U.S., Local Officials Seek Buyers for Price Pfister Foundry

A team of federal and local elected officials sent off letters this week to about 300 foundry owners worldwide in an effort to find investors or a buyer for the idled Price Pfister foundry, where scores of workers have been laid off this year.

The letter--which touts tax credits, financing assistance and other incentives of investing in the area--was signed by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who acknowledged that trying to market the Pacoima foundry by mail will be a challenge.

“It’s going to be tough,” Alarcon said. “I don’t want to make it seem like just because there is a letter, that somebody is going to automatically invest.

“On the other hand, I think the letter is a good example that government officials of all levels are working together to stimulate business investment.”

So far, at least 232 workers have been laid off from the Pacoima plant since the company decided to shift jobs to a site in Mexico. To market the site, the letter describes the facilities available at the foundry--which now has a caretaker crew but is scheduled to close Jan. 31--as well as a laundry list of other incentives.

“A potential investor or buyer of the foundry can qualify for millions of dollars of financial assistance, tax credits, reduced power rates and other incentives that are unique to a new or expanding business,” the letter states. “In addition, the foundry has excellent access to major freeways and transportation corridors and is adjacent to Van Nuys and Glendale / Burbank airports.”

The letter was drawn up by a self-described “red team,” composed of government officials, union representatives and workers that Alarcon convened in October to cut through governmental red tape in an effort to save jobs at the foundry and assist workers who have been laid off. At the same time, the team has been trying to find a buyer or investor to take over the foundry and rehire workers.

Alarcon said last week that he met with potential investors who are considering acquiring or leasing the Pacoima site. He declined to identify them.

Alarcon added that while Black & Decker, which owns Price Pfister, marketed the foundry for a year before the scheduled closure, the company did not factor in the red team or the benefits that a potential buyer could reap because the site is in a federal empowerment zone.

Alarcon’s and Riordan’s offices are putting together a 30-page marketing portfolio that will promote these advantages.

Felix Hernandez, a Washington, D.C.--based organizer for the Teamsters Union--which has taken up the cause of the Price Pfister employees--said that while he commends the efforts of the red team, he believes attention should be focused on the hundreds of workers who the company has been laying off since early this year.

“Everything the city and the red team is doing is all good stuff and I’m not knocking it,” Hernandez said. “But they’ve kind of lost touch with the human side of this whole struggle.”

Hernandez said many of the workers have been unable to buy gifts for their families this Christmas and that food donations have been solicited on their behalf. The workers were scheduled to hold a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening outside the foundry.

“There are a lot of children out there who are unfortunately suffering because everybody is playing politics,” Hernandez said.