When Amgen announced last year that it planned to cut 14 percent of its workforce, there was much concern that the bioengineers affected by the layoffs would have to travel elsewhere for continued work in the life sciences field. To prevent such an exodus from the Conejo Valley, the BioTech Forum was launched to give those seeking to launch their own biotech ventures an opportunity to do so in a collective of like-minded entrepreneurs called the Gold Coast Bio Center. On Aug. 5, Brent Reinke, cofounder of the BioTech Forum as well as chairman of the Gold Coast Business Forum, announced that an Agoura Hills facility has been secured to serve as a base for the assortment of biotech startups expected to settle there. “We’re pretty confident that by March, April of next year, we could have this up and running with people,” Reinke said. “It was important to come up with a fairly aggressive timeline.” The two-story facility at 29901 Agoura Road was built in 1981, renovated this year and occupies 38,000 square feet. Pre-leasing will begin as soon as Aug. 31. When the center opens its doors, the goal is to have eight to 10 tenants, according to Reinke. Each tenant will be given flexible lease terms,from two to three years. Realty Bancorp Equities will serve as landlord. Poliquin Kellog Design Group is serving as project architect, while ISEC will provide the laboratory equipment and furniture to be used in the facility. “As far as tenant involvement, this is the Cadillac of all facilities,” Reinke said. Doug Jacobsen, a Realty Bancorp Equities principal, agrees. The company has invested $11 million in the center and plans to invest another $5 million. While it owns shopping centers, office centers and industrial buildings, Jacobsen said that the company seeks to “go out and find things that are unique.” He considers the Gold Coast Bio Center to be one of its most unique projects ever. “We believe if we build it, they will come,” Jacobsen said of the facility. “We’re not looking for more of the same. We really want to do something different, and we’re feeling the time is now.” To attract prospective tenants, Gold Coast Bio Center representatives are highlighting what they believe are the facility’s strengths. Namely, the center is striving to provide an environment ideal for biotech startups, including access to a variety of products, services, equipment and building infrastructure. In particular, the facility will have private and common office areas, private and common labs, conference and meeting rooms, a work room, storage, an IT room and more. Equipment and furniture, alike, will be adaptable. For example, there will be mobile instrument carts that allow tenants to move casework into configurations that suit them best. The carts will feature adjustable shelving and flexible, movable suspended cabinets. In addition, overhead panels can open up floor space, allowing furniture and equipment systems to be relocated. There will also be storage for waste, along with sinks with workspace on either side. “We’re really trying to emphasize flexibility here,” Reinke said. “It gives tenants flexibility to change things up.” While Reinke seeks to give tenants the ability to make adjustments, he also wants the center to house a good tenant mix to ensure that it develops a good reputation. That’s because more than a few other such “incubators” have failed. Wayne Davey, who is on the center’s project team and currently serves as vice president of finance at a biotech company in Los Angeles, believes that it will have a different fate. “The reason they fail so much is because they can be everywhere. (Ours) will be life sciences-based,” he said. “You don’t want too creative of a mixture. Though, there is room for diversity in the Life Science tack.” Other elements of the Gold Coast Bio Center that Davey and Reinke are billing as strengths include the fact that, because the center will be home to an assortment of companies, the capital investment to set it up will be reduced. Furthermore, businesses in the facility will have access to biotech contacts at research universities, such as California State University, Channel Islands; the University of Southern California and California Institute of Technology. Businesses may also enjoy industry exposure through the BioTech Forum’s meetings and conferences. The center is also highlighting its advisory services as something from which businesses can benefit. Such services will include management consulting and support; introductions to human capital and investors; and professional services in law, accounting, banking and more. At present, Gold Coast Bio Center is in discussions with professionals said to have a good sense of how such centers operate to serve on three advisory boards: medical, technical and business. “We’re going to put together Class A advisory boards,” Reinke said.

Simi Valley could become the home of Ventura County’s largest Habitat for Humanity housing project. The nonprofit organization has been working with the Affordable Housing Subcommittee of Simi Valley with the hopes of purchasing property on Patricia Avenue to build 10 town homes. Rob Bruce, deputy director of housing and special projects for the city of Simi Valley, said the subcommittee has been discussing the project with Habitat for close to six months. He noted the city’s housing slump has made it easier for nonprofits to buy land. For the full story visit www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/18/landmark-housing-project-set-for-simi/

Throughout his political career Ronald Reagan often used the phrase “a shining city on a hill” to describe the United States and its ideals. In the hills above Simi Valley, that symbolism came to life with a shining library and museum campus bearing Reagan’s name Not merely a museum documenting the life and political career of the 40th president and a depository of documents from his two terms in office, the facility has a higher mission: to bring a slice of Washington, D.C. to Ventura County through discussions on important public policy issues from a slate of bipartisan speakers. From its lofty perch, the library and museum gives an identity to Simi Valley and is a top tourist draw for the city and the region as a whole. The campus hosted approximately 375,000 visitors in the 2007 fiscal year and museum officials expect the same number for the current fiscal year. The visitor numbers have held steady while those at museums and institutions in general have decreased. When the Dallas Morning News took a look in 2006 at attendance numbers at the 11 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, the Reagan Library was one of two showing an increase in attendance from 1999 to 2005. “If we didn’t have this here, we wouldn’t have any tourism,” said Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leigh Nixon. In the San Fernando Valley Convention and Visitors’ Bureau marketing plan, the Reagan Library is paired with Malibu and San Sylmar, a museum in the east Valley that houses the Nethercutt collection of vintage automobiles and antique musical instruments. Reagan’s Hollywood connection ties in well with the Valley and the library is a major destination for visitors to the area, albeit trailing Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, said bureau director Jay Aldrich. The NARA oversees the libraries of all 20th-century presidents starting with Herbert Hoover. Other presidential libraries and museums are operated by private foundations, historical societies, or state governments. Private donations built the $60 million facility honoring Reagan which is the largest of the presidential libraries operated by the National Archives. (The Clinton Library in Little Rock has more materials.) The campus opened in 1991 and expanded in 2005 with the Air Force One Pavilion housing the 707 jet used by Reagan and six other presidents in their travels. The thinking of library officials was that media coverage of the Air Force One exhibit would give up to a 24 month bump in attendance. With that period now past, the library is readying a new marketing campaign and is redesigning its website. “There are people who know about us and now it’s our turn to show what we have so we get people to come visit,” said R. Duke Blackwood, the library’s executive director. The collection The campus is comprised of three parts: the museum on Ronald Reagan containing short films, artifacts from his life and film and political careers, a recreation of the oval office, an exhibit on wife Nancy; the library containing 40 million documents, of which only 10 percent are open to viewing; and the Center for Public Affairs that hosts speaking engagements covering current political and public policy issues. The former president’s grave site is also on the grounds. New to the museum this year is the Discovery Center, an interactive immersion experience about executive decision making in which students play the roles of the president, his senior advisors and the press during the invasion of Grenada in 1983. The center features mockups of the Oval Office, the White House Briefing Room and military command center and 2 & #733;-hours of original video footage. Adults do not take part in the decision making and there are no right or wrong answers for the students to make, Blackwood said. The Discovery Center will be marketed to middle schools within a one-hour drive of the museum and to Boys and Girls Clubs for after-school programs. The museum anticipates hosting about 25,000 students during the upcoming school year. The museum also opens its doors for private events and visits. Bio-tech giant Amgen has hosted holiday parties there, and it was the site of the 2006 gala of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. When the American Association of Airport Executives had a general aviation conference in Van Nuys in May, one evening was set aside for attendees to visit the museum. The roominess of the new pavilion was designed not just for the 707 jet but also to host large events. “That is why it is such a large open area,” Aldrich said. “It was fantastically designed.” Twice during the current presidential campaign the library was used for the Republican candidate debates, with Air Force One as the dramatic background. Blackwood would like to get presumptive nominees Barack Obama and John McCain to the library for a Town Hall meeting. “When they do the opening and closing shots [of the debates], what are they showing? It’s Simi Valley,” Blackwood said. “It’s good marketing for the museum and to the benefit of everybody.” Neither the city nor the museum track tourist spending in Simi Valley, so the exact economic benefit that the campus brings is unknown. Blackwood has only anecdotal evidence of impulse visits to the museum despite its being a bit off the beaten track, recalling overhearing diners who had just visited the museum while having lunch one day at a local restaurant. Hotel desired While the library works with area hotels on packages for museum visitors, the city would like to harness the reputation of the facility to bring in a higher-end hotel. The city even has a spot picked out: a former sheriff’s station on Madera Road at the base of the hill on which the museum sits. Right now the space is used for overflow parking. A five-star hotel is a long-term project the city needs to complete in conjunction with the Reagan Library so that it meets the standards of high profile visitors, said City Manager Mike Sedell. The library’s Blackwood is supportive of any plans for a five-star hotel and that it would be a benefit for the library and the community as a whole. “We have had hotel groups approach us but none brought the proposal we were looking for,” Sedell said. The library’s new marketing plan will focus on two upcoming exhibits neither of which are Reagan-related but instead broaden characteristics and qualities of leadership and decision-making. For instance, an exhibit on Abraham Lincoln features a four-day visit in September of an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by the 16th president when he faced a major crisis in the Civil War. The document, on loan from the National Archives, can only be displayed for 48 hours once a year. The Library will extend its hours from Sept. 19 to Sept. 22 to accommodate more visitors. In early 2009, the museum will display a 1215 copy of the Magna Carta, a document that influenced the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.

You’re the owner and CEO of Allright Widget. You founded Allright in 1981, and over the past 10 years Allright has grown from the ground up to become a $15 million business that makes Widgets for commercial and military use, with a building you own in Chatsworth. Like most business owners, you’re often overwhelmed with pressures from employees, vendors, customers, sales representatives, and regulatory hassles and the constant question in your mind: “could Allright be doing significantly better? And if yes, why aren’t we?” Assuming you have the desire to improve your business, why don’t you? Easy answer, perhaps: you’re not able to focus ON the business despite being IN the business. In this series of columns, we explore some real pains that Allright-like businesses face, and provide strategic solutions that can improve the business, with the commitment from you, the CEO, and your management team but requiring that you focus ON the business, even for a short while. We’ve divided the strategic solutions to various challenges into the following three areas of emphasis: – Financial control and reporting – Information technology management, and – Big-picture strategic planning. This column emphasizes IT management: the Achilles heel: Many of you have experienced this in some way. Poorly executed IT can cripple, sometimes materially, the success of any business. Some common scenarios that are applicable to Allright and many businesses like it, include: Your business can’t deliver the information to others when mandated to do so: Allright was recently served with notice of a Federal law suit against Allright, and, consistent with the revised Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, was demanded to provide the opposition with copies and a list of the location of all electronic files and data related to the matter under dispute. In short order, you realized that your IT staff had no plan or mechanism to effectively isolate all pertinent electronic information, including emails, documents, spreadsheets, and drawings in time to satisfy the demand thus you risk giving the opposition too much (or damaging) information, as well as risking sanctions for taking too long to deliver the requested discoverable information. Inability to survive a systems-crippling disaster: One weekday last summer, Allright’s plant in Chatsworth lost power for a few hours. No generator or backup power was available to keep production going. Allright’s computer systems were damaged beyond repair by the power surge that occurred when power was restored, leaving the business without the ability to manage production activities and transactions. Resurrection of systems operations, and data, took weeks, and Allright lost customers, and large amounts of money. Lack of foresight for prospective systems needs: Allright was presented with the opportunity to do business internationally two years ago. Only just this month did the first transaction occur. Why did it take so long? They did not have an inventory and accounting system equipped to timely provide electronic order and shipping information required by the larger international customers, nor did they have the ability to record transactions in multiple currencies. Inability to get good information when, and where you and other staff members need it: You recently joined a CEO advisory group. It was your turn to present to the group, and you were to help the others understand the key factors to what makes your business successful. To do so, you were asked to bring details about your business, including data and analysis regarding financial position, production efficiencies, sales effectiveness, customer retention, and the like. You’ve been using QuickBooks for over 8 years to perform the accounting and reporting function for the business. You realized that because QuickBooks is simply not a robust software tool that helps manage and capture manufacturing and production transactions, nor manage the sales process, for example, you had your staff spend weeks to prepare your presentation, and by the time you received the information they provided, you knew that you still didn’t have the depth of information needed to illustrate how your business performed. How embarrassing. How could each of the above have been avoided? Clearly, by taking a more strategic approach in determining how IT and information should serve the business. We call the result of such strategy a Strategic IT Plan. Nothing like this existed at Allright. A disaster preparedness plan? Not available. A well-thought out implementation of accounting and financial reporting software? Nonexistent. An information “plan” making sure that all key information is delivered to authorized users, when and where they need it? No, again. Why? Like most growing businesses, Allright has hobbled along, using its network “administrator” for all its IT needs. This administrator has no depth of experience beyond building PC’s and performing basic networking which he has learned on the job. He’s also the cousin of Allright’s VP and has job security. Too bad he has no strategic value. Without strategic IT planning, businesses DO face the kind of scenarios above more often than you may realize. With prudent, strategic IT planning, these topics are addressed BEFORE they become crippling: disaster preparedness, information availability and depth, an appropriate mix of software tools to manage the business’ transactions, network infrastructure requirements, information security, and many more. When should this strategic IT planning occur? On an on-going basis but most importantly it should be performed as part of the business’ overall strategic planning. IT must support the business plan, with solutions to address the business’ growth plans, and other strategic needs. Ultimately, it is the overall business strategic plan that drives IT but more often than not, IT is not considered in the overall plan (perhaps with the exception of being a line item in a budget or projection) until it is too late. Robert (Bob) Green, CAP.CITP, is a partner in SingerLewak’s Enterprise Risk Management Services practice group. SingerLewak is a leading accounting and consulting firm with 7 office locations in California. Bob can be reached via email at [email protected] or 818.251.1359

Seven Los Angeles-area non-profit organizations whose missions are focused on helping middle- and high school students split $400,000 in grant money awarded by the NBC Universal Foundation on July 31. School on Wheels, based in Malibu, received $75,000, the largest share of the awards, according to spokeswoman Sinead Chilton. “Part of the grant was to enhance our program working with teenagers and high school children,” said Chilton. “This program is more commonly known as BUS Believe, Understand, Succeed.” The School on Wheels coverage area runs from Santa Barbara all the way to Long Beach and has as its mission helping children who are in foster care, or whose families are homeless, to succeed in school. Chilton said the organization, celebrating its 20th anniversary this month, has more than 800 volunteers, each of whom are matched with a child. Generally, the mentor meets with the child once a week for an hour to work with them one-on-one. Every child is given a backpack and school supplies and they usually develop a relationship with their volunteer mentor that continues even if the family moves or the child transfers from one foster care setting to another. “We’re not affiliated with the shelters or schools,” said Chilton, “So they see us as an island in the sea of bureaucracy sometimes.” In the Valley, about 50 active volunteers meet with their students in 14 different locations, but because of a couple of group tutoring sites about 75 kids are benefiting, said Steve Hibbert, tutor coordinator for the San Fernando Valley. “They’re at various shelters throughout the Valley.” School on Wheels receives no government funding, just private donations, “so it’s nice to be recognized by people like NBC Universal,” said Hibbert. Thanks to the grant, they’re going to be expanding their efforts in the region and are looking for additional volunteers to join. Anyone over 18 who can survive a Lifescan background check and provide two personal references; is willing to complete a brief training session; and can commit to one hour a week is welcome to apply. Visit www.schoolonwheels.org for more info, to sign up, or to donate. Stuffing the Bus Canoga Park High School was the recipient of thousands of dollars of school supplies thanks to the efforts of California United Bank. A small mob of CUB staff and customers gathered in the school’s courtyard on a Saturday morning and spent three hours accepting donations of money and supplies, filling a school bus with everything from computers, monitors and printers to old-fashioned pens, paper and hole punches. “The copier won’t fit in the bus,” laughed CUB’s project coordinator, Shawndra Rutledge. The Valley Economic Development Center donated a copier and also arranged for it to be delivered to the school, she added. Rutledge, whose day job is vice president and compliance manager for the Encino-based bank, is also is a member of CUB’s Community Reinvestment Act committee. All federally-insured banks and thrifts have been required since 1977 to reinvest in their communities using a formula based on assets and other things. But, she said, this is more a labor of love than filling some mandated obligation, noting that CUB has been doing its part to give back before it was required to do so. “Our president, Dave Rainer, is absolutely, positively the most supportive employer you can come up with,” Rutledge enthused. “He’s all about ‘do what you have to do to get it right’ and ‘do the right thing.'” Bank employees have put in at least a couple hundred hours of their personal and work time, Rutledge estimated, and many of the bank’s directors have also put a significant effort into the project. “Our board of directors has been very supportive,” she said, “and our CRA chairman (Robert C. Bills) is just phenomenal.” Promoting Nonviolence Chatsworth-based Topco Sales, manufacturer of adult and other novelties, donated “selected products” items to fill celebrity gift bags for the Until the Violence Stops Los Angeles festival that ran between July 27 and Aug. 9. UTVSLA is a coalition that has as its mission making Los Angeles “the safety city for women and girls.” This is a regular feature on philanthropic activities by Valley-area businesspeople and companies.

Ramsey’s at the Club, one of the San Fernando Valley’s newest event venues, isn’t in a hotel but in Toluca Lake Racquet Club. Owner Jay Sadofsky believes this setting gives Ramsey’s an advantage over other event spaces. Open since the end of last year, Ramsey’s offers those who rent it out a dining room, a full service bar, a private room for parties and business conferences and a screening room with various multimedia capabilities. Altogether, the interior spaces can hold 250 patrons total. Whereas hotels charge those seeking to use event space for every table and chair and additional fees for use of audiovisual equipment, this isn’t the case at Ramsey’s, according to Sadofsky, owner of popular Mo’s restaurant in Burbank. Moreover, Ramsey’s offers flexibility, Sadofsky feels. Walls can be drawn back or out, adjacent tennis courts and patios can be used for events, and there is parking available for a couple of hundred vehicles. “There isn’t anything like this,” said Sadofsky, who added that he was inspired to open the venue because Toluca Lake lacks one of this sort for the general public. “It’s really underserved,” he said of the area. Sadofsky is pitching Ramsey’s as the ideal venue for a variety of events, including weddings, bar mitzvahs, film screenings, business meetings and even funeral receptions, due to its proximity to Forest Lawn cemetery. Thus far, a Warner Bros. affiliate has booked Ramsey’s for an event, and there have been health-related fundraisers there that have drawn crowds of a few hundred. Ramsey’s also offers regular live entertainment as well as lunch and dinner. Sadofsky describes the menu as ranging from casual to gourmet. Burgers, hot dogs, foie gras and truffles can all be found on the eclectic menu. “It’s contemporary food, market fresh. Everything is done with a consideration for health,” Sadofsky said. Most menu items, even luxurious ones, such as pineapple and chile braised short ribs or the Thai steak salad, don’t exceed $12. To boot, the kitchen staff features a chef from London’s Cordon Bleu, according to Sadofsky. Ramsey’s, which sits in a Mediterranean architectural building, occupies the space formerly taken up by Tastebuds restaurant. Sadofsky said that, when Tastebuds was there, there were no windows, wall paneling or wood floors. He said that he remade the space with a Ralph Lauren 1920s vibe in mind. He wanted to capture a bygone era of elegance, a cabana look of sorts. Rather than try to be the hippest new club in town, Sadofsky sought to provide the public with a venue that offers a contemporary take on classic style. He believes that one reason the Valley’s Sportsmen’s Lodge has managed to draw business for years is because people are hungry for event venues with such ambience. Of Ramsey’s he said, “It’s unique for a casual environment. It has a real nice vibe to it. We want it to have staying power for 15, 20 years.”

In December 2002, the CFO of Castle Precision Industries, a local aerospace manufacturer, abruptly left the company which was experiencing severe fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “Things were really bleak here,” said Christine Riedy, “and the previous CFO just threw up his hands and left and said, ‘you need to file for bankruptcy.'” The owners of the company didn’t see that as an option, so they called Riedy, who had worked for the company for two years in the late ’90s but had left to open her own business in the Midwest. “I said I would come back for a little while and help out, and now it’s been six-and-a-half years,” said Riedy with a laugh. Two weeks after she came back, she said, “the Valley Economic Development Center really saved the company by giving us an emergency loan.” But then things went from bad to worse. In February 2003, Riedy said, she called the bank to get some money from their revolving line of credit and was informed that the FDIC had seized the bank and there was no more money to be borrowed. That’s a dramatic example of how badly things can go wrong, but not terribly unlike the situation, Bob Hudson, CFO of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital found himself in when he was brought aboard to deal with a sinking ship. The hospital was $12 million in debt, said Hudson. “We had no cash, a whole bunch of unhappy creditors and real poor morale throughout the organization.” Even banks can have these types of problems, as was the case at California Oaks State Bank in Thousand Oaks in 2003. Cole Minnick was brought in as the chief executive officer to help right the bank after it was put under a cease-and-desist order by the federal government due to practices by its former chief financial officer. The first thing he did was ask a CFO he had formerly worked with, Jerry Smith, to help him get things back on track. “He was very instrumental,” said Minnick about Smith’s role in correcting the problems. They were required to raise an additional $2 million in capital and then comply with a host of regulations requiring revamping of the bank’s management practices and reporting standards. Recovery All three of these organizations were able to recover from their trauma, thanks largely to the efforts of their chief financial officers. But it wasn’t easy. Each of these CFO’s faced similar challenges angry vendors, demoralized employees and nervous clients. And all say that staying focused as one of the keys to their turnarounds. “When things look their worst,” said Hudson, “you’ve got to focus on what’s most important Get rid of the extraneous stuff, don’t let people distract you, and above all else, cash is king.” In Riedy’s case, the company’s vendors and the sales team were not happy when she tightened up credit terms. “I had to be the bad person to say to the people here, ‘you can’t take business from this customer because we can’t take any chances they won’t pay,'” she said. One of Hudson’s first decisions after evaluating the situation at Henry Mayo was that the hospital should file for bankruptcy protection. “I was the one who made the decision to go Chapter 11,” said Hudson. “It absolutely was the right decision but if I had another 90 days I could have avoided it.” He cautions others who are considering the option. “The one thing I can say about Chapter 11 is avoid it at all costs,” he emphasized. “Figure out a way to work it out if you can, because the attorneys, the accountants and the consultants all get rich off of you and they get paid first. There’s no way around it and once you start down the path you lose control.” Motivating the troops Transparency and teamwork was important in each turnaround as well. At Cal Oaks, Minnick said he immediately got all of the management team together and told them what was happening. “We didn’t hide anything at all,” he said. “and we told them what we were going to do to fix it.” The fixing took a lot of hard work and extra hours, Minnick said. Monthly staff meetings kept people on track. Even the lenders participated, he said, staying late and coming in on weekends when needed. “We didn’t really get rid of a lot of people,” said Minnick. “By all respects, we just gained their trust and confidence that we would rebuild the bank and it wouldn’t get any worse.” They also gave stock options to some of the key players which became more valuable as the bank recovered. Castle Precision’s CFO also identified some internal assets that might have otherwise gone untapped, such as using the sales manager to make collections calls. “That shouldn’t have been his role,” Riedy said, but she knew he was very good on the telephone so Riedy asked him for help and he started making “lots and lots of phone calls,” to help bring in money from the accounts receivables. To help morale at the hospital, Hudson said he walked around a lot, made sure everybody got paid on time, and, he added, “I never made a promise I couldn’t keep.” The good news As the aerospace industry improved, so did Castle Precision. They successfully restructured their debt and now have a revolving line of credit and a term loan with California United Bank. “We were down to 90 employees then,” said Riedy, “and now we’re up to 150 and back up to where we were pre-9/11 in terms of sales.” The California Oaks turnaround took about six months, said Minnick, going “from basically a failed institution to one that passed with pretty good ratings.” Jerry Smith, the CFO Minnick brought on, continues there in his capacity. He did not respond to an interview request. And Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is doing so well it is qualified for a $75 million bond and is investing in major improvements and an expansion of the medical center.

New York members of the Screen Actors Guild national board issued a sharp rebuke of their own leaders Sunday, demanding that they seek help from a federal mediator if contract talks don’t progress by Aug. 25. The unusual criticism was the latest sign of infighting between the Hollywood and New York factions on SAG’s 71-member national board. The New York group, which holds 14 seats on the board, blasted SAG leaders for “failing to bargain realistically” with the studios. For the full story visit www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sag18-2008aug18,0,574633.story

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and nine other chief executives who govern states along the U.S.-Mexico border signed a joint declaration to work together to outline future policy priorities for the border region during a conference at Universal Studios. Policy priorities in the joint declaration include border security, economic development, energy and the environment, education and human and arms trafficking. Arizona, Baja California, California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, New Mexico, Nuevo Le & #243;n, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Texas make up the 10 member states of the Borders Governors Conference.