Economic Resource Council

NC Tour: Nevada County Airport

Russ Steele

Nevada County Airport is home to the California Division of Forestry, Grass Valley Air Attack Base. This center of wild land fire fighting from the air is the permanent location for two Grumman S-2 Air Tankers that drop fire retardant, and an air attack lead plane that coordinates the efforts of the tankers. Aircraft from Nevada County Airport are on standby, ready at a moment's notice, to respond to fires throughout the foothills and mountains. When larger fires occur nearer to the airport, many other fire fighting aircraft use the airport as a base for fuel and supplies.

Search & Rescue and Medi-Vac aircraft also use the airport year round for public safety missions.
The California Highway Patrol, the Nevada County Sheriff's Department, and the FBI are only a few of the State and Federal agencies that use airport facilities.

The Nevada County Airfest is one of the major events and the Airport. Celebrating the past and future history of aviation in Nevada County.

Tenants on the Airport include

Sierra Mountain Aviation who does aircraft maintenance, including the Robinson Timber's Helicopters.

Alpine Aviation is a California-based flight service company founded in 1990. They offer flight charter, aircraft management, pilot flight training, and aircraft maintenance. Alpine operates a modern fleet of single and multi-engine prop and turboprop aircraft for travel to any destination in the contiguous United States. Serving the business and recreation traveler, Alpine Aviation offers scheduling conveniences and comfort advantages beyond standard commercial or private aviation alternatives.

A very interesting pictorial history of the Nevada County Airpost by Tim O'Brien can be found here.

Tour Photos:

Click to enlarge. Gregg Marshal our airport host.

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Click to enlarge. Gathering on the airport ramp.

 

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Click to enlarge. Ken Hughes, Unit Commander  explaining the CalFire mission

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Click for a larger image. Two  aircraft service  companies rent County hanger.

NC Tour: Benchmark Thermal Loma Rica Business Park

Russ Steele

Benchmark Thermal is a full line manufacturer of industrial heating elements.  Serving a wide variety of industries from food processing, semiconductors, petrochemical, to medical devices, since 1984. Benchmark offers innovative solutions for complex and technical applications.

Benchmark Thermal has a complete heater manufacturing facility, including a machine shop for the fabrication of flexible, tubular and cartridge elements. The engineering department is fully equipped to meet any heater design requirement. They provide product support with thorough testing and evaluation, and are committed to the ongoing research and development of new and improved products for evolving applications. Benchmark supplies a full range of heating elements essential to industry, from small flexible circuits to large circulation vessels with control panels.

Tour Photos:

Click to enlarge, Bus arriving at Benchmark Thermal

Click to enlarge. Sample of Benchmark Heaters

Click to enlarge, Another example of a pipe heater

Click to enlarge. Diane, "a Stringer," is winding heater wired to be sandwiched between two rubber sheets.

NC Tour: Maier Manufacturing Whispering Pines Business Park

Russ Steele

Maier Manufacturing is a Leader in quality plastic power sports accessories. They are the largest manufacturer of custom and O.E.M. type motorcycle and ATV plastics in the United States. They have been a leader in producing top quality plastic accessories for the Power sports Industry since 1972, and their products are used by thousands of riders around the world. They take great pride in building products by riders for riders.

Tour Photos, click to enlarge

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NC Tour: 2Wire in Nevada City Tech Center

Russ Steele

2Wire provides global telecom carriers with broadband services platforms that enable an integrated triple play of networked data, voice, and media services. 2Wire's award-winning products and services include residential gateways, broadband multimedia set-top boxes, remote management systems, and call center customer support. 2Wire's customers include global DSL market leaders AT&T, Telmex, BellSouth, BT, Embarq, SingTel, and others. For the past three consecutive years, 2Wire has been included in the Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. With its headquarters in San Jose, California, 2Wire has additional offices in Texas and Arizona, as well as in Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Tour Photos:

Click to enlarge, Main building

Click to enlarge

Testing lab

NC Tour: The Nevada City Tech Center-2

Russ Steele

Nevada City Tech Center is centrally located in Nevada City and thanks to it's classic architecture and unique amenity package, is fast becoming the premier business park in the County!.  NCTC offers up to 210,000 square feet of office and R & D space in a spectacular natural setting.

The first of 10 buildings is now complete and construction has started on the Liberty Hill Executive Condominiums which will offer the opportunity for small businesses to purchase as little as 1,000 square feet of this exciting business community. 

Tour Photos:

Click to enlarge, Picnic area

Click to enlarge Liberty Hill Concept

NC Tour: Ensemble Designs on Gold Flat Road, Nevada City

Russ Steele

Ensemble Design was started in 1989 by a former television station engineer who loved designing and building video equipment, and he decided to start a new company. He relished the idea of taking an existing group of equipment and adding a few special pieces in order to create an even more elegant ensemble. So, he designed and built his first product and the company was born.

As the company has grown, more former TV station engineers have joined Ensemble Designs and this wealth of practical experience fuels the company's innovation. Everyone at the company is focused on providing the very equipment you need to complete your ensemble of video and audio gear. We offer those special pieces that tie everything together so that when combined, the whole ensemble is exactly what you need. Products include frame syncs, audio embedders, video converters, and HD up/down converters.

Tour Photos:

Click to enlarge, Main building.

Click to enlarge David Wood explaining how company  operates

NC Tour: Trivia Questions

TOUR OF NEVADA COUNTY
TOUR BUS TRIVIA

The Nevada County Airport was built in 1932 by ___________, owner of the Idaho Maryland Mine, to fly gold to Mills Field, which today is  ____________________. The gold shipments were frequently robbed during ground transportation.

In 1956, who gifted the Airport land to Nevada County?

2Wire, who employs approximately 35 people in Nevada City, is actually headquartered in ______________? It is the __________________hub of the company.

What is the name of the ONLY single story building planned for the Nevada City Tech Center?

What is Ensemble Design’s largest government installation?

In what part of the world is Ensemble Designs’ equipment manufactured?

What is the name of the lunchroom at Ensemble Designs?

Ensemble has job openings in two departments at this time. Name one.

Why is the company named “Ensemble”?

Name a type of heater that Benchmark Thermal manufactures.

What major market does Benchmark Thermal supply heaters to?

What year was Maier Manufacturing founded?

In today’s market, Maier Manufacturing’s sales are higher in motorcycles or ATV’s?

How many students attend Nevada County Public and Charter Schools?

Our schools employ over __________teachers and ________classified staff members.

Who sponsored today’s Tour of Nevada County?

NC Tour: Coffee and Rolls Launch Party

Russ Steele

Tour participants get some coffee and rolls before boarding the tour buses.

Tour of Nevada County Update

Russ Steele

At the first annual Tour of Nevada County I followed the tour with a digital camera and laptop, posting some of the highlights on this blog. We are going to follow along again this year and take more photos and posting them during the day. This year I am fortunate to have WiFi access at the Fair Grounds, and I will not have crawl under the counter looking for an ethernet connection like last year. I have also made arrangements to send pictures from the Airport Reception Office. Other times, I will use the some of the free WiFi access in Grass Valley and Nevada City to send the pictures.

Tour bus riders will be challenged with trivia contest by the Tour guides on their buses. I will post these trivia questions here after the tour starts. I do not want to give anyone an early advantage. Log in later today and see how well you know Nevada County and watch the tour progress.  Answers to the trivia questions will be provided once the tour is over.

Tour destinations include:
2Wire
Nevada City Tech Center
Nevada County Airport and CDF
Benchmark Thermal
Maier Manufacturing
Ensemble Design

Labor Day Economic Forecast

Chuck Neeley

The California State Employment Development Department recently produced an economic forecast that is of interest.  The real estate market is having a deleterious impact on jobs in that sector, but otherwise the economy appears to be doing okay.  The report can be viewed at the following link:

http://www.calmis.ca.gov/SpecialReports/Labor-Day-Briefing.pdf

September 2007 - California Wine Month

Chuck Neeley

Governor Schwarzenegger has renewed the designation of September as California Wine Month.  See his proclamation at the following site:

http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/proclamation/5766/

Wine is becoming a very significant commodity in California, and is a growing commodity in Nevada County. 

Following are a few statistics about the significance of wine to California:

• California is the fourth largest producer of wine in the world

• California produces 90 percent of all of the wine in the nation

• Wine-type grapes are grown in 46 out of the 58 counties in the State, and cover more than 500K acres

• After Disneyland wineries and vineyards are the 2nd most popular destinations for tourists in the State

For more info on Nevada County, go to the following site:

http://www.northernsierrawinecountry.com

Transportation funding held hostage by S375

Russ Steele

At the last Board Meeting members asked questions legislation that could impact transportation funds for Dorsey Drive. Here is one example from CEI.

The California State Legislature is considering a bill that would fight climate by telling communities how they can develop. The measure, S. 375, would link the state funding for local transportation projects to a municipality’s adoption of low carbon development plans. By holding transportation funds hostage, the S. 375 proponents hope to halt suburban sprawl and instead force local governments to push Californians into high density, transit friendly urban areas, which are thought to be less carbon intensive. The bill is modeled upon a similar effort in Portland. Unfortunately for the bill’s proponents, the Portland model has been exposed as a failure, which means California’s legislators are trying to tell their constituents how to live, for no discernable reason.