VICA Weekly
Valley Industry & Commerce Association
July 1, 2022
In This Issue
  • Happy 4th of July
  • Not-For-Profit Matchmaking - Your Opportunity to Join a Board
  • VICA Advocates for Wildfire Protection Measures
  • VICA Opposes Limitation on Affordable Housing Developments
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
Former President Harry S. Truman
Happy 4th of July
On behalf of the VICA Staff and Board of Directors, we would like to thank all those who served to preserve our independence.

Happy Independence Day!
VICA to Host Over 15 Non-Profits - Your Chance to Serve
Have you, or do you have co-workers, who have thought about a way to give back in a substantive way? Well, this is your chance! VICA's Not-For-Profit Committee is hosting an After Dark Matchmaking event. Details as follows:

Wednesday, July 13 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Hosted at New Horizons
15725 Parthenia St., North Hills, CA 91343

You may ask what rewards and opportunities you can expect from joining a nonprofit board. Here's a glimpse of what you can expect:

Maximize Your Impact
For most, although they would enjoy teaching computer skills to an elderly person or reading skills to a young child, the truth is that the unique skills they bring to their work on a nonprofit board, in areas such as creating a strategic plan or reorganizing their nonprofit’s marketing or finances, are the grease that oils the nonprofit’s engines.

Develop New Leadership Skills
There are invaluable skills you’ll acquire serving on a board. In fact, companies send their professionals for board matching because they believe board service is a powerful leadership training tool for their employees. Sitting on any board can teach you a tremendous amount.

Help Build a Business
Nonprofits have management, marketing, public relations/communications, financial, strategic planning, tech, human resources and governance issues. Diving into any of these areas – understanding the concerns and making decisions that will impact a nonprofit – offers you a chance to have a very different role than you may have in your professional life. It’s a chance to develop new capabilities and to grow.

Grow Your Network
Serving on a board is also a wonderful way to meet people and expand your network. Whether it’s making new friends or meeting new clients – board service exposes you to other high impact professionals who want to help the nonprofit community.
Come & Meet These Amazing Not-For-Profit Organizations
Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley
Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley
Boys and Girls Club of the West Valley
Child Care Resource Center
Chrysalis
El Centro De Amistad
Many Mansions
Meet Each Need with Dignity
New Horizons
San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center
ONEgeneration
San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission
The Adult Skills Center
Valley InterCommunity Council
Valley Village
Verdugo Hills Council, Boy Scouts of America
Western Los Angeles County Council, Boy Scouts
of America
YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles
VICA Advocates Wildfire Protection Measures
The VICA Board has voted to support Assembly Bill 2705 (Quirk-Silva), which would require cities and counties to make specified findings regarding wildfire standards before approving discretionary entitlements for new residential developments in very high fire hazard severity zones (VHFHSZ).

This bill would also require the State Fire Marshal to provide financial assistance to fire harden specified numbers of existing homes in VHFHSZ, upon appropriation by the Legislature.

AB 2705 bill prohibits a city or county from approving a discretionary entitlement that would allow a new residential development project to be located within a VHFHSZ, unless the city or county finds the residential development project will meet specified standards to reduce wildfire risk, including project-size related standards, as well as standards adopted by the Board, the State Fire Marshal and the California Building Standards Commission intended to address wildfire risks, unless such standards provide exceptions or alternative means of compliance applicable to the residential development project.

The measures required by AB 2705 are based on decades of experience, science, and an analysis of the State Fire Marshal’s Property Loss Data of more than 31,000 data points. The analysis of the State Fire Marshal data revealed that on average 1.3% of new homes in the 9 largest fires in the state were affected or destroyed in these fires. This underscores the point that the significant strides in building codes, defensible space and other requirements are working and that older structures need to be hardened, defensible space enforced, and communitywide perimeter buffers should be established.
 
Additionally, master planned communities have implemented wildfire protection measures that have been fire-tested and proven to work so that no homes in these communities were damaged or destroyed. AB 2705 incorporates the lessons learned from these projects and makes them the baseline for project approval with 100 or more homes.
VICA Opposes Limitation on Affordable Housing Development
The VICA Board has voted to oppose Los Angeles City Council’s proposed ordinance “Building a Safer Los Angeles” (Blumenfield), which is meant to expand LAFD Fire District 1 to all areas within the high fire, high wind, and high-density areas with populations more than 5,000 residents per square mile.

Currently, the recommendation from Los Angeles City Council is to draft an ordinance that would maintain the building restrictions that exist in Fire District One and expand the restrictions to Regional Center Land Use designations and Height Districts 2, 3 and 4 Parcels.

Fire District 1 is an existing planning and zoning overlay that includes downtown Los Angeles and other small portions of dense corridors. The “Building a Safer Los Angeles” ordinance will give Fire District 1 broad enforcement power of current and future building codes in much of greater Los Angeles. The proposed ordinance will raise the standards of the current California building code system regarding fire safety and mitigation by expanding the enforcement of the Fire District 1 code to most of Los Angeles.

This ordinance will drastically limit the current and future ability of developers to build affordable housing. Los Angeles is already struggling to meet the current demand for new housing. This ordinance will cause developers' construction prices to skyrocket since designs and materials will have to adapt in keeping with the new code. This cost will be passed onto the consumers which will deny affordable housing to the many people seeking it. The cost of living is one of the main factors driving the current housing crisis; the “Building a Safer Los Angeles” ordinance will only make a bad situation worse. Banning type IV and V materials will make affordable housing much less affordable.
 
In many ways, current structure and fire codes have eliminated the need for fire districts altogether. Today, buildings have more fire protection than ever before. In the city’s Building and Safety report, we learn that the city’s fire code “imposes more restrictive requirements for buildings and structures within the City of Los Angeles than the State.” 
 
Furthermore, this ordinance will make it more difficult for Los Angeles to reach its net-zero goals set by Mayor Garcetti, contrasting what the C40 cities climate leadership group is actively trying to accomplish. With this proposed ordinance come new restrictions on building materials that hinder both public and private property development during city’s ongoing housing crisis.
Click the image to learn more and apply today!
Members
VICA Thanks Our New & Renewing Members
Events
Newsmaker Connection with Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson
Tuesday, July 26 | 11:30 AM
VICA Office

City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson proudly represents the Eighth District of Los Angeles and chairs the city’s Planning Land Use and Management committee. He has introduced policies that combat homelessness, create quality jobs, clean streets, and encourage community policing. Within his first 18 months as a Councilmember, he authored Proposition HHH and has authorized more affordable housing in district 8.

VICA thanks our Presenting Sponsor, State Farm Insurance.
Leaders Forum with Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins
New Date
Friday, July 29 | 8:30 AM
Burbank Airport Marriott

Stephanie Wiggins, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), most recently served as Executive Director of Vendor/Contract Management for Metro. She has more than 20 years of experience working for transportation agencies.

VICA thanks our Presenting Sponsors, Bechtel, Comcast NBCUniversal, EKA, and Flatiron Construction.
Local Officeholders Luncheon
Get Your Sponsorship Before it's too Late!
Thursday, August 18 | 11:30 AM
Burbank Airport Marriott

Don't miss our Annual Local Officeholders Luncheon! Come and hear from our local elected officials and enjoy lunch and networking with fellow business leaders.

VICA thanks our Presenting Sponsors, Amazon, Comcast NBCUniversal, LADWP, SoCalGas, and Wells Fargo.

Click here for sponsorship opportunities.
VICA After Dark: LAFD Chief Kristen Crowley
Wednesday, August 31 | 5:30 PM
FIVE on the Hill at the Hilton Universal City

VICA After Dark is a regular evening reception designed to give VICA members and guests the opportunity to hear updates about policies impacting the business community from a featured opinion leader and network with other prominent business leaders from the community.

VICA thanks our Presenting Sponsors, Five on the Hill, Medtrans, and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.
Save the Date
Transportation Committee Meeting
Tuesday, July 12
8:30 - 10:30 AM
Hosted at The Garland
Not-For-Profit Matchmaking
Wednesday, July 13
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Hosted at New Horizons
Government Affairs Committee Meeting
Wednesday, July 20
12:00 - 2:00 PM
VICA Office
Sponsored by Dolphin Group
Energy, Environment, Manufacturing & Utilities Committee Meeting
Wednesday, August 10
12:00 - 1:30 PM
VICA Office
Sponsored by Metropolitan Water District
VICA in the News
Hot News
US Supreme Court
Ketanji Brown Jackson has been sworn in to the Supreme Court, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court. The 51-year-old Jackson is the court’s 116th justice and she took the place Thursday of the justice she once worked for. Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s retirement took effect at noon.
Moments later, joined by her family, Jackson recited the two oaths required of Supreme Court justices, one administered by Breyer and the other by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

College Sports
The move by USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 conference to the Big Ten, which was announced Thursday and will take place beginning in 2024, is a bold and brilliant one worthy of the city of champions. Face it, USC had long since outgrown a decaying Pac-12 that had deteriorated into the home of late-night TV games, half-empty stadiums, and national irrelevance. The athletic departments of both schools are packing up and moving from what had become an increasingly isolated West Coast sandlot to a national playing field where the lights are brighter, the crowds are bigger, and the buzz is better.

2022 Ballot Measures
Much is expected of the California voter. 
In any given election year, we may be asked to dust off our labor lawyer hats, brush up on oil and gas regulations, reacquaint ourselves with decades of tax policy, or analyze infrastructure funding. This November is no different. Voters will be asked to consider about 10 thorny policy proposals, from abortion to zero emission vehicles. What are these ballot measures really about? How did they make their way onto the ballot in the first place? And how did Californians first fall in love with direct democracy? 
Housing
Rising mortgage rates have slowed the housing market. Sales are down, inventory is rising and many prospective buyers and sellers have a simple question: Will home prices fall? According to some analysts, the prospect is growing more likely as the slowdown deepens, with some now adjusting their forecasts to call for price declines next year. Such predictions mark a shift from earlier this year, when there was greater expert agreement that rising mortgage rates would simply slow price appreciation.

2022 Primary Elections
Only a trickle of ballots were added to the overall tally during the Los Angeles County registrar’s sixth post-election update on Tuesday, June 28, just days before the registrar is scheduled to certify the results of the June 7 statewide primary.
And so, the suspense for candidates clinging to a lead or, in certain races, the final of two runoff spots — as well as those hoping to catch the current leaders — will linger for a while longer. The number of ballots processed for each post-election update, which take place on Tuesdays and Fridays, has slowed over the past week. The registrar added only 571 ballots countywide on Tuesday.

Healthcare Facilities
In March 2020 high-ranking health officials were scrambling to find out how many COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, how many were in intensive care and how many beds remained available. With no system in place for hospitals to report this information to the state and share it, Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly had to call 426 hospitals to assess the situation. Now, officials hope to avoid similar scenarios in the future by changing the way patient data is collected and shared. Legislation passed last year requires all health and human services providers to sign a statewide data-sharing agreement.
Member Spotlight
Are you interested in a Membership Spotlight?
Answer the below questions, send responses and a professional photo,
and we'll ensure your in the line up for 2022!
MUST BE A CURRENT VICA MEMBER TO BE FEATURED!

Please keep each question response to 2-4 sentences maximum.

  1. Please share a bit about your background and a fun fact that people would love to learn, ie: scrapbooking is your favorite hobby, you were in a band, you have traveled around the world…  
  2. What has been your organization’s largest accomplishment or efforts made over the past year? 
  3. Please share how VICA has supported your business strategy or expanded your footprint with the business community?  

Send responses and headshot to Peter Warda
Member Messages
Member Messages
Get Your Message in VICA Weekly!
VICA members can promote their business, events and news in VICA Weekly. Member messages are available for $50 per week or $175 for four weeks. Messages are text-based and may not contain more than 70 words. A logo may be added for an additional $5 per week. For more information or to schedule your member message, contact cathy@vica.com or call (818) 817-0545.
ABOUT VICA
Presenting the business perspective on behalf of employers in the
San Fernando Valley cities of Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, Calabasas,
Hidden Hills, San Fernando and Santa Clarita.
STAY CONNECTED WITH VICA