COMPANY, CITY HELPING EACH OTHER.Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer BURBANK - Hoping to stimulate economic activity in a blighted area, city officials have agreed to loan a local business $250,000 so it can complete an expansion in a redevelopment area. The Burbank Redevelopment Agency was eager to grant the request from Westwind Media for a low-interest loan to help defray de·fray tr.v. de·frayed, de·fray·ing, de·frays To undertake the payment of (costs or expenses); pay. [French défrayer, from Old French desfrayer : des-, the costs of refurbishing and renovating buildings in the South San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Redevelopment Project Area. It is the first economic development loan the agency has issued for the area. ``We're elated that the redevelopment agency is helping our business,'' said Gary Yamada, development manager for Westwind. ``We're going to provide jobs, we've cleaned up the area around here, and we've purchased older businesses.'' The post-production company - which provides video and audio editing Audio editing is the process of taking recorded sound and changing it directly on the recording medium (analog) or in RAM (digital). Audio editing was a new technology that developed in the middle part of the 20th century with the advent of magnetic tape recording. services for the entertainment industry - has been located at Alameda Avenue and Flower Street since 1993. Since then, officials said, the company has made significant improvements that have helped enhance the appearance, visibility and economic viability of the redevelopment area. The 467-acre area is bordered by San Fernando and Victory boulevards, the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. and the Burbank/Glendale border. ``Some properties there are run-down run·down n. 1. A point-by-point summary. 2. Baseball A play in which a runner is trapped between bases and is pursued by fielders attempting to make the tag. adj. also run-down 1. a. and the businesses have really taken it upon themselves and literally cleaned up their own properties,'' said Ruth Davidson-Guerra, the senior redevelopment project manager for Burbank. ``Businesses are slowly but surely jumping on the bandwagon and revitalizing that area.'' The agency believes that Westwind's expansion will help spur the local economy by generating more high-paying jobs. Currently, Westwind has 37 full-time employees - the post-production staff earns an average of $52 an hour - and it plans to hire 40 more within the next few years, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a city staff report. Westwind also plans to improve roughly 16,350 square feet of aging industrial property, providing landscaping, and adding off-street parking facilities. The company has already acquired three adjacent properties and will negotiate for three more, the report said. ``The company is doing a good thing,'' Guerra said. ``They're helping the city as a whole rectify infrastructure deficiencies, adding high-paying jobs and removing blight blight, general term for any sudden and severe plant disease or for the agent that causes it. The term is now applied chiefly to diseases caused by bacteria (e.g., bean blights and fire blight of fruit trees), viruses (e.g., soybean bud blight), fungi (e.g. .'' |
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