Growing Pains

By KAREN KAPLAN

July 13, 1998 12 AM PT

The Tech Coast Alliance, a for-profit group that hopes to strengthen Southern California’s high-tech industries by fostering a feeling of unity, has outgrown its original space in the offices of DeltaNet, an Internet service provider in Anaheim. Chip Parker, the Alliance’s chairman and chief executive, sent an e-mail last month looking for leads on office space in Newport Beach, Irvine or Costa Mesa.

But not all of the message’s 234 recipients were happy to hear from Parker. Lee Harrington, president and chief executive of the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County and one of the key organizers of a separate movement to boost the Southland’s tech sector, responded via e-mail to Parker’s request with a curt, “Who cares?”

Technology and the Internet

Karen Kaplan

Karen Kaplan covers science and medical research for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a member of the science team since 2005, including 13 years as an editor. Her first decade at The Times was spent covering technology in the Business section as both a reporter and editor. She grew up in San Diego and is a graduate of MIT and Columbia University.

Growing Pains

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