3 Cities Pool Their Funds in Project to Create Future High-Tech Jobs
A $50,000 combined investment from Burbank, Pasadena and Glendale in Project California could potentially reap high dividends of good-paying, high-technology transportation and telecommunications jobs for the cities, business and government leaders say.
At least, they add, the effort could give the three cities a fighting chance in a tough economy.
“I don’t want anybody to think there’s going to be all of these sudden high-tech jobs,” Burbank Councilman Thomas Flavin said. “First of all, there’s a lot of global competition. But we’re going to be in that competition.”
Project California, a collaborative private-public effort to redirect aerospace and defense resources into new industries, was launched last June. With the $50,000 applied through the Tri-Cities Transportation Coalition, Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena in March became the first municipalities to join the effort.
Forty-five other investors, including major companies, banks, transportation districts, utilities and labor organizations, have pledged $2.4 million to the project.
“It’s a grass-roots effort working from the bottom up to make things happen,” said Zoe Taylor, executive director of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Tri-Cities Transportation Coalition’s executive committee.
Burbank has a unique interest in Project California because it is the home for Calstart, another sort of private-public partnership geared toward using aerospace technology in the development of parts for electric cars. But all three cities also have a combined interest in electric transportation, telecommunications, and fuel research and development, which are some of the areas that Project California is focusing on.
In 1989, Lockheed Corp. announced it was pulling most of its operation out of Burbank, a move which cost the city 15,000 jobs. Flavin and other supporters said they hope that by working with Project California, the city might be able to eventually build up an employment base.
