When Jerry Brown was Mayor of Oakland, he proudly welcomed Cybergold, an internet start-up company that moved to Oakland in large part because of “the tax incentives of the Enterprise Zone.”   It was September 28, 1999.

“Cybergold’s talented workforce adds to the energy and excitement of downtown Oakland,” said Mayor Brown at an event celebrating Cybergold’s recent arrival. “Cybergold’s presence here is an unmistakable signal to other Internet start-ups that Oakland is wired and ready to go.”
Read it here.

I guess that was then and this is now, but Mayor Brown was able to build a thriving downtown Oakland because of the EZ.  Now he claims they are of no benefit to the state and should be summarily cast aside. Hmmm.

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer cut 39 jobs, but is not at risk of leaving the Oakland Enterprise Zone reports the Bay Citizen.  Read the article here.

The Berkeley Daily Planet reports, “Berkeley’s primary motivation to pass the proposal was to keep Bayer Healthcare, the city’s largest private-sector employer, from leaving town. The company had threatened to outsource some of its manufacturing, a move city officials feared would lead to the pharmaceutical giant eventually shutting down its Aquatic Park campus entirely. As a result, Berkeley agreed to give Bayer $10 million in tax breaks for over two years, including a reduction in PG&E bills, as part of the enterprise zone, in return for which the company will remain in Berkeley and invest $100 million in the facility.”

This is exciting since it could help to bring new businesses into the area, and will help to offset the high cost of living in the area.