Ventura County Business Bank gives hope to area banks
OpinionIt might be the understatement of the decade to say that raising capital has been extremely difficult for area banks. But in a very difficult environment, President Jerry Lukiewski at Ventura County Business Bank has found a way to increase his bank’s capital and perhaps set the stage for the acquisition of assets or other Read More →
Foundation puts cash to work in soft commercial real estate market
ColumnsIn a typical week, I get about a dozen real estate deals in my inbox. Most of them are pretty forgettable, and some are only buzzworthy because, well … there’s nothing else to buzz about. Leases are few and sales are far between. So you can imagine my surprise when I heard from Ron Gallo, Read More →
Business tax violates Sol
ColumnsFirst, a disclosure. My late father, Sol Dubroff, spent much of his career as a tax systems architect, working for the U.S. Treasury and later for the IMF and other development agencies. He absolutely detested the value added tax, or VAT. He accepted the fact that taxes are the price we pay for liberty and Read More →
Rejecting Measure B is crucial to city
OpinionWe’ll go ahead and put the Business Times officially on the record as opposing so-called Measure B height limits for the city of Santa Barbara. We’ve generally been opposed to the more onerous of these measures, whether they cropped up in Ventura or San Luis Obispo. And there are really sound business reasons why unreasonable Read More →
