Daily Business Report-March 25, 2019
As the college cheating scandal has spread to include UCLA and UC Berkeley, state lawmakers are scrutinizing loopholes and seeking to reassure Californians. (Photo by Robbie Short for CALmatters)
California lawmakers debate how to
prevent another college admissions scandal
By Felicia Mello | CALmatters
When state legislators grilled University of California staff at a hearing last week about the university’s response to the recent college admissions scandal, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty asked the question that’s been reverberating since the story broke.
“How do we reassure the public that the system is not totally rigged?”
It’s a dilemma for lawmakers who feel pressure to respond to a nationwide cheating scheme that cuts at the heart of higher education’s legitimacy. Among the dozens of people charged by federal law enforcement with using fake test scores and athletic profiles to secure admission for wealthy students at elite colleges, one was a UCLA soccer coach and another the parent of a UC Berkeley alumnus. The scandal stung all the more given the massive demand among Californians for a UC degree.
Though last week’s hearing generated strong talk of crackdowns and expulsions, there are limits to what state government can and can’t do to prevent future scandals. State officials have little ability to influence the private schools at the center of the investigation, and even within California’s public university system, key decisions about admission are made within the ivory tower, by UC faculty and staff.
But legislators do have significant control over UC’s purse strings and the governor and lieutenant governor sit on the UC Board of Regents.
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Kilroy plans six-story, carbon-neutral
office building on block in Little Italy
Times of San Diego
Kilroy Realty announced plans to build a six-story, carbon-neutral office building on a full-block site in the Little Italy neighborhood of downtown San Diego.
The 2100 Kettner building, designed by Gensler Architects, will have green roof areas, a solar array, an all-electric core, and efficient water, heating and cooling systems to reduce carbon emissions.
Los Angeles-based Kilroy, which is also building One Paseo in Carmel Valley, said it is committed to sustainability to improve tenant satisfaction, reduce operating costs and make the building more resilient to future environmental and energy changes.
The site at 2100-2174 Kettner Boulevard wa acquired for $19.4 million from several families who had owned the property for nearly a century.
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Region’s jobless rate declines
to 3.5 percent in February
The region’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in February, down from a revised 3.8 percent in January, and unchanged from the year-ago estimate of 3.5 percent.
San Diego’s unemployment rate remains below both the state rate of 4.4 percent and the national rate of 4.1 percent.
The labor force grew by 3,700 workers during the month and is now up 24,600 compared to a year ago.
Total nonfarm employment is up 9,700 in February and up 19,900 over the year.
The largest employment gain over the year occurred in educational and healthcare services, which added 6,900 jobs.
“San Diego showed nice job growth in February, led by Professional Services, Construction, and Health Care, all key industries for San Diego. It shows a good base for continued growth in 2019,” said Phil Blair, executive officer for Manpower/Staffing San Diego and chair of the Workfore Development Board. San Diego Workforce Partneship.
“Last month we noted the decreased employment in construction and retail, and promised to monitor those sectors. Fortunately, this month construction added 2,400 jobs, and while retail employment continued to decline, this is to be expected—retail employment has declined every February for the last 20years. We don’t like to see decreasing manufacturing jobs and should reinforce our support for high-paying advanced manufacturing in our community.”
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NASSCO wins $465 million contract
for Navy aircraft carrier shipyard services
NASSCO has won a five-year, $465 million contract to implement non-nuclear boundary efforts and other closely scheduled maintenance availabilities for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. NASSCO will perform maintenance, repair and modernization services at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Intermediate Maintenance Facility, the Department of Defense said.
Naval Sea Systems Command received three offers for the cost-cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract via a competitive procurement. Work will occur in Bremerton, Wash., and is expected to be complete by March 2024
The Navy is obligating $928,336 in fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds at the time of award.
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Restaurant charging customers hidden
surcharge agrees to pay $34,500 to settle lawsuit
A Mission Bay restaurant that was charging customers a hidden 3 percent surcharge has agreed to pay $34,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by City Attorney Mara W. Elliott.
Barefoot Bar & Grill was one of more than eleven restaurants to receive a letter from the City Attorney’s Office alleging violations of California’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition Law by concealing the surcharge on the menu. While other restaurants heeded the warning and changed their practices, Barefoot Bar & Grill continued to mislead customers by disclosing the fee only in fine print on some of its menus, according to Elliott.
Under the California Business and Professions Code, it is illegal to make false or misleading statements in advertising. Failure to disclose a surcharge on the cost of menu items is a violation of the law.
After receiving consumer complaints in 2017, the City Attorney’s Office discovered that some San Diego restaurants were including surreptitious surcharges on customers’ bills and announced a crackdown on these establishments. Most of the businesses who were warned about the surcharge noticing requirements complied and began appropriately disclosing the fees or stopped the surcharge practice altogether.
Most of the $34,500 settlement will go toward a public restitution fund that will be used for consumer education and minimum wage and surcharge investigations.
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