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| About 800 business and civic leaders packed the Poppy
Pavilion for the conference, the significant project
annually for the Antelope Valley Board of Trade, the
regional group that works to advance interests of trade
and commerce spanning north Los Angeles and eastern Kern
counties. Along with a still booming housing market and
industry, the Antelope Valley features a significant
agricultural output, high desert "back lot"
work for Hollywood and operation as a keystone producers
of hardware, software, aircraft and spacecraft - much of
it used in defense of the nation. |
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| "The Antelope
Valley out paces the state for the number
of homes sold. It has industrial land available, an
educated and motivated work force and has become a
destination of choice for companies," said Harvey
Holloway in delivering a report from the Greater Antelope
Valley Economic Alliance. "The
Antelope Valley's economy is generally
stronger than the rest of California, which itself is
experiencing healthy growth in jobs and business
expansion, according to Nancy Dayton Sidhu, sinior
economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development
Corp. "While you've got a great economy, enjoy it
while you have got it," she said. Investments in the
kind of defense tools researched, built and developed in
the Valley remains strong, and with the population
growing, so is retail and industry, she said. |
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| An example of that kind of job growth was embodied by
last year's opening of a 110,000-square-foot distribution
center in Lancaster for Sygma, which delivers fast-food
products for Jenny Craig, Fazoli and, soon, the Coldstone
Creameries ice cream chain. Incidentally, the Coldstone
store with the highest sales in California is in
Palmdale, Sygma Vice President Jim Stencel said. |
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| In a major development in Palmdale, grading is nearly
complete with construction to begin soon on the Palmdale Regional Medical
Center, said Robert Trautman, the
Lancaster-based CEO for Universal Health Services.
Construction alone will flow $200 million and 1,300 jobs
into the community, Trautman said. The hospital at Tierra
Subida and Lancaster Boulevard will make medical services
available for the 30% of Valley patients who go
"down below" for care, he said. |
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| Affordability of homes
remains one of the area's key attractions with people
able to acquire twice as much housing value in the
Antelope Valley as in Santa Clarita. Since 2000, retail
sales in the Valley have ballooned to $1.2 billion, an
increase of 50% over the previous five years. |
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| Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich
told the gathering about a settlement of a lawsuit with
Los Angeles World Airports, the airport authority that
oversees 17,000 acres in the Valley linked to Palmdale Airport.
The settlement yielded an agreement from the airport
authority to invest meaningful development funds towards
advancing Palmdale as a significant regional airport. |
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