Next month, an ad-hoc committee will quietly decide which California city becomes the permanent home to a little 50-person research program office.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine - which won't even do any real research - doesn't sound like much. Until you realize that it's the funnel through which will pour $3-billion in Prop. 71 funding for stem cell research and the power to bring untold billions more in jobs and development by big pharma firms to the chosen city.
Los Angeles, Chief Parker notes at Mayor Sam's Sister City, is not on the short list, apparently not because of less-than persuasive lobbying by Mayor Jim Hahn and staff, but because L.A., um, filled out the application incorrectly ...
Here's the Hahn proposal, which certainly looks impressive and enticing enough to pull the city up and away from the other heavy contenders. But here's what Parker says is the latest dope speculation on the candidates under active consideration:
We have received several e-mails from Cities across the state and local people in the know that the Stem Cell folks have narrowed their list to 4 Cities. These cities are in the running to host the base for the $3 billion dollar Stem Cell bond initiative.
1. San Jose
2. San Francisco
3. San Diego
4. Emeryville
What the hell is Emeryville doing on that list?
Didn't the Mayor of Los Angeles propose...The mayor's proposal was submitted to an independent oversight committee, and calls for 17,000 square feet of office space at City National Plaza (formerly ARCO Plaza) at Fifth and Flower streets in Downtown L.A. to be used for the headquarters. Thomas Properties Inc. owns the two buildings totaling more than 2 million square feet at City National Plaza; chief executive Jim Thomas has been a close Hahn ally and is also on the board overseeing the $1.2 billion Grand Avenue project....
In a press conference announcing the bid, Hahn mentioned both university's efforts in the biomedical research arena as key reasons why the institute's board should site their headquarters in Los Angeles.
The city also offered free access to the Los Angeles Convention Center for the institute's larger meeting needs, as well as $1 million in foundation grant funding to help support the institute's administrative needs. In his bid letter, Hahn mentioned that the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Keck Foundation had agreed to put up a total of $500,000 toward that grant funding.
Let's hope Parker's sources are wrong.
(UPDATE: A big caveat here. Chief Parker now admits he's speculating about this story. See his comments there around 10:31 a.m.
Dear readers, please do take this with a block of salt.)
UPDATE 2: Chief Parker did indeed get the short list wrong, and got the cause wrong: L.A. apparently failed to make the correct offer of facilities, rather than failing to fill out the application correctly. The stricken note here was originally made after I read the NBC and LABJ stories. The Times reports that L.A. "did not complete the proper paperwork."
Thanks to sharp-eyed user Matt Peterson, who tipped us to that story in Comments below.
According to the LABJ story up now, Los Angeles, Alhambra, Long Beach, Richmond and San Jose failed to meet minimum requirements for the bid process:
... (A)ccording to an institute document, L.A.’s bid failed to meet a requirement that the headquarters office space be located on two floors with an internal stairway connecting those floors. Also, the city failed to submit an offer that would be irrevocable for 75 days after March 16, the deadline for submissions.
Long Beach and Alhambra also were faulted for not meeting all of the institute’s submission guidelines. The site selection committee will meet May 2 to name a top choice and a runner-up for the headquarters site.
All of which is to bear up Chief's original thesis - that the Hahn administration once again bobbled a big business opportunity - even if his facts were shaky.
Posted by: mack_reed on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - 08:15 AM
