Antelope Valley Board of Trade

 The Antelope Valley Board of Trade has been instrumental in the development of several projects since its establishment in 1957. Among them have been:

• The building of the Antelope Valley Freeway
• Spearheading the east branch of the California Aqueduct and its distribution system in the Valley
• Bringing the Federal Aviation Administrative Control Center to Palmdale
• Construction of Mayflower Gardens, a 550-unit senior citizen housing facility
• Maintaining important census and demographic data as an “Associate Office”, United States Department of Commerce
• Formed an air quality task force in 1991 to address local business concerns about the congruity of applying the same regulatory requirements to Antelope Valley businesses as those required for industries in the highly polluted Los Angeles Basin. The result of this task force was that on July 1, 1997, the Antelope Valley Air Pollution Control District, California’s 35th air district, was created, separate and distinct from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD).
• Instrumental in the Passage of The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Jobs Bill. An AVBOT initiative, this bill was introduced by Assemblyman George Runner in 1998 and provided for directed tax credits to reduce the JSF program bottom line, thus paving the way for the creation of new California jobs and revenues. This bill has the potential to cause the Department of Defense and the winning JSF contractor to shift production to California thus maximizing the use of California suppliers and labor. This is a $750 Billion program, and provides for up to $10,000 per employee in tax incentives to be awarded to the contractors and subcontractors to work on this program. This bill became law in August, 1998.
• Supported the Construction of the California City Prison.
• In the fall of 2000, the AVBOT assisted the Kern Air Pollution Control District in their effort to remove eastern Kern County from a proposed upgrade in air quality restrictions on the San Joaquin Valley. The AVBOT lead a letter writing campaign resulting in more than 400 letters from organizations and individuals. The EPA responded to our letters and removed eastern Kern County from this proposed “bump-up”.
• Conducting Transportation Symposiums and other events to improve transportation throughout our area
• Initiated and written legislation on flood control
• Continuously promoting business and economic growth