We weren't the only losers in the crowd, two other cities within Los Angeles County also failed to suck up to The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine: Alhambra and Long Beach. Emeryville, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco will go on to the final round, there will be no swimsuit competition. Even though other cities had announced entering the bid process months ahead of time, Los Angeles threw its hat in the ring in February, less than a month before the bid deadline. What did we offer? Here's the short list:
* 17,000 square feet headquarters at City National Plaza (formerly ARCO Plaza) at Fifth and Flower streets
* Free access to the Los Angeles Convention Center for larger meetings
* $1 million in foundation grant funding to help support its administration
* The use of a private jet for institute board members and staff
Excuse me? The city has a private jet? Who else gets to ride on that bad boy? Is that information classified?
So Los Angeles is offering a private jet for board members and staff, what were they asking for that we couldn't give up? One requirement was that the headquarters office space be located on two floors with an internal stairway connecting those floors. Secondly, that the offer that would be irrevocable for 75 days after March 16, the deadline for submissions. Also, they wanted "preferential" treatment at Sam's Hofbrau. Okay, I made that last one up.
So why did we get into the game so late? And who knew the city had a private jet at its disposal?
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