Small Business Administration

The Small Business Administration is launching a loan program for the military community that promises faster and cheaper access to money. The discounted Patriot Express loan, which will be available June 28, marries the faster processing time of the SBA's existing express loan program with the lower interest rates and higher guarantees of its traditional loans. The limit on the new loan is $500,000.

Small businesses scored a victory when President Obama said the head of the federal agency that provides them with loan guarantees and other assistance would begin attending Cabinet meetings. Karen Mills, who leads the Small Business Administration, "is going to make sure that small-business owners have their own seat at the table in our Cabinet meetings," Obama said Friday. His announcement was welcomed by small business advocates. For more than three years, they had been urging Obama to elevate the SBA administrator to Cabinet rank, the same top status as in the Clinton administration.

Small businesses scored a victory when President Obama said the head of the federal agency that provides them with loan guarantees and other assistance would begin attending Cabinet meetings. Karen Mills, who leads the Small Business Administration, "is going to make sure that small-business owners have their own seat at the table in our Cabinet meetings," Obama said Friday. His announcement was welcomed by small business advocates. For more than three years, they had been urging Obama to elevate the SBA administrator to Cabinet rank, the same top status as in the Clinton administration.

A new federal loan program signed into law five months ago to help small businesses refinance the mortgages on their buildings could help save thousands of firms. If only the program could get started. Businesses can't apply for the loans or even determine if they qualify for them until the Small Business Administration releases rules for the program. The wait is not only problematic for stressed businesses, it's also eating up time. As passed by Congress, the program runs for two years ?

The Small Business Administration's office in Santa Ana helps Orange County small companies compete against large corporations. Last year, the office guaranteed $150 million in loans to companies here. The SBA also counsels entrepreneurs trying to start new businesses and links venture capital investors with small businesses. Steve Waddell, 49, has been the office's district director since 1988.

Six Southern Californians have been named national small business advocates in a nationwide competition sponsored by the Small Business Administration. "Advocates of the year are individuals who have used their professional expertise and personal talents to further the understanding and awareness of small business in their community, their state and the U.S.," said Michael Howland, acting regional director for the SBA in San Francisco.

While politicians in Washington tinkered with the final compromise version of the $787-billion economic stimulus bill Thursday night, Alonso Arellano was working late in his office, putting the final touches on his own economic stimulus package. His bid to boost consumer spending was to launch the next day, when lunch customers at his La Adelita restaurant in Sun Valley could pay just $4.99 for a scaled-down serving of chili rellenos, chicken mole, chili verde, beef stew or other popular dishes.

About $1 of every $5 in loans the Small Business Administration directly made to companies hurt by the Sept. 11 attacks has fallen into default, leaving the government with an uphill effort to recover millions of dollars in taxpayer money. The agency is just now learning about the magnitude of businesses that went under or stopped making payments. Its Sept.

A paperwork snafu has delayed by nearly three weeks the start of a city program to give "micro-loans" to riot victims whose loan applications have been rejected by the Small Business Administration, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Linda Griego said Thursday. Under the program, applicants rejected by the SBA--including some who could not prove losses because paperwork had been burned in the riots--were to be funneled to City Hall, where they could receive loans of up to $75,000 each.

The Senate today overwhelmingly passed a $3.45-billion relief package for earthquake-damaged Northern California which substantially expands aid approved by the House. By a vote of 97 to 1, the Senate approved the plan and sent it back to the House as part of a wide-ranging spending bill that must reach President Bush's desk tonight to keep the federal government from defaulting. Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R-N.H.) cast the only negative vote. Not voting were Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.

More accustomed to allocating money by the million, the federal government is stepping up efforts to make loans as small as a few hundred dollars to some of the nation's tiniest companies. The goal is to create jobs, one little loan at a time. "In this environment, every job is crucial," said Eric Zarnikow, who helps run the Small Business Administration's loan programs. For every loan, he says, 11/2 jobs are created or retained. In Southern California, these so-called microloans will help a San Fernando Valley dental laboratory hire an assistant to make crowns and bridges and will enable an Orange County woman to sell gourmet ice cream sandwiches from a used food truck.

After months of frustration and delays, small-business owners in Southern California are finally getting long-awaited loans to hire new workers and expand their operations. Money for loans backed by the Small Business Administration, but held up for weeks in Congress, is on its way. Just days after President Obama signed a $30-billion-plus package of incentives for small businesses, Southland bankers, bureaucrats and borrowers are scrambling to nail down the final details and get the money flowing.

The Small Business Administration offers a variety of assistance, including online workshops, seminars and classes. The agency also has step-by-step instructions for starting a business, including tips on market research and creating a business plan. The main national website has links to local SBA district offices throughout the country. Try them at http://www.sba.gov . Click on the tab labeled Small Business Planner for tips on what you may need to know before you start.

The job: Senior vice president in charge of Wells Fargo Bank's small business lending operation in the Los Angeles area at a time when small firms are struggling with the economic downturn. The passion: To reach out to small business owners and help them, whether they're just starting out, ready to grow or trying to survive tough times. "What drives me is my personal passion for … helping others achieve their financial dreams." Hard times: How tough is it to get a loan at Wells Fargo?

At a repair shop for airplane propellers near Van Nuys Airport, Keith Hironaka bends over a long metal blade, smoothing its mottled surface and preparing it for inspection. His brother Glenn works a few feet away. Fifteen people depend on Executive Propellers for their jobs, and owner Eissa Shousha figures an additional 60 or so -- wives, children, aging parents -- rely on the salaries he pays and the health insurance he provides. But business is slow, as many owners of small planes have cut back on flying and put off refurbishing their aircraft in the recession.

Because of lax oversight, undeserving firms collected millions in federal contracts from an $8-billion government program designated for small businesses in poor neighborhoods, congressional investigators charge.

At Teresa Ernest's West Hills home, February's torrential rains left the back wall cracked, the master bedroom flooded and the foundation damaged as well. In Whittier, Henry Eickhoff's property was "a couple of feet under water." And at the La Crescenta house of John Gregory, "we had a landslide," which turned the hillside under the deck into a cliff, the 72-year-old retiree recalled.

As a boy growing up in Los Angeles 30 years ago, Oscar Wright was deeply affected by the changing nature of his South-Central neighborhood. Once a thriving community that supported small, family-owned businesses, the area began to decline as poverty, crime and drugs gained a foothold. Today, many of the stores that Wright and his family patronized are boarded up, defaced with graffiti and the unsubtle artwork of gang members.

Business at Fresco Cafe North in Goleta is built on grilled chicken sandwiches, Gorgonzola-and-walnut salads and a $135,000 loan backed by the Small Business Administration. Owner Indras Govender has had a triple helping of SBA loans since 1995, each used to serve up a new restaurant. In May, he and his wife, Tilly, got their latest from Community West Bank to transform their pizzeria into an eclectic lunch and dinner spot that features giant cupcakes and other desserts.