The South Park Development Group: Changing the face of Downtown Los Angeles

The South Park Group’s Vision for South Park L.A: Emergent, coming alive-from conception to fact: a neighborhood amongst glittering steel

-posted by martin cavanaugh porter

There is so much positive activity beginning to emerge in South Park L.A: It seems like a transfusion of fresh blood has pumped into it’s steely veins.

On Hope Street, Hygge Bakery is close to opening it’s doors: a speciality, gourmand, value-priced, authentically Danish Bakery serving light, airy, flaky pastry,  and strong coffee (there is so much to tell about Henrik (master-baker) and Rasmus, it’s founder-their stories and the story of opening the bakery-all the travails and petty road-blocks put in front of them before they could open to provide South Park L.A’s residents-Luma’s residents, Evo’s residents, FIDM’s students, The ATT Business Center’s tenants, and the entire adjoining area). The South Park Development Group is so pleased to count Rasmus as a friend a bona-fide cowboy (thanks for the title Mr. Shaer) who has literally burnt his bridged to build his dreams.

On the corner of Hope and 11 Street, movement is being made by The South Park Development Group to turn a shimmering dream into a reality: A bricks and mortar establishment called: South Park Sustainability Shop providing Los Angeles with affordable zero-emission vehicles, fleet vehicles, from base scooters to full scale delivery vans-that run off electricity, and do not emit any pollutants.

On that same corner, for the first time since 1961, there is the glittering hope of opening a full scale workshop developed by the South Park  Group called: The South Park Work Shop, with mentors and acolytes, artisans and craftsmen, creating one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture, stamped SPWS (South Park Work Shop), built in cabinetry for your lofts, and providing upholstery services. What does this represent-a living  fact amidst the glitter of our residencies that the age of fine, hand crafted workshops is not dead-that, by force of will, personality, compassion, and powerful advocacy forces, as well as the out of the box thinking of major stake holders like Rasmus Lee, Eve Yun, Martin Cavanaugh Porter, Jeffrey Chung, Brett Tomich, Francis Paul Langlois, Alan Gastelum, LEED Specialist,  Stef Sung, Biljana Lovrinovic, Jorge Corallejo and Bob Holguin from the Chamber, Jean Chang from East-West Bank, and so many other important individuals, institutions, and forces big projects are capable of going from conception to reality.

In southern South Park, Richard Snook, thirty year veteran of the bicycle industry: a true pioneer, and producer: one of those rare few who could survive the end-of-times with a degree of aplomb, has founded Wabi Cycles (www.wabicycles.com). Wabi Cycles produces fixed gear, city-safe cycles with brakes-perfect for getting around down town. There are two line: the Wabi Classic ($650.00-worth a grand) and the Wabi Lightning ($800.00-worth $1200.00, at least). The South Park Development Group is so pleased and honored to have him as a client: he is a treasure-a living personification of excellence-he is, a producer.

Then there is EYD Organic Contemporary Furniture (and a wonderful, scented, beautifully wrapped candle line)-which is undergoing full human-safe certification-organic, value-priced, designed by Eve Yun,  an internationally renowned designer, who has relocated to South Park Los Angeles, which the South Park Development Group is developing and bringing to market by September.

Then there is  South Park Revive: A full scale, Health and Wellness Center dedicated to the residents of South Park-to exponentially making our lives better. Dr Ravinder Singh, a neurologist, is undertaking this project, and The South Park Development Group is working closely with Luma’s director to make this a shining fact on-the-ground, and another added value service to the residents of South Park L.A.

Finally: The South Park Organic Cooperative. This Wednesday, The South Park Development Group’s founder Martin Cavanaugh Porter toured Kirby Watson with Just Ripened Farms through South Park L.A and he has agreed to use his USDA organic certification and over fifty years knowledge of organic farming (his hands cracked, his skin bitten and broken by the wind and the sun-a giant straight out of a John Steinbeck novel) to assist the The South Park Development Group open either a farmer’s market for our residents or a small, gift-box store teeming over with organic produce, wonderful flowers, providing our residents with a just-walk-to shop to get vegetables, fruit, produce-all organic to enrich their families’ lives.

What are we seeing here? Value change. A gradual approach which leads inevitably to one thing: positive transformation.

Is this a chimera? No-it’s happening-daily monies pour into the projects and a small team works 16-18 hours a day, happy-warriors, 100% united to make real what other claimed-and we quote-”impossible.”

We  must not allow guards of the rusted, creaking, crackling gates, to prevent new, vitalized, ground-up, added-value services and industries from prevailing in South Park L.A. Interestingly, happily, powerful forces are aligning themselves with The South Park Development Group and it’s allies to turn the tide-to engage in renewal, and to bring elan, hope, and joy to our neighborhood.

“To our friends-thank you. To our foes: We will be implacable in resisting you, and to all the residents of  South Park Los Angeles-for all of you who have directly (thousands of emails and phone calls-and now, even letters of support) encouraged us in our endeavors, we  will not let you down. It’s beyond business-it’s also a mission,  within the framework of profit, added-services, and social justice.”-Martin Cavanaugh Porter, c.e.o South Park Development Group/Forbes Legacy Ventures LLC.

Do blogging and email marketing campaigns work?

Does a systematic campaign of blogging and email marketing work?

Yes.

1/4 of clients have found me from my blogs which I opened less than 6 months ago.

20% of phone calls to my office are about my postings and blog posts.

Many key stake holders break bread with me based on my blogs.

A systematic campaign of blogging and email marketing works.

email me at: mcporter@businessdeveloperpro.com

local downtown los angeles ideas-company launches www.businessdeveloperpro.com

www.businessdeveloperpro.com

 

Forbes Legacy Ventures LLC-The South Park Development Group, HQ in South Park Los Angeles, presents their soft opening of  a powerful, effective web-based business solutions site resolving a key problem that many small and medium sized businesses face: how to benefit-segment communicate through email marketing, blogging, and websites, to their potential clients, clients, and other key stake-holders vital to the life of their organizations.

www.businessdeveloperpro.com provides that solution in a simply designed, easy-to-navigate site with four words you will never see or hear from them: ‘No,’ ‘Contracts,’ ‘Penalties,’ ‘Upcharges.’ That is not their ethos-they have an almost physical revulsion to the notion of ‘No…’

What does that mean for clients who sign up to be members of www.businessdeveloperpro.com? You will be hearing solution, brilliance, care, and ‘YES.’

www.businessdeveloperpro.com

Linkage: Your business to a non-profit like a chamber or worthy cause

We live in a moment where highly skilled workers and salespeople are out of work-but their skills still exist and their ability to influence others is powerful-from young,  just out-of-university business students to retirees, there is a pool of workers eager to do something.

Link your business to a cause-to something more important than the bottom-line and engage with stake-holders who support the idea: the linkage (between say, your newest venture and a % of gross to a chamber or a worthwhile non-profit.

Build bridges to USC Marshal School of Business,  to FIDM, to Pasadena Art Center, to Loyola, and Pepperdine and ask for volunteers to man phone banks, post blogs, and vitalize, with their elan, and esprit de  corps, your moribund business.

Have them open up a twitter campaign with you, face book, my space, blogs, postings, and respect their ideas, rewarding them with your experience and know-how and the promise that when the tide turns, their boats will have the  opportunity to lift with yours.

Try it: step so far out of the box in these new, value driven times that you create a new box.

kevin roberts: enter the jungle

short-sales & foreclosures in downtown los angeles: the right investment strategy

 Buy now: The marginal savings you think you will gain by waiting for a further dip in property values that may accrue to you will be offset by rising interest rates and other variables.

The tide will turn-our President is pump-priming the economy and his policy ‘hand’ is gaining finesse. We will move away from this recession within three-five years. We won’t see exponential growth like we did before because the commodities markets will remain unstable for decades to come as China and Korea gain colonial footholds in Africa (to fuel their endless need for non-renewable resources, advancing a strategy of economic warfare three hundred years in the making-which they are winning) and the next great oil grab gains momentum.

From recession, we will move toward decades of starts and stops-until sustainability entrepreneurs are able to develop truly added value products and services with enough built in efficiencies and sell these products and services within a reasonable pricing structure (we are a long ways from that paradigm).

Today, The South Park Development Group-Forbes Legacy Ventures LLC met with a dynamic, interesting, and bright lady (Lila Feingold…much more about her in the coming days and weeks) who has a deep and comprehensive understanding of real estate and human behaviour. She put on the table a definitive scenario that leads me, as CEO of The South Park Development Group and FLV LLC to three conclusions:

1. The South Park Development Group will accelerate the development of our network with certain developers, brokers, and investors and develop a comprehensive ‘buy-in’ plan regarding taking equity interest in not just projects we are developing in South Park Los Angeles, but also South Park Los Angeles properties themselves through our league of like minded business allies.

2. Lila Feingold has her pulse on future trends and she should be viewed by any serious real-estate investor or home-buyer as powerful point-person with one’s best interests in mind (she’s a dynamo).

3. Peter Drucker was fundamentally correct when he proffered these thoughts twenty five years ago: Almost everyone is wrongheaded in their approach to business and business development-the old axiom “that if you build it, they will come…” is, in the world of business as valuable as toilet water.

If you plan it, if you brand it, if you systematize it, personalize it,market it, day in, day out, beta test your products and services with rigor, budget for it, test all your assumptions and be open to being wrong about everything and then, with rapidity, adapt and change, and have that certain indefinable mix of passion and intensity, and brilliance, then, maybe, just maybe they will come.

-Martin Cavanaugh Porter III

out of the car, onto the bikes: the sustainable wave

the next wave-sustainablity

there are more and more cars in the u.s. than ever. a lot of people are driving their cars to do something as simple as going to the grocery store or returning a dvd. but how awesome would it be to be able to bike to those places or use your zero emissions electric bike to go to work? not only would you be doing the environment a great big favor, but you also would be saving yourself a lot of money and getting the exercise that everyone needs.

here in downtown l.a., it’s pretty easy to find parking, but majority of the time you have to pay. but if you started biking, you wouldn’t have to worry about all that. as more people start to take up biking, i can visualize bike racks on every street and bike shops opening up all around the southpark neighborhood just because of this up and coming trend.

how could we encourage more people to take up biking (besides the environmental and money factor)? i think customizable bikes will grab peoples attention. just think about walking into a bike shop, telling them exactly what you want, and then having them design it for you. everyone likes it when you can customize your own personal items… because it’s unique.

so peddle to the max.

we’ve test driven the e-road here are the results: downtown los angeles’ transport solution-zero emission, sustainable transport: driving the future now

it's about time

Down Town Los Angeles Business Blog has test driven the  e-road and here’s the bottom-line: fast, fun, and effective.

A phenomenal solution to downtown los angeles commuter congestion and best of all, eco-freindly-zero carbon emissions.

We applaud Logan Guzman, and the distributors of this new, vital, integral mode of transport: the e-road, a major step in the right direction.

full disclosure: members of the Downtown Los Angeles Business Blog are partners in the South Park Development Group and Forbes Legacy Ventures LLC, and are in the process of developing a business relationship with E-Road, for which we are thrilled.

business building-5 steps -downtownlabiz.com

1. define success: it could just be, at this point, survival, or more-each business is unique. success could be getting out, clearing the decks and coaching soccer. it could be going back to school. it probably is growth, a focus on cash flow, and revenues.  also…many independent business owners define success as not working for anyone else.

2. set strategy:   strategy=focus, its about differentiating your business on multiple levels-this recession will clear the decks of mid-level players unwilling to engage in high-level branding and marketing, combined with excellent product or service. things will get uglier and winning will mean, conversely, being values driven. how are you different? think: your company, the target market, and the focus that narrows both.

use swot: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats-as  bulletin points-keep it simple, be honest, be straightforward. clarity in each segment will lead to focus, which will be your strategy.

3. Be concrete, be measurable: who does what? what is the budget? what is the burn rate? how much does it cost? test everything and everyone. deadline everything. focus on prime-mover actions. re-focus (getting a little too focused?-no such thing).  look at leads, look at who in your organization is focused on sales-on cash-flow-whatever their title, whatever their department. revise the business plan-all the time. use the business plan. plan and then be flexible enough to scrap all your precepts-but be in planning mode. planning=strategy=focus=success.

4. make sales-i know-sounds utterly, inane, insipid-but, make some bloody sales. use all the tools available: email mkt, the phone, walk your neighborhood, walk period. survive=talk, talk to people, hand out your business card-over and over and over again. smile. even when it’s tough. build your online identity: today, right now, give up on your mistrust of viral marketing: it works, use it. grow.get over it.

 connect with those groups and people you would not, in any other time, normally hang with: drop judgementalism as much as you can. you need help, you need to make connections. you need to make connections now. keep them. how? by giving them at least as much as what you need from them-your time, ideas. give lots of good ideas. use your ideas as currency. ideas=$. so value your ideas, believe in them and ‘gift’ them to your ever growing list of connections.

5. be planning and revising all the time. make lists, keep notes-and, well focus.

a game changing c.f.o-the importance of having a great mentor in your organization

c.f.o as game-changer

as c.e.o i deliberate, i engage in strategic thinking, and I develop the best strategy that should be implemented on behalf of my team, my clients, my family, and my community. most often, strategically, we are right on the money, backed by powerful tactical flanking executed by the team.

 i don’t always know how to handle everyone-i don’t always get interpersonal relationships right: i am burdened by the entirety of the enterprise-which is no excuse-i refuse excuses from others and will not accept one from myself.

but, i can become so engaged in the day’s affairs and so wrapped up in my own ego, that i can’t see the forest from the trees-and the trees are my team. trees need water and the chance to grow.

i became insensibly unable to deal with a member of the team because i could not, through my limited prism of life and business experience comprehend the true nature of that person’s character or abilities-and i gave up. my c.f.o did not. she saw what i did not: a biz developer, a hustler, a beehive worker-a passionate, unique individual whose life experiences, bound together into a quilt of embedded memory make her a valuable player to my clients, my team, and to me.

 my c.f.0, eve, worked with her and what i can see-early days-is an early spring of personal growth and business mojo. always listen in business, always look for the tipping point, which is to be found at the edges, not at the centre, at those moments when you should listen, and are not. effective=active=acting intelligently. that’s what i am beginning to see  in this person that the c.f .o is mentoring, and i am proud and grateful.

we may have a business development powerhouse on our hands in this young acolyte.