Phil Castle, The Business Times Tony Gagliardi gives average marks to the Colorado Legislature and the results of its latest session for small businesses in the state. “It was a C to a C-minus session,” said Gagliardi, the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. The small business advocacy group represents 350,000 members […]
It’s time to revisit a favorite subject of mine: news releases. More specifically, it’s time to beg again for local news releases and the opportunity they afford to share more information with readers. I swear, there are occasions when I feel like less like a newspaper editor and more like the orphan Oliver Twist in […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times Real estate activity continues to increase in Mesa County, topping $1 billion in sales in the first half of 2021. Robert Bray, for one, expects the trend to continue in the second half. “I still feel good about the remainder of the year,” said Bray, chief executive officer of Bray […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times Richard and Jean Tally have long maintained a relationship with Stephen Smith, one that’s changed the wine industry in the Grand Valley. Smith, an industry pioneer who at one time owned the largest wine grape-growing operation in Colorado, encouraged the Tallys to open a hotel in the midst of the […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times Robert Bray counts three boom and bust cycles in Mesa County since his grandparents started his family’s real estate business 75 years ago. Competitors have come and gone. Technology and the ways real estate is bought and sold have evolved. What hasn’t changed over three quarters of a century, Bray […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times Andrew Levy wanted to start an airline from scratch — and knew he didn’t want to replicate competing operations. “You have to do something different.” What Levy came up with is a combination of low fares, convenience and customer service he expects to build business for Avelo Airlines. “We think […]
I count among my many blessings the opportunity to work in one job in one place for so long. More than 22 years, for those keeping track. While others change jobs — and by one estimate, nearly a third of the work force changes jobs every year — I happily stick to the business of […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times The unemployment rate continues to decrease in Mesa County along with the number of people counted among those unsuccessfully looking for jobs. At the same time, businesses struggle to fill job openings, said Curtis Englehart, director of the Mesa County Workforce Center in Grand Junction. “We’re definitely hearing that. It’s […]
It’s been said facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable. In other words, statistics mean never having to say you’re certain. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was famously credited for lumping in statistics with lies and damned lies. Given the number of humorous quotes about statistics, it’s tempting to make up a statistic about […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times Tracy Phillips has high hopes for a program offering financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in Mesa County. “It’s fantastic Mesa County is among the participants,” says Phillips, director of the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program in Colorado. Mesa County Commissioners voted in April to opt […]