How are San Fernando Valley businesses feeling about Trump’s win? We asked



Donald Trump’s presidency will alter the landscape for San Fernando Valley area businesses, but it is likely to evolve slowly after the new administration takes office early next year, business owners, economists and local officials said.

During the campaign, President-elect Trump promised changes in international trade policy and health care, an increased emphasis on manufacturing and job creation, all important to the Valley.

Change won’t come quickly, though.

“It’s definitely a work in progress,” said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. “One of the things we have here in the Valley is a lot of manufacturers that export and Trump is talking (about) canceling a lot of these trade deals. And that could have some negative impact and positive impact.”

There has been some immediate positive business response to Trump’s win.

Wall Street cheered it.

The Dow Jones Industrial average ended the week at another record high as investors’ fears about Trump’s upset win morphed into hopes the president-elect’s policies could boost the economy.

The Dow rose nearly 1,000 points to a record 18,848 during the week, gaining 5.4 percent. It was the biggest weekly increase since a 7 percent gain in November 2011.

But a Los Angeles economic research firm also issued a gloomy long-range outlook.

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Beacon Economics changed its forecast from one of steady, if mediocre, economic expansion to one with the very real possibility of a coming recession.

“What we do know is that the potential upsides are limited, and the potential downsides are enormous — to the point that there is now a very real probability of a recession over the next two years,” said Beacon Economics’ Founding Partner Christopher Thornberg in a statement.

The worry is over Trump’s pledge to slash taxes, dump trade deals and deport millions of illegal residents. The later two could lead to “huge disruptions of supply chains, and a sharp rise in consumer prices … and declines in consumer spending,” Beacon’s forecast said.

All would be felt here in the Valley.

But some business owners believe that Trump’s election will be good for them, and the Valley.

“I’m very positive about it. We have too many people in Washington who are corrupt. And he will clean that up,” said Rickey Gelb, owner the Encino-based Gelb Group, a real estate related business consortium founded in 1971.

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And he likes the fact that Trump does not have a background in politics.

“He is a business person and he’s going to create jobs,” said Gelb. “We need to hire people and get them to work.”

Gelb said he followed the campaign.

“I was very surprised (with the outcome) but I had emails saying he was going to win. And there were signs like Halloween mask (sales). He out-sold Hillary (Clinton) 10 to one,” he said.

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Jack Wilson, a third-generation machinist has owned Sunland Aerospace Fastners in Pacoima for four years and has been in the industry for 29 years.

He’s expecting a bump in business after Jan. 20, when Trump is sworn into office, and for a very simple reason.

“From my experience, Republicans pour more money into the aerospace industry than Democrats. I’m sure it will be more positive because of that,” said Wilson of his business.

The company has 15 employees and SpaceX is its biggest customer, he said.

He characterizes his business as “great.”

“I’ve been pretty darn busy. I’m a small guy and for a lot of the bigger guys its different,” he said of the sectors business climate.

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Nick Montaño III and his wife Lucia own Los Toros Mexican Restaurant and Cantina, a fixture in the community for 50 years.

He, too, welcomes a Trump presidency and is put off by all of the protests since Tuesday’s election.

“We’re looking at this as the change of a culture. It’s not a Republican or Democrat thing,” said Montaño. “The politicians have been stagnating on their butts just doing nothing and we hire this guy and people go completely crazy.”

He welcomes some of the changes, like in the healthcare law, which hit his business hard.

“They made this ridiculous law and shoved it down our throat,” said Montaño of President Barack Obama’s legacy legislation.

He had to cut hours and raise prices and laments the loss of manufacturing companies who left Chatsworth over the year because of what he said were regulations put in place by elected officials.

He likes Trump’s plan to reduce the regulatory footprint at the federal level.

“We are totally over-regulated. And its small business I’m talking about. The mom-and-pops out there are struggling to get by,” said Montaño.

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