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Exiting from bankruptcy, San Bernardino works to attract businesses
San Bernardino City Hall
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Steven Cuevas / KPCC
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Exiting from bankruptcy, San Bernardino works to attract businesses
When you call the San Bernardino Chamber of Commerce, this is the cheerful greeting you get: “It’s a great day in San Bernardino! How may I help you?”
The city has needed a lot of help these past few years, with some of the worst crime and poverty in the state. That has scared away businesses and led to a high unemployment rate.
But city leaders hope businesses will begin to return after a federal judge formally approved San Bernardino’s bankruptcy plan Friday afternoon, clearing the way for the city to exit its lengthy Chapter 9 protection.
“We look forward to the day when there’s no asterisk on our name,” said City Manager Mark Scott. "It’s going to be nice to say to people we're open for business and that we’re on the mend.”
Scott realizes it’s a tough sell. He said even he was reluctant to move to San Bernardino when he took a one-year appointment at the end of 2015.
“We’re at that early stage," said Scott. “We’re hungry for anything.”
His pitch to businesses focuses on San Bernardino's proximity to major freeways and the area's fast-growing logistics sector. There's also the inexpensive real estate prices.
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“If somebody wants to find an affordable location in Southern California, you can’t do any better than San Bernardino,” said Scott.
When the San Marcos-based software company Enterprise Technology Alliance Inc. was looking to open a new office, executives first looked at a locations in Henderson, Nevada, but they later decided downtown San Bernardino would be better.
“It turned out the building was perfect," said president Alan Stanly. "It was larger than what we were getting for the same expenditure. We can get a fiber connection in the downtown area and we have capacity for a generator."
Stanly says he was concerned about the city's high crime rates.
"You read in the paper that it’s the most dangerous city in the state,” he said.
But after seeing the city was exiting bankruptcy and hiring more police officers he decided his employees would be safe.
“Without that that it was kind of a non-starter,” he said. “The city announced it’s going to be investing in its police force so that was a big factor.”
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ETA Inc. expects to hire between 25 and 100 employees for the new office.
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