text: Costner will host the premiere of “Swing Vote” in Ventura on July 26 with the first public event at Watermark, a high-end restaurant and bar at Chestnut and Main streets. The grand opening is Aug 2.
  “It’s a little bit of Beverly Hills and a little bit of Las Vegas wrapped into one,” said Rob Edwards, Downtown Ventura Organization executive director.
  The restaurant resides in the restored Groene Building, which was built in 1928. Property owner and music manager Mark Hartley has completed nine other restoration projects in downtown Ventura, but this one offers something new.
  “I think there’s a void for a high-end restaurant in this part of the country. I don’t see any serious contenders, except of course Santa Barbara and the west San Fernando Valley,” Hartley said.
  “We have a very unique building and a very unique classic landmark. It will pull people off [Highway] 101.”
  Downstairs, the restaurant retains some of the building’s original flavor from 1928. Interior designer Kathleen Coady ensured that the Norman Kennedy murals of historic Ventura were restored. Managing Partner Jim Rice said the mural artwork would also be replicated on the restaurant’s house wine labels.
  The Watermark has African mahogany cabinetry, a wrap-around bar of gold onyx lit from below, travertine marble floors and an 80-year-old mirror with a hand-carved gilt baroque frame.
  Giving a tour, Rice listed every artistic touch. “Details in the bathroom are as important as anywhere else,” he said. “That’s where people spend a lot of time looking around.” He pointed out mother-of-pearl inserted between the tiles and solid bronze sinks.
  A vault, which once served a bank that was once in the building, will be home to the restaurant’s most rare and expensive liquors. A private seating area that Rice called the “wine loft” overlooks the main dining area from the mezzanine. It’s only separated from the restaurant’s first floor by an intricate wrought-iron railing, but has a fireplace and table for 12 people intended to give it a more intimate feel.
  The building’s third floor didn’t exist when the project began. Architect Marc Whitman and contractor Peter Livingston couldn’t simply add on to the top of the building. To protect its original structure, they built a hefty steel framework from which the third floor is suspended.
  From the outside, the third floor matches the Spanish Colonial revival and zig-zag modern styles but inside, the third floor is a complete departure from what’s below.
  Rice said that H2O, the rooftop bar, will have space for dancing, eating, drinking, watching the big game or having a private party. One private area, a potential cigar lounge, seats 16 and includes a large TV.
  The building has a few TVs, an extensive sound system, more than a dozen security cameras and a few Web cameras. “This place is wired like the Pentagon,” Rice said.
  The rooftop is retractable, providing an outdoor lunch spot in good weather with views toward the city, ocean and mountains. If guests look around inside H2O, they’ll have an eclectic mix of artwork to view and a jellyfish tank.
  Visitors can pull right up to the curb because The Watermark will have downtown Ventura’s only valet parking. It will also have a dress code.
  The kitchen will contract with area fisherman, buy mostly local vegetables and maintain an herb garden on a neighboring roof.
  Entrée prices will have a broad range. Rice said some would be available for less than $20 and some for more than $50.
  Hartley hasn’t revealed all his plans for the restaurant’s grand opening, but he hinted that there would be “high-level entertainment.” Hartley is the co-owner of the Fitzgerald Hartley company, which manages musical artists Brad Paisley, Colbie Caillat, Leann Rimes, Vince Gill, Robert Cray and others.
  He also didn’t disclose the total bill for the restoration. “Let’s put it this way – a couple of large ones,” he said, adding that his big commitment has kept him occupied. “I’m involved in every decision as it relates to food and plates and forks. I spent two years of my life designing this restaurant and putting the pieces together.”
  By Marlize van Romburgh / Thursday, September 15th, 2011 / Comments Off on Ventura County’s recovery, by the numbers
  More than 3,000 private-sector jobs have been created in Ventura County over the last year, according to economists with the California Economic Forecast.
  The private sector is leading job-growth, anemic as it is, in Ventura County. More than 3,000 private-sector jobs have been created in the county over the last year, according to economists with the California Economic Forecast, which presented its twice-annual economic forecast for the county in Westlake Village on Sept. 8.
  “The good news is, we don’t expect any relapse of the recession,” said Mark Schniepp, director of the Santa Barbara-based California Economic Forecast. “The bad news is, this is the recovery.”
  Ventura County’s unemployment rate reached its peak in January 2010, topping out at 11.3 percent. Since then, it’s slowly inched down, although it spiked back up to 10.7 percent in July.
  Job gains in the county for the remainder of 2011 will be moderate, Schniepp said, but are expected to be stronger by the first quarter of next year. “Job acceleration is long overdue,” he said. Thus far, the county’s professional services, manufacturing and leisure industries — adding 1,300, 1,100 and 1,000 jobs each, respectively— have led private-sector job growth.
  As California continues to struggle with its state budget, government jobs are now the largest impediment to the labor market’s recovery, the forecast said.
  Some bright spots in the outlook: Holiday spending this year is expected to be high, as consumers have been diligently stashing away cash savings for the past several years.
  Corporate profits and expenditures are at all-time highs, and the county’s health care services remain in high demand.
  California’s tourism industry has come roaring back, and retail and professional services are expected to follow. The recovery “comes down to the psyche of businesses and consumers,” who have money to spend, Schniepp said.
  Another hint of better things to come: Staffing services employment is way up compared to last year, and that often precedes permanent hiring, according to the forecasters.
  While the events leading up to the recession were the result of the collapse of the U.S. credit system, “the problem here is simply the collapse of confidence,” Schniepp said.
  The stock market is jittery from continued aftershocks, consumers are unwilling to spend until the job-market shows some strong recovery, and businesses are in turn waiting for consumers to start buying again.
  Still, Schniepp said, government stimulus has done all it can. “Governments needs to demonstrate some fiscal restraint, they need to provide credible stimulus plans, which they’re probably not capable of doing, or they need to let the private sector do it and get out of the way.”
  Out of the 28 metropolitan statistical areas in California, Ventura County ranks 13th in terms of non-farm employment growth over the last 12 months. Population growth in the county did slow down this year, growing at just under 0.8 percent. But Schniepp’s team predicted that net migration — and overall population gains — will continue to rise, leveling off in 2016.
  Between 2000 and 2010, Oxnard was the fastest-growing city in the county, growing by 39 percent. Simi Valley followed, at 18 percent. Those two cities are expected to remain the fastest-growing cities in the county over the next five years.
  Op/ed: How to protect a loved one from financial fraud and elder abuse | Pacific Coast Business Times
  By Guest commentary / Friday, July 5th, 2013 / Comments Off on Op/ed: How to protect a loved one from financial fraud and elder abuse
  Baby boomers increasingly are facing the difficult task of protecting aging parents from financial fraud, scams and undue influence.
  This problem continues to grow as extended life expectancies contribute to a larger aging population. Already, one out of five Americans over the age of 65 has been the victim of a financial scam, according to the Investor Protection Trust. And experts say senior financial abuse is getting worse.
  The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) broadly defines senior financial exploitation as “the illegal or improper use of an elder’s funds, property or assets.” The problem is easy to underestimate because, for every known case of elder financial abuse, research shows that four to five cases aren’t reported. Victims are often ashamed, fearful of losing their independence, intimidated by the perpetrator or simply lack awareness that a crime occurred. Even when elder fraud is reported, the circumstances may be too murky and the senior’s memory of the facts too sketchy to bring successful prosecution.
  The financial loss of victims of elder financial abuse is estimated to be a staggering $2.9 billion annually. All senior citizens, regardless of wealth, are at risk, but wealthy individuals are prime targets. According to one study, women are twice as likely to be victims of elder financial abuse because most victims live alone and women generally live longer than men. Isolation and loneliness are common risk factors.
  Common perpetrators are caregivers, family members and trusted professionals. So, elder financial abuse can be difficult to detect. Ideally, seniors should be surrounded by a protective team. Proactive families nurture protective relationships and introduce the members of their team to each other. For example, many seniors introduce their children, power-of-attorney designee, successor trustee, caretakers, tax advisor, and/or wealth advisor to each other. Seniors will not only benefit from coordinated services, but the team’s checks-and-balances will also contribute to their protection.
  To address privacy restrictions, professionals on the team must be given written authorization to communicate with each other.
  The red flags of financial abuse can be subtle and it is important that team members are comfortable sharing with each other little signs that could easily be dismissed.
  • Clients’ inability to access their financial records (no longer coming in the mail, changed password, etc.).
  • Unusual activity in bank accounts, e.g., sudden withdrawals of large sums, withdrawals from automated banking machines when the elder is homebound, online transactions if the senior has no computer.
  • Changes in a power of attorney from a long-time friend or family member to a person new to the situation.
  Additional red flags and general information can be found by doing Internet searches for California Adult Protection Services, National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and National Center on Elder Abuse.
  The best intentions of protective baby-boomers can be met with resistance from their aging parents. If you experience some typical push-back, I highly recommend communication resources from David Solie, an author, speaker and expert on the subject (www.davidsolie.com).
  Finally, should you have to report concerns of elder financial abuse, don’t hesitate to contact Adult Protection Services in the county where you live. When it comes to elder financial abuse, the unthinkable is more common than we think.
  • Jean-Luc Bourdon is a certified public accountant and a a wealth advisor and principal with BrightPath Wealth Planning, LLC in Santa Barbara, Camarillo and Westlake Village. He serves on the Personal Financial Specialist Credential Committee and task forces of the Personal Financial Planning Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs. He is the personal financial planning chair for the Channel Counties Chapter of the California Society of CPAs. Contact him at [email protected]
  By Henry Dubroff / Friday, July 21st, 2017 / Comments Off on Dubroff: Leadership needed to solve downtown Santa Barbara’s woes
  From a casual chat with friends in Ventura, to a breakfast talk at East Beach Grill, to dinner on the patio at Brent’s Deli in Westlake, to more formal conversations with retail and banking experts, the same issue keeps popping up.
  Right now the city and the waterfront are filled with tourists and it has the appearance of a typical beach town in a typical summer. But storefronts increasingly are vacant, vagrants are as aggressive as ever in demanding money and there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight.
  Downtown Santa Barbara, as the downtown organization is called, attempted to raise some red flags with a recently released retail study that seems to have gotten little political traction. It has correctly diagnosed part of the problem — failure to replace redevelopment money seized by the state that could be used to fund street maintenance and clean sidewalks, remove benches and just make the place look and feel classy again.
  Outgoing Mayor Helene Schneider has bet much of her legacy on a proposed one cent sales tax increase to fund roads and infrastructure, but that will not necessarily replace the millions in missing RDA money.
  The bottom line is that there is a leadership gap when it comes to creating a long-term future for Santa Barbara’s downtown.
  Perhaps the gap will be filled somewhat when a new mayor takes over, but people I’ve been talking to are suggesting it would be wrong to hold your breath.
  “This is the first time in more than 30 years that I’m worried about whether Santa Barbara can come back,” said veteran commercial real estate broker Steve Leider. That’s a view echoed by a longtime retail store department manager who is now in the health care field.
  The retail disruption at the hands of Amazon that claimed the Macy’s store, a gaping vacancy in the heart of the roughly 15-block long State Street shopping district, has been well documented. The ownership structure of the Macy’s site is sufficiently complex that no easy solution appears to be at hand.
  The automatic raises built into California’s eventual $15 per hour minimum wage are giving a lot of restaurant owners a reason to exit their full-priced eateries, which will no longer pencil out and allow them to make a living — especially when rents, food prices and other costs are going up.
  Many of the folks I’ve talked to over the past few months are content to shrug their shoulders and suggest things will just turn around on their own. But one thing that hasn’t been factored into the equation is a lack of leadership and rising competition from other cities nearby. Ventura’s story tells a bit of both.
  Under a series of leaders, notably former mayor and current councilwoman Cheryl Heitmann, the city took a strong stand against aggressive vagrants and it used money from newly installed parking meters to hire street “ambassadors” and extra patrols. The vagrant situation has eased and the city has begun attracting more young singles and working professionals. It doesn’t have the theaters and night life of Santa Barbara but it is gaining steam.
  Likewise, San Luis Obispo is moving steadily to address a chronic housing shortage and it is reinventing retail with more brew pubs and specialized stores that can pencil out at higher rents. It also has an active startup scene with the HotHouse spawning new businesses of all sorts.
  Santa Barbara still has its 11 million tourists and startup workspaces such as Impact Hub. But that core of innovative leadership has not yet emerged to lead the city to a bolder and more attractive mix of retail, restaurants and housing that’s so badly needed.
  Diversity is a great strength of our regional economy and the Business Times tries not to be too Santa Barbara centric in its approach to coverage. But we also think we have a responsibility to tell it like it is.
  By Staff Report / Thursday, July 27th, 2017 / Comments Off on Sienna stock soars after $65 million IPO
  Westlake Village biotechnology company Sienna Biopharmaceuticals closed with a big gain after it raised $65 million in its initial public offering July 27.
  Sienna priced the 4.33 million shares it offered at $15. Shares had reached $21 around noon before ending at $19.25, a 28.3 percent premium on its opening price.
  The company operates in the dermatology sector and hopes to offer “very safe, targeted topical therapies,” moving away from systemic therapies to reduce side effects for patients, CEO Frederick Beddingfield told the Business Times.
  “That’s an area where we really see a gap in the space,” he said, adding that they hope to strike “that right risk-benefit balance. By being able to treat the skin locally where the problem is without those other systemic problems, that allows us to solve that gap.”
  Sienna has five clinical trials in progress for products to treat things like acne, psoriasis and other inflammatory skin diseases. Funds will help get them through “significant data points” on their trial therapies, Beddingfield said, with pivotal trial data expected in the second half of 2018 and a product on the market a year later.
  “We’re excited with this IPO to now begin to fund these five clinical stage programs,” he said. “That’s a lot for any company to run at one time and why they decided to bring it into the public space.”
  The team includes members from some of the veteran biotech companies in the region, including Amgen, Kythera and Allergan, but as the space sees more merger and acquisition activity, a smaller company will be better able to focus on the dermatology sector, he said.
  “The guiding principle of the company has been to move with insane urgency. We have no intention of backing off now … You can’t imagine this process until you get into it, but it’s been exciting and fun and a good return for our shareholders. And eventually it will help us get good products out there to patients.”
  If you were involved in an accident with a large truck, you may have been seriously injured. Truck accidents have the potential to cause life-altering or even fatal injuries, and a victim may be left experiencing emotional trauma as well. At Pacific Attorney Group, we strive to seek maximum financial compensation for our clients because we understand just how serious truck accident injuries can be. We realize that recovering money for medical care, ongoing treatment, physical therapy, lost earnings, medication and any other expenses or losses can make all the difference as a victim attempts to recover physically, emotionally and financially.
  A Los Angeles truck accident attorneys at our firm may be able to help if you or a loved one have experienced any of the following types of injuries, or any others caused by a collision with a commercial truck:
  These injuries may range in severity depending on the force of impact, whether the victim was wearing a seatbelt, the position of impact, the crashworthiness of the victim’s vehicle and other factors. A victim may need to be hospitalized and may remain in the hospital for some time. Others may require emergency medical care but will be able to return home to recover. Some victims may experience injuries that will leave them permanently disabled and unable to work or participate in activities they once enjoyed.
  Truck accident injuries have the potential to be extremely severe because of the disparity in size and weight between a large truck and a smaller vehicle. This disparity is even greater between a large truck and a pedestrian, bicycle rider or motorcyclist. In a collision, both objects will experience the same force of impact, but this force will have more of an effect on a smaller object. Though the larger object may experience little or no damage, the smaller object may be severely impacted and may even be completely crushed. The size disparity also may mean that the truck bed will collide with the upper half of a smaller vehicle, shearing it off or collapsing it in on occupants.
  Truck accident statistics support this theory. According to nationwide traffic accident statistics from 2011 presented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), occupants of other vehicles and non-occupants (like pedestrians or bicyclists) accounted for a staggering 93% of multi-vehicle truck accident fatalities. Truck drivers accounted for only 7%. Occupants of other vehicles and non-occupants accounted for 81.5% of all multi-vehicle truck accident injuries that same year.
  Because truck accident injuries can have such an impact on a victim, it is important to ensure that any settlement or award actually covers any and all expenses, injuries and losses that the victim has experienced and may experience in the future. This is why the involvement of a knowledgeable legal professional can make all the difference for a victim and his or her family. Instead of being left vulnerable to unfair settlement offers, delays or even improperly assigned liability, a victim will have an attorney to protect his or her legal rights and interests.
  Take an aggressive and effective approach to your case with a Los Angeles truck accident lawyer from our firm by your side. We have well over three decades of combined experience and are ready to see how we can help you. Call today!