The Weather Alone Won’t Do It : Orange County officials move aggressively to keep Taco Bell headquarters

It was not very long ago that California was creating hundreds of thousands of jobs a year just by being California. An ocean here, a mountain range there, sprinkle in the sunshine, and businesses knocked on the door.

But toward the end of the 1980s, things changed. According to one estimate, in a five-year period nearly 900 plants and 118,000 jobs went elsewhere. Blue-chip firms started to move or to expand in other states. After state and local governments for too long failed to act to stem the outflow, there are signs the message is sinking in.

The Danish toy maker Lego picked the San Diego County community of Carlsbad for its 40-acre, $100-million theme park. Officials from various state and local agencies and businesses formed a “red team” to woo Lego, beating out a competing solicitation from Prince William County in Virginia.

Now, another “red team” is at work in Orange County, trying to persuade Taco Bell Corp. to keep its headquarters in Irvine, or at least in California. Texas, North Carolina and other states are in the hunt, eager to have this white-collar facility and its 1,000 or so good-paying jobs. Taco Bell’s lease does not expire for three years, yet the courting already has begun. Even so, by the time county and state officials contacted the company, other states had made their own pitches.

Orange County was as late as the rest of the state in waking up to corporate flight. Companies and jobs flocked in during the last two decades, and developers put up thousands of buildings to house them. But then the recession came; suddenly, many firms were leaving.

Groups like Partnership 2010, which is a public-private consortium aimed at promoting development, the Orange County Chamber of Commerce and the Industrial League of Orange County fortunately have decided to recruit businesses aggressively and to work hard to keep those already here. State involvement is important, too.

Government must be careful not to give away the store, but it must do what it can to make the business climate more inviting in California.