k e e p i n g
BUSINESS JOURNAL
b u s i n e s s e s
c o n n e c t e d ™
OCTOBER 2018
VOLUME 3 ■ ISSUE 10
BIKING CODE
IN PROFILE
Daydreams & Nightmares in Modesto has a penchant for making the macabre a reality.
PAGE 4
IN PROFILE Emmanuel Escamilla, the founder of the Modesto-based CodeX Program is currently biking across the United States to support first-generation students with scholarships so they can further their education. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Stockton Cal Street Boxing Club has been building budding boxers in the area for seven years.
Nonprofit founder cycling across country to open up educational opportunities for Central Valley residents BY SABRA STAFFORD
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209 Business Journal
ight about now Emmanuel Escamilla is probably thinking he’s never going to get out of Texas. Escamilla is the founder of the Modesto-based CodeX Program is currently biking across the United States to support firstgeneration students with scholarships so they can further their education. His journey began in September in San Francisco and will end sometime in November some 3,000 miles away from his starting pointing at St. Augustine, Florida. Escamilla, a 2018 graduate from Harvard University, will be taking a year off to pursue this journey before attending business school next fall. He’ll be traversing through nine states over 50 days on this particular quest. “To some, this bike journey may seem impossible,” Escamilla said. “But I chose to cross the country because it represents the journey many students take in trying to figure out how to get to college. For many
first-generation students, they have the talent and work ethic to attend a university, but lack the tools, resources, and support to get there. For them, getting to college is like trying to ride a bike from California to Florida. It seems impossible, but there is a way.” CodeX was founded with a single mission: to make tech education accessible in low-income communities. CodeX provides college and pre-career exposure to the tech sector for underserved students in the Central Valley. Through high energy, hands-on educational programs, CodeX equips students with foundational knowledge in computer
science, inspiring them to pursue current opportunities to secure economic mobility. In furthering its mission, CodeX has worked to create school ecosystems to support students in their learning journey. By providing training opportunities for teachers and curriculum to assist school districts implement tech-focused courses, the hope of making tech education accessible in low-income communities is becoming a reality. Since its founding in 2015, the nonprofit has garnered success by being awarded the Westly Prize for Young Innovators in California in 2016, and for its students winning the Congressional
App Challenge in 2016 and 2017. Now CodeX seeks to further its mission by inspiring students to finish their educational journey, by being the first in their family to attend college. Escamilla is trying to make the way easier by fundraising to create a scholarship fund dedicated to students who will be the first in their family to attend college. As a first-generation student himself, he understands the difficulties of navigating a path to college. This was one of the reasons for the founding of the CodeX Program. To donate or for more information, visit codexinspire.com.
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209 BUSINESS JOURNAL
OCTOBER 2018
209 BUSINESS JOURNAL
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IN PROFILE
Staying in the fight BY PAUL ROUPE 209 Business Journal
For Don and Jamie José, the Stockton Cal Street Boxing Club is more than just a business. It’s a way of life. Ever since they took over for the previous owners about seven years ago, their gym has become the biggest in Stockton and one of the most popular in the Central Valley. The formula for success appears to lie in the approach, for even though they are running a business, the real profit comes from shaping young minds. “If we can get ‘em early enough,” says Don, “maybe 12 years old, we can mold them to the right mindset, and that’s the main goal; not to make money, but to help the kids.” After all, he adds, the objective is “to try and help as many youths in the community as we can.” They even let kids who live within a half-mile of the gym train for free. “We do this on our own, and it just seems to work,” he says. “The Lord provides.”
It’s never been more important to stay connected.
Whatever money they do make goes back into the gym, whether it’s equipment for someone who can’t afford it or, more often, to help with trips to bouts all over the country. Those excursions are also possible with fundraising help from the community as well as from the kids themselves. “It’s a struggle but it’s worth it,” says Don. “It’s a labor of love,” says Jamie. Yet it wouldn’t be possible without Don’s “highschool sweetheart” Jamie, who is herself a fighter. She just beat cancer and has been free of it for the past seven months. She gave him three sons, and of the two who made boxing a career, one became a professional and the other earned titles in both California and Nevada. They also balance each other out perfectly. She handles the paperwork, the logistical aspects, and deals with USA Boxing, which monitors the gym to make sure they adhere to
the standards of a licensed facility. Meanwhile, Don can focus on coaching, and it’s something he’s sharpened over the past 25 of his 53 years. Born and raised in Stockton, his “stomping grounds,” he grew up in the mold of his father, a boxer for the Marine Corps who laced him up with gloves when he was just five. He died while Don was still young, but when he was nine he discovered a love for the sport and hasn’t looked back. He coached high school football for a while, but even then he was doing what he truly loves to do, and that is mentoring. “My whole life story has been to mentor,” he says. Don finds fulfillment teaching, saying that he wants to “give (the kids) a little bit of character, and teach them to stay focused in life no matter what (they) go through. While they’re here, I get on a personal level with them, not just boxing, but about school.” He frequently has
PAUL ROUPE/209 BUSINESS JOURNAL
Don and Jamie José have been operating the Stockton Cal Street Boxing Club for about seven years and have helped many area youth find their confidence and success.
these conversations while wrapping hands, something that must be done before the gloves go on. Along with focus, dedication to the craft is important, and Don points out that “we try to instill in the kids hard work. With hard work you’re gonna succeed. We call it the 5 P’s: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.” That motto seems to be getting through to the boxers because the gym can boast a bevy of talent: top ranked fighters, nation-
al and state champions, Golden Glove winners, and a slew of big victories all over the U.S. For many, the Stockton Cal Street Boxing Club is a necessary sanctuary from the streets, and in addition to learning boxing it’s a place to meet peers, form lasting bonds, or just hang out, as long as they plan on hitting the bags at some point. Jamie and Don enjoy watching the kids grow up and become not only accomplished fighters, but
good students and productive members of society. Still, all success hinges on the individual drive, something that Don is quick to mention. “If you come every day, and you train, you can’t go wrong.” Stockton Cal Street Boxing Club is open from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and is located at 317 N. California St. For more information call 507-5152.
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OCTOBER 2018
IN PROFILE
Daydreaming a nightmare BY PAUL ROUPE
Daydreams & Nightmares
209 Business Journal
On the site of a former funeral parlor sits Daydreams & Nightmares, a fitting location for a shop that deals with the paranormal right alongside the normal. Dana Walters’ store on 7th and M St. in Modesto is a costume shop, and that is a large part of her business, but it’s also a spot for Halloween stuff, a mini horror museum, a make-up parlor, and a magnet for ghost hunters and those interested in the supernatural. Strange and unexplained occurrences have prompted many to believe the property is haunted. Surveillance cameras
Type of business: Costume rental for all occasions ranges from $45-$100. Make-up prices vary Hours for October: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays - Fridays 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays (except Oct. 7)
have caught white orbs floating and zooming outside the front entrance well after closing, but inside is where the creepiness is magnified.
There are scores of recorded incidents, which have happened all over the store. In the make-up and mask display room, Walters says that behind the counter is where the funeral workers would wheel the caskets to the back room. In the back of the shop, the eldritch evidence is tangible. That’s where the crematorium and old embalming room was, and what’s even more unsettling is the fact that the ashes from the dead are still visible on the ceiling. A spiritual man advised that they not paint over the ashes, for to do so would
SEE COSTUME, PAGE 9
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209 209BUSINESS BUSINESS JOURNAL JOURNAL
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OCTOBER 2018
OPINION
Vol. 3 No. 10 ■ October 2018 PUBLISHER Hank Vander Veen
If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.
GENERAL MANAGER Drew Savage
MANAGING EDITOR Sabra Stafford
NEWSROOM Dennis D. Cruz Jason Campbell Kristina Hacker Teresa Hammond Glenn Khal Angelina Martin Candy Padilla Paul Roupe Virginia Still Dennis Wyatt
—Zig Ziglar
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Harold L. George
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sharon Hoffman
ADVERTISING DIRECTORS Chuck Higgs
SALES & MARKETING Chris Castro Beth Flanagan Dawn Hamilton Maddie Hayes Corey Rogers Melody Wann Charles Webber Jennifer Webber
DIGITAL Frankie Tovar Rich Matheson
To advertise in 209 Business Journal, call Manteca • 209.249.3500 Oakdale • 209.847.3021 Turlock • 209.634.9141 209 Business Journal is published monthly 122 S. Third Ave • Oakdale, CA 95361 Information: dsavage@209businessjournal.com 209businessjournal.com The Oakdale Leader USPS No 178-680 Is published weekly by Morris Newspaper Corporation, 122 S. Third Ave. Oakdale, Ca 95361 ©Copyright 2018. 209 Business Journal All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part of any text, photograph or illustration without written permission from the publisher of 209 Business Journal is strictly prohibited. The opinions expressed in 209 Business Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of 209 Business Journal management or owner. 209 Business Journal assumes no responsibility and makes no recommendation for claims made by advertisers and shall not be liable for any damages incurred.
209MAG A Z I N E.CO M
The US-Mexico-Canada trade deal is a weapon against Chinese imperialism BY AUSTIN BAY CREATORS SYNDICATE
As China’s Communist government sees it, the “neoNAFTA” U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is far more than a revised North American trade arrangement. It is an act of strategic warfare aimed at China. Beijing has got this one right. The Trump administration’s USMCA gives Washington a powerful economic and diplomatic tool for achieving the U.S. and its key allies’ most vital long-range goal in the IndoPacific region: preventing the rise of a hegemonic regional power, in this case China. Key U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific is shorthand for Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Singapore. India is a quiet ally, though continued Chinese misbehavior will ensure India morphs from quiet to key. For four decades, China has been a rising power, and its rise has been epic. However, China’s specious claims to the South China Sea and its artificial island invasion of the region have hardened opposition to the Beijing dictatorship’s aggressive expansion. Manufacturing phony islands in Filipino maritime territory and then topping the fake islets
with runways for combat aircraft moved beyond influence peddling to physical threat. Chinese and Indian soldiers sparring in the Himalayas and Chinese warships almost ramming U.S. Navy vessels (the most recent close call occurred Sept. 30) increase suspicion of Chinese motives and resistance to Chinese actions. Chinese and American leaders appear to share two general assessments of their escalating “great power” competition, and both are grounded in economics. First, the military and diplomatic dimensions of 21st-century Chinese “national imperialism” rely on Chinese economic might and continued productivity. And second, the “miracle phase” of China’s economic revival is over. Per capita GDP went from $333 in 1991 to $7,500 in 2017, but the plateau phase has begun. For the moment, China’s grand strategy of national imperial expansion is vulnerable. Here are some vulnerabilities, all of them affecting China’s economy and the Communist dictatorship’s ability to project power. Corruption challenges the dictatorship’s legitimacy. Managing the complex economy and addressing social and environ-
mental problems test its technical credibility. China can no longer supply itself internally. It must import resources from Asia, Africa and the Americas. Communist legacies like stateowned enterprises employ people and party loyalists but they eat capital. Modernizing China’s military to rival the U.S. has bled red ink and matching the Pentagon’s might is not assured. Strategypage.com recently observed that corruption and mismanagement “cripple” China’s armed forces. The general assessments and vulnerabilities tell Washington that the time to curb China’s appetite for imperialist aggression is now, by cutting off its economic oxygen. The Trump administration tied NAFTA revisions to domestic political objectives, but Chinese strategists would deem that clever subterfuge worthy of Sun Tzu. Trade war tweet threats with America’s largest trading partner, Canada, shook markets, but the initial Mexico-U.S. agreement sent another signal. Some changes Washington wanted Mexico City could give. OK, some components provided by non-USMCA nations could draw tariffs. Beijing read that as a shot at China’s exports,
which are subject to U.S. tariffs. And it was. Cheaper Chinese car parts couldn’t evade U.S. tariffs. USMCA automotive and dairy sector changes weren’t insignificant but they didn’t fundamentally alter the North American market. Since the deal maintains Mexican access to the U.S. and Canadian markets, Mexico’s long-term international economic position could improve. The space is there for Mexico to competitively manufacture many products China makes. At some point, that cuts Chinese cash for weapons. Mexico and Canada know China is anything but a friend, and the USMCA demonstrates that. Both nations will support U.S. demands that China respect intellectual property rights and pay royalties instead of committing intellectual property theft. China’s unreliable legal system already makes it risky place to invest. Increasing Chinese production costs increases investment risks. OK, car prices in the U.S. may rise slightly. But all of these factors impede China’s ability to make war and bully its neighbors.
209 BUSINESS JOURNAL
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BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS In 2017, ecommerce sales jumped
Sales will remain solid, with a continuing trend toward ecommerce.
17.8%,
mobile commerce (m-commerce) sales grew
40%...
…but foot traffic in stores fell
7.5%
AT WORK
Building your business, one square at a time CLIFF ENNICO
Get your business ready for holiday shoppers Make sure your mobile site loads quickly. Conversions fall by 20%
Fri
for every second delay of mobile page load time.
CREATORS SYNDICATE
than necessary — sooner or later, you will get disgruntled and give up. Close your eyes. Picture a sheet of graph paper — the one with all the squares. In your mind’s eye, start filling in each box with the letter “X,” but don’t do it in any particular order; do it randomly. Now visualize that lightning is striking the boxes on your sheet of graph paper, also in random sequence. You can easily see that if you have only a few boxes filled in with the letter “X,” it is highly unlikely that a bolt of lightning will strike one of them. As you fill in more and more boxes, though, the odds improve dramatically until, at the very end of the exercise — with all of the boxes filled in — it is virtually certain that lightning will strike one of them. Marketing your own business is a lot like that exercise. Each day you make a contact, talk to someone on the phone, speak at a local organization meeting, write an article for a local newspaper and so forth, you put an X in a box. Lightning, in the form of business opportunities and referrals, will be striking in your community, and you want to be sure it strikes someone you have marked with an X — someone who will think of you and point the lightning in your direction. Once you have lots of X’s in boxes, you will not have to worry about leads and referrals. I had someone call me only last week who said, “Cliff, I think I’m going to have to hire you as my attorney. I asked three people, none of whom know each other, to recommend a good small-business attorney, and all three of them said you were the go-to guy for this type of work.” Needless to say, over the past 20 years, I have put X’s in just about every box on the sheet of graph paper titled “small-business and entrepreneur support community, southern New England.” If you do buy this franchise, commit yourself to making one marketing contact a day, no matter how busy you are and no matter how distracted you may be by nonbusiness concerns. Success in your own business is a matter of doing something ... every day ... to build that business.
Ask for reviews before the season. 96% of shoppers read
CYBER MONDAY
reviews on retailers’ sites.
Holiday sales cluster around Thanksgiving week
Provide free shipping. 94% of online shoppers
8
use free shipping when available.
7 2017 sales in billions of dollars
“I was laid off from a corporate management job last year. Having decided not to return to corporate America, I have decided to take what little remains of my severance package and buy a franchise. I’ve found a perfect franchise I can operate from my home office. I’ve visited the franchise’s corporate offices, and I love the people. I’ve spoken to lots of the franchise’s franchisees, and they all seem to love what they do. The upfront franchise fee is affordable, and they are actually willing to let me pay it in installments, which I understand franchises don’t normally do. “My problem is a more personal one. I’ve had the franchise agreement in my hands for several weeks now, but I can’t seem to bring myself to sign the bloody thing. It’s not that I’m nervous about the franchise, but I’m questioning whether I have what it takes to succeed in running my own business. How can I get over this and move forward with my life?” The fact that this franchise is bending over backward to bring you on board is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing that the franchise sees you as such a perfect fit that it’s willing to bend the rules in your favor. It’s a bad thing in that established, successful franchises generally don’t have to be flexible to attract new franchisees. My suspicion is this is an early-stage franchise that has relatively few franchisees, hasn’t fully tested out its model nationwide and does not have coastto-coast name recognition. Even though the franchise will give you lots of support, education and hand-holding, you will not be able to rely upon the franchise name or reputation — it will be up to you to make the franchise successful in your assigned territory. And that is clearly what’s frightening you. There are two little words you should write down and copy onto several Post-it notes. Put them up on your personal computer, your refrigerator door, the bathroom mirror, inside your briefcase and every other place where you are guaranteed to see them at least several times a day: “every day.” Success in your own business does not come overnight. It takes months, if not years, to build a reputation and get your name out there. But if you are not doing something each and every day to reach your goals, it will take much, much longer
Prepare Your Small Business for the Holiday Season
6 5
Offer gift cards.
4
Holiday shoppers buy an average of 4 gift cards, making gift cards the second most-popular gift after clothing.
3 2 1 0
Fri
CYBER MONDAY
Cyber Monday
Black Friday
Thanksgiving
Small Day before Business Thanksgiving Saturday
In 2017, Thanksgiving week revenue was up 33% from 2016.
Need help developing a holiday sales plan? Work with a SCORE mentor today.
www.score.org Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/861193/us-holiday-season-retail-e-commerce-spending-by-online-shopping-day/ https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/3-things-we-already-know-about-the-2018-holiday-shopping-season/ https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/about https://www.emarketer.com/Report/US-Holiday-Shopping-Preview-2018-Reviewing-2017-with-Eye-Toward-This-Season/2002214 https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/11/27/holiday-marketing-stats
In 2017, 43% of Americans shopped or dined at local independently-owned businesses on Small Business Saturday.
In 2017, ecommerce sales jumped
Sales will remain solid, with a continuing trend toward ecommerce.
https://squareup.com/townsquare/9-retail-stats-that-will-help-you-dominate-the-holiday-season https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171116006023/en/Younger-Consumers-Plan-Spend-Holidays https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/nrf-consumer-survey-points-busy-holiday-season-backs-economic-forecast-and https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2017/11/holiday-marketing-stats.html
ONLINE ADVERTISING?
17.8%,
mobile commerce (m-commerce) sales grew
40%...
…but foot traffic in stores fell
7.5%
ADVANCEDMEDIASOLUTIONS.NE T
Get your business ready for holiday shoppers Make sure your mobile site loads quickly. Conversions fall by 20%
.COM
for every second delay of mobile page load time.
FIND US ONLINE
209 CAREERS.COM
Ask for reviews before the season. 96% of shoppers read
reviews on retailers’ sites. where you can read our printed articles and find Provide free shipping. other cool stuff 94% of online shoppers free shipping when in the 209. use available.
Offer gift cards.
Holiday shoppers buy an average of 4 gift cards, making gift cards the
FOR JOB SEEKERS & EMPLOYERS
8
209 BUSINESS JOURNAL
OCTOBER 2018
209 BUSINESS JOURNAL
9
NEWS
Amazon Announces Second Stockton Fulfillment Center Dental event to help area residents
Facilities will bring more than 2,000 full-time jobs STAFF REPORTS 209 Business Journal
Amazon.com, Inc. has announced plans to open its second large-scale facility in Stockton. The new fulfillment center will create more than 1,000 fulltime jobs with competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package including healthcare, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one. Other Amazon fulfillment facilities in Central and Northern California are located in Fresno, Newark, Patterson, Sacramento, Tracy and Vacaville. Amazon has created more than 39,000 jobs in California and since 2011 invested over $19 billion in the state, including infrastructure and compensation to its employees. “Since we first began operating in California six years ago, we have found a network of support from community leaders, a dedicated workforce and
fantastic customers,” said Mark Stewart, Vice President of Amazon’s North America Operations. “We’re excited to expand in Stockton and develop our employees through on-the-job skills training and through our Career Choice program, which hundreds of Amazonian Californians have used to go back to school.” Amazon estimates that its direct investments in California contributed an additional $15 billion to the state’s economy from 2011-2017 and generated an additional 50,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s direct hires. There are also more than 175,000 small and medium-sized businesses in California growing their businesses with Amazon, and the state was named #2 on Amazon’s list of Top 10 Entrepreneurial States with the most small and medium-sized businesses per capita selling on Amazon.
“Stockton is a city with great momentum, and we’ve made jobs and economic development top priority,” said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs. “I am excited about connecting our local workforce with the 1,000 jobs and investment Amazon is bringing to our community.” Employees at the 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship items to customers such as patio furniture, bikes, outdoor equipment and rugs. “We are thrilled that Amazon has selected Stockton for a second major location in our city,” said Micah Runner, Economic Development Director for Stockton. “Amazon, along with many others, are finding Stockton as the right place to locate their business, further evidenced by the decision to invest in our community once again.”
STAFF REPORTS 209 Business Journal
The California Dental Association Foundation will hold their annual CDA Cares in Modesto on Oct. 26 and 27. The purpose of CDA Cares is to educate the public and policymakers about the importance of oral health and the need for an adequately funded dental safety net in California. The state eliminated funding for adult Denti-Cal services from the budget for many years and only now has recently reinstated the program, which is still
COSTUME
FROM PAGE 4
trap the spirits, and anyone familiar with horror films knows that when a spiritual guru opines, you had better abide. The spectral activity here is so common, Walters says, that it’s simply become a part of life here. But despite that, there is still a business to run. In a tall glass case is a new ad-
chronically underfunded. As a result, people have difficulty accessing care and suffer from dental disease that could be avoided with preventive care. At each CDA Cares, the volunteers typically treat about 1,900 patients and provide over a million dollars in donated dental care during the two-day event. Dentists from across California, dental team members, other health care providers and community volunteers come together to provide donated basic care of extractions, fillings, cleanings, limited dentures and partial
dentures, and limited root canals on front teeth. Patients are not asked to prove need nor do they require identification to be treated. To ensure the success of Modesto’s CDA Cares event, the organization needs about 1,500 volunteers. In addition to dentists and health care professionals, they need community volunteers to assist with things like registration, guiding patients, interpreting, clinic setup, data entry and more. To register, visit cdafoundation.org/modesto.
dition to the store called “oddities,” courtesy of an artist she met at a convention. It’s full of assorted sea creatures and small animals done in the style of taxidermy. Only, these aren’t stuffed. They’re designed so guests can see a sort of fossilized version of say, a pig fetus, or a turtle, or an octopus. Back in the store, the masks of clowns, demons, and twisted animal faces await. And, if guests need a
make-up job for any occasion, Eva, who Walters jokingly calls “the paranormal advisor,” can fix them up. Whether guests want to check out a signed Linda Blair head (the signature is just below the dribbled pea soup), or if they need Halloween goods, a corroded zombie face, a fossilized octopus, or if they’re a skeptic who wants to test the paranormal, Walters is ready to welcome them in.
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209 BUSINESS JOURNAL
10
OCTOBER 2018
NEWS
Tesla tripling operations in Lathrop BY JASON CAMPBELL 209 Business Journal
Less than five years after Tesla, the popular electric car manufacturer acquired a 431,000-square-foot facility that had previously been used to distribute car parts for Chrysler to serve as a remote manufacturing facility for its mass production Model 3, the Palo Alto-based company is awaiting completion of an 870,000-square-foot building being constructed on a parcel that was previously parking for the Pilkington glass plant campus. While the exact nature of the building and what it will be used for has not yet been disclosed by the secretive company, the ownership group that acquired the shuttered glass plant on Louise Avenue confirmed that a portion of the property had been sold to developer Buzz Oates for construction of the new building – which is currently underway. The site is just down the street from Tesla’s existing building, which fronts Harlan Road and Inter-
state 5, and is located in the rear of the former glass plant building that will be the new Northern California distribution facility for Kraft Heinz. According to Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal, who remembers the media blitz that came when the city announced that Tesla had acquired their initial property, just having the closely-followed tech giant operating within the city limits is good for business and helps raise the city’s profile to attract other businesses as well. “Within hours we were getting phone calls from major newspapers across the country that wanted to know about Tesla and they wanted to know about Lathrop,” Dhaliwal said of the initial announcement in 2014. “We’re proud that they want to do business here in Lathrop, and that’s a good thing for the city – that means additional revenue and even more jobs. “I have friends that used to commute to Fremont to work for Tesla, and they’ve been able to transfer to
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Tesla is expanding their footprint in Lathrop to about three times the current size.
Lathrop which means that they’re spending more time at home with their families – this is a very good thing for the City of Lathrop.” And Tesla has already been making good use of available space in Lathrop, using the vacant blacktop at the shuttered glass plant to temporarily store vehicles that it manufactures at the old New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont – which was known colloquially as
NUMMI – before it ships them off to customers and retail stores across the country. According to a Business Insider article, it is believed that several thousand of the popular electric cars are sitting on the blacktop in Lathrop, and just as many in a similar location in Burbank in Southern California. “We use Lathrop as a loading hub for cars being shipped to other locations for delivery to customers,”
Business Insider reported a Tesla spokesperson stating. “As our deliveries increase, we’re obviously going to have more cars there.” That means per capita, given the city’s population of 24,000, there are more Teslas in Lathrop than anywhere else on the planet. Fremont, where the Tesla assembly line is located, has 233,126 residents while Burbank has 105,000 residents. And even the new building the company will soon
occupy has a link to the massive facility in Fremont that the company acquired after the joint effort between Toyota and General Motors shut down. The glass plant site of which the soon-to-becompleted building will sit on used to produce auto glass for both Toyota and GM vehicles produced at the former NUMMI plant, and its closure severely impacted production at the Lathrop facility until its closure in 2013.
THE COMMUNITY THAT GROWS TOGETHER, THRIVES TOGETHER. At Kaiser Permanente, we don’t see health as an industry. We see it as a cause. That’s why we’re excited to be a part of the Central Valley. Our doors, hearts and minds are always open to help every last one of you thrive. Learn more at kp.org/centralvalley.
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ACCOLADES
PROMOTIONS, APPOINTMENTS, HONORS, ETC. Sweeny Youmaran joins BAC Community Bank as Relationship Manager
Family owned and locally managed BAC Community Bank is pleased to announce that Sweeny Youmaran has joined the Bank as Relationship Manager. Youmaran has a Communications degree and has worked in the financial services industry for over 8 years. Her managerial experience includes both consumer and business banking, with a focus on consumer lines of credit and small business lending. These strengths will be utilized as Youmaran will be assisting both consumer and small business loan applicants, as well as existing customers. Youmaran will be working primarily from the BAC Community Bank office located at 517 East Weber Avenue in Stockton and can be reached by telephone at (209) 373-2531 or by email at sweeny.youmaran@bankbac.com.
Realtor, wife donate laptops to Boys & Girls
Monique of REeBroker Realty on Cherry Lane in Manteca. Waterford has funded the computer program through two non-profit organizations and his REeBroker Real Estate firm in Manteca through proceeds from his real estate sales. He said learning computer concepts early on in life through the Boys & Girls Club is about elevating a youngster and making sure they will be successful in life and have the potential to earn robust salaries after they graduate from college.
Winders new leader of Small Ten laptop computers were donat- Business Development Center
ed to the Manteca’s Boys & Girls Club thanks to T.J. Waterford and his wife
Katy Winders was named the new Director of the Valley Sierra Small
Business Development Center. Winders started at the VSSBDC in 2015 as the organization’s Assistant Director. Her predecessor, Kurt Clark, served as VSSBDC’s Director for 15 years but was recently selected as the Regional SBDC Director for Central California. Winders, a former entrepreneur with a background in business finance, has helped transform the VSSBDC with her efforts in conception and oversight of the Business Women’s Symposium and highly sought-after QuickBooks trainings. David White, the Chief Executive Officer of Opportunity Stanislaus, was on the interview panel for the Director position. “While we are sad to say goodbye to Kurt Clark who has been such a steady, influential leader at the SBDC for so many years, Katy will fill in and not miss a beat,” said White. “She is a proven leader who is very respected by the business community.” Clark, who served in an interim capacity for his new position for several months, expressed excitement over Winders’ promotion. “Katy has excelled in her role as Assistant Director for the past few years,” Clark said. “She is highly qualified and will continue to excel in her new position as Valley Si-
erra SBDC Director, providing expert guidance and training to businesses served by our region.” Winders has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from California State University, Long Beach and has continued to build on her foundational knowledge. Warren Kirk, Chief Executive Officer of Tenet Healthcare’s Central Valley region and President of the Board of Opportunity Stanislaus said, “Katy embodies everything we are trying to do at Opportunity Stanislaus, which is support businesses with the resources and information necessary to grow and flourish. We are confident her leadership will be an asset as we continue to make good on our promises to local business.” In 2017, Winders was named the top SBDC professional in Central California. Winders’ new position is effective immediately. Hosted by Opportunity Stanislaus, the VSSBDC promotes the development, growth and success of small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs throughout Stanislaus, Merced, Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties, thereby enhancing individual, family, community and regional prosperity.
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