BIZ BITES
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
FEBRUARY 14, 2008

Pringle addresses city’s future
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle wants to take a page from Disneyland – he envisions a monorail as a connector to a burgeoning public transportation system – as well as businesses that do customer-satisfaction surveys to move the 350,000-resident city continually forward.

Pringle, in his sixth year as mayor of one of Orange County’s most dynamic cities, skirted the dismal economic climate, but missed little else in his annual State of the City Address.

“Every year, Anaheim is reborn,” he said, noting the difficult times in 2007 when a divided council wrestled with a proposed residential project within the Anaheim Resort. He talked about the specifics, such as hiring JD Power and Associates to do a customer-satisfaction survey, as well as anecdotally suggesting any city that moves forward must recruit the “creative class” of workers. “We all have a stake (in the) highly skilled workforce that we need here.”

Pringle said he is hopeful that public-private partnerships will continue to pay for expensive projects – the proposed monorail that would be part of a citywide effort to whisk perhaps millions of passengers annually around high-density areas, such as the Platinum Triangle, Convention Center, Disneyland and the sports parks.

“(We want to attract) the innovators, the inventors, the designers and the thinkers who create the big things,” he told the 800-person audience of business leaders, chamber members, government officials and special guests.

The city celebrated its 150th anniversary last October, and Pringle made a point of noting that cities that stand still, decay: “You can think of Anaheim in many ways – tourist destination, job center, growing cultural hub.”


Gaddi Vasquez on world hunger
Former OC Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez, warmly welcomed by many friends last month among more than 200 guests at an Orange County Forum luncheon, had a sobering message: A child dies of hunger every 5 seconds. He is now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, monitoring from Rome the dollars and products donated by the American government to various worldwide efforts.

“My hope today is to raise your awareness, and how you might be able to contribute…” he told a roomful of business leaders. He was mindful that behind the international debates of where to send food, and how to help, “there are real people…who long to survive.”

Vasquez, former director of the Peace Corps, says his year-old job “has touched me profoundly and…changed me.”

Girl Scout cookie alert: new names
Girl Scout cookie fans won’t be seeing names like Tagalongs, Do-si-dos or Samoas on tables outside grocery stores this year. That’s because the Orange County Girl Scout Council contracted with a new cookie maker – ABC Bakers. An added bonus: A former Girl Scout Council CEO heads the company.

Girl Scout cookie sales is an entrepreneurial program that teaches life skills, such as money saving and business principles. Sales will be held Feb. 29-March 16.

Here’s OC METRO Business Magazine’s handy Girl Scout cookie buyer’s guide:

Thin Mints: This favorite gets to keep its name.

Samoas: If you like this cookie, look for Caramel delites.

Tagalongs: This chocolate covered treat is now simply called Peanut Butter Patties.

Do-si-dos: No more dancing around, this cookie is now called the Peanut Butter Sandwich.

Trefoils: There’s nothing fancy here – just call it Shortbread.

All Abouts: And you can say Thanks-A-Lot for those vanilla sandwich cookies.

New this year: Lemonades, a shortbread cookie with lemon icing; and Cinna-Spins cinnamon cookies, which come in 100-calorie packs.



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