Small Business Vitality Poor In Calif.

Katy Grimes: The Sacramento region has dropped even lower in a national ranking of cities with a good small business climate and small-business vitality.

Last year, Sacramento was listed at No. 95 on a national ranking of 100 metropolitan areas. This year, the city has dropped below Stockton to No. 96, and only two rungs ahead of Detroit, according to The Business Journal.

The rankings are done annually by The Business Journal, which factors in whether cities reward markets that have prosperous economies, are expanding rapidly, and are densely packed with small businesses.

Austin finished first.

It’s been so long, that it’s hard to remember when California finished at the top of the list for business vitality.

California had nine cities listed in the ranking, with San Jose coming in the highest at No. 20, San Diego at No. 47, Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 99, and Modesto falling to No. 100.

Everything that California is not doing can be found in Austin. The winning city is doing many things right:

“Population: The Austin area added 286,000 residents between 2004 and 2009, an increase of 20.2 percent. The only metro to grow faster was Raleigh at 22.8 percent.

Employment: Austin’s job base expanded by 9.3 percent between 2005 and 2010, the third-fastest upswing in the nation.

Small-business growth: The number of small businesses grew by 1.5 percent in Austin between 2007 and 2008, the latest period covered by official statistics. No other market did better than 0.6 percent.”

Each of these areas has a direct impact on small-business activity, according to The Business Journal.

But I’ll bet that Texas doesn’t have a fancy high speed rail system… or is turning sewage into solar power… or licensing tattoo artists… or banning plastic bags… or cutting off the water to farmers to save a bug.

Nearly every issue that the majority party in California has its attention on right now kills business, grows government and increases state debt – a real winning formula by people who have never signed the front of a paycheck and really don’t seem to understand or care what it takes to creates growth.

APRIL 11, 2011