PA Governor Appoints DCED Secretary
Gov. Ed Rendell has named George E. Cornelius, the immediate past president and CEO of Arkema, Inc., as secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development. Arkema, a globally diversified chemical company, is France’s leading chemical producer. Cornelius fills the position previously held by Dennis Yablonsky. Cornelius is expected to continue to implement the key components of Gov. Rendell’s economic stimulus package.

Scranton Business Park on Schedule
Valley View Business Park is on course for Phase II of development, the extension of Valley View Drive. The extension will provide access to 561 acres consisting of 25 planned building lots. The $16.9 million project is expected to be completed in May 2010.

Pennsylvania Ranks High in Top-Shelf LEED Projects
The January 2009 issue of Site Selection magazine ranked Pennsylvania third for building Top-Shelf LEED Projects. The move toward LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification has been met with growing enthusiasm by Pennsylvania companies. There were 81 Pennsylvania LEED projects in the US Green Building Council LEED database as of October 31, 2008.

PPL Expands LEED Certification Program
PPL Electric Utilities has extended its LEED Certification Program into 2009 and expanded eligibility to include universities, hospitals and other nonprofit organizations. Originally the program targeted only commercial office, industrial and warehouse buildings. Applications are accepted from architectural and design firms, developers, owners and non-profit organizations in Central Eastern Pennsylvania. This is one of several PPL programs designed to encourage environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to work.

The LEED Certification Program provides grants of up to $5,000 to offset costs from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. PPL offers a $5,000 bonus when an applicant achieves a “gold” or “platinum” certification.

Lancaster County Ranks High in National Publications
Lancaster County is the only community in the U.S. that has made both the Forbes magazine “Best Place to Ride Out the Recession” and Kiplinger’s “Best Safe Haven for Real Estate” lists assessing the national economic environment.

Commenting on Lancaster’s 10th ranking by Forbes, author Joshua Zumbrun said “Lancaster shows that sometimes slow growth feels better than fast growth and big bust.” To rank the best and worst urban economies, Forbes used housing data from real estate information provider Zillow and, where available, compared it with data from the National Association of Realtors and the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. Forbes looked at the most recent job growth and unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To weigh home prices and home equity to income levels, Forbes used median income estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Finally, using GDP data, they gave some weight to the percentage of a city's gross domestic product growth in recent years attributable to growth in financial services. All data was for metropolitan areas.

The Kiplinger report found six cities with slow, steady growth, using data from Fiserv Lending Solutions. The cities indicated in the report were all successful at keeping unemployment and foreclosure rates below average. It was also noted that the affordability index (a measure of home prices versus family income) was low.

Skilled Manufacturing Workers Available in Central Eastern Pennsylvania
Several central eastern Pennsylvania manufacturers have fallen victim to the effects of the nation’s economic slowdown. Consequently, a number of skilled workers are available for work.

• Roadway Scales Back Operations
  Trucking giant Roadway Express will scale back its Tannersville terminal and cut at least 120 relatively high-paying jobs. The company is also combining operations in the Lehigh Valley by closing its Bethlehem terminal and consolidating it with one in Allentown. The cutbacks are part of a consolidation initiative for the company’s trucking network that will reduce the number of terminals by about 25 percent.
• ACF Industries May Close Railcar Manufacturing Plant
  In mid-February, ACF industries will lay off as many as 328 workers at their Milton facility. Citing lack of orders for rail tank cars, the company said that layoffs will start in February and continue through April when all operations will be suspended.
• Reiter to Lay Off 60 Workers
  Reiter Automotive is expecting to layoff about 10 percent of their work force in Bloomsburg as a result of the scale-back in automotive production. The company attempted to avoid the layoffs through attrition and cutting work weeks to four days, but those measures have been insufficient.
  

New Jobs on the Way to Central Pennsylvania

• Toy Factory will Open in Elysburg
  Toy Factory, a privately held company, will open a facility in Elysburg. The company, a designer, manufacturer, marketer and distributor of stuffed toy and novelty products, makes novelty products for outdoor amusement parks and attractions. The company also has facilities in Texas and California. They plan to occupy an existing 60,000 SF building and employ between 25 and 35 people.
• Termaco Will Lease Muhlenburg Township Facility
  Termaco, a Canadian-based manufacturer of battery trays, UPS enclosures, battery cabinets and utility bodies, has announced they will be leasing a 52,000 SF building in Berks County. The company expects to create 65 jobs over the next three years.