IE needs to seek its own identify, be more independent

The Inland Empire needs to develop its own identity and stop being a stepchild to Los Angeles and Orange counties, a renowned local developer declared this week.

Riverside and San Bernardino must also fight harder to get their fair share of revenue from Sacramento, and work to make certain the state legislature helps businesses that create jobs, according to Jeff Burum, founder and managing member of Diversified Pacific in Rancho Cucamonga.

“The Inland Empire has large economy and a large population,” said Burum, who spoke during a conference on the Inland economy Jan. 10 at Threshold Aviation Group, located at the Chino Airport. “We also have good local governments. We need to attract more people and more businesses and stop being an afterthought.”

Burum created a media tempest in July 2022 when he suggested San Bernardino County secede from California and become the 51st state. While he did not repeat that suggestion during the conference, he did predict a bright future for the region he and several other conference attendees called “the empire.”
“We are one of the fastest growing submarkets in the United States,” Burum told the crowd of about 70 business leaders and public officials. “We will keep growing, and in 10 years we will be one the country’s largest submarkets.

“People left Los Angeles and moved to Orange County in the 1970s because Orange County was a nicer place to live,” Burum said. “I think the same thing is happening today with the Inland Empire. We’re a place where people to want live and work.”

Inland Empire officials should keep trying to attract high-tech businesses and corporate headquarters, two things it continues to lack, said Jennifer McLain Hiramoto, Ontario’s executive director of economic development.

It should also continue to pursue logistics, despite some opposition that has surfaced in some communities recently.

“Logistics is major part of the Inland economy,” Hiramoto said. “We should embrace that and lean into it.”

Mark DiLullo, founder of Threshold Aviation and Derek Armstrong, San Bernardino County’s economic development director, also participated in the panel discussion. Jay Prag, economics professor at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, delivered the keynote address.