Two reports from California institutions shed new light on costs: "Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America's Tort System," issued by the Pacific Research Institute, concludes that "America's out-of-control legal system imposes a staggering economic cost of over $865 billion every year." Equally staggering are the costs associated with living in certain parts of California itself. So says "Life in the Valley Economy 2007," a report issued by San Jose-based Working Partnerships USA. According to the report, Silicon Valley’s challenges include a median home price in Silicon Valley of $790,000, 150,000 fewer jobs than in 2001, a 38-percent rise in home foreclosures in the past year in Santa Clara County, and decline in college enrollment of Santa Clara County high school graduates to below 50 percent for the first time in 20 years.

So, where is it affordable to live in the U.S. BizJournals is glad you asked, as they just published in early March their list of the "Most Affordable Markets to Own a Home," based on factors including housing payment as percent of household income, and median property tax payments, mortgage payments and household income. Below are their Top 20 markets.

1. Augusta-Richmond County, Ga.-S.C.
2. Wichita, Kan.
3. Little Rock-North Little Rock, Ark.
4. Baton Rouge, La.
5. Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.
6. Oklahoma City, Okla.
7. San Antonio, Texas
8. Tulsa, Okla.
9. Syracuse, N.Y.
10. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.
11. Lakeland, Fla.
12. Columbia, S.C.
13. Greenville, S.C.
14. Indianapolis, Ind.
15. Des Moines, Iowa
16. Pittsburgh, Pa.
17. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
18. Knoxville, Tenn.
19. Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.
20. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.
21. Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.
22. Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.
23. El Paso, Texas
24. St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.
25. Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) says not all is lost in the Golden State. In fact, its report released in late March, "Manufacturing in Southern California," reveals that "Orange and Ventura Counties and the Riverside-San Bernardino area all added factory jobs during 2006, which was counter to the national trend," according to Jack Kyser, chief economist, LAEDC. Los Angeles County saw 9,400 factory jobs disappear from 2005 to 2006. Despite this, Los Angeles County was still the nation's number one manufacturing center. Its 2006 manufacturing employment average of 462,300 jobs was well ahead of number two Chicago's average of 390,200 jobs. Detroit remained in third place with 268,800 jobs." The LAEDC report calculated that there were 911,000 manufacturing jobs in Southern California during 2006 (this region is defined as the Los Angeles five-county area plus San Diego County). "This would make the area the nation's third largest manufacturing 'state,' behind California (1,505,000 jobs) and Texas (926,000 jobs)," noted Kyser. For further insights into one IAMC member company’s manufacturing influence in the region, check out the Boeing supplier chart in the Southern California Spotlight published in the March 2007 issue of Site Selection, courtesy of the California Manufacturers & Technology Association.

California’s not too shabby by New Economy measures either, says one source outside the state. The 2007 State New Economy Index, released in late March by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), found Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington and California topping the list of states they say "are leading an economic transformation in adapting to an increasingly global-, knowledge- and innovation-based New Economy." Filling out the Top 10 were Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia, Colorado, and New York. "In order to succeed in the new global economy, states can no longer rely on a strategy of relentlessly driving down costs and providing large incentives to attract locationally mobile branch plants or offices," said Dr. Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and primary author of the Index. "Rather, these states must create an environment that fosters innovation and high skills in order to help fast-growing entrepreneurial firms and innovative existing firms expand."

While not reporting an outright winner, a new study from the Partnership for New York City and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, "Cities of Opportunity: Business-Readiness Indicators for the 21st Century", closely scrutinizes 11 major centers of global commerce according to nine indicators and 32 variables, such as broadband capacity, transportation infrastructure, diversity and working age population. Cities studied include Atlanta, Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Toronto. The nine indicators are cost, intellectual capital, technology IQ and innovation, transportation assets, demographic advantages, financial clout, ease of doing business, lifestyle assets, and safety and security.

"Man working on hull of U.S. Submarine at Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn." By Fenno Jacobs, August 1943 National Archives, General Records of the U.S. Navy, 1789-1947

Visitors to Morrow, Ga., outside Atlanta, through mid-May and to the Kansas City Public Library in Kansas City, Mo., this summer will have a chance to see the exhibit "The Way We Worked," created by the National Archives with the support of the Foundation for the National Archives, and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). As described by the Smithsonian, "spanning the years 1857-1987, the exhibition’s 86 black-and-white and color photographs document, in rich visual detail, American workplaces, work clothing, working conditions, and workplace conflicts. They also reflect a workforce shaped by immigration and ethnicity, slavery and racial segregation, wage labor and technology, gender roles and class, as well as by the American ideals of freedom and equality. Most importantly, these images honor those who built this country-the working men and women of America."

The January survey of U.S. industrial and office market conditions by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), based on data from 419 SIOR designees, found improving real estate markets for the first time in three quarters, with rents rising and leasing concessions "settling in the range of normal negotiating balance." "Leasing activity remained strong, but not overheated," stated the report. "The continued escalation of construction costs meant that the transaction values in the market place were just modestly running ahead of the replacement cost of the facilities. These rising costs are effectively keeping building volumes in check, which in turn is allowing vacancy rates to drop in most industrial and office markets." The industrial sector in particular helped carry the day. "The rent change and vacancy change variables for industrial achieved very strong scores," said SIOR. "Development is close to normal, and enthusiasm for industrial development continues to push site prices higher. Almost two-thirds of the SIOR respondents characterized their areas as a seller’ market for industrial sites."

IAMC member Ron Pollina in March released his annual "Top Ten Pro-Business States" report, with Virginia grabbing the top spot, followed by South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina and Utah. "Virginia has benefited from increased government spending on defense and is pressing to stay aggressive in other industries in order to maintain a diversified economy," said Pollina, president of Chicago-based Pollina Corporate Real Estate, during a press conference held at the International Economic Development Council’s Federal Economic Development Forum in Arlington. "Virginia’s business-friendly tax environment, location, market access, education, and infrastructure are especially enhanced by one of the strongest and most professional state economic development agencies in the nation. The people of Virginia should be very proud of the effort their governor and legislators have made to foster quality job opportunities for them." Pollina also has recently lent his expertise to a recently updated edition of Lease Negotiation Handbook, jointly published by the International Association of Attorneys and Executives in Corporate Real Estate and ALI-ABA. The book, pointedly written in "plain English," was a point of reference during the recent leasing session held at the IAMC Professional Forum on Amelia Island. Its contents include 20 lease forms, a negotiation checklist and coverage of such topics as default and remedies, "Maximizing Tenant Flexibility Through Creative Lease Negotiations" and premises measurement.

Ron Pollina’s Top 10 Pro-Business States:

1. Virginia
2. South Carolina right
3. Florida
4. North Carolina
5. Utah
6. Wyoming
7. South Dakota
8. Alabama
9. Georgia
10. Nebraska