The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun articles from February 1997

The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun archives from February 1997

From bad to worse: semiconductor worker shortage builds 5,000 unfilled jobs. (Arizona)
February 28, 1997... High-tech companies that have a tough time finding workers now haven't seen anything yet, according to an industry study that predicts a massive skilled-labor shortage over the next five years for Arizona and other technology hot spots....

Drug stops AIDS for limited few. (HIV prophylactic drugs)
February 28, 1997... Valley doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who suddenly are exposed to HIV-positive blood now can take a drug within two hours to keep from getting the deadly disease. But availability of such so-called HIV prophylactic drugs will...

Imperial Bank plans spin-off for SBA lending. (Small Business Administration)
February 28, 1997... The Imperial Bank division headed by Phoenix resident Garry Barnes has been picked to be part of a new company. Last week, Los Angeles-based Imperial Bank announced plans for a spin-off that would include Imperial's Small Business...

Liability bill spawns water-quality debate. (proposed Arizona Senate Bill 1450)
February 28, 1997... It was designed to eliminate joint liability for personal injury from environmental contamination, but opponents of Arizona Senate Bill 1450 say if passed, Valley cities could escape responsibility for the quality of their drinking water....

Bull Information Systems becomes private company. (French computer firm)
February 28, 1997... After virtually disappearing from the high-tech landscape in the late 1980s, Bull HN Information Systems, a French-owned computer firm with major research operations in Phoenix, is reemerging as a private company. French government ownership...

Pending bill could limit lawsuits on road safety. (Arizona Senate Bill 1395)
February 28, 1997... Cities and the state of Arizona no longer would be held responsible for poorly designed roads if Senate Bill 1395 passes. The bill comes in the wake of a $1.25 million settlement awarded by the city of Phoenix to a local attorney who...

Shopping cart blight could cost grocers.
February 28, 1997... You can pay me now. Or you can pay me later. Either way, local store owners may be forced to put their money where their shopping carts are if they want to do business in Phoenix. Saying he is fed up with abandoned carts littering the city,...

Self-named 'hustler' in unreal job. (Insight Enterprises chief executive officer Eric Crown)
February 28, 1997... Eric Crown says he's always had a knack for "hustling," whether it involved going to the principal's office in high school to complain about poorly written exams or hiring other kids in the neighborhood to do yard work for him. So, despite...

Largest hotel deal: Pivotal 'puttin' on the Ritz' at landmark hotel. (Pivotal Group's purchase of the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix)(Dozen Done Deals)
February 28, 1997... The Ritz-Carlton Phoenix sold for $37 million last year, making it the largest hotel transaction of 1996. That deal nearly doubles the dollar value of the top hotel sale in 1995, which was the Embassy Suites Hotel in Tempe, selling for a mere...

Largest retail center deal: Arrowhead power center sells for $32M.(Dozen Done Deals)
February 28, 1997... The price tag on the state's largest retail real estate deal grew by almost $10 million over last year, and it signified the first entry of a large public company into this market. This year's largest transaction was the $32 million sale of...

Growth leads to fork in road. (Valley Health Group Inc.)
February 28, 1997... Valley Health Group Inc., an 11-year-old home-health company, is at a mining point. It started in 1985 as a respiratory/oxygen and durable medical equipment supplier in Phoenix, and quickly grew to become a full-service home-health company...

Have a gripe? ... then speak up, electronically. (electronic mail systems)(The Human Side)
February 28, 1997... Are you a member of the Silent Majority, a cliche to describe the millions of apathetic, non-voting middle-class adults? You shouldn't be, because corporations, associations and government agencies are listening to their customers and members...

Plugging into DC Ranch. (planned DC Ranch community in Scottsdale, AZ)
February 21, 1997... US West wires up futuristic community The Jetsons are moving to the hottest new master-planned community in Scottsdale. US West is setting up what company officials call "the community of the future" at the 8,300-acre DC Ranch development...

City scouting international carriers to service Phoenix.
February 21, 1997... Less than a year after Phoenix became British Airway's newest U.S.-to-Europe route, the city is setting its sights on Asia. City officials say they are turning their focus to securing a route on Korean Air. Also being pursued is a route to...

Phone tolls leave Peoria ringing mad. (area-code change in Peoria, AZ)
February 21, 1997... It'll cost more than a quarter to call northern Peoria - the only area in greater Phoenix with a long-distance area code. Beginning March 16, the telephone service in northern Peoria is scheduled to transfer from the extended service provided...

Appraiser cures medical property. (Davis Appraisal Services Inc. Garry Davis)
February 21, 1997... "I've been told that appraisers can't specialize. Time has proven us correct." When developers and architects need a real estate appraiser who specializes in the health-care industry, one name comes to mind: Garry Davis, president of Davis...

Service quality, spark success. (Prestige Electric Inc.)
February 21, 1997... One might expect Prestige Electric to fit the stereotype of a typical electrical subcontractor - a fairly small operation with principals in blue jeans who usually do most of their work from a trailer on the job site. Enter the offices of...

Rural/Metro chases San Diego job.
February 14, 1997... Rural/Metro Corp., a national ambulance and fire protection company based in Scottsdale, has submitted an unprecedented joint bid with the city of San Diego fire department to operate emergency Services in San Diego. If it bears fruit, the...

Vencor targets Arizona for six nursing homes.
February 14, 1997... Vencor Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based chain of long-term care hospitals, is aggressively looking for land in Phoenix and Tucson to build up to six nursing homes, an investment that could total at least $30 million. "Vencor has put offers on...

Execs from parent firm spur growth of subsidiary. (MSS Technologies)
February 14, 1997... The way Michael Hawksworth sees it, the death of 1970s-style mainframe computing has been greatly exaggerated. While buzzwords such as "Java-based networking," "client/server" setups and "Intranets" catch the eye of many in the industry,...

Samaritan bleeds red ink; losses trigger Moody's downgrade. (Samaritan Health System)
February 7, 1997... Samaritan Health System, Arizona's largest health-care provider, will post a shocking $79 million net loss for 1996. The reasons behind the loss triggered Moody's to downgrade its rating on Samaritan's $321.3 million tax-exempt bond debt....

What price east Valley football? (Arizona)
February 7, 1997... A lineup has been introduced and a playbook opened to help build a massive convention center complex, football stadium and 1,000-room hotel in the east Valley. But the issue of how to pay for the facility - and how much it would cost - has...

Kingman bank shops California. (Stockmen's Bancorp)
February 7, 1997... The Stockmen's Bank is blazing trails - finding out what it's like to be an Arizona bank with branches in California. The Kingman-based bank has its signs up on three branch offices there, after signing an all-cash deal Monday to acquire...

Toxic tax a mystery to council. (Phoenix, AZ's environmental policy)
February 7, 1997... The city of Phoenix preaches environmental cleanup, but forgot to heed the old adage: Actions speak louder than words. In a move that's taken many businesses by surprise, the Phoenix City Council quietly has given the green light to levy a...

Taxes favor Arizona firms.
February 7, 1997... Arizona manufacturers could save up to $14 million next year under a corporate income tax proposal that would reward local companies at the expense of those with operations elsewhere. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Marc Spitzer, R-Phoenix,...

Increased competition thins Medicaid pie slices.
February 7, 1997... Competition will be at an all-time high for a piece of Arizona's $770 million Medicaid business, which likely will mean less profit for the health maintenance organizations that win the contracts. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment...

Woes at America Online are a tonic for providers.
February 7, 1997... The highly publicized complications stemming from America Online's recent switch to a flat-rate pricing scheme are causing headaches for the company, but a windfall for local Internet service providers who have wasted no time luring away angry...

Downtown Y rebounds from 10 years of losses. (Phoenix, AZ, Downtown YMCA)
February 7, 1997... The Phoenix Downtown YMCA is in the black for the first time in 20 years. "I provided the leadership - I was the spark-plug," said John Youngberg, former executive director of the YMCA, at 350 N. First Ave. However, he said, it was the work...

Lawyer banks on his experience. (Stanley D. Mabbitt)
February 7, 1997... If you see a lawyer rollerblading around Indian Bend Wash, chances are it's Stanley Mabbitt, one of the Valley's rising legal stars. Mabbitt is nationally known for his experience as a lawyer to banks and financial institutions. A former...

The Riester Corp. dominates Addys. (Addy Awards)
February 7, 1997... The judges at this year's local Addy Awards gave credence to what most industry observers already had known in the back of their minds - 1996 was the year of The Riester Corp. The agency was the runaway favorite of the judges, taking Best of...

Promotions can grow an image. (Image Entertainment Productions Inc.)(Company Profile)
February 7, 1997... Image is everything to 33-year-old event producer Ken Koziol, including the name of his Tempe company. What started out six years ago in the third bedroom of Koziol's house now is a thriving $1.2 million-a-year and growing business called Image...

Creating a map for a vision quest. (Phoenix, AZ's social policy)(Editorial)
February 7, 1997... Nearly a thousand business and political leaders gathered Tuesday at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council's annual Economic Summit, intent on defining Quality of Life issues in the Valley of the Sun. To no one's surprise, four well-known...