look at that. But for really bignumbers, I’m not in favor of increasingtaxes. Not in this environment, and cer-tainly not until we’ve completed reforms. LBBJ: The unemployment rate in Long

Beach remains high – 13.1 percent in July.Does the city have a plan to put more peo-ple to work or encourage employers tohire more people through the Long BeachJobs Strategy?Foster: Let me be really candid. You

have precious little in the way of tools totry to affect employment. The State ofCalifornia probably took the biggest oneaway, which was redevelopment. But whatyou can do, and what we have done, is try

to make this place very attractive for busi-ness. We have had Ignify move here. Aguy in my golf tournament who had abusiness in Bellflower just moved it toLong Beach with 70 employees. AndAirgas moved in. So what you want to dois try to attract a new business herebecause that has a multiplier effect. What we can do is try to be as efficient

as we can in our permit process. This haskind of gone unnoticed, but we just cen-tralized our permits. It’s a one-stop shop.You don’t have to bounce around fromfire to health to this to that anymore. Ifyou’re going for a permit, there’s one cen-tral location and we’re looking at ways inwhich we can make that even more con-venient. I’ve heard a lot of good com-ments about how much better it is than itwas before. The other thing we do is we talk directly

to people and say, “You have the mayor’snumber, and if you need help we’ll do it.” .. . You have to wrap your arms around peo-ple and say you’re going to be there as theirfriend and you’re going to help them;you’re going to facilitate their coming here.. . . And you can link up, as we have, withthe Pacific Gateway Workforce InvestmentCenter to be able to get training and thentake your capital projects in the city, as wehave with Middle Harbor and with the air-port. We’re going to do it informally withthe [Gerald Desmond] bridge, because offederal rules, and try to get local hires inthose jobs and get a feeder system with thePacific Gateway center. The center facilitated over 3,000 jobs for

people in Long Beach. We’re connecting

Bob Foster was electedmayor of Long Beach in2006 and reelected in2010. He said one of hislandmark achievementshas been efforts to cleanup the environment, partic-ularly improving waterquality. Pictured at theJune Keyes PenguinHabitat at the Aquarium ofthe Pacific, standing, leftto right, are: Stacey Toda,deputy chief of staff;Carmen Viramontes, leg-islative aide; and KatrinaReynolds, community liai-son. Seated, left to right,are: William Doll, specialassistant to the mayor;Becki Ames, chief of staffwith the penguin,Newsom; and MayorFoster. (Photograph for theBusiness Journal by AndyWitherspoon)

(Continued From Previous Page)



with the community colleges to providetraining. This is so you can convince busi-nesses thinking of moving here that wehave a ready-made workforce of trainedpeople. . . . When I was elected, the mostcommon complaint was that the city ishard to deal with. People were so focusedon the regulatory side of it and not on thefacilitating side of it. Look, if you can getsomebody started faster, then property taxgets started faster. Wake up! It makes adifference. I’ve stayed on city manage-ment to make that change, and we finallyhave this one-stop shop. It will be remark-ably better for people. But you have to bevigilant, because it’s really easy to fallback into old patterns.

Redevelopment And DevelopmentLBBJ: Now that you’ve had a chance to

reflect on the loss of the redevelopmentagency, do you feel the governor and thelegislature did the right thing?Foster: I’m going to try to contain my

emotion. No. I think it’s one of the morefoolish policy decisions they have made.They took away the last remaining tool forjob creation and economic development inthe State of California – a state that hasreally ignored economic development andtakes it for granted and is reaping the ben-efits of that attitude. They removed it, andwhy did they remove it? Because theyneeded to mark in the budget bill $1.7 bil-lion. They will not get $1.7 billion. They’relikely to get $600 or $800 million one time. LBBJ: That’s it?Foster:Yep. What they did for that was

they sacrificed the future. I just don’tunderstand it. I don’t understand how ourrepresentatives could support it, exceptfor Rod Wright. It was a great disserviceto the city.LBBJ: Do you think they understand it

now? Do they get it?Foster: No. I can tell you the governor

doesn’t. I can tell you most of ourSacramento representatives don’t. I thinkone of them understands that there are con-sequences to what was done. To me, it wasreally turning your back on the city you’refrom. That’s what I believe. In the begin-ning, it was going to go to education. Itnever wound up that way.LBBJ: It didn’t go to education?Foster: No. It’s one-time anyway. . . .

When you had redevelopment, you couldgo in and you could fix a street, really ren-ovate a block and attract business. Youcan’t do that today.LBBJ: How are we replacing those

funds for the work that needs to be done?Foster:We’re going to have to try to be

creative and come up with a replacementfor it, but we’re going to have to do it onour own. We are giving thought to whatwe can do to replicate or at least partiallyreplicate redevelopment. One of the goodthings is that not all of the old projects aregone. Some of them are gone, but we’vecompleted a lot of them. What the succes-sor agency and the oversight board will dowith what we’ve put before them as in-process commitments is, hopefully honorthem. In return, we will give them all ofour unencumbered cash. We’re hopefulthat the projects we have in progress willbe approved. But once those are done,then we are going to have to rely on someother way to do this.

LBBJ: There has been talk about PBIDs(property based improvement districts) inthe 6th and 9th Council Districts. Is that apossibility for replacing redevelopment? Foster: I don’t see how. Unless you can

get tax increment or some other fundingsource where you could actually pay forsome of the redevelopment you have to do,either taking out businesses that are dilapi-dated or to fix infrastructure, that’s realmoney. I’m certainly willing to explorethings. I’d like to see how it works and whatthe mechanism is. If we can find a way inwhich to generate economic developmentin an area and can do it efficiently, I’mwilling to look at that. LBBJ: Is it legal or appropriate to go to

ABC developer and say, “We’re going togive you the property if you raze that motel

and build on it and improve it?” Is thatsomething that can be done?Foster: You can’t give it to them. You

can at a low price or on a long-term lease.Redevelopment did a lot of that. You havea couple schools of thought on this. Onthe one side, you have, without reallyunderstanding how redevelopment works,people saying, “I’m not going to givemoney to developers.” Well then how areyou going to get people to develop areasin the city that are blighted? There is noother way to bring development in andrecreate your city other than trying togive some incentive. Now, to be candid,redevelopment was also abused in manyareas. Not here. This is well before me.Long Beach did a great job of being hon-est about what they did with redevelop-

ment. The loans were not at exorbitantinterest rates, they didn’t violate therules, they didn’t play games with blight.It was a very up-and-up process. Therewere other cities that didn’t do that, thatdid abuse the process, and it did need tobe reformed. But not eliminated.LBBJ: One of the few opportunities we

have is a public-private partnership. Foster: Yes. That we can try to do. It’s

what was done at the courthouse down-town. We were very involved in that court-house project.LBBJ: If we had a barrel full of money,

$20 million or $30 million, and we gave itto you, what would you do with it?Foster: Me, personally?LBBJ: For the city.

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Foster: I think, for the most part, Iwould use money like that for infrastruc-ture improvement . . . we’re behind on ourstorm water systems, our streets, oursidewalks, some of our public buildings. Ithink those things really need to beimproved. I’d like to sit down and think ofwhat other uses there might be, but itwould be a nice shot in the arm.

GoverningLBBJ: Any thought of revising the par-

cel tax on a different level?Foster: I’ve thought about it. I still think

it needs to be done. It would probably bedone on a smaller scale. Look, the problemis we got a little bit of a reprieve from thestimulus. We took every dollar we couldfrom the stimulus that was legitimate to usefor infrastructure. We didn’t go out andspend it on stuff that didn’t help you buildmore commercial activity in the future.That kind of helped us, but that’s gone. Isuspect that no matter who wins this [pres-idential] election, you’re going to see lessmoney coming from Washington. So, downthe road we ought to have a public discus-sion on what we want our city to look like.I would like it to be not only well run, butI’d like it to look good. I’d like its roads andpublic facilities to be as good as they canbe for no other reason than it attracts peo-ple and businesses here. LBBJ: You are in your sixth year as

mayor. Has the makeup of the city councilchanged much in its role of representingthe citizens of Long Beach?

Foster: I don’t think its role haschanged. I think councilmembers, by andlarge, do a good job of representing theirareas. What I try to continually remindthem is you don’t build a city by just tak-ing care of one district. You have to havean overall view, a citywide perspective, atleast on occasion. I think they do a goodjob of that. For me, this has been a coun-cil that I can work with that has done apretty good job of staying disciplined.There have been disagreements. Therealways will be disagreements. Not every-one, but most people on the council havebeen pretty solid, particularly on beingfiscally disciplined.LBBJ: Last time we talked about this

you said there had been some surprises,that councilmembers had done thingswithout talking to you about it. Has thatlessened?Foster: I don’t remember the context,

but it doesn’t happen too often. To be can-did, there are a couple of councilmembersthat I don’t talk to very frequently whohave different perspectives and maybedifferent motives than I have. Sure, theywill occasionally do things to shock youor what have you. But, for the most part,it’s a good group.LBBJ: But your door is always open,

right?Foster:Absolutely. They all have my cell

phone number. I never refuse to talk to peo-ple. It’s just not who I am.LBBJ: In the past you’ve indicated that

you would like some charter changesimplemented, such as combining depart-ments. Have you given up on anychanges?Foster: No, I haven’t given up. I think

the only one we tried was the civil servicedepartment. To be candid, we’re the onlycity left, in my judgment, that has a civilservice commission and a civil servicedepartment and a human resourcesdepartment. It’s not an effective way towork. We’ve worked around it. No one istrying to remove the civic service com-mission, but in the attempt to try to con-solidate it people made that claim, that wewere somehow going to take rights awayfrom civil servants. That was never in theproposal, never clearly the intention. We’ll look at it again, but I think, given

the limited resources, now we’ve beenable to work around it. It really shouldjust be an adjudicatory body. If someonewants to come in and say, “I’ve been dam-aged as an employee,” or rights have been

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“While it’s not a pleasant time

to be in local government –

it’s tough – that’s when you

have to really be disciplined.”




violated, we should have a quasi-judicialproceeding in which they can get thoseclaims aired. It shouldn’t be running anHR department. It’s not equipped to dothat. HR has modern rules. There’s anenormous body of law at state and federalgovernment governing HR. You don’treally need a civil service department. LBBJ: If you go to the ballot on the

IAM issue, wouldn’t that be a good time topiggyback with this?Foster: I don’t want any distraction.

For me, I want this issue. What happens isthe more you put on a ballot, potentially,people get confused. I would like the cit-izens of Long Beach, all the residents, to

look at pension reform and ask if theywant it or not. LBBJ: Now that you’ve had a good

opportunity to experience how our form oflocal government is working, how wouldyou tweak it? Do you want a vote? Do youwant fewer councilmembers? Foster: No, no, no. I’m a student of the

founding of this country. I don’t believein mixing the executive and legislativefunctions. To me, that doesn’t make anysense. The structure we have has a sepa-rate mayor that is the executive function.You have a council that does the legisla-tive. I know, I still run the council meet-ings. The only thing I would tweak rightnow would be to try to prevent the Stateof California from taking more money bygiving us more unfunded mandates. Iwould like to have them leave us alone.That would be a breath of fresh air. LBBJ: You can’t do that legislatively,

right?Foster:Well, Prop 22 was a start, where

it said you can’t take lower governments’money. I think, in part, some of the retalia-tion in redevelopment is related to that. Butwe work with the League of Cities andother bodies. If you ask me how I wouldtweak it, the things most dangerous for theresidents of Long Beach is the State ofCalifornia coming in here and either takingresources from us or giving us responsibil-ities without any money. Realignment is agreat example. We knew that from the verybeginning. They told us, “We’re going to

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“What troubles me is the state

is not paying enough attention

to the unfunded [pension] liability,

and most of the things they did

will have very little effect on that.”




change government. We’re going to givelocal government more responsibility andmore authority.” They did that, but theydidn’t give the resources along with it. Itwas just a way of being able to have thestate free itself of obligation but keep themoney that it had to implement that obliga-tion. You can talk to almost anyoneinvolved at the local level and they will tellyou that’s what they did. It’s very cynical.

Two Local MeasuresOn The November 6 Ballot

LBBJ: There are two local measures onthe November 6 ballot. Have you taken aposition on either of them?Foster: I’m on the ballot arguing

against the moving of the election. It’smyself, [City Auditor] Laura Doud andschool boardmembers. LBBJ: And your primary reason for

that is . . . Foster: I think this is an attempt by

forces outside the city to change ourstructure, to get a foothold here, to reallydo things that will enable them to poten-tially take over . . . this doesn’t change theschool board election, so it’s going to costus more money. So in addition to all ofthose things, it’s going to cost us at least$1.2 million to change these elections. Ialso think it takes the focus away fromcivic issues, on Long Beach issues,because now you’re caught up in all of thestate and national elections. I think itremoves the municipal focus. I think it’sstarted by people outside this city who

would like us to resemble a city near usrather than who we are.LBBJ: There’s also a huge gap between

primary and general. It’s going to take along time . . .Foster: To be candid, I’m never going

to take the side that says, “Oh, those poorcandidates! They’ll be out there for threeor four more months.” I mean, come on. LBBJ:Well, it is draining . . .Foster: People get fatigued in elec-

tions. Let’s take something like the civilservice issue. Do you think that whenyou’ve got the presidential election and

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$ milliontransformed

“ The real issue for me

[on the living wage ballot

measure] is I don’t like what

looks a lot like holding a gun

to somebody’s head and saying,

‘I want you to negotiate.’

That really bothers me.”




congress and senate and state issues andstate propositions and way down at thebottom you have this thing on the city –do you think people are going to payattention to that issue? Do you thinkthey’re going to understand it? Theirattention is diverted. Even then, one of the problems here is

that it will cost us more, beyond what Isaid, because the county may not consol-idate the ballots. They may say we stillhave to run our own election. The countyhas yet to change its voting system, soall of those participating in the countysystem in the future are going to get apretty good-sized bill. The estimates areat about $150 million to put in a newvoting system. Who do you think isgoing to pay for that? This is a bad idea.It is a bad idea.LBBJ:What about on the council? Is it

split?Foster: I think you’ve got Mr. Neal,

Mr. Austin and Mr. Garcia in favor of it.Read their ballot argument. I think theirargument does not make any sense.LBBJ: Let’s put that aside for a second

and talk about how we improve voterturnout. If this isn’t going to do it, is thereanother way to do it?Foster: Excuse me. Can we just stop

and ask what we are trying to do? Voterswill turn out if they are interested. Ifthey’re not interested, what should we do?Should we start paying them to vote?LBBJ: Maybe.Foster: But why? What do you want to

do that for? We did the reform in 1986consolidating the city and school boardelection to increase voter turnout becausethe school board elections were gettingonly 6 percent or 8 percent turnout. So wehad reform in, I think 1986, and nowwe’re going to undo that reform undersome theory of voter turnout? I wouldrather have people focused on issues thatmatter to them.LBBJ: Understood. But pushing the

measure aside for a second, how do weincrease voter turnout?Foster: I’m kind of old school on this.

I think people vote because they are inter-

ested. I would love to see more voterturnout. I’d like to see more people inter-ested in civic affairs. But most people areso busy in their ordinary daily lives thatthey don’t pay attention to this. I can’tmake them do that.LBBJ: One of the issues in city council

races has been that people are runningunopposed.Foster: That doesn’t happen too often.LBBJ: In this last election only one of

four councilmembers ran unopposed. Butfour years ago three of the four seats wereunopposed.Foster: So now you want induced

opposition? What are you saying here?LBBJ: If you have to wait eight years

to vote in a city council election, peoplelose interest.

Foster: That’s our system. I can’t goout and find candidates to run. Nobodycan do that. Do you know how hard it isfor a person who has their own businessor who has a job. . . who wants to do this?Go look at the blogs. I never look at them,but you get stuff said about you, yourfamily, your dog, about everything, andit’s all out there. Most people say theydon’t want to put up with that. If youreally want to improve voter turnout andhave a better field of candidates, let’sstart by making sure we’re civil about ourpublic discourse. Let’s introduce civilityback into the equation.LBBJ: Maybe we need to pay more.

Maybe we need fewer councilmembers.Foster: Let me pose this to you. We

went from a part-time legislature to a full-

time legislature. Did we get better qualitycandidates? I don’t know. I’m just asking.This is a problem everywhere. It’s a func-tion of modern life. It really is. LBBJ:What about Oregon? Should we

go all-mail ballots? Would that help?Foster: I haven’t thought that through.

The one thing I know I’m not in favor ofis instant runoff voting. I don’t knowabout Oregon. LBBJ: Let’s talk about the living wage

proposal.Foster: I’ll tell you where I’m at on

that. I really have an aversion to trying touse government laws or edicts to try to doyour collective organizing or bargaining.That really bothers me. I really think thisis what that is. It is an attempt to force

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“I’m going to try to contain my

emotion [on the elimination of

redevelopment]. I think it’s one

of the more foolish policy

decisions they have made.

They took away the last

remaining tool for job creation

and economic development

in the State of California”




hotel owners into collective bargainingagreements. They are offering a substan-tial increase for people who work inhotels. I’m not saying they don’t deserveit or don’t earn it, but when you startcomparing to other functions performedin society and you say, “Do those thingsmatch up?” I don’t know. But the realissue for me is I don’t like what looks alot like holding a gun to somebody’s headand saying, “I want you to negotiate.”That really bothers me.LBBJ: Do you think this would be a

stepping stone, if it passed, to go afterrestaurants?Foster: I don’t know. For me, in princi-

ple, it is not a good thing to do.

The EnvironmentLBBJ: Is Long Beach considered a

leader in cleaning up the environment?Foster:Without a doubt. I think if you

look at the things that we’ve done in thelast five years, for example, you canstart with the port, which has done anawful lot with the active cooperation ofthe city. Pollution in the port has beenreduced 70 peercent from 2005 levels.It’s the green port policies, the greentrucks program. They really have had amore dramatic effect than anyone hadthought. We are now at a level whereevery truck in the port is going to be a2005 or newer truck, dramatically reduc-ing particulates and emissions fromdiesel engines. There are about 1,000

trucks of the 11,000 that are natural gasfueled, and those trucks are obviouslyeven a little bit cleaner. So certainly wehave done a great job there. If you look at the airport, the airport

modernization is a LEED building. It’sgot solar collectors on the roof. They’reusing recycled materials. They shouldqualify for a LEED platinum buildingwhen they’re done. We’ve done thingswith bikes to encourage bicycling.We’ve got the Bikestation, the bikelanes. We’ve been recognized as a bike-friendly city. Our new public buildingsare LEED certified. I think you lookaround and we’ve done a pretty remark-able job. When I took over, we had enormous

problems with water quality. We’veworked very closely with people who hadbefore been adversaries, like Heal TheBay. Our report card is much better. Wewere able to change our storm water sys-tems to get diversion in the sanitation sys-tem so that we don’t get that bacteria orrunoff into our waterways. We’ve done aremarkable job there. We’ve put debrisdiverters and bacteria traps in the stormdrains up river from us. A good part ofthat was federal money, but we all joinedin to try to remove the stuff that is comingdown the river to us. And we’ve redonethe Colorado Lagoon. We’ve doneremarkable things here. LBBJ: Would you consider this to be

one of the signature achievements in yoursix years?

Foster: Yes. I do. We really pushedhard on the clean trucks program. We did-n’t let it get diverted for political reasonsand some employment issue. We stoodfirm on that. We worked hard to makesure there was a clean trucks program.But when it first came out, if I remembercorrectly, there wasn’t a truck componentin that program. So the port has done agreat job. I give the port a lot of credit for

that. They really have worked hard at this.They have embraced this.LBBJ: Complete this sentence: I love

Long Beach because . . .Foster: I know this is going to sound

really corny, but this is the best commu-nity that I have ever lived in. I love thisplace because it is a real community. It’sa big city but it has a small city feel. It’sgot great diversity. It’s got a lot of energyto it. People are, on the whole, kind to oneanother. It doesn’t have the kind of trafficproblems and crowding you have inplaces like Los Angeles. I think it’s a realcommunity, and I love it.

The Future For Bob FosterLBBJ: What does the future hold for

Bob Foster?Foster: I’ll make a decision this fall

whether or not I run for a third term. Imay choose to run for another office. Idon’t know. I have to think about that.And I may choose to do somethingentirely different. I struggle with two things, one being

that I am very conscious of my mortality.I’m conscious that, with luck, I have 15active years left. Maybe. Just about that.And how do I want to spend them? Do Iwant to concentrate on things that areprobably more for me and for my family,or do I want to use whatever talent I thinkI have and where I think I can help, to dothat for public purposes? It’s a tough choice. I’m struggling with

it. I’ve enjoyed being mayor. I’ve

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“I know this is going to sound

really corny, but this is the

best community that I have

ever lived in. I love this place

because it is a real community.

It’s a big city but it has a

small city feel.

It’s got great diversity.

It’s got a lot of energy to it.”




enjoyed my time here. I think I’ve got arecord of decent accomplishment. Iwould like to make sure that I finish thatout. I may want to try to do somethingon a larger scale, because I’m very con-cerned about this state. I think this stateis in a lot of trouble. I think it’s compla-cent in a lot of areas that it hasn’t evenfelt the impact of yet. LBBJ: The only way you could have

the kind of impact that you want to havewould be to be governor.Foster: If you could make me governor

tomorrow, I could do that. Honestly, Ithink about that. A lot of people havetalked to me about doing it. It’s a verydifficult path. You have an incumbent, forone, who I think is going to run again. Itdepends on what happens with the taxes,but I think he will. I’ve known him for avery long time. I get along with himpretty well. We have disagreed. I’veknown him since he was in office thefirst time.LBBJ: Do you have enough statewide

appeal or recognition?Foster: No, I don’t have recognition.

The only way you’re going to know ifyou’re going to be successful is if you justdo it. . . . The truth is, if you think you canreally make a difference and you’re moti-vated to do that, I don’t care who is run-ning. What, you’re going to be scared outof a race because someone is running?No. Look, I speak very plainly to people.I’m not motivated by politics. I’m a hor-rible politician. I don’t self-promote. Idon’t do stuff that’s going to make melook good. I actually study issues. I dothat substantively, and I care about them,and I won’t be moved if I think somethingis wrong. I won’t. I’m not going to do it. Look, if you had a regular politician in

that clean truck program, they would havefolded right away, saying, “I’m not goingup against the Teamsters. I need them forthe future.” I didn’t do that. And I won’tdo that. I think there needs to be a cultural

change in this state. I think this state hasa cultural antipathy toward business thatneeds to change. It needs to change fairlyrapidly or we are not going to be theplace to come to. We’re not. If I decide

that’s what I want to do, I don’t carewho’s running.LBBJ: Are you happy with the direc-

tion we are moving?Foster: Yes, generally. I mean, it’s not

pleasant to cut back services. But I see alight at the end of the tunnel and it’s not atrain. I really do think it’s within ourreach to get the structural balancing in.Then we have to try to concentrate onrebuilding some of the things we reallyneed. I would like to pay more attentionto infrastructure, public safety, police. Look at where we were. Think about

that. The city actually functions prettywell. We had 700 positions we cut over 5or 6 years. And that’s not pleasant butyou have to do it. If you look at the thingsthat have been done to make this place

really be more principled and, I think, notonly be fiscally disciplined but also becareful with how you spend the public’smoney, I think it’s much better. Yes, is ithard and not unpleasant? Sure. But it’s amuch more efficient and much moreeffective place.LBBJ: Do you think there is still room

to improve?Foster: There’s always room to

improve. I think we’re getting to thepoint where resources are getting prettyscarce and you’re cutting things youreally don’t want to cut. And remember,we’re still not applying anywhere nearwhat we need to for infrastructure. But ifwe get all the reforms done, I think we’llbe in a pretty good place. I think thereare a few other potential things out there

that can bring in more revenue and makethings a little easier. And I would hopethat whoever is here is a bit disciplinedabout that. Don’t do what we did around2002 where we had this big surplus withno pension contributions. Put some ofthat money aside.LBBJ: That’s one of the concerns that

we hear from people, that is, if you don’trun for a third term they’re really con-cerned with who follows you. Will theyhave the f iscal discipline you haveshown?Foster: Well, that’s very flattering. But

sooner or later you’ve got to pass thetorch. And I’d be happy to help at thatpoint, whoever is in there. �

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Member FDIC

“The truth is, if you think you

can really make a difference

and you’re motivated to do that,

I don’t care who is running.

What, you’re going to be

scared out of a race because

someone is running?”


CORPORATE PRESENCEB-12 Long Beach Business Journal September 11-24, 2012

� By JOSHUA H. SILAVENT

Staff Writer

W hen it comes to overseeing 470 employees, man-aging a $270 million investment and ensuring thequality of some of the world’s most popular cars

and trucks, Mike Bafan doesn’t rest easy. “Here, we don’t think there is a best way to do something,” the

president of Toyota Auto Body of California (TABC), located in

North Long Beach, recently told the Business Journal. “We alwaysthink there is a better way to do it.”It’s that kind of mantra that has earned Toyota a reputation for

quality and safety. And, in many ways, TABC is responsible forthis good standing. What is now TABC started out in 1972 as Atlas Fabricators, a

contracted manufacturing facility for Toyota truck beds. At that time, Toyota was importing readymade trucks to the

United States, but doing so meant being slapped with a hefty 25

Toyota Auto Body Of California: A Profile in Excellence

Team members gathered for TABC’s 40th anniversary in August. The plant employs 470 workers representing 39 nationalities. (Photograph courtesy of Toyota Auto Body of California)

Production team member RandellBrown stamps parts at TABC’sNorth Long Beach facility.(Photograph by the BusinessJournal’s Thomas McConville)


CORPORATE PRESENCESeptember 11-24, 2012 Long Beach Business Journal B-13

percent tax. That liability fell to 2.5 percentif the truck beds were assembled stateside. So two years later – with demand and sales

rising – Toyota purchased the small plant andturned it into the company’s first manufac-turing investment in North America, build-ing stamped parts, catalytic systems andsteering columns, among other things, pri-marily for Tacoma and Corolla models. TABC now occupies nearly 30 acres and

570,000 square feet of building space. Ithas the best safety record of any Toyotaplant in North America for three years run-ning. And its employees come from allwalks of life, with 39 different nationalitiesrepresented and 29 different languagesspoken among team members. But recent challenges have put Bafan

and TABC to the test. The economic free fall of 2008 shook the

automobile industry to its core. Bailouts ofmajor American manufacturers – includingGeneral Motors, where Bafan worked for22 years prior to joining Toyota – ensued,bringing a measure of stability to the mar-ket. Though Toyota weathered the reces-sion better than most of its competitors, ithas felt the strain of a slow global recovery. Then came the controversy over the

Prius. Although the allegations about unin-tended acceleration problems in the hybridvehicles were proved to be false, the Toyotabrand took a hit to its image. “We know, and we knew it then, that

there was no merit to it,” Bafan said of thecontroversy. “But it was a very difficultproposition for us when people were talk-ing about our safety.”TABC was forced to shutter operations

for about a week as the media swarmed tothe story and recalls were issued. “We basically brought everything to a

halt,” Bafan said. “It was a hard pill toswallow for us.” As if that weren’t enough, in 2011 a mas-

sive earthquake off the coast of Japan senta tsunami crashing into the island nation,cutting off key supply lines and making itdifficult for TABC to import certain mate-rials and parts. But Bafan and his team didn’t just sit

around and wait for things to get better. Heused the time to re-train employees andwas able to stave off layoffs even as pro-duction slowed. Now, it seems, things are moving in a

positive direction. TABC celebrated its40th anniversary in last month. Toyotasales are up and new models are rollingoff the assembly line with frequency. “The prospects are good,” Bafan said.

“This is one of our most exciting years.We have kept pace with any uptick in theeconomy.” TABC also is helping lead Toyota’s

commitment to environmental responsi-bility. For example, the Long Beach planttests, inspects and repackages end-of-lifehybrid vehicle batteries. TABC also isactively reducing waste and energy con-sumption at its facility. Bafan attributes TABC’s long-term suc-

cess, in part, to the City of Long Beach itself. “We are very happy that we have a very

good, solid relationship with the city andstate,” Bafan said. And it is these relationships that explain

TABC’s commitment to the local commu-nity. For example, every executive is

required to serve on the board of directorsof at least one nonprofit. Employees havevolunteered thousands of hours to supportthe Special Olympics of SouthernCalifornia. And tens of thousands of dol-lars in donations and vehicles have beenmade to support the California Conferencefor Equality and Justice, California StateUniversity, Long Beach and the Boys &Girls Club of Long Beach, among others. “On a personal front, these are very

important to me,” Bafan said of TABC’scharity work. Even when boiled down to brass “tax,”

Bafan knows why TABC is an importantlocal business. “We are obviously good citizens,” he

said. “We pay our taxes and keep peopleemployed.” Still, the heartbeat of TABC can be heard

when Bafan talks about safety. It is priorityNo. 1, evident in the green painted lines thatdirect pedestrian traffic around the plant, inthe required use of helmets, goggles andother protection, andeven reflected inengravings at the frontentrance that spell outemployees’ commit-ment to safety. Theresult of this emphasiscan be seen in the prod-uct itself, Bafan said. “We spend a lot of

time making sure ourcustomers are safe,” headded. �

TABC production team member Antonio Sandoval working in the body weld department. (Photograph by the BusinessJournal’s Thomas McConville)

Quality control inspections, as seen here, are routine at TABC. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Mike Bafan, president of Toyota Auto Body of California (TABC) in Long Beach, has steered theJapanese automakers’ first U.S. manufacturing investment through difficult times in recent years. “Here,we don’t think there is a best way to do something,” he said. “We always think there is a better wayto do it.” (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)



City National BankControlling Your Wealth:Evaluating Critical Tax Changes for 2013

� By SCOTT WITTER

Senior Vice President

M any of the unique opportuni-ties in the areas of tax, gift

and estate planning available in 2012 arescheduled to sunset in 2013. By takingaction to review your estate and givingplans in the next few months, you may beable to save a lot of money by takingadvantage of today’s low asset values,estate tax rates and interest rates for thebenefit of your estate and your loved ones. In fact, your ability to transfer wealth

free of federal gift taxation is at an all-time high. There are so many tools avail-able to you right now that other genera-tions did not have. At City NationalBank, we believe estate planning is a toolfor the living. It is a way you can makesure that your children and future gener-ations are provided for in the way youdesire. By acting now, you can structurethe transfer of your wealth in a way thatis consistent with your family valueswhile saving as much in the way of taxesas permissible.Waiting until next year may make it

most costly for you to achieve the resultsyou want. That’s why we are advising ourclients to take a critical look at theirestate and asset management plans andthink about the goals they have for futuregenerations and how their current estateplans may help or hinder those goals. Changes that will have the greatest

impact on families with significantwealth include:• Top ordinary income tax bracket

increases to 39.6% • New taxes will be imposed pursuant

to the Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act.− 0.9% payroll Medicare tax1

− 3.8% tax against un-earned income(e.g., interest income, rental income, anddividends)2

• Long-term capital gains tax increasesto 20% • Dividend rates revert from capital

gains treatment to the ordinary income taxbrackets • Federal estate and gift tax system

reverts to pre-2001 levels1For single taxpayers with wages over $200,000 and mar-

ried taxpayers with combined wages over $250,000 per year.2For single taxpayers with net investment income over

$200,000, for married taxpayers with net investment incomeover $250,000, and for estates and trusts with net investmentincome over $11,200 per year.

Those are just the tax law reasons whythe next few months provide unprece-dented wealth transfer opportunities. Weknow that current economic conditionsalso provide opportunities. Just consider:• Low interest rates• Depressed asset values• Low estate/gift tax rates• High estate tax exemptionIt’s time to review your plans and make

sure you are taking care of all the people inyour life and making the most of both eco-nomic conditions while preparing for pos-sible tax law changes.

(City National Bank, as a matter of policy, does not givetax, accounting, regulatory or legal advice. The effective-ness of the strategies presented in this document willdepend on the unique characteristics of your situation andon a number of complex factors. Rules in the areas of law,tax, and accounting are subject to change and open to vary-ing interpretations. The strategies presented in this docu-ment were not intended to be used, and cannot be used forthe purpose of avoiding any tax penalties that may beimposed. The strategies were not written to support the pro-motion or marketing to another person any transaction ormatter addressed. Before implementation, you should con-sult with your other advisors on the tax, accounting andlegal implications of the proposed strategies based on yourparticular circumstances.)

Coldwell BankerCommercial

BLAIR WESTMACChoosing a SuccessfulSmall Business Location

C hoosing a business location is oneof the most important decisions a

small business owner will make. The rightlocation can make or break your business,so it’s important to do your research andwork with a commercial real estate profes-sional with the local market knowledge andsmall business expertise to help youthrough the process of finding a site thatmatches your unique needs.Most businesses choose a location that pro-

vides access to customers. However, there aresome additional important questions to con-sider when selecting a site for your business:1. Brand Image – Is the location consis-

tent with the image you want to project?2. Competition – Are the surrounding

businesses complementary or competition?3. Local Labor Market – Does the area

have sufficiently skilled employee pool? 4. Plan for Future Growth – Does the

site offer space for expansion in the future?5. Proximity to Suppliers – Can your

vendors find you and is there easy access?6. Safety – Will customers and employ-

ees alike feel safe in the building or walkingto their vehicles?Other site selection considerations include:1. Zoning Regulations – Local zoning

ordinances and regulations are importantconsiderations when choosing your busi-ness location. Zoning laws impact severalcritical business decisions such as purchas-ing property or making improvements. Youcan find out how a property is zoned bycontacting the City of Long BeachDevelopment Services Department. Youcan also view Long Beach zoning maps on-line at www.lbds.info.

2. Government Economic Incentives –Your location may qualify your business forgovernment economic business programs,such as state-specific small business loansand other financial incentives. The City ofLong Beach offers an Enterprise Zone thatprovides state tax credits that can enhanceyour business. For more information, go towww.longbeach.gov/ecd/incentives/.3. Business Friendly Community – As

you look to grow your business, it can beadvantageous to work with a small businessspecialist in addition to your commercialreal estate broker. The Long Beach SmallBusiness Development Center offers onlinetools to help small business owners start upand succeed. For more information, go towww.longbeachsbdc.org.The Bottom LineDo your research and take advantage of

the expertise offered by your local commer-cial real estate professional. Remember, alittle planning ahead of time is time wellspent to ensure the success of your business. Becky Blair, CCIMPresident and PrincipalColdwell Banker Commercial BLAIR

WESTMAC. www.blaircommercial.com562-495-6070

Farmers &Merchants Bank

This Back To School Season, TeachYour Kids Money Smarts

� By CHRISTINE WALKER

Vice President

S eptember has arrived and withit, the culmination of another

Numerous corporate offices are located in Downtown Long Beach in one of the city’s many high rise office buildings. Buildings pictured include the World Trade Center, Molina Center, 100 Oceangate build-ing, the California Bank & Trust building, Landmark Square and the Shoreline Square building.(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)



long, hot summer. As kids everywheretrade their swimsuits for school books,we know that you, as a parent, hopethat the year ahead brings your childrenknowledge, maturity and important lifeskills. While you can rest assured thatsubjects like math, science and historywill be covered, why not also greet thenew school year by teaching your chil-dren a few things about f inancial man-agement?Did you know that the majority of ele-

mentary and high school curricula donot offer classes on personal finance?As a result, many young people enteradulthood without the necessary toolsfor f inancial success. While theprospect of teaching your child about anextensive topic like financial manage-ment may be daunting, Farmers &Merchants Bank is here to help get youstarted with a few tips:1. Start with savings: It’s never too

early to teach kids about the importanceof saving. Have they been pining for thatnew bike all summer long? Why not helpthem start a “bike fund” using a shoebox,glass jar, or even a bank savings account. 2. Introduce a spending diary:

Encouraging kids to jot down what theybought, where they bought it and howmuch it cost will help them gain a betterunderstanding of exactly where theirhard-earned cash goes. In fact, many ofour customers have found this to be a use-ful practice well into adulthood.3. Teach them to be smart shoppers:

Intelligent spending is an important skillat any age, so show them how to go onlineand do some comparison shopping byreading product reviews and comparingprices. This will teach them how to savemoney and become smart shoppers.4. Get them their own checking

account: A parent-controlled checkingaccount is a fun and effective way toteach kids to track their finances, use anATM machine and become comfortablewith using a debit card. It’s time to hit the books on financial

management and F&M offers a range ofproducts to help you get started, includingYouth Savings Accounts, Varsity StudentChecking (for kids aged 12-17) and EliteStudent Checking (for young adults aged18-24). We have also published a MoneySmarts Guide that is available at yourlocal F&M Branch or online atfmb.com/money-smarts. School is officially in session. Make

sure your child gets an A-plus in smartmoney management!About Farmers & Merchants BankFounded in Long Beach in 1907 by C.J.

Walker, Farmers & Merchants Bank has21 branches in L.A. and Orange counties.The Bank specializes in commercial andsmall business banking along with busi-ness loan programs. Farmers &Merchants Bank of Long Beach is aCalifornia state chartered bank withdeposits insured by the Federal DepositInsurance Corporation (Member FDIC)and an Equal Housing Lender. For moreinformation about F&M, please call themedia contacts listed or visit the website,www.fmb.com.

Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt LLP

� By BLAKE CHRISTIAN,CPA, MBTFounding Partner

F or over two decades, HCVT hasprovided accounting, tax planning

and compliance, and business advisoryservices to large and mid-sized privatelyheld companies, high-net-worth individu-als and families, service firms, real estateentities and business leaders in a variety ofindustries.As the largest CPA firm headquartered

in Southern California, HCVT has beenrecognized four years in a row as one of theTop 50 CPA firms (currently #43) in thenation by Public Accounting Report,named one of the Top Best-Managed CPAfirms in the country for seven straightyears, and has been consistently recognizedas one of the fastest growing tax practicesand CPA firms in the nation. HCVT proudly serves clients throughout

the world, but focuses on a SouthernCalifornia client base with offices in Encino,Long Beach, Los Angeles, Orange County,Pasadena, Westlake Village, and Camarillo.With 31 partners and over 280 employees,

HCVT is able to specialize in a wide varietyof industries and technical areas including,logistics/ import/ export/ international taxa-tion, incentive tax credit studies, mergers andacquisitions, 401(k)/qualified plan audits,real estate/hospitality, entertainment, hightech, compensation structuring and privateequity firm advisory services and estate,charitable, estate and gift tax planning. HCVT’s partners and managers develop

deep relationships with their clients andother service providers to ensure compre-hensive results. HCVT has developed areputation as a highly trusted business advi-sor to companies, their equity holders andgenerations of family members by assistingthem in reaching their financial and busi-ness objectives through innovative high-level strategies and a tireless work ethic.Blake Christian is the founding partner

of the Long Beach office (1994) and knowsthat when it comes to effective corporatetax planning, details matter. The impor-tance of keeping his clients informed of thelatest tax, economic and financial trends isparamount to quality client service. Hisinsightful articles can be found at:http://hcvt.com/library-of-resources/. Blake serves on numerous local boards,

just recently ending his tenure as 2011-2012 Rotary Club of Long BeachPresident. He is a recipient of the 2011statewide California Society of CPAs“Public Service Award” for his long-termcommunity service, 2010 Rotary BusinessPerson of the Year, 2008 Cal ChamberBusiness Advocate of the Year. Blake is anationally recognized expert, author andspeaker on state and federal tax incentives.Areas of Blake’s concentration include: • Federal and California Enterprise Zone

hiring and equipment tax credits

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6:00 pm Outdoor Barbecue Buffet Dinner (no-host)6:30 pm University Brass Ensemble Musical Salute7:30 pm Featured Address by Admiral Olson8:30 pm Panel Discussion9:00 pm Picture Signing/Audio Recording Sales

w w w. d i s t i n g u i s h e d s p e a k e r s e r i e s . c o mFor Tickets or Further Info:

california state university, long beach

SIxth Annual

Distinguished Speaker Series

Reserved Seat tickets $40 · Senior Citizens/Veterans $30

Sponsor tickets $100 (includes sponsor dinner) · preferred seating $50

Carpenter Performing Arts Center6200 Atherton Street CSULB Campus

Thursday, October 18, 2012 7:30pm

Speaking on

The World at Night:Creating Special Operations Forces to Counter Asymmetrical Challenges

Admiral Eric OlsonFormer Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command

Retired Four-Star Admiral Thirty-Eight Year Navy SEAL

Title Sponsors



• California green tax incentives and ecocredits • Comprehensive corporate tax planning • Holistic income, gift and estate tax

planning for high net worth individuals Blake is involved with Long Beach and

regional economical development effortsand provides constant updates to his clientsand business associates through technicalarticles he authors for national and localpublications, seminars/webinars, podcastsand video interviews.Blake can be reached at (562) 216-1800,

or [email protected]. His articles andvideos can be accessed at: www.hcvt.com orwww.blakechristian.com. Daily tax updatescan be obtained by following him on Twitterat: www.twitter.com/taxcredits_cpa.

Hyatt RegencyLong Beach

$30 Million Guestroom Renovation

H yatt Regency Long Beach, thelargest waterfront property in the

City of Long Beach, California, has com-pleted their major renovation in April of2012. This $30 million renovationincluded the hotel's lobby and all 528 gue-strooms including 20 suites and RegencyClub Lounge. "This major guestroom renovation has

enhanced Hyatt Regency Long Beachs'reputation as a premier hotel for conven-tion, business and leisure travelers, espe-cially given our central location betweenLos Angeles and Orange Counties, scenicwaterfront views and proximity to the LongBeach Convention Center and over 100restaurants," said Stephen D’Agostino,general manager, Hyatt Regency LongBeach. "We look forward to welcomingguests back to a transformed hotel with allof the services and amenities they havecome to expect from Hyatt.”Anderson Miller Ltd. in Chicago created

the design concept for the renovation.Renovation of all Guestrooms and 20Specialty Suites include the Hyatt GrandBed along with leather headboards, luxuri-ous linens and window coverings, soft woolthrows, and plush navy blue carpeting thatwas designed in a cohesive, clean and con-temporary beach aesthetic with light woodtones, soothing neutral color palates andrefreshing punches of deep azure blue rein-forcing the hotel’s prime bay and beach-front location. Local art photography com-missioned by acclaimed photographerZoran Orlic and “Welcome” resin LEDlight sculpture conceived of by theAREAWARE collective.Gracious and residential Royal and Palm

Presidential Suites provide a home-away-from-home experience for meeting, enter-taining or getting away. Multiple seatingareas, full dining areas, and generousMaster Suites outfitted with floor to ceilingwoodwork, Bose sound systems and i-padsmake an impression along with MasterBath showers built for two that feature in-shower waterproof TVs, multiple sprays,wall fountain and overhead spray withwater activated chromatherapy. Suites alsofeature deep spa soaking tubs or privateoutdoor terraces. The specialty artworkpackage was curated with an emphasis on

color and texture with a mixture of photog-raphy, abstract painting, and wax encaustic. Hyatt Regency Long Beach, 200 South

Pine Avenue is a waterfront hotel adjacentto the convention center located in theheart of downtown Long Beach. The prop-erty features 528 rooms, 22,000 square feetof flexible function space, WIFI Internetaccess, a variety of dining outlets, an out-door heated pool and a fitness center. Tobook, call 800.233.1234 or visitwww.longbeach.hyatt.com.

Kardent –Design, PlanningAnd Management

Kardent Makes Things EasyFor Growing Businesses

K ardent, a one-stop Design,Planning and Management firm,

was launched in August 2010. Kardent,located in downtown Long Beach, was thedream of Jodi Kurp, who as a successfuldesigner and project manager wanted to domore “out of the box” design work. During the remaining months of 2010,

other experienced and respected profes-sionals - Karen Nixon, Pat Rass, ValerieD’Ordine and Wayne Twedell –joinedKardent as Principals. In 2011, RichardDilday, well known and admired in LongBeach, joined Kardent as its President.With the tremendous growth of their

client’s work across the US, in 2011 theybecame Licensed Architects in 14 states tosupport these important projects. Currentlythey have projects from Boston to Hawaii,Biloxi to Grand Rapids and many othercities through out the United States.All of the principals thought a company

offering multiple services, a one-stop,turnkey solution for fast moving and grow-ing entities, would be highly successful.They were right! With decades of industry and leadership

experience, Kardent’s Principals under-stood that for a business to function effec-tively, it requires a workplace that is flexi-ble, well planned, inspirational and practi-cal. Equally important to a good design isthat it reflects company objectives, person-ality, attitudes as well as the culture of theorganization. So Kardent’s design focuswas to create the most efficient and useableoffice spaces while meeting their client’sbusiness needs and budget. Among the many services Kardent

offers are:• Architecture• Project Management• Due Diligence/Building Assessment• Facilities Maintenance Management• Site Planning• Space Planning and TenantImprovements• Interior Design• Contractor Bidding• Permitting• Construction Management• Move ManagementKardent’s systematic, multiple services

approach, coupled with their excellentdesign solutions was a hit in the market. Whether your business has outgrown its

present space and needs a well designed,

ANCHOR SEAPORT ESCROW

562-434-4437www.AnchorSeaport.com

Your Anchor Through the Years.

Residential • Commercial • Short-Sales • Refinances Mobile Homes • Stock Co-Op • Probate • REO

5602 East 2nd St., Long Beach Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Working with the Realtors® of Long Beach to CLOSE your deal!

Daniel Lopez

Escrow Officer

Jeanette Starnes

Escrow Officer

Stephanie McIntosh

Escrow Officer

JenniferSterud

Escrow OfficerOwner

Mary Howard

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Susan Buenfil

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StaceyBaltes

Public Relations

Bianca Aboytes

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Rocio Rivas

Escrow Officer

Susan McElligatt

Escrow Officer

www.LEDsource.com* Estimate Only. © 2011 LED Source, LLC. All rights reserved.

3272 E. Willow Street, Signal Hill 90755

MAKE THECHANGE

GET ANLED LIGHTING

RETROFITAND SEE THE

SAVINGSCALL THE EXPERTSLasts over 50,000 hours*Can save up to 75% in lighting energy costs*Can save up to 95% in maintenance costs*Total assistance with Utility rebates and Tax creditsFree costs savings analysis of your lighting needs

(562) 607-4438 Long Beach(310) 765-4047 Los Angeles

GRANDOPENINGAPRIL17th





turnkey plan for how best to utilize biggerspace, or you’ve decided to refurbish yourexisting space, with the goal to increaseproductivity, working with Kardent willsave you money, headaches and have youachieving all set goals and objectives.Need more proof that Kardent does

exactly what it says? Ask Kardent’s clients,including the Long Beach Area Convention& Visitors Bureau, The Salvation Army,U.S. Veterans Affairs, Quiksilver, Boeing,Young’s Market, Santa Monica Seafood,Canon USA and AARP.Kardent has had a busy 12 months.

Starting the business with four employees,Kardent now has 18 employees and with afull schedule of current projects is lookingto hire more. Interested in putting Kardent to work for

you? Then contact President, RichardDilday at 562-436-9900 or by e-mail [email protected].

Lakewood RegionalMedical Center

Hospital And Lakewood YMCA ToPromote Weight Loss Via The

Thinner Winner Contest

� JOSEPH BADALIAN

Chief Executive Officer

L akewood Regional Medical Centerand the Weingart-Lakewood

Family YMCA are teaming up to fight obe-sity and promote sensible weight lossthrough a novel new program called theThinner Winner Weight Loss Contest.Participants will work together as teams tosee who can lose the most weight by theend of the10-week program and earn thetop prize of $1,000.Each participant in the program will

begin by filling out a health risk assess-ment that will be used for goal setting. Itwill include baseline measurements ofweight, blood pressure, glucose and totalcholesterol . During the ten weeks, contestentrants will receive a gym membershipand access to organized exercise sessionssuch as a Halloween Aerobics Marathonand Family Zumba under the Stars. Therewill be periodic weigh-ins and access toDieticians from Lakewood RegionalMedical Center and personal trainers fromthe YMCA. Last year’s winning team lost9.23% of their body weight. All partici-pants lost a combined 393 pounds.Participants lost as much as 32 pounds, or13.2% of their body weight during thecompetition.“The Thinner Winner Weight Loss

Contest is an ideal opportunity to get fam-ilies as well as local employers involved inimproving the overall health of our com-munity,” states Joseph Badalian, CEO ofLakewood Regional Medical Center.Statistics prove that workplace wellnessprograms lower overall health care costsfor employers who offer them. Forinstance, the American Institute of

Preventive Medicine reports companiesthat implement wellness activities can savefrom $3.48 to $5.42 for every dollar spenton wellness, and can reduce absenteeismby 30 percent. With nearly three quartersof of America’s work force classified asoverweight or obese, businesses are incur-ring an additional $500 to $2,500 peremployee in lost productivity and medicalcare for conditions related to obesity alone. The program will kick off Tuesday,

September 4th and will run throughNovember 14th, 2012. First, second andthird place winners will be announcedNovember 17th during the Weingart-Lakewood Family YMCA Annual Auction& Dinner. The cost to join the ThinnerWinner Weight Loss Contest is $75. Formore information or to enroll in the con-test, call 562-425-7531 or log on towww.LakewoodThinnerWinner.com.

LED Source®

Lighting UpLong Beach Businesses

L ong Beach businesses from bak-eries to furniture stores and ath-

letic clubs are turning to LED Source fortheir lighting needs. LEDs (light-emit-ting-diode) save energy, cut electricalbills, reduce maintenance costs, give offvery little heat, and contain no dangeroustoxic chemicals, all of which areextremely important to local businesses.But those aren’t the only reasons they aremaking the switch. Rob Thompson is the president of LED

Source® in Signal Hill. He says that thebusinesses he’s converted to LED lightinghave found that LEDs create a more com-fortable shopping environment for theircustomers.“Lighting is one of the most important

elements in creating the ultimate customerexperience for every type of business,” Robexplained. “It’s amazing what a tremen-dous impact it has on the look of the mer-chandise and even the feel of the store.”That’s the reason why he works with

each client to identify the LED solutionthat best fits each customer’s needs andwill help them create the best shoppingexperience possible.“Another important consideration for

my customers is the fact that the use ofLED lighting can save up to 85% on theirelectric bills,” Rob explained. “Additionalsavings can be realized through local util-ity rebates, which range from $1 to $100,and up to $20 per bulb for switching toLED lighting. There is also a federal taxcredit incentive of up to $.60-per-square-foot for companies that switch to energy-efficient lighting.”LED Source offers some exclusive bene-

fits as well, such as a free assessment andanalysis, a five-year guarantee, and afinancing program that allows businessesto lease their LED lighting as capital equip-ment. Under this arrangement, the businessenjoys the best of both worlds – paying offthe investment and adding to the bottomline at the same time.Business leaders who are focused on

reducing their operating expenses andincreasing their green corporate profile,and are looking to find a single point of

contact who can provide the right solutionto meet their goals, can contact Rob by call-ing the office at 310-765-4047 or hismobile phone at 562-607-4438, or sendingan email to [email protected] Source is the leading international

supplier and solutions provider of profes-sional, high-quality LED lighting products.Their expertise and level of knowledge arebacked by unmatched customer support,which has brought them to the forefront ofthe LED lighting industry.

PacTrust Bank

� GREG MITCHEL

Chief Executive Officer

P acTrust Bank, based in Irvine,currently maintains $1.3 billion

in assets and operates 16 retail branchlocations in Los Angeles, Orange, SanDiego and Riverside counties, and 23 loanproduction offices in California, Arizona,Oregon and Washington through its sub-sidiary Mission Hills Mortgage. In addi-tion, PacTrust gives its customers conven-ient account access choices through30,000 surcharge-free ATM locationsnationwide, along with mobile, online andtelephone banking. Offering a full range ofconsumer and business deposit and loanservices, PacTrust is also one of the fewinstitutions that still offers Truly FreeChecking – a customer-favorite that hasfallen by the wayside at most larger banksin recent years. Under the guidance andstewardship of CEO Greg Mitchell,PacTrust Bank has remained committed toits four core principles of service, choice,value and trust. As PacTrust continues togrow and expand, it maintains its 70-yearlegacy as one of the oldest and most highlyrespected banks in the region.

St. Mary Medical Center What is PeripheralVascular Disease?

P eripheral Vascular Disease (PVD)is caused when the arteries in the

legs become blocked and prevent the flowof blood or oxygen to the limbs. It occursbecause of the accumulation of fattydeposits in the arteries, which reduces theblood flow to the heart, brain and legs.Early diagnosis and treatment can preventPVD from getting worse and help reducethe risk of heart disease and stroke.Symptoms may be mild or non-existent

initially, but one in 10 individuals experi-ences leg pain or discomfort while walk-ing, which goes away at rest. Severitydepends on the location of the clogged ornarrowed artery, but calf pain is most com-mon. Other symptoms include cramping inthe hip or thigh after walking or climbingstairs; leg numbness or weakness; coldnessin the legs or feet, sores on the toes, feet orlegs that won’t heal, a change in the colorof the legs, hair loss on the feet and legs ora change in the toenails.

Treatment may consist of lifestylechanges, medications to lower choles-terol and high blood pressure, and/orinterventional procedures to open anyblockage. The St. Mary Heart Center willbe offering a free PVD Screening onThursday, September 13 from 3:00 - 7:00pm. on the campus at 1050 Linden Ave.Please call to schedule an appointment at(562) 491-9588.

Wells Fargo

� BEN ALVARADO

Senior VP AndPresident OfOrange CountyCommunity BankWells Fargo & Co.

B en Alvarado oversees 1,647financial professionals at 106

banking stores and manages more than$11.3 billion in deposits.Alvarado, a 21-year banking veteran,

assumed his current role in July 2011.Prior to being named president for theOrange County Community Bank,Alvarado served as president of theOrange County Coastal Community Bankand regional president for the Long BeachCoastal Community Bank. He also hasserved in various positions at the com-pany, including retail bank district man-ager for the Pasadena and South Bay mar-kets; commercial loan officer; sales devel-opment coach; banking store manager andpersonal banking officer. Alvarado earned his bachelor’s degree

at California State University, LongBeach, and an MBA from PepperdineUniversity. Alvarado is active in the com-munity and serves on the board of direc-tors for Orange County United Way; theboard of directors for Bundles of Books inLos Alamitos; the advisory board forMiller Children’s Hospital Long Beach;and the alumni board for La Salle HighSchool in Pasadena.In 2011, Wells Fargo & Company con-

tributed more than $22 million in supportfor local nonprofits and schools in LosAngeles County, which earned WellsFargo the distinction of being the top phi-lanthropist in Greater Los Angeles. WellsFargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is anationwide, diversif ied, community-based financial services company with$1.3 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852and headquartered in San Francisco,Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance,investments, mortgage, and consumerand commercial finance through morethan 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, theInternet (wellsfargo.com), and hasoffices in more than 35 countries to sup-port the bank’s customers who conductbusiness in the global economy. Withapproximately 265,000 full-time equiva-lent team members, Wells Fargo servesone in three households in the UnitedStates. Wells Fargo & Company wasranked No. 26 on Fortune’s 2012 rank-ings of America’s largest corporations.Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all ourcustomers’ financial needs and help themsucceed financially. �



OO X Y X Y LL O N G O N G BB E A C H , E A C H , II N C .N C .

CCELEBRATING ELEBRATING TTHE HE SSUCCESSUCCESSOOF F TTHEHE

CCITY ITY OOF F LLONG ONG BBEACHEACH

O X Y L O N G B E A C H , I N C .

CELEBRATING THE SUCCESSOF THE

CITY OF LONG BEACH


© 2012 Port of Long Beach

Studies show the Port’s clean air initiatives work.So does my patio furniture.Since the Port enacted its innovative Clean Air Action Plan, Hal Grussmeyer has noticed a dramatic reduction of soot in his yard. It’s just one of the many ways that the Port of Long Beach keeps the local economy, quality of life and gardens growing.

� inking outside the docks

www.POLB.com/communityHal Grussmeyer Longtime Area Resident & Avid Gardener


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