Chances that Gov. Schwarzenegger will succeed in selling the OC Fair & Event Center to help put a small dent in the state’s gaping budget deficit are shrinking faster than a wad of cotton candy. Vociferous protests in favor of the status quo, spearheaded by equestrians, swap-meet operators the Teller family and Costa Mesa residents opposed to any development on the 150-acre property, have discouraged a fledgling effort by a group of fair board members to purchase the site. Dale Dykema, a fair director also serving on the foundation board set up to make a bid, says he would be “very surprised” if that happens now. With Costa Mesa officials (and Assemblyman Van Tran) vowing to maintain zoning restrictions and a potential city ballot referendum looming, Dykema doesn’t see any satisfactory bidders emerging by the January deadline. If there’s no sale, the state will presumably continue to operate the fair since it’s a profit center …
Professor Tom Schwarz was at Oak Creek in Irvine last week playing golf, something not always easy to do this time of year in Michigan. Schwarz drew other comparisons between his stomping ground, where he ran the Family Owned Business Institute and two other centers at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich., and his new home in the Mihaylo B-school at Cal State Fullerton, where he is the first holder of the Rick Muth Family Chair in Family Business. Schwarz notes that Michigan has degenerated from the long-ago “champion of entrepreneurship” to “the poster child of decline and embarrassment.” Eventually, “the only option for businesses is to flee to greener pastures, read Texas.” He sees “the same trend” here. “My primary impression with OC/SoCal/California is one of a great economy under attack. The end isn’t clear, but what is clear is that many businesses have thrown in the towel and are moving out.” But Schwarz says Grand Rapids, unlike Detroit, is “robust and growing and innovative companies are being launched. The same can be said for Orange County, I believe.” Schwarz has a broad perspective—he’s taught around the country and is a visiting professor of entrepreneurship at Athens University in Greece. A tall, sturdy guy who played high school football, Schwarz is also long off the tee …
Schwarz will be at the CSUF-OCBJ Family Owned Business Awards luncheon Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, featuring keynote speaker and Irvine resident Andrew Truett Cathy of Georgia-based family business Chick-fil-A …
Alexis and Jim Bellino of Newport Coast—the new faces on the latest season of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” —throw a “private” party for the wives and about 90 family members and friends Thursday at The Winery at The District in Tustin …
Jim Doti appropriately played Santa Claus at Chapman U’s annual American Celebration, which raised $2.2 million. There were standing O’s for Hollywood greats Mitzi Gaynor (an honoree) and Jerry Lewis (a guest of Paul and Marybelle Musco.)
