The Columbian from Vancouver, Washington • 29

wwcolumbTiinconV ection Business i WorEtforce specialist to lead CREDC development issues and her excellent communication skills made her the best choice Fuller declined to discuss NisenfekTs compensation package Her predecessor Phillips who held the job for 11 years earned an annual salary of roughly $150000 at the end of his tenure acrording to tax filings For the past seven years Nisenfeld has served as executive director of the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council a nonprofit with a goal of preparing a skilled local workforce She also has led her own consulting firm specializing in strategic planning and workforce development and for comment Monday In a news release she said putting the Clark County Economic Development Flan into action is her first priority Commissioned by the CREDC for $80000 the 127-page plan calls i the county to take a new path toward employment growth built cm information technology health care and international trade The economy at a which opens an opportunity to help existing businesses expand and to recruit others to the region Nisenfeld said in the news release The board of the CREDC voted unanimously on Sept 22 to name Nisenfeld to the position according to Eric Fuller a commercial real estate broker with Eric Fuller Associates Inc in Vancouver and board chairman for the Columbia River Economic Development Council Before die Sept 22 decision Nisenfeld had been serving as interim president of the CREDC The Vancouver-based nonprofit composed of 125 members representing the private and public sectors was established in 1982 with the aim of creating jobs Fuller said NisenfekTs deep experience in both economic and workforce Nisenfeld now interim leader aims to implement development plan By AARON CORVIN Columbian staff writer The Columbia River Economic Development Council has selected Lisa iNisenaregKmaiieaaermwonaorce training as its new president the nonprofit said Monday The announcement followed a national search launched four months ago after the resignation of former president Bart Phillips Nisenfeld who is cm personal leave fer a family emergency was unavailable A home-avaiaMe sign is seen Aug 22 a six-month low in August the fourth ifort (1 DOW 1UM3L86 27138 NASDAQ SAP 500 1SKC8 UGU5 3148 26lSZ DetalsonPageE6 CLARK COUNTY TRENDS Real estate sales Value indudes land home md buUng sMh CM County Transactions numbered 576 in August 2011 eompnd wth 424 in August 2010 AUGUST $in in i ISM4J5 3DHJ5 SOICtbwiraHianb Hqr md Mato he torauNr VANCOUVER Twce-i-yev showcase set for Tuesday The 2011 Biannual Shop Local Business Showcase will be hdd from 4 to 7 pm TUesday at the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay 100 Columbia St Vancouver Sponsored by die Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and Southwest Washington Business Leaders the event gives local businesses an opportunity to showcase their goods and services while doubling as a Business After Hours networking event Some 50 local member businesses and organizations are participating in die showcase Admission is $5 and indudes a drink ticket Food and beverages may be purchased from the Red Lion VANCOUVER Sunmit aims to prepare teens for tech careen The inaugural iUiban Then Ifech Summit an all-day interactive technology event for underaerved and underrepresented teens will be held Saturday atWashington State University Vancouver The purpose is to inform students about technology careers in areas of cybersecurity social media gaming and mobile applications For student registration go to httpywwwjUrbantech com or email Thraiurbantechcoin Student registration is free The event is organized by Mosaic Blueprint a Vancouver-based firm specializing in diversity recruiting in technology energy and transportation sectors Sponsors include Nike Google Intel Multnomah County and Home Forward FORT WORTH TEXAS loddieedlayiRgoff540 employees mostly in Texas Lockheed Martin Corp is laying off 540 employees in plane-making operations in Tfexas Georgia and California The company said Monday it expected most of the affected workers to leave by die end The layoffs are part of a move announced in June to eliminate 1500 jobs in the aeronautics business as Lockheed cut costa in response to pressure to limit US defense spending NEW YORK Coca-Cola bottler plas to invest $3B in Russia Coca-Cola Co and Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company SA plan to invest $3 billion in Russia over the next five years as part of an ongoing push into emerging markets Coca-Cola the largest soft drink maker has been investing in emerging markets in order to expand Ha presence there The Atlanta company gets about three-quarters of its revenue from overseas with emerging markets among its fastest-growing components The $3 billion investment in Russia will occur from 2012 to 2016 MARKET wen JOHN RAOUXIha Assocttod Am In front of a home under construction in Apopka Fla Sales of new homes fed to straight monthly decline during the peak buying seasoa 1: HOMEBUYIHG WORST IN AT LEAST 50 CREDC Age E3 Rise in debit fees may draw ire of small businesses By DAKIN CAMPBELL ndDONAL GRIFFIN iMbwiikiyNoiff SAN FRANCISCO Visa and MasterCard the biggest payments networks may face a merchant backlash by raising debit-card swipe fees on the smallest purchases to the maximum allowed under rules that take effect Oct 1 MasterCard will impose the highest fees allowed on all debit transactions including so-called small-ticket purchases for cards are issued by the bfc gest US banks unintended sakiaperaonwith consequences direct knowledge of the matter Visa that result win do the same whpn thp Thomas McCro- government steps in and Scott wrote nrpfpnHc in a Sept 21 note preienas without to knOW how he got the in- the free which pass tiie saijss Trish Wader gan Chase and Spokeswoman Citigroup now Electronic Payments charge retailers Coalition 155 percent of the which represents purchase price banks and networks plus 4 cents for small-ticket transactions of less than $15 That comes to about 7 cents for $2 cup of coffee The cost to merchants for that item would more than triple under rules created by the Federal Re I Reserve which capped the fees at 21 cents plus 5 basis prints of the total and a conditional 1 cent for fraud-prevention mom-ancipop coffee shop that processes lots of $3 transactions is really going to get hurt by said Brian Dodge a spokesman for the Retail Industry Leaden Association a trade group that represents the biggest US merchants including Wal-Mart Stores Ikiget and Home Depot The new fee structure wont apply to cards issued by banks and unions with less than $10 billion in a sets which are exempt from the law a protista of the Dodd-Ftank Act During the debate in Congress last year and the rule-making process that ensued banks and payment networks said that capping swipe fees or inler-would be tantamount to gov- change eminent price controls and result in unintended consequences "MasterCard recently informed our issuers that we will implement a two-tiered interchange structure" Janies Issokson a spokesman fer Purchase FEES ftp E4 finger-printing growing increasingly nasty But in many ways Sotyndra's tale is one of irrational exuberance a collective belief unswayed by blown sales projections yanked IPOs shuttered factories and fired executives Almost to the end private investors continued to pump millions into the company Officials in Sacramento jobs cant stymied by dismal jobs said Celia Chen a housing economist at Moodyh Analytics Plunging stock prices and renewed recession fears have led many economists to push back expectations for a housing recovery Chen expects prices to bottom at the start of 2012 And she doesn't expect sales and prices to make a healthy recovery until 2015 at the earliest In hard-hit areas such as California and Florida it could take decades for prices to return to normal she said Pierre Ellis an analyst at Derision Economics said that until wages increase and hiring picks up sales will languish The news is the evident absence of optimism that sales will pick up to any Ellis said Roughly 168000 new homes were sold from March through August the Commerce Department said Monday That's fewer than the 180000 for the same period last year and last year's sales were boosted by a temporary buyer's tax credit Over the same period in 200 roughly 208)00 new homes were sold In a healthy six-month buying sea- "Without Americans really purchase Call Housing ns AJ MOoayNiyuC9 Peakbuying months By DEREK KRAVITZ AssodatedPress WASHINGTON -The homebuying season was a bust March through August are typically the peak buying months But this time Americana bought fewer new homes in that stretch than in any other six-month period since recordkeeping began a halfcentury ago And sales of previously occupied homes didn't fare much better They nearly matched 2009k total fer the peak buying months And that was the worst since 1997 Combined total sales this spring and summer were the weakest on records dating to 1963 The figures underscore how badly the housing market is faring and suggest that a recovery is years away Because the economy is hardy growing and unemployment exceeds 9 percent many people see a home purchase as too big a risk Some worry about losing their jobs Others cant afford the 20 percent down payment that most lenders now require Not even shrunken home prices and the lowest mortgage rates in six decades are swaying woukLbe buyers "The job engine has realty "puttered out and without jobs Americans really cant purchase Chen economist In-Jiitirr YEARS situation experts say son about 400000 new homes would selL Among re-sales about 28 million homes sold from March through August this year That's roughly as many as in the same periods in 2009 and 2010 In a healthy map ket about 13 million would be arid in that six-month stretch Michael McGrew who runs McGrow Real Estate in Lawrence KanM said many families won't buy until the economy strengthens Even in Lawrence which had low unemployment rate of 64 percent in July people are worried McGrew arid What would help most would be a relocated company to hire in the Lawrence area McGrew says But hopes fer tiie housing market to turn around soon are dim he said actually seeing more people trading down their home or trading out of our market entirely McGrew said Nationally prices are still falling Prices for previously occupied homes have surds more than 5 percent over the past year to median of $16800 New-home prices have fallen even further by 77 percent to $2091001 Then suddenly the bottom dropped out In a matter of days Solyndra Ceased operations plunged into bankruptcy was raided by the FBI and found "Tt: itself thrust into a national political firestorm Nearly all the attention in the Solyndra case has revolved around the Obama administration's $528 million bad bet with partisan congressional Collapse of solar firm Solyndra is tale of too much dazzle I Analysis permanent jobs while a stream of stale and federal politicians toured the Fremont Calif plant basking in what fell like the glow of the future Investors convinced that Solyndra was the big one the harbinger of a solar boom poured more than $1 billion into the company with the A government guaranteeing 50 percent more in loam By KENBENSINGER STUART PFEIFER uriNEELABANERJEB LosAngtks Tbm It was the better mousetrap Fhxn Silicon Valley to the White House unique solar panels left everyone gasping for a piece of the action Analysts gushed over the cylindrical design Company executives promised huge revenue supporting thousands of SOLYNDRA ftgrE4 IrA'W-YVrf ri -r- i-r iMyiuMt4' WUafc a.