The City of Anaheim has been getting the sort of publicity that any overseer of a center of tourism wants to avoid like the plague, with protests over recent fatal shootings by police officers drawing attention everywhere from the Associated Press to Fox News. That’s been overlaid by recent questions about its political landscape, where all five members of the City Council are elected at large, a structure some see as an unfair shake on representation for residents—including those in the mostly Hispanic neighborhoods where tensions with the police have risen. Another recent point of contention is breaks on bed taxes for hotel developers, a hot-button in the wake of a 15-year, $158 million waiver the city granted for a pair of four-star establishments proposed at the GardenWalk retail center. Anyone else connect the dots on reports that Walt Disney Co. is considering the possibility of a third gated park across the street from GardenWalk? The breaks on bed taxes at GardenWalk were a done deal before the Business Journal’s July 23 story about the potential for a new gate in Anaheim. They’d likely be a much tougher sell now that the possibility has surfaced. Some residents of Anaheim want to make sure any future breaks on bed taxes will be a very tough sell. A proposal to require ballot measures on such deals was on the agenda for the City Council last week. That got delayed in the face of the protests over police shootings (see story, page 7) …
O Canada: Consul General of Canada David Fransen dropped by the Business Journal last week between a meeting with Assemblymember Don Wagner and a California Canada Business Council luncheon at the Island Hotel. Fransen wants to get companies here to participate in an effort by Washington and Ottowa to reduce red tape for businesses working across borders. One key area: The FDA and its counterpart up north, called Health Canada. Fransen said companies in OC’s medical device sector are welcome to give their views of how the two agencies could get in closer sync on market approvals …
O Canada II: Microsemi boss Jim Peterson had a lot to handle on his company’s $633 million hostile takeover of Ottawa-based Zarlink earlier this year. Turns out it was more than generally reported on this side of the border. Canada at the time had a law that called for extra regulatory scrutiny of any acquisitions of companies there that topped $300 million. The Canadian government recently raised the threshold to $1 billion, but that came after Microsemi completed its deal. Microsemi managed in any case, likely because it committed to keeping much of Zarlink’s operations in Canada intact, Fransen said …
Hot Time: Chairman Tom Rogers had to do some improvising as he showed Plaza Bank’s soon-to-be new headquarters at Irvine Towers to board members last month. The visit coincided with a fire at Prego, which sent plumes of smoke into the air over the restaurant and the rest of the normally quiet office campus—and drew a slew of fire trucks. The bank is undeterred, and expects to move into nearly 19,000 square feet in November.
