No step 2 or is it 2 step?

[Bill Ford]

The BEC was notified that our step 1 pre proposal to the Oregon Innovation council was not sufficient and competitive enough to submitt a full proposal. The OBA was asked to submitt a full proposal package and I am sure when I speak with the policy analyst that she will ask the BEC-WVBIC to join forces with Bob Lanier and the OBA and submit a joint proposal. I have emailed the BEC's Executive Committee for guidance in that regard and will post their thoughts on this site. Stay tuned. We are not wallflowers and will not sit on the sidelines while others dance. We haven't been invited to the dance but we are at least close enough to hear the music and start tapping our toes! Thanks for your interest and support for bioscience. I posted some forum information on here last night but it went into ether! I will keep trying.

[Bill Ford]

So far not a response but I have talked to myself my entire life so this is not a new experience for me. I can wait and I would like to offer the opinion that this site is way more popular and beneficial then what some people waste their time, energy and money on. Just how much have we already wasted in Iraq not to mention to the loss of life and negative effects on the world.

[Bill Ford]

In the business section of the March 20th Oregonian the right-hand headline news column reads, "Hillsboro seeks new areas for enterprise". The article by Elizabeth Suh goes on to report that "the city is seeking to attract more solar and bioscience companies by adding about 1,000 acres as enterprise zones." It is interesting to me that Corvallis and Benton County are working toward a joint request to the state to create our own local enterprise zone at the Corvallis Municipal Airport Industrial Park, the current home of the BEC and future home of AVIBioPharma. AVIBioPharma is currently located both in Portland and over on SW Research Way in the same building where SIGA is located. AVIBioPharma purchased the former Electroglas building on SW Airport Ave. and will eventually relocate from the SW Research Way address. They will be a fine addition to the airport industrial park and expand our bioscience emphasis. The BEC currently has 2 of its 13 resident clients with a bioscience focus, Mayfield Solar and Precision Plant Systems, Inc. Go to the BEC site at www.thebec.com for more information on the BEC and its clients. Should the Benton County and city of Corvallis request to the state contain a "green overlay" to emphasize sustainability? Apparently not according to the editorial in today's Gazette Times. What do you think? The Prosperity That Fits work team thought that by the addition of a specific focus, it may establish this request and its purpose as more benificial to approval of the application. Some private property oweners have pointed out that the sustainability requirement for the entire zone may be overly restrictive. Your opinions are most welcome. The Benton Board of Commissioners and Corvallis City Manager will work toward a common submission and the public comment to Benton County will continue next week at the regular Tuesday at noon meeting. Please attend if you are interested and want to express your views!

[Bill Ford]

To dance or not to dance, that is the question. We at the BEC have had an Executive Committee meeting and a full board of directors meeting and I announced the WVBIC kick off meeting but totally spaced the request for guidance question that I was in hopes of getting their thoughts on. Oh well, volunteers aren't paid to think so I guess I have as good an excuse as any. I can always contact them via the phone or email should I feel as if I need their input. In the mean time, I can operate within my authority as Executive Director. As an experienced leader, I often find forgiveness is quicker and easier then permission. I am sure everyone has heard that by now but I was surprised to learn that in order to get a message to a target audience one had to send it at least 4 times! No wonder advertising costs so much and is so expensive, I have seen the announcement in the newpaper, Barbara Bessey has emailed a lot of people, I have posted it on this site and now I am sending it out to my friends via email. I hope someone shows up to kick this thing off. Also, it is a free lunch and that is usually enough to get folks to turn out. Maybe it will be a two step instead of step two. What do you think>

[Bill Ford]

I think that people are so busy that this social networking thing is as slow and as isolated as a grain silo in a field of North Dakota in winter! I have been pushing on here for buzzz as has Colleen Dick over on the Wazzuplocale site and neither of us has had much success. Maybe people are suffering from information overload. It was an just something to do for me but people who really need to get stuff out are in trouble using this method unless I am missing something. It is like giving a war and not having anyone show up. Now wouldn't that be a great deal. Unfortunately that is rarer then finding a hen with teeth. Hope to see everyone interested on the 3rd at LBCC Fireside room. Go see the Anita cut and paste comment on this site for details or email me. Let the dance begin. The music is starting to play or is that just me singing Happy Birthday to my friend Paul up in Wanachee?

[Bill Ford]

It is in fact a dance and the music is playing. About 35 maybe as many as 40 gathered for a "free lunch" to kick off the "Wave BIC" at least that is how Bob Lanier the Executive Director of the Oregon Bioscience Association pronounced the WVBIC acronym. I think that in view of Onami which in Japanese means small wave or big wave depending on how it is pronounced according to Skip Rung the President and CEO of ONAMI our own bioscience WAVE is music to my ears. I am ready to dance and look forward to the invitation. I am still not sure what my Executive Committee thinks about it but Larry Plotkin who is on the Executive of the BEC was in attendance at the 1st meeting held today at LBCC. We had attendees from Portland, Salem, Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, and Eugene. Also, I may have missed some locations and for that I apologize. Barbara Bessey the WVBIC staff person who organized and hosted the event will provide a summary and next steps to all attendees. I posted this web address and asked all to join. I also suggested that this site be used until a more formal or more useful site can be established or proposed. We had at least 7 bioscience firms in attendance. I hear the drum beat now to add the instruments.......