Quackenbush Quits Facing possible impeachment for misuse of Northridge earthquake insurance settlement funds, Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush resigned June 28. He still could face civil and criminal charges over accusations that he used money from an insurance settlement fund to boost his own career. The state Legislature had been investigating Quackenbush on allegations that he used money from the California Research and Assistance Fund for his own political purposes. The CRAF was funded by settlement money from insurers accused of mishandling earthquake claims. The state Attorney General’s Office and Senate are continuing their investigations into the fiasco. Quackenbush, who has denied any wrongdoing, was to appear under oath before the Assembly committee investigating him on the day he resigned. His resignation is effective July 10. Assuming a caretaker role over the department until Quackenbush’s replacement can be appointed is Clark Kelso, a law professor. Kelso, on his first day in office, asked for and received the resignations of all six members of Quackenbush’s top management team. Small Porter Ranch OK’d A Los Angeles City Planning Commission approved a downsized version of the proposed Porter Ranch development that eliminates plans for a huge office complex in favor of a new mall. The Porter Ranch project was originally approved in 1990 and called for a 6 million-square-foot office complex and 3,300 homes on hills north of the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway. But those plans were stalled when the recession hit. The developer still plans to build 3,300 homes on the 1,300-acre site. But the office complex has been replaced with plans for a 3 million-square-foot retail mall. The developer said it decided to cut the project’s size and change its product mix because the market wouldn’t support office space. Some Porter Ranch residents have opposed the project because it would add traffic to the area. The developer is not making major transportation infrastructure improvements. 21st Century Recovery Woodland Hills-based 21st Century Insurance Co., which was nearly put out of business six years ago by the Northridge earthquake, received an A+ rating the highest possible from A.M. Best for the year 2000. Best’s ratings are used as a key gage of a company’s financial viability. 21st Century, which had a high concentration of policyholders in the San Fernando Valley in 1994, paid out more than $1.1 billion in earthquake claims, more than the company had made in its previous 35 years of business. To get back on its feet, the company sold $500 million of its portfolio, took on $175 million in loans and sold a stake in the company to American International Insurance Group. No Northeast Valley Zone With opposition mounting, a City Council committee headed by Councilman Alex Padilla stopped indefinitely a plan to create a new redevelopment zone in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. While the proposal is not dead, the Project Area Committee studying the zone has been dismantled and the use of eminent domain power has been forbidden in the proposed 6,835-acre area. Padilla requested the project be pulled back because he said he is unsure the Community Redevelopment Agency would do an adequate job of supervising it. Northeast Valley redevelopment has become an increasingly divisive issue over the past few months. In June, the Project Area Committee voted to disband, saying it was hopelessly deadlocked. Some residents and business owners opposed the project because they feared their property would be seized by the city to make way for new development. Others, though, saw the redevelopment project as a way to erase blight in Pacoima, Panorama City and other parts of the Valley.