August 18,2014
Jobless Claims Climb
California EDD announced that the unemployment rate in the San Luis Obispo County was 6.0 percent in July 2014, up from a revised 5.3 percent in June 2014, and below the year-ago estimate of 7.2 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 7.8 percent for California and 6.5 percent for the nation during the same period.
Year over year SLO lost 1000 jobs in the utilities ,trade and transportation category ,likely due to the wind down of construction on the big Carrizo Plain solar projects .Despite that total nonfarm jobs were up 2900 over the same period and despite the drought farm jobs climbed 100 in the year.
Cal Poly Wants To Build Hotel / Convention Center On Campus
Cal Poly is considering building a 145 room hotel and adjacent events center that could handle 5500 seats in basketball configuration.The integrated hotel/conference center program would measure 143,000 sq. ft. in total, including over 22,000 sq. ft. for the conference center. Within the conference center, consultant B&D recommends inclusion of a divisible, 12,000 sq. ft. ballroom to accommodate both university and commercial demand along with several additional spaces.
The study, in the works since last December says there are over 300,000 people within a 30-minute drive time of SLO, expanding to over 450,000 in a 60-minute drive time area. Currently, the City of San Luis Obispo market contains 29 hotel properties and nearly 2,100 rooms. The largest off-campus space is at the Madonna Inn Expo Center (20,000 sq. ft.) and the Embassy Suites 5,100 sq. ft. junior ballroom.
The study adds that the Cal Poly campus has a limited amount of dedicated conference space. Harman Hall is the largest space, but is often reserved for ticketed events. The most significant dedicated space is found at the University Union, which contains Chumash Auditorium, along with several small meeting spaces. In consideration of university personnel input, demand patterns from 2012 and 2013, and the existing inventory of spaces, B&D believes there is enough demand to build the project. The hotel, based on a design- build schedule would be complete in July 2020 with a projected a cost of approximately $48 million. Adding the convention center takes it $155 million.
The consultants say the complex could add substantial economic activity to the area including 133 recurring jobs, $4.9 million in earnings and $24.4 million in economic activity. Critics say such a complex ought to be built by the private sector.
39 Charger Stations To Be Built On Central Coast
Looking to build enough charging stations statewide to accommodate one million Zero Emission vehicles by 2020 the state is planning to install 39 electric charger stations in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties including 14 at the CalPoly SLO campus. The transportation sector is the biggest contributor to CA’s GHG emissions and accounts for approximately 40 percent of these emissions.