This time of year, is very exciting. Elections in less than a week, Halloween behind us, Thanksgiving and Christmas are within sight and there’s a little bit of chill in the early mornings. Winter is coming. We actually received rain!
I found this headline along with the lead paragraph from the LA Times this morning interesting:
California has long faced criticism for its tough regulations and high taxes and prices. Nonetheless, there are mounting predictions from economists that the Golden State could soon surpass Germany to become the world's fourth-largest economy. Such a shift underscores the strength of the California economy, but experts are quick to note the Golden State continues to deal with problems of housing affordability and income inequality.
And then there’s this. Total Homeless Individuals on a Single Night in January 2020: · California had 135,771 homeless individuals, which accounted for 34% of the nation’s population and 52% of all unsheltered individuals. California had the highest rate of unsheltered homeless individuals at 79.2% (107,525 were unsheltered). · California experienced the largest increase in homeless individuals from 2018-2019, which was 6,994 (a 5.4% increase). It also experienced the highest increase from 2007-2020 (24,819 people or a 22.4% increase).
Fed raises rates again minutes ago.
We’re all very good at pointing out how desperate things are yet when there is reason for optimism it’s done with a sense of cynicism.
I attended a North County commercial real estate update yesterday evening and the reality I came away with is this. There is a lot of activity going on in the commercial real estate market in North County and Escondido needs to step it up. In almost all graphs shown displaying real metrics tracked whether that be office space, multi family, industrial, etc., virtually all categories., Escondido lagged our neighbors to the west.
As I sat and listened to speaker after speaker providing data driven information ranking of all North County cities Escondido consistently lagged our neighbors. Why? Not a quick answer. There are many reasons. The bottom line: we can do better.
Join the Chamber as we work to change what needs to be changed, celebrate our accomplishments and work hard to build a better business community leading, not following, our neighbors.
Cheers, JR
