News-Record.com

Thanks to my friend Anne Taufen Wessells for pointing out how other communities are rehabbing their public space.

Here's one idea that I bet the folks at SynerG overlooked in their quest to "enliven" downtown.

Looks like the speculators were right about Krispy Kreme's ability to get major financing. The company needs millions to avoid bankruptcy and repair the damage done by allegations of improper accounting, regulatory and criminal investigations, shareholder lawsuits and falling share prices.

Krispy Kreme said this morning that it has secured $225 million in financing from a group led by Credit Suisse First Boston.

In addition to being good news for local employees and investors, the news backs up suggestions made last month by Peter Hall, the chairman of Australian mutual fund giant Hunter Hall International, which now owns about 7 percent of Krispy Kreme stock.

In an exclusive interview, Hall told me that Krispy Kreme has great potential as a brand and that his group would be willing to assist in any way it could to get the struggling company back on its feet.

He said Hunter Hall would buy more stock to finance the company if Krispy Kreme issued it, but that conventional lenders would probably see the potential and grant financing to the company.

"There's a good business in there somewhere but it will probably take a few years for the business to be restructured -- I think it could be a great global brand. The consciousness and awareness of the brand is still not great outside the United States," Hall said from his London office.

Village Tavern has a new Web site, thanks to the folks at Stratapult, a Winston-Salem company that does Web design.

Stratapult said that the goal was to update the restaurant chain's site to reflect the casual/upscale feel at its eight locations and give readers an overview of Village Tavern food and services.

The Village Tavern operates eight upscale-casual restaurants including Winston-Salem (2), Greensboro and Charlotte; Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; Birmingham, Alabama; and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Biz Buzz recommends the Mustard Pepper Burger.

Good advice from Wall Street Journal columnist Lee Gomes in Monday's paper:

"Perhaps the best strategic advice for a company is to ignore strategic advice, because all it will be is warmed-over conventional wisdom. Instead, companies should make sure they are on the right side of history, and then try to do whatever it is they do as well as they can."

Seems like particulary timely advice for textile companies...and newspapers. I have not seen newspapers petition Congress to transport them to the 1950s, however.

The fear that high oil prices will prompt a global economic slowdown have led to a plethora of suggestions to stem demand. Some of the ideas being bantered about include limiting the number of days you are allowed to drive, as in London, raising the gas tax and investing in public transport.

What do you think of the suggestions? Are they premature or off the wall? On target?

A friend saw a Hummer with a 0MPG license plate cruising the Triad. Are the days of flaunting conspicuous consumption gone? Are you ready to buy a Prius or hop a bus to work? And do you think the government should prioritize investing in alternative energy? Think nuclear powerplant in your backyard. Or a wind farm along I40.

The Onion has done it again. So maybe a mobil Fox terror alert van isn't business-related. But it's really funny.

So Fox, is one coming to Greensboro?

From Wednesday's Financial Times:

Collegial, Not Command and Control -- That's the Female Way

Dame Stella Rimington, who was the model for 'M', the fictional head of M16 played by Judi Dench in the recent James Bond films, believes that men and women approach leadership in different ways.

Rimington:
"Women are more prepared to discuss things, to take advice," she says. "I do not have this command-and-control style of leadership that has been, until fairly recently, the accepted style in a lot of companies. My style was far more collegiate. But it wasn't the fashion in M15 when I became a middle manager to do a lot of sharing or consulting."

She says she did not feel a need to intervene to help women when she became director-general.

"There was no longer any bar to anything that they could do - so their natural abilities brought them on. Part-time work and flexible working hours were gradually introduced during that period. "I don't think it was specifically at my instigation."

Personally, I think the FT offers the best daily take on business news -- and its weekend section is the bomb. Art, architecture, cool people, fashion, criticism. Blows the Wall Street Journal's Personal Journal/Weekend Journal away -- although I love movie critic Joe Morgenstern and the Friday wine column.

Unfortunately, I can only get it in the mail at this point. That's why this blurb is a day behind. If more of you order it, maybe we can start receiving it on our doorsteps.

Greensboro Chamber folks are "building momentum" again for another project: high speed rail.

David Jameson, president, and Allen Purser, SVP, attended a conference in Washington yesterday aimed at finding out ways to win federal money for rail projects.

They went as part of a 15-Chamber Alliance, which is asking Congress for $15 million in fiscal 2006 for operational, economic, engineering and environmental feasibility studies for specific routes along the corridor.

"We view high speed rail as an important ingredient, not just for our region's economic development prospects, but also for the benefit of the Southeast as a whole. By speaking in a unified voice, we want to continue to let our elected leaders know just how important this development is for all of us," said Jameson.

The proposal:

A high speed service would connect city pairs in the Southeast up to 300 miles apart. With trains running at speeds of up to 85-90 miles per hour and stops in major cities along the way, it would provide a viable and ptentially less expensive alternative to air travel, said the Chamber in a statement.

Less expensive for passengers, maybe. For the government, probably not. Has Amtrak ever paid for itself outside the Washington to Boston corridor? No. Not that this service would not be welcome. But it looks like another subsidized program in waiting.

Dell

Yesterday Dell announced that it chose Archdale firm Ace/Avant Concrete Construction Co. to supply concrete for its building project in Winston-Salem.

Ace/Avant will employ about 100 people on the job site and another 350 people through North Carolina subcontractors and suppliers, said Dell in a statement.

As if the business world isn't stressful enough these days, now comes word that being less than good-looking might put you at a competitive disadvantage. Consider the following story now moving on the Associated Press wire:

Perhaps this might be more appropriate business attire for many of us.

Via The Economist:

Counterparts for spam (arrosage) and bug (bogue) can be created. But Google must be combatted, according French President Jacques Chirac. Seems the English language search engine is becoming too popular. It's French version is used for 74% of searches in the land that gave us Lady Liberty.

France has always protected its language from cultural invaders, so Chirac's desire to create a French-language rival should come as no surprise.

The head of France's Bibliotheque Nationale, Jean-Noel Jeanneney, has spoken of "the risk of crushing domination by America in defining the view that future generations have of the world."

"I have nothing in particular against Google," he told the magazine L'Express. "I simply note that this commercial company is the expression of the American system, in which the law of the market is king."

Search engine as cultural hegemon. Hmmm. And I thought it just helped me find maps around Paris and cheaper plane fares. And translate things to French! (via the google Language Tools site.)

My telephone rates story today touched on the state of competition in North Carolina for local telephone service. I found lots of interesting data in a state Utilities Commission report. But reading the report is slow going.

I'll save you some trouble. I learned two things: It's very difficult to assess how much competition there is for local telephone service in the state because of the many companies offering services that are apples to oranges.

The other thing I learned is that when the survey did find decent data on competition, many markets seem almost closed to competitors. Essentially, the "switched" or traditional phone companies are pretty much a monopoly because very few "CPLs" (Competing Local Providers) can get access to the hard land telephone lines.

Take heart, though: If you're in a business or a major city, more companies want your business and you may have a shot at a lower price.

Below is a key part of the report, filed last November. Note, "unswitched" typically refers to digital or wireless phone service. "Rate Centers" are individual local markets.

From the report:

An overarching result from the analysis of the survey data is that wireline competition, as measured by market shares of CLPs in connections, is mottled across services and areas.

Typically, and not surprisingly, CLP market shares are higher for services to businesses than services to
residences (except for residential prepaid telephone
service, in which the CLP market share is very large); very small for residential nonprepaid telephone service; higher for nonswitched services than switched services, despite the data reliability issues; higher for services in metropolitan markets than in rural
areas.

Of the 430 Rate Centers in North Carolina, 74 (17.2 percent)
have no switched services provided by a CLP, and 197 (45.8
percent) have no nonswitched services provided by a CLP.

Of the 356 Rate Centers that have switched services provided by
at least one CLP, 106 (29.8 percent) are served by only one to
three CLPs. Of the 233 Rate Centers that have nonswitched
services provided by at least one CLP, 213 (91.4 percent) are
served by only one to three CLPs.

Dell has started its help wanted ads for "production associates" for its Winston-Salem factory.

The ad began running today in the Winston-Salem Chronicle and will run Sunday in the News & Record, Winston-Salem Journal and High Point Enterprise, a spokeswoman for the company said today.

The ad says that workers will be paid between $9.50 and $14 an hour based on experience. They must be able to work overtime and weekends and must be able to go to Texas or Tennessee for four weeks of training.

Workers will be required to identify and install computer parts by customer order and must be able to lift, push and pull for extended periods of time.

Applicants should go to the state Joblink centers in Davie, Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, and Yadkin counties during the week of April 10-16 to apply for the jobs. The centers will expand their hours to 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the weekdays and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday to handle the expected applicants. Addresses for the centers can be found at www.ncjoblink.com.

The Piedmont Triad Partnership, the regional economic development group, wants to lure auto engineering firms to the area.

It's sending three people to the Society of Auto Engineers World Congress in Detroit this week, where 700 firms are expected to show up.

Incidentally, the PTP uses a dateline of "Piedmont Triad, NC" in every news release it sends out. Actually, the office is in Greensboro.

If it moved into a Winnebago and roved the region, my spirit of Triadism might incline me to accomodate the claim.

Today, I got my first look inside Cone Denim's massive White Oak plant here in Greensboro. I was working on a broader story about our local economy. But while there I was struck by some impressions of the world of textiles.

Cone Denim, like the rest of the industry, has been through a lot -- layoffs, near failure, and buyout. It's now owned by Wilber Ross' International Textile Group.

Cone Denim is determined to reverse any perception that it's in a dying industry. Every person I meet at the company is committed and focused on doing whatever can be done to survive and thrive.

The energy I found there could apply to just about any "new economy" company. You have to remind yourself that they're talking about textiles. This is no sleepy company.

First impressions are deceiving, however. The factory is in an old section of the city with small mill-town houses all around. It's a nice, well-kept neighborhood with children playing. But I suspect it would have been more bustling 40 years ago when the business was stronger and the plant had more workers.

Head into the factory's administrative offices and it's pretty much the same story -- an older building with conventional office furnishings.

But step inside the main manufacturing building and you'll see how the past meshes with the future. I expected to see old, clunky, dusty machines banging out denim the old fashioned way.

And at one end of the factory floor, I saw that kind of machine. But now it's making "vintage denim", which is considered a high-line product. An old-fashioned technique goes upscale.

These machines could be fixed "with a hammer and a screw driver", they say in the business.

The rest of the floor is filled with 200 machines spread out over several football fields of space. Earplugs are a must, as the sound is like nothing short of a B2 bomber.

On the old machines, you could see every cast-iron gear. The new machines, made by Nissan, look like giant computer boxes with thousands of blue threads working their way through the weaving process.

What I don't know about weaving could fill this blog. So I'll just say that these things are all sleek, computer-driven efficiency.

A "fixer" of one of these machines needs to know as much about software as hand tools.

And while it looks like all the machines are doing the same thing, they're making a vast array of different products. Color, width, weave -- all these factors can be mixed to provide dozens of variations for Cone's customers like Gap, Old Navy, Levi's, and JC Penney, to name a few. In the old days, that floor would have produced maybe two different types of denim. For days at a time.

Not any more. I met a 37-year veteran of Cone on the floor who has to keep moving and stay flexible to produce the variety the company demands.

So next time you drive by a Cone plant, remember that the inside is changing, rapidly, and radically. And cross your fingers for this "old economy" industry searching for its place in the 21st century.

Fleeting moments of joy can't keep up with mortgages. From the Onion.

Everyone talks about China as an economic threat. But Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, the head of Pace Communications and former ambassador to Finland, said the European Union "has the power to shut us out" at an event Wednesday at UNCG.

McElveen-Hunter said U.S. firms must pay more attention to Europe -- specifically its ability to prevent genetically modified food from entering the EU and that the United States must keep an open dialogue with Europe to craft mutually beneficial economic policies.

She made the remarks during a question and answer session with former Finnish Ambassador to the United Nations Max Jakobson, who spoke about the future of the European Union to a small, but packed room in the Elliot Center.

At a time when the vigilantes patrol the Texas and Arizona borders, hoping to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States, Jakobson said Europeans fixate on Muslim immigration.

"We do not want people from Islamic countries," he said. "I do not know how we will settle the matter."

Without increased immigration Europe will struggle to grow its economy, he said.

Winston-Salem welcomes Dell, just not today.

Road crews upgrading the Union Cross Road exit ramp to the plant site from eastbound Interstate 40 closed off one lane of the highway yesterday and today. The result: Four-mile backups of traffic coming into Winston-Salem during the morning commute.

Clearly, the Triad's ravaged employment base needs the jobs and the progress. But with hundreds of trucks expected to come and go from that interchange every day, could these backups be a sign of things to come?

The few-thousand motorists who added an hour to their commute through Forsyth County this week might have a few choice words on the matter.

The Economist raises the question of whether movie stars could lure more money to the state than car makers in the latest issue.

Since the Louisiana legislature decided three years ago to give film-makers a tax credit of up to 15% of their total investment in the state and 20% of the wages to local residents, things have changed in bayou country.

Gov. Mike Easley proposes a similar idea to spur a once larger state film industry.

Wonder if it could be more effective than giving one company (Dell) $270 million in breaks?

To attract people and jobs, the Triad needs a face lift.

Specifically, it needs more lakes, mountains and maybe an ocean. Turns out natural amenities = economic prosperity according to a report by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Thanks to Scientific American for the revelation.

Most of us could stand to lose a few pounds. Plastic surgery can help -- but it is not a cure for obesity.

Local plastic surgeon Dr. Russell Kitchens says people have called him up and asked if he can get rid of 25 or 30 pounds. Are these people for real?

The max he can eliminate is about 3 pounds, said Kitchens. Seems like science has not quite eliminated the need for personal responsibility.

For more info on where to Botox, whiten and straighten, I slice and dice the local plastic surgery scene in Sunday's paper.

Dell announced today that it gave $50,000 to support a new education center aimed at designing curriculum that builds technology skills.

The public-private 21st Century Skills Center will work with public school systems, community colleges and universities to redesign teaching material.

The center will be housed under the N.C. Business Committee for Education. A statement from the Governor's office says that it will be supported by government, corporations and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an advocacy group supported by big technology companies -- like Dell and Cisco Systems.

The group's web site says:

The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a powerful vision for 21st century education to ensure every child's success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change.

So Dell will now design school curriculum and computers. What's next? The state flag?

Just had to share this with someone. Everyone knows corporate crime has gotten a bit of attention the last few years, but today's Associated Press lineup of coming stories gives the issue sharp relief. There is a whole SECTION of the lineup devoted to current developments. Have a look:

CORPORATE TRIALS:

—BC-WorldCom Lawsuit: A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a deal under which auditor Arthur Andersen LLP will pay $65 million to settle allegations that it failed to protect WorldCom investors. Photos NYLL104-106.
—BC-Mutual Funds Trial: Jury selection expected to begin in New York in trial of Theodore Sihpol, a former Bank of America broker who is the first person indicted by NY AG Spitzer in the mutual fund scandal to demand a jury trial. AP Photos NYLL101-103.
— BC-Tyco Trial: Prosecution may rest today in the retrial of Tyco executives. Photos NY847-848,
— BC-Scrushy Trial: Testimony continues in trial of former HealthSouth Corp. Chairman Richard Scrushy. AP Photos planned.
—BC-Morgan Stanley Sued: The judge in the trial of billionaire financier Ronald Perelman’s civil suit against Morgan Stanley declined to call a mistrial after three jurors told her they had been approached by a man who questioned them about the case. AP Photos planned.
—BC-Enron-Broadband: Enron broadband trial testimony continues.
— BC-Dynegy: Trial date to be set for former Dynegy trader Michelle Valencia and former El Paso trader Greg Singleton, both of whom are charged with reporting fake trades to industry publications that use such data to calculate natural gax index prices. — BC-Spitzer-AIG: New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Tuesday said he will audit American International Group Inc. over reports that AIG improperly booked workers’ compensation premiums, providing an “unlawful benefit” to the company worth tens of millions of dollars.

A news release from Forsyth Tech:

FORSYTH TECH BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPROVE

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS POLICY

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (April 26, 2005) – The board of trustees at Forsyth Technical Community College approved policy on the admission of undocumented immigrants at its meeting held Thursday, April 21, 2005. The policy states that undocumented immigrants are eligible for admission as curriculum students at Forsyth Tech with limitations as set out below:

1. An undocumented immigrant may be considered for admission if he or she has graduated from high school in North Carolina.

2. Undocumented immigrants may not receive state or federal financial aid in the form of a grant or a loan.

3. An undocumented immigrant will be considered an out-of-state resident for tuition purposes per the North Carolina Community College System policy and Title 23 of the North Carolina Administrative Code.

4. When considering whether or not to admit an undocumented immigrant into a specific program of study, the college will take into account that federal law prohibits the states from granting professional licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Dr. Gary Green, president of Forsyth Tech stated, "By opening the doors of postsecondary education to young people who have grown up here and will live and work in our community, Forsyth Tech is reaffirming its commitment to provide access and opportunity for all.”

Forsyth Technical Community College campus and center locations include the Main Campus on Silas Creek Parkway, the West Campus on Bolton Street, the Mazie S. Woodruff Center in Northeast Winston-Salem, the Grady P. Swisher Center in Kernersville, the Forsyth Tech Small Business Center in the Winston-Salem Chamber Building, the Forsyth Tech Hispanic Center in the Forsyth County Public Library in downtown Winston-Salem and the Stokes County Center in

the Stokes County Government Center in Danbury. Currently, 1,150 full- and part-time faculty serve students in more than 150 programs of study, and corporate and continuing education courses. The college is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. For information on the college: call (336) 723-0371 or visit www.forsythtech.edu.

Did you know that truck drivers make $40,000 to $50,000 a year?

Granted, they must endure long hours and weeks away from family and friends, not to mention boredom. Hopefully they do not listen to NPR all the time.

But the salary was news to me. Maybe some of the throng applying to work for $9 an hour at Dell could find better jobs on the highway.

rose in March, according to the latest figures from economist Don Jud, professor emeritus at UNCG.

Jobless claims went down -- and have fallen 15.5 percent over the past year. Unemployment stayed the same as February -- at 5.2 percent.

Another bright spot: the service sector. It keeps adding where manufacturing is laying off. But goods producing employment is picking up slightly. Employment rose .1 percent for the month and 2.8 percent for the year.

The only problem? Wages. They are going up, but not enough to beat inflation.

Find out why in Sunday's paper.

Richard Florida is at it again.

You may remember when the professor and self-proclaimed expert on The Creative Class came to Greensboro a couple of years ago. Florida's book at the time was "The Rise of the Creative Class." He was here to spread the gospel of nurturing "the creative class" in local economies. Those people -- artists, writers, doctors, lawyers and managers -- it seems, can add both cultural and economic vitality to a community.

Greensboro leaders have been chewing over that visit for several months now, and while they've begun to broaden their view beyond Florida's narrow definition, his impact is still being felt here.

Now, he's taking on the world. In his new book, "The Flight of the Creative Class", Florida says that the United States as a nation is seeing a brain drain, as the best minds in the world are choosing to stay in their home countries rather than coming here for opportunity. This could be a sea change in how our nation builds, he suggests.

I just bought the book, and I'll be reading it in the coming days. I'll give you updates as I go through it.