Editor, Jason Schaff This is my final column for the Business Journal. I am leaving my post as editor after eight years. It’s time for a new set of challenges. Change is good at any age, and one must always continue learning both professionally and personally. I’ve always lived by that and will continue to do so. So – what do I have for readers at my last time up at bat in this “From the Newsroom” column space? Ironically, my last duty here at the Business Journal has been putting together a special magazine celebrating the newspaper’s 15th anniversary. It will be published in June. So there’s been lots of time looking back, as well as a little bit of time looking forward. So I began to think – what improved in the greater Valley area overall, and particularly its business climate over the past eight years, and what stayed the same or got worse? What improved? • I think there’s a better attitude about the San Fernando Valley among the people who live here. We like ourselves more. This may be because the whole city took notice after the unsuccessful 2002 secession vote. We’re not taken for granted as much as we once were, but it’s still far from perfect. Now L.A. city officials visit the Valley more regularly – but why do they always seem to be running for something? • To go along with the above bullet point is the fact that, since secession, Valley people realized we must work within the system to improve things, since we weren’t able to remove ourselves from the system. And on a regional level, there’s a glimmer of hope that all the suburban valleys (Santa Clarita, Antelope, Conejo, Simi etc.) realize we have to work together regionally as our economies are connected. This attitude is good for everybody. • Finally, it seems silly but I’m dumbfounded as to how many great restaurants we have here now. I know people from other parts of town who travel to the San Fernando Valley for a fine dining experience. And they do it often. Same for the night life if you’re into that. The Valley is a destination point at last, sort of. What’s the same or worse? • It’s still way too expensive to do business in the City of Los Angeles. The incentives that other surrounding cities and states give to companies to move there are just too much for L.A. to beat. City officials have paid more attention to this problem in the last few years, but they really haven’t changed things on a wholesale level. • There is still a lack of vision for the San Fernando Valley economy as a whole – too many business groups doing their own thing. There’s no one organization that really keeps it all together. Notice that the list of what’s better is longer than the list of what’s not better. Before I go, I’d like to thank some individuals and groups of people who have helped me as editor the past several years. Thank you to our regular columnists, past and present, who have provided some interesting voices on our commentary pages: Marty Cooper, who has written for us almost as long as I’ve been editor; Greg Lippe, who wrote for many, many years and Brendan Huffman, who has been with us for a shorter period but has made an impact. Thanks also to everybody at the Valley Industry and Commerce Association for that organization’s regular monthly column which puts a microscope on the city and how action or inaction by its bureaucrats affects businesses mostly for the worse. Thanks to all the sources who made themselves available to me over the years. I absolutely could not have done it without you. And our reporters cannot do it without you today. Thanks to readers who engaged with me – called to compliment or complain. It kept me from feeling like I was working in a vacuum. Thanks to the Business Journal staff and especially Publisher Pegi Matsuda and Advertising Sales Manager Jamie Chien, who have endured me over these many years and also provided a sense of family as we advanced the paper from year to year. Pegi especially has guided me through thick and thin – always with an unbelievable sense of humanity. In closing, I’d just like to say thanks for reading. It’s been great getting up every morning knowing that I’m doing something very worthwhile. Thanks to those readers who went out of their way to tell me that they truly look forward to reading the paper. It’s been nice being part of a team that I believe does some good for our community – providing information that helps businesses move in the right direction, and yes, setting the agenda in perhaps a small way. I’m not going away. I’m moving to another media property in the area with official announcement coming soon. I’ll see you around. The Business Journal’s editorial product is in very capable hands with new editor Jaclyn Giovis. Please welcome her and help her as you helped me. Thanks again for reading.
