Business Arizona

Raymond L. Jensen, president of Automotive Parts Exchange, loves one aspect of California's climate and ran away from another. To escape the business climate, he moved his firm and more than 500 jobs from Orange County just across the state line into Arizona. But after work on most Fridays, Jensen cranks up the V-12 engine of his BMW sedan and commutes four hours to his Tustin Hills home in Santa Ana so he can indulge himself in Southern California.

Marc Tyler doesn't remember the yards, but he remembers the carries. Last season against Arizona, Tyler ran the ball 31 times for 160 yards — both career highs — and the Trojans defeated the Wildcats at Tucson. It was the most carries by a USC tailback since Sultan McCullough ran 39 times against California in 2001. "I remember how sore and tired I was," Tyler said Wednesday. Tyler anticipates another heavy workload Saturday when the Trojans play Arizona at the Coliseum.

Arizona to Examine Lincoln S&L Accountant: The accounting firm of Ernst & Young could find itself barred from business in Arizona as a result of complaints over its handling of American Continental Corp. and Lincoln Savings & Loan audits. The Arizona Board of Accountancy has ordered a hearing into allegations that Ernst & Young and five associates were negligent in their auditing of and in their formal statements about the financial condition of the now-failed companies.

Matt Leinart says he's neither Mr. Hollywood nor the latest Mr. Hilton, but merely a rookie quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. And to him, that's a welcome change. "I feel like I'm less in the spotlight," the former USC standout said in a phone interview Thursday, after the Cardinals concluded rookie workouts. "I was just so happy to get out of L.A. I love SC, and I'm from Orange County, so leaving my family was tough.

Twentieth Century Fox said Monday that it will build its new 300-employee animation film studio in Phoenix after Arizona offered the company about $1 million in job training funds and low-interest loans to buy state-of-the-art digital animation equipment. The decision marks the first time one of the big Hollywood studios has located a significant operation in Arizona, and it is another reminder that Southern California does not have an exclusive franchise on movie-making operations.

Learn from your competition, a business axiom, applies equally to Southern California and the rest of the state. Both could learn a trick or two from neighboring Phoenix and Arizona. Phoenix is glowing these days because four semiconductor plants are now a-building there--including the $1.3-billion plant, the world's largest, being erected for Intel's P6 microprocessor.

Arizona Moves to Keep Defense Jobs: Officials billed new legislation as the first benefits package offered by any state designed specifically to attract and retain defense manufacturers. Effective July, 1993, the state will offer up to $2,500 in first-year corporate income tax credits for each defense employee added to a company's Arizona payroll. Defense employers will also get up to 40% property tax credits by adding jobs at Arizona plants. Pushed by Gov.

Less than an hour after baseball owners announced that they will lock players out of spring training barring a quick contract agreement, Linda Hitchins got her first cancellation. "We had some tour groups booked in from Chicago, people who really follow the Cubs, and they called almost right away to drop some rooms from their block," said Hitchins, general manager of the Holiday Inn in Mesa, Ariz.

Some unusual advertising aimed at a select group of Southern Californians has appeared in the last month. A full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on April 4 proclaimed Phoenix as "L.A.'s newest business suburb," ideal for companies that want to serve Southern California but don't want to be in Southern California.

Rep. Bob Filner (D-San Diego) wants to reopen a washed-out stretch of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railroad that would link Arizona businesses to San Diego's port instead of Los Angeles/Long Beach. Railtex Corp. of San Antonio has been operating limited freight service along the western part of the 110-mile line. The eastern part was washed out years ago. The line would cost up to $123.6 million to modernize. Filner is seeking congressional support to make the project more feasible.

The Cleveland company that bought Cimco Inc. early this year has agreed to sell the local company's core plastics molding business to an Arizona company for an undisclosed price. More than 350 employees at Cimco's three molding plants in Costa Mesa will remain in place for now, but a restructuring is likely, said Nicholas Smeed, an executive at InteSys Technologies Inc. in Gilbert, Ariz. It expects to complete acquisition of the operation late this month.

Dick Cloud watches as the stream of smoke from his twice-broken nose succumbs to the gritty haze churned by thousands of tires grinding the desert crust. "Why on earth do folks keep comin' here?" Cloud asks the question so often on his mind. He grins sheepishly. His voice has a pinch-me huskiness: "Hey. I ain't complaining. But it does make ya wonder, don't it?"

Learn from your competition, a business axiom, applies equally to Southern California and the rest of the state. Both could learn a trick or two from neighboring Phoenix and Arizona. Phoenix is glowing these days because four semiconductor plants are now a-building there--including the $1.3-billion plant, the world's largest, being erected for Intel's P6 microprocessor.

Twentieth Century Fox said Monday that it will build its new 300-employee animation film studio in Phoenix after Arizona offered the company about $1 million in job training funds and low-interest loans to buy state-of-the-art digital animation equipment. The decision marks the first time one of the big Hollywood studios has located a significant operation in Arizona, and it is another reminder that Southern California does not have an exclusive franchise on movie-making operations.

McDonnell Douglas, the aerospace giant beset by a sliding defense market and problems in its commercial aircraft business, said Monday that it will consolidate its organization, shut down major parts plants in Ohio and Culver City, and possibly sell its helicopter business in Arizona. The St. Louis-based company said it will consolidate six defense divisions into two groups, leaving its Douglas Aircraft commercial unit in Long Beach as the only autonomous operation.

Advantage Boats Inc., a small powerboat manufacturer, said it is weighing anchor in Orange County and sailing off to Arizona next year. Harry Christensen, president of the Anaheim company, said that rising operating costs and stringent air-quality regulations have made it too expensive to operate here. "The city government has been really good to us, but we foresee environmental laws changing in the future that will make it next to impossible to operate my business profitably," he said Thursday.

Smokenders, a company that organizes seminars for smokers trying to kick the habit, has moved its corporate headquarters to Phoenix because its new chief executive has chosen to live there. James A. De Sanctis, who led a group of investors who acquired Smokenders in March from Comprehensive Care Corp., a Newport Beach-based health-care management firm, said the move to Phoenix is "a dream come true."

Raymond L. Jensen, president of Automotive Parts Exchange, loves one aspect of California's climate and ran away from another. To escape the business climate, he moved his firm and more than 500 jobs from Orange County just across the state line into Arizona. But after work on most Fridays, Jensen cranks up the V-12 engine of his BMW sedan and commutes four hours to his Tustin Hills home in Santa Ana so he can indulge himself in Southern California.

Arizona Moves to Keep Defense Jobs: Officials billed new legislation as the first benefits package offered by any state designed specifically to attract and retain defense manufacturers. Effective July, 1993, the state will offer up to $2,500 in first-year corporate income tax credits for each defense employee added to a company's Arizona payroll. Defense employers will also get up to 40% property tax credits by adding jobs at Arizona plants. Pushed by Gov.