“Thanks go out to our City Council for their leadership and support,” said Palmdale City Manager J.J. Murphy who accepted the award on behalf of the City. “Over the past two years, Council and staff have worked diligently to transform Palmdale into a truly business friendly City. I introduced and Council supported a campaign based around a business-friendly concept called, ‘Find a Way to Yes,’ and the results have been tremendous. The word is out: do business in the City of Palmdale and we will find a way to “Yes.”
“It was truly an honor to stand on that stage with City staff and partners to receive this prestigious award,” said Palmdale Councilmember Austin Bishop, District 1. “It’s especially gratifying when you look at the amazing cities who were up for consideration. I congratulate each one for all that they’re doing to help businesses thrive in their communities.”
“This was a great night for Palmdale,” said Councilmember Juan Carrillo, District 4. “Like all cities, Palmdale has had to deal with a lot of impediments due to the challenges of COVID-19, but our staff was creative and resourceful and truly found ways to bring in new projects to the community, support projects that were in the middle of construction when the pandemic hit, and most importantly support our local businesses.”
“We’re also very proud of our strong partnership with the County of Los Angeles,” said Councilmember Richard Loa, District 2. “A special thank you to Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who joined us on stage, and her staff for their continued support to help establish the EIFD and on other unique projects that we hope to announce at the beginning of next year.”
Murphy also thanked the various business partners and the collaborative efforts with the City of Lancaster. “Many of the ideas that were developed during the pandemic were in collaboration with the elected officials and teams of both the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster.”
[Information via news release from the city of Palmdale.]
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William says
There are closed businesses all over Palmdale. How did this award happen in the last 2 years?
Tim Scott says
Much as it pained me to admit it, I actually told Hofbauer the other night that I think Palmdale handled the pandemic really well and that he did a good job of it. While we did lose a lot, we lost less than most, especially considering that we were saddled with our biggest employer being an “essential industry” and thus a consistent super spreader of the infection.
I’m not disputing that there are a lot of closed businesses and a lot to do to recover, but the award is justified. Sometimes “the best” is defined by suffering the most limited damage.
PS: we don’t seem to have lost any businesses on the east side, and we opened a few even during the pandemic.
Robby in the AV says
Great ! Now, let’s get the word of that to Silicon Valley to get some of that high tech business down here in our own City.
The value of our real estate will sky rocket.
Spread the Wealth to the AV.
Mark A says
You don’t want the real estate to “skyrocket”! A modest amount of appreciation is one thing, but “skyrocketing” is another.
Middle class and working class people shouldn’t be forced to move an hour away. That’s not healthy.
Look at Pasadena, as an example. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the school district was forced to close three separate schools due to lack of enrollment. What happened was that the city of Pasadena and its surrounding cities (La Canada Flintridge, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena, San Marino) became so expensive that the middle class moved out and wealthier people moved in. Middle class people have 2-to-3 kids on average, while the wealthy have 1, or 2 at most.
When you lose young and working class families, you lose a lot of vitality.
That being said, the two cities of the Antelope Valley have a lot of land that can be developed and should take advantage of that, while also making sure to plan better than they did in the 1990s.
Tim Scott says
Obviously they didn’t score for “corruption accessibility” and “bribery ROI” or Lancaster would have won.
GOBAN says
Wrecks will lead his city to the G.O.B.A.N. award. Good Old Boys And Nepotism.