Only Merced ranked lower on the list.

But eight of the list's bottom 20 areas nationwide are in California, including Modesto (198), Salinas (196), Stockton (193), Bakersfield (187), Fresno (185). At 184, Visalia also made the bottom 20.

San Francisco and San Jose - 38th and 48th, respectively - were the only California areas to crack the top 50 in Forbes' list.

"When you think about it, at least we're not number 201 - we're still on the list of the top 200," Vallejo Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Anita Hawkes said.

The Napa area ranked 111 in the magazine's list of Best Small Places for Business and Careers, and no California areas made the top 20 there, either.

The study rated the 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas on criteria like educational attainment, the cost of doing business and various areas of growth.

Forbes gave Solano County its best ranking - 59 - in culture and leisure, based on the area's museums, theaters, golf courses, sports teams and other activities. Its worst ranking was its 196 in net migration - the number of people leaving compared to the number moving in. This is followed closely by the area's 185th ranking in subprime mortgages and its 180 in job growth.

Solano County ranked 160 for "Colleges," which measures four-year colleges in an area, with extra points for highly rated schools, a ranking Hawkes called "inexplicable, considering we have two four-year colleges here."

The area earned a 156 for the cost of doing business, based on the cost of labor, energy, taxes and office space, and a 170 in the cost of living category, based on the price of housing, utilities, transportation and other costs.

The area's crime rate, based on crimes per 100,000 residents, ranked 114. The area's projected economic growth ranked 112 and educational attainment ranked 141, based on its share of population over age 25 with a bachelor's degree or higher.

With a Metro Area population of 407,000 and a Gross Metro Product of $10 billion, Solano County boasts no billionaires, no large private companies and no "best small companies," according to Forbes.

It's a far cry from Vallejo's ranking in a similar Forbes study in 2002, in which the area was named the fifth best place in California for business. In 2003, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Vallejo the best place for entrepreneurs among America's mid- sized cities. And in 2004, Vallejo ranked ninth among the nation's top 20 medium-sized cities for job growth by INC. Magazine.

The latest Forbes study shows just over 24 percent of Solano's population has a college education, while more than 85 percent have finished high school. It shows the area's median income as $64,474, with only .9 percent income growth.

Job growth is at negative .8 percent, with just over 1 percent growth projected, according to the study. The study also notes more than 21 percent of the Vallejo area's mortgages are of the subprime variety and the median home price is $246,300.

The top three spots on Forbes' list went to Des Moines, Iowa; Provo, Utah; and Raleigh, N.C. Modesto ranked just above Vallejo, with Merced bringing up the rear at No. 200.

"I think it has more to do with the financial crisis in the state and the city than anything else," Hawkes said. "It's hard to attract business to a city in the kind of financial straights Vallejo is in right now or to a state that's so expensive to do business in."

Forbes cites Moody's Economy.com; Sperling's BestPlaces; the FBI and the U.S. Census as sources for the study.

Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or rzrihen@timesheraldonline.com.

Posted: 04/21/2010 01:02:24 AM PDT

The inaugural Business Education Summit was a great success thanks to all 250 people who came out on a cold and wet Sunday afternoon to participate.

President Jerry Wilkerson and CEO Anita Hawkes of the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce have embraced the business community for new growth through improving our schools. They recognize that workforce development in the high schools is essential for business to come here and thrive. I truly thank their efforts to create and initiate the vision for this Summit and to assure a strong partnership with the school district.

Also, thank you to Touro University, Jim O'Connor, and Jesus Mena for their outstanding contribution -- without them this would not have taken place as it did. Thanks to Michael Boyer of Boyer Productions for his donated time, equipment and creativity to film a powerful presentation, Lenard East of Real Talk, the Times-Herald, the Marriot Corporation's gracious hospitality and accommodations to Ford's, Rick Delano.

Six Flags, Kaiser, XKT, Monarch Engineering, Jeffco Painting, Solano Board of Realtors -- thank you for your representation. President Laguerre and Jerry Kea from the Solano Community College, who jumped right into the process -- thank you.

The Solano Community Foundation, James Cooper of the Work Force Investment Board, Mike Amman, AT&T, the school board, staff and teachers, John Riley from the Napa Solano Labor Board and to all of the elected officials from Vallejo, Solano County, Sacramento and Washington D.C., Fighting Back Partnership and First Five -- thank you for supporting the event.

Lastly, many thanks to all of those on the Summit Committee who spent long hours in planning the event. Your passion will help continue to make Vallejo schools strong

Ian Kaiser
Chair Education Task Force Vallejo Chamber

Among all the changes to our schools this year, the Bio-Tech Academy, hospitality, media graphics and now the Green Engineering Academy are quietly turning our kids on to learning. If you did not know, Lilibeth Pippin, the Bio-Tech teacher from Hogan High School, received the "Teacher of the Year" award from the California State Legislature for District Seven. The Robotics Team at Vallejo High School just got back from a competition in Oregon. People's High School just started an Agricultural community garden. Nationally recognized engineering and bio-medical curriculums from Project Lead the Way are exploding with students in more than 3,000 schools throughout the country.

Vallejo is about to make this happen here. Good things are happening. When a student believes he or she can learn and the learning is relevant, as well as engaging, they stay in school and off the streets. There have been no overnight outcomes, but there is a strategic drive from district staff, teachers and the school board.

Everywhere I have gone over the past year has been to promote the innovative learning models that have already been implemented in communities like Sacramento, Elk Grove, Coachella and Galt, as well as Philadelphia, Pensacola, Fla., and Contra Costa County. Ford is in 26 states.

The following are some statistics for students with access to these programs: 90 percent more students graduate, 60 percent more go to college, test scores are up 30-40 percent, and the dropout rate is 50 percent less.

Moving even just one student from dropout status to graduate status will positively impact a local economy. If 1,000 local dropouts had graduated, these 1,000 new graduates would likely earn $12 million in additional earnings each year; support 100 new jobs in the region, increase the gross regional product by $15 million, and pour an additional $1.7 million annually into state and local coffers.

I recently went to one of the Ford Motor Company Fund Professional Development sessions in Elk Grove, which by the way has 60,000 students and a dropout rate of less than 9 percent. Raymond Victor, a school board member and construction teacher from Vallejo High and myself built a wind generator. What a turn-on. I wanted to go back to high school. These models are taking at-risk students that were flunking out and are now graduating with a 3.0 GPA and above.

Ford and Project Lead the Way are reinventing the way teachers teach through innovating professional development. Businesses are sharing resources and serving on advisory boards for the schools. CEOs are seeing that a qualified workforce is the competitive ingredient to coming to a community and is of course, cost effective. They recognize that not all students go to college and are willing to be the instrument of change.

We all want to see quick outcomes. But it is going to take a strong and well-developed strategic vision that has the buy-in from business, community and a lot of hard work from all of us. The Ford Motor Company is coming to help build a Next Generation Learning Community and I believe that having companies partner with our educational system is one of the keys to making Vallejo attractive for new economic and social change.

While at the summit, many community members got involved in one of the following committees: The Master Plan, Industry Entrepreneurs, Adopt an Academy, Education Network, Grant Seeking, and the Education Task Force. The summit inspired us to act and was a great opportunity to truly make a shift in our community.

Ian Kaiser
Chair Education Task Force Vallejo Chamber of Commerce

Vallejo City Councilwoman Erin Hannigan said the city has seen proposed projects fail, and cannot be blamed for concerns about the joint city-Solano County Board of Supervisors project. Hannigan stressed that the development, including retail aspects, is needed.

"It's easy to say it's unique, but I think you need to look at unique from a 100 miles out, to make sure it's really a draw," Hannigan said.

The proposed agreement was modified with updated feasibility projections for a large-scale development, and to include the city's Redevelopment Agency as a partner.

Several speakers shared concerns about information in a city-funded November "peer review" study that looked at the financial financial feasibility of fairgrounds development.

The county has spent an estimated $1.5 million on the project so far, Assistant City Manager/Community Development Director Craig Whittom told the council.

Joe Feller, who led citizen protest against a proposed Wal-Mart store opening in Vallejo, said that money could have been better spent elsewhere.

Anita Hawkes, Vallejo Chamber of Commerce interim president and CEO, spoke in support of the proposed city-county agreement.

Resident Kim White, however, asked the council to focus on its downtown development, and to be careful the fairgrounds project does not sap resources from that area.

The council was still discussing the issue as of press time.

Phil Tucker, project director for the California Healthy Communities Network, asked the council to consider the fallout of having significant revenue-generating businesses relocate to the fairgrounds, where the city would only receive a portion of those businesses' sales taxes.

Councilwoman Stephanie Gomes said she was comfortable moving forward with the non-binding deal, despite some of her own and others' concerns, because "it's just an agreement to get things started."

The council was still discussing the issue as of press time.

Contact staff writer Jessica A. York at (707) 553-6834 or jyork@timesheraldonline.com.

The council gave a nod to the first reading of an ordinance that will give preferential treatment to established vendors within city limits when the businesses bid on city projects, at the urging of the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce.

The council also forwarded work on an ordinance that would allow the city manager more leeway in approving city contracts, setting the threshold for council approval at a higher dollar amount.

The draft proposal to give the city manager more spending discretion, within the confines of the council-approved budget, moved the manager's oversight from $25,000 up to $100,000 for general contracts, and from $50,000 to $150,000 for public works contracts. The city would also not have to send projects out to bid for spending as high as $3,000, up from the current $1,000 limit.

Several council members expressed concerns over added city manager discretion, as it applied to professional services, like consultant contracts.

The local business purchasing preference ordinance provides a 5 percent "leeway" on bids from local vendors. That means that if a local business bid on a city contract and came in less than 5 percent above the lowest bidder, the city contractor would win the bid. The program will be up for review in one year.

The council also approved an agreement to enter into a one-year pilot program with other Solano County transit operators designed to provide subsidized and Americans with Disabilities Act-conforming taxicab service.

The council also gave the city manager to move two city employees, filling the executive assistant positions for the city manager and mayor, into the city's middle-management labor group. The two positions have traditionally been classified with unrepresented management workers.

Discussion of a proposed June ballot initiative had not begun as of press time.