To say that last year was a rocky one for the auto industry would be an understatement. New car sales dropped to their lowest in years. American automaker Ford was particularly hard hit, finding itself unseated by Toyota from its No. 2 spot in U.S. sales for the first time. Moreover, on a state level, California’s efforts to impose greenhouse gas limits on new automobiles could have ramifications that ripple worldwide. In December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency denied the state a waiver it needs under the federal Clean Air Act to begin monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from new automobiles. On Jan 3, California filed a lawsuit against the EPA to obtain the waiver in question. If the suit is successful, the auto industry fears that California could further hamper sales, as the stricter limits may force them to downsize their vehicle offerings. Peter Welch, president of the California Motor Car Dealers Association, made no attempt to sugarcoat what a dire state the auto industry is in at present, calling 2007 “the worst year we’ve had in quite a while, both nationally and in California.” Because automobile sales are the single largest generator of sales tax revenue in the state, the decline in car sales has a direct impact on California’s economy, Welch said. He also believes there is an adverse environmental impact when people hold on to old cars. “Older, less fuel-efficient, higher-greenhouse-gas-emitting cars will remain on the road and will be driven more,” he said. While last year’s sales numbers won’t be finalized until March, thus far, the fourth quarter sales numbers indicate a dip to fewer than two million new units for the first time in four years, Welch said. The reason? “We’ve seen a tremendous shift in purchasing patterns to smaller, more fuel-efficient passenger cars away from trucks and SUVs. There was a 5 percent shift in one year,” Welch said. “And then there was the rapid rise of Toyota up to almost 28 percent market share in the State of California. That’s incredible. That’s a giant increase. Almost one in three cars is a Toyota.” With sales up 3 percent nationwide for the year, Toyota sold 2.62 million cars and trucks in 2007. Meanwhile, Ford’s sales dropped by 12 percent to 2.57 million vehicles. General Motors Corp. remained the country’s top-selling automaker but suffered a sales dip of 6 percent to 3.82 million vehicles in 2007. Bert Boeckmann, general manager of Galpin Motor Co., a Ford merchant, has said that its sales were largely unaffected by the auto industry’s dim performance last year. However, Boeckman said, “Ford, GM and Chrysler,all three,will need to provide a broader base of small vehicle products to compete effectively.” Welch, for one, believes that U.S. automakers won’t be down for long. “American automobile makers are very smart,” he said. “They have great engineers and great products.” A case in point is that all three American automakers plan to release plug-in hybrids in the next few years. But Toyota announced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Jan. 13 that it, too, planned to release such a hybrid. While the batteries of the hybrids currently on the market are recharged from the power made by its wheels, plug-in hybrids can be recharged from power outlets. Toyota’s venture into plug-ins indicates that the competition will remain fierce for American auto manufacturers. Competition from within the industry isn’t the only concern at hand, of course. Both foreign and U.S. automakers fear how they will be affected if California successfully obtains a waiver to allow it to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new automobiles. As if it is preparing to meet the challenge, General Motors announced at the North American International Auto Show that it was buying a stake in ethanol made from waste. Such an unprecedented move could drastically reduce carbon emissions per mile, allowing the automaker to meet California’s proposed greenhouse limits. Tom Rosdahl, professor of automotive technology at Pierce College as well as the school’s Academic Senate president, discussed the complexities of limiting such emissions. “All vehicles emit CO2,” he said. “Anytime you burn a fossil fuel you create CO2. The only way you can cut down on CO2 is to limit how much fuel you burn, which basically means you’re going to have to improve fuel economy. Cars will have to be downsized. You can’t get 35 miles to the gallon out of a 5,000-pound vehicle.” The problem a shift to smaller, more fuel efficient cars would present to the automotive business, especially dealers, is that their profits would likely decline. Dealers make the most money from selling large, luxurious automobiles. Whether the state’s proposed limits are enacted or not, the public will eventually be forced into small cars, Rosdahl continued. “This is going to have to happen for us to survive on this planet. That’s a fact because global warming is an issue. For mankind to survive on this planet, there’s certain things that are going to have be done.” Boeckmann and Welch have a different take on the issue, though. “I always get a little bit worried when legislators think they know more than people who are in the business,” Boeckmann said. “I understand how people are mistrustful of what California would be proposing. It would drive everyone into small cars almost immediately. I don’t think that, frankly, makes sense, though, nor would that fit everybody’s needs. It’s not conducive to benefiting California or the businesses here in California.” Welch said that consumers have gradually taken environmental factors into more consideration when purchasing vehicles, but he believes that mostly stems from their concerns about fuel efficiency and not greenhouse gases, calling it a “pocketbook issue.” He argued that people will still seek the vehicles that exceed the state’s limits, making them likely to hire a broker and drive to nearby states such as Arizona and Nevada and buy the vehicles there. That’s because the standards in question would only apply to cars sold in California. “Dealers would lose these sales and the state would lose taxes,” he said. “Strictly from a California consumer and a car dealer perspective, we favor a tough national standard rather than a patchwork separate standard for California. The reason for that is we do not want to see our dealers being disadvantaged by out-of-state dealers.”

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By THOM SENZEE Contributing Reporter Commercial real estate brokers are joining the leagues of other business owners from the San Fernando Valley to Ventura County who are closely watching for an indication of what impact the pending acquisition of Countrywide Financial by Bank of America will have on their industries. The difference between this group and other local businesses is the fact that many brokers believe there could be some positive outcomes even if the mortgage giant decides to eliminate some of its sprawling presence in office buildings throughout the region. “This is a healthy market,” said Bruce Frasco, executive vice president at NAI Capital in Westlake Village. “It’s a very desirable location, and space is in high demand.” Frasco says there is little chance there will be any mass migration of operations or outright closures of any of the company’s 1.5 million square feet of office space for at least 10 to 12 months. Indeed, Countrywide says no major changes will come before the end of 2009. “The market demand just in Westlake and the Conejo Valley is about five million square feet,” Frasco said. “And that grows by 300,000 every year.” He believes the office-space market in the region is somewhat insulated because of that demand. That’s not to say there is no danger of a glut of office space hitting the region if there were a sudden exodus by Countrywide. “No one knows if Bank of America and Countrywide will combine facilities or how much overlap they have,” Frasco said. “Remember, they still need employees to service all their loans,” The company has announced publicly that it plans to beef up its loan-servicing operations. That’s good news for Frasco and other brokers who are involved with properties in the San Fernando Valley where Countrywide has thousands of loan-servicing specialists and support staff. “We handle a couple of (Countrywide) buildings in Van Nuys that do just that kind of business, and they have been adding employees,” he said. There is also the possibility that Bank of America’s purchase of Countrywide will not include all of its real estate holdings. That would change the equation to a large degree if it does not, Frasco said. But given the fact that Countrywide owns approximately 75 percent of its office space in northern Los Angeles County and southern Ventura County, Frasco says Bank of America would probably want those assets as part of the deal. Countrywide officials could not be reached for comment. According to NAI’s Frasco, Countrywide’s newest digs, (a 180,000 square-foot facility on Russell Ranch Road in Westlake Village) would be easy to convert into smaller offices for multi-tenant use should the company decide to vacate that space. “The demand would easily fill even a property the size of the Russell Ranch location the way the market is today,” he said. “There could be a single tenant waiting in the wings somewhere, but that wouldn’t be necessary to lease it.” Simi Valley is also home to a substantial amount of Countrywide-occupied office space, as well as a 135,000 square-foot warehouse (owned by the company, but as yet never occupied). “Currently Countrywide occupies about 850,000 square feet in Simi Valley,” said Brian P. Gabler, director of economic development at the City of Simi Valley. “Seven-hundred fifty-thousand square feet of the space is owned by Countrywide in four buildings and 100,000 square feet is leased in another building.” However, that square-footage generates only $45,000 in property taxes for the city. Its real value to Simi Valley is in the jobs it creates and the money Countrywide spends locally. City officials say they doubt their community’s largest employer is likely to leave even after Bank of America takes over. “Since (they) relocated to Simi Valley, the city has had an excellent relationship and open dialogue with Countrywide, with regular updates (given to the community),” Gabler said. The city has not taken any steps to prepare for a mass relocation of Countrywide, said Gabler who added that the city is quite confident the financial-services behemoth, for the most part, is staying put. And if it doesn’t, Gabler believes another company would eagerly move in and take advantage of his city’s skilled workforce and “business-friendly” government. That, he says, means vacant office space would not remain that way for long. “We believe it is realistic that a majority of Countrywide’s loan-servicing operations, which constitute 85 percent of the Countrywide employment in Simi Valley, will remain in the community,” Gabler said. He expects his boss, City Manager Mike Sedell, and other city officials will sit down with representatives of Bank of America soon to discuss Countrywide’s operations in Simi Valley. “We can work cooperatively with them as we have with Countrywide,” he said. Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, says even if the office market in Simi Valley and the San Fernando and Conejo Valleys were to take a hit as a result of Countrywide vacating large amounts of the space it currently occupies in those regions, the damage would be short-lived and minimal. “This is a unique market because it is so desirable and vacancy rates are so low,” Kyser said. “Currently it’s running around seven percent.” Kyser says the local commercial real estate market would not be completely spared. “It wouldn’t be completely painless but almost.”

With the arrival this month of a NASA airborne space observatory, city officials in Palmdale hope the presence of the agency translates into an economic shot in the arm. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center signed a lease for 16 acres of land owned by Los Angeles World Airports as a base for its five environmental and space science aircraft. The first, a DC-8 used for science missions, arrived in November. But it is the second, the SOFIA project a modified passenger jet carrying a large telescope for studying the universe that is generating the most excitement. Locating the flight operations facility in Palmdale rather than at the existing Dryden research center at Edwards Air Force Base allows for sharing of equipment and crews and for easier access by foreign visitors who won’t be subjected to the same level of security measures needed to step on a military base. The 20-ton infrared telescope for the SOFIA project was designed, built and installed by a German company. About 150 civilian and contract employees have been transferred to Palmdale. Add in visiting scientists whose experiments are aboard the planes and the number can grow to up to 200 at any given time when fully operational “I am extremely flattered to have them out there,” said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford. The aerospace industry is critical to the economy of Palmdale and neighboring Lancaster. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman among the top 10 employers in Palmdale and BAE Systems operate at Plant 42, owned by the U.S. Air Force. The Dryden aircraft operations facility has access to the taxiways and runways at Plant 42. With a 20-year lease for the hangar and office space, NASA is signaling that it is not going anywhere soon. That’s good news for the Antelope Valley as NASA’s presence means aerospace and aviation-related companies may be more willing to take a closer look at relocating to the area or expanding existing operations in the region. It’s even better news because jobs in the aerospace industry tend to be higher paying, white collar positions. One job at an aerospace company can create two-and-a-half to four jobs elsewhere in the community. “Even small contractors like to be next to a larger defense contractor to get some of that work,” said Mel Layne, president of the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance. Dryden flight operations will occupy one of five major buildings on the LAWA-owned property. Half the building is hangar and the other half office space. NASA will pony up $1.4 million a year in rent and will also invest $6.5 million in modifications and upgrades. LAWA will kick in $4 million for roof repairs to the building and to install a new central utility plant for the facility. Even with its big name, NASA still occupies just a small portion of the space available on LAWA’s 17,000 acres for development but even that presence will make the location all that more attractive. “It could be the seed reason for people to grow or want to be in that area,” said John Anderson, an aerospace consultant with California Manufacturing Technology Consultants. “NASA brings a lot of technical expertise that attracts growth and development.” It is important to aerospace companies that supplies and equipment are available within a reasonable amount of time, and NASA’s presence may serve to attract those suppliers, said Danny Roberts, assistant executive director of the Palmdale Community Redevelopment Agency. With the additional hangar space on the LAWA property, perhaps the space agency will consider moving other programs out there, Roberts said. “It cannot only accommodate the SOFIA program but several other programs NASA has,” Roberts said. Preparing for Observation Fully operational, the flight operations facility hosts five aircraft. Joining the DC-8 flying laboratory are two Lockheed ER-2 aircraft collecting information about earth resources and celestial observations; and a modified Gulfstream III business jet used for flight research, testing and development. SOFIA, or stratospheric observatory for infrared astronomy, is the newest aircraft to join the fleet. At Palmdale, the 747SP will be undergoing modifications to the system that operates the doors for the telescope’s opening. Then installation and testing of software and door controls and the telescope itself will be completed. Flight tests with the doors open are expected to take place at the end of the year, with mid-2009 targeted for the first star observations, said Bob Meyer, manager for the SOFIA program. The infrared telescope aboard the plane allows for seeing objects otherwise not visible to the naked eye. The telescope is also handy for seeing through the dust created millions of years ago by celestial objects. But while dust is not a problem, water vapor in the atmosphere is, which requires the aircraft to fly at 40,000 feet or higher, Meyer said. The SOFIA plane has an advantage over space-based telescopes and satellites in that the on-board equipment is the most current available and is easily replaced and repaired. “It is very handy to be able to switch the instruments out,” Meyer said. With missions as long as 12 hours, at night, another advantage of the Palmdale location is a closer proximity to hotels where visiting scientists stay. “There is a convenience factor of not having to drive for an hour off the base after finishing a mission,” Meyer said, adding that many civilian employees live in Palmdale, Lancaster or other small cities in the Antelope Valley. No independent analysis has been done of hotel space but the city is confident it has the capacity to house the visiting scientists and crews, Roberts said. Marriott operates two hotels in Palmdale and under construction are an Embassy Suites, a Staybridge hotel, and Hilton Garden Inn, Roberts said.

When it comes to mainstream retail outlets the adult entertainment industry is getting hit from all sides. First came the bankruptcy and closure of the Tower Records chain last year. This month the Virgin Megastore on Sunset Boulevard shut its doors in the face of plummeting music sales and high rent, with talk the same fate awaits one store in New York City. Video store chain Movie Gallery filed for bankruptcy in October and is now reorganizing to stay in business. While the industry strategy has shifted to focus on online distribution, adult production companies from the San Fernando Valley haven’t turned their backs on brick and mortar stores just yet. Store closures and bankruptcies are an indication of what both adult and mainstream studios are up against these days as viewers turn to alternative ways to view their favorite content and cut into the profits generated from sales of physical discs. “We have to face it head on and look at other avenues to create revenue,” said Steven Hirsch, a co-founder and co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment. Just five years ago, 80 percent of Vivid’s business came from DVD sales. Last year, it was about 30 percent, Hirsch said. National figures also show a drop in DVD sales. According to AVN Online, sales and rentals of adult videos dropped from $4.3 billion in 2005 to $3.6 billion the next year. Online sales, on the other hand, increased from $2.5 billon to $2.8 billion in the same years. Product from Vivid and other major Valley adult companies that were sold at Tower Records are still carried at the remaining Virgin Megastores and Movie Gallery Outlets. While the Tower and Virgin sales were not huge business it was solid, said Joone, a co-founder and director at Van Nuys-based production company Digital Playground. “The Virgin Megastore is down the street from the Hustler store,” Joone said. “I’m sure the customer who would want to walk into (Virgin) is now walking into Hustler to pick up their adult material.” At year’s end, Virgin has presented a mixed financial performance. The chain as a whole had a successful 2007 with same store sales increasing by 6.6 percent in December and by 11.5 percent for the final quarter of the year. Music sales were up 1.2 percent and DVD sales were up 18.1 percent. In explaining why the chain was closing its West Hollywood store, executives pointed to dropping music sales and the high rent. The chain scaled back in 2007 by closing its Chicago and Salt Lake City stores. The Virgin store in Burbank closed in 2005 after the roof collapsed from heavy rain and never re-opened. The Hollywood Boulevard store is the last remaining in the Los Angeles area. Virgin Megastores are owned by Related Cos., a New York-based real estate company. The new strategy is to rely less on CDs and become a lifestyle store with other products clothing, video games, and books. Adult bookstores, also facing declining revenues from DVD sales and rentals, are taking the same route. While the main reason to go to such a store is for a DVD, it’s important to have other products available for customers to purchase, Hirsch said. “You need to find another hook to come into the store, which is why you find them becoming more lifestyle oriented,” Hirsch said. Internet distribution and video-on-demand through cable providers are methods adult content producers are using to replace the brick-and-mortar retail stores. Vivid has a wireless business currently only available in Europe, though Hirsch expects U.S. carriers to come on board in a few years. When the Apple iPhone became available last year, Digital Playground became the first adult company to make content available for download to the device. Regardless, mainstream outlets remain an important part of the industry’s strategy in order to reach different audiences. “Because of these choices we have expanded our market,” Joone said. “Not only can we reach people in the U.S. but people all around the world that may not have necessarily been able to get this product due to no stores being near them or government rules.”

The engineering and design program at Monroe High School wants to start a mobile museum and library to garner more attention for its mission to educate students about careers in aerospace The program is being helped in that effort with a donation of books and memorabilia from Betty Jane Williams, a World War II era pilot. Manufacturers for the aerospace industry the program works with in the San Fernando Aviation-Aerospace Collaborative have also stepped up with items of their own to include in the library. “When the local community comes in to donate it shows the students and the teachers that they value what we do,” said Lewis Chappelear, an instructor in the program. The engineering and design program at Monroe currently enrolls 320 sophomores, juniors and seniors instructed by 15 teachers. In the past year, the program has achieved a number of milestones. Students took part in robotics competitions and traveled to Atlanta in April for a national competition. Chappelear was named California Teacher of the Year and is one of four national 2008 Teacher of the Year finalists. The aerospace library is meant to complement the high school’s library and to generate interest in aerospace and aviation careers. The plan is to house the collection in an old airplane and make it mobile so it can be transported to elementary and middle schools, and job fairs. The plane could then be kept at an aerospace company or at Van Nuys Airport. While the idea may sound crazy, Chappelear said, interest from companies in the collaborative may make it a reality. “It is really powerful when the outside community gets involved in educating our students,” Chappelear said. The material donated by Williams includes memorabilia, books and manuals, medals and model airplanes. Williams flew as a Woman Airforce Service Pilot in Texas during World War II and later became a commercial pilot and flight instructor. For more than 25 years, she served the aerospace industry, writing and directing informational films and television features. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY Woodland Hills Award: Jane Boeckmann, philanthropist and publisher of Valley Scene magazine, along with businessman Michael J. Miller, the honorary mayor of Woodland Hills will be honored at the dinner gala marking the Americanism Educational League’s 80th anniversary on Feb. 16 at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills. Television icon Wink Martindale emcees, singer Pat Boone will present the awards, and the evening’s special guest speaker is Larry Elder of KABC-AM. The event is open to the public. To purchase tickets, tables or for event sponsorships, please contact the AEL office at (626) 357-7733 or call (818) 438-1904. For more information about AEL, go to www.americanism.org. Calabasas Speech: “Pirates of the Caribbean” director Gore Verbinski delivers the keynote address at the D.I.C.E. Summit on interactive gaming taking place Feb. 6 through Feb. 8. The summit is sponsored by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences in Calabasas. Verbinski will speak on how the foundations of successful filmmaking can be used to expand the ways that videogames entertain consumers. The conference also includes high-profile industry leaders discussing tops relevant to the current state of the video game industry, developing trends, and key issues facing publishers and business leaders. Glendale Run: Participants can now register to take part in the Downtown Dash, a 5K run and walk to benefit Glendale Adventist Medical Center’s Stroke Services. The event takes place March 9 in downtown Glendale. Entry is $25 before Feb. 16 and $35 afterward. Sponsors of the event include Glendale Adventist Medical Center, the Downtown Glendale Merchants Association, Anderson Printing, and the Glendale News-Press. To register visit www.runnersimage.com and follow links to Downtown Dash. Encino Vacancies: Todd Nathanson has formed illi Commercial Real Estate, an Encino-based firm specializing in both filling retail vacancies and managing shopping center properties. The firm’s clients are a range of owners of varying size from institutional shopping centers to single asset investors. Nathanson bases the firm’s approach on his knowledge of the needs center owners have in common, as well as his many years of forming seasoned relationships with chain retailers and their broker representatives in the Southern California marketplace. SANTA CLARITA VALLEY Santa Clarita Nominees: The Advertising Professionals of North Los Angeles County is accepting entries for its local ADDY Awards competition recognizing excellence in creative advertising. Nominations will be accepted through Feb. 15 with the awards presentation taking place on March 16. Entries are accepted in 70 categories used in print, broadcast and digital media. “The awards are not just a way for our industry to garner kudos from our design peers, but they also alert the business community about advertising and design firms who can help them grow their businesses,” said Will Sherman, awards committee chairman and chief creative officer of The Sherwood Group. Entry forms are available at www.adprosla.com Honors: The College of the Canyons Small Business Development Center won top honors at the 2007 Annual Los Angeles Regional SBDC Network meeting. The center won Top Overall Performing SBDC and Highest Overall Long-Term Clients. Center team member Gil Murphy won Top Consultant Award. “Our organization’s hard-working and professional staff has allowed our center to grow and make a difference in the local economy by helping over 2,000 businesses in its first two years,” said center director Paul De La Cerda. “We are grateful for the support we receive from College of the Canyons and our corporate and government sponsors which allows us to continue to server business owners in the Antelope, San Fernando, and Santa Clarita valleys.” CONEJO VALLEY Westlake Village Travel: Pleasant Holidays added new features to its corporate website to give flexibility and streamline the planning and booking of vacation packages and hotel rooms online. Visitors to the site now have the ability to select outbound and return flights to best fit their time schedules and budget. They can also more easily choose different options, such as adding a hotel room and rental car with a flight, or choosing a flight only and hotel only. The homepage also displays new buttons allowing users to quickly select the most popular vacation destinations, including Hawaii, Mexico, Las Vegas, Asia, and California. Pleasant Holidays is a subsidiary of the Auto Club of Southern California.

Outside circumstances make this a good time for ZPower Inc. to get its silver zinc batteries into consumer electronic products. The company markets its product as an alternative to the ubiquitous lithium ion battery the type Sony recalled in 2006 after several laptops burst into flames and the type on which the federal government has just imposed new restrictions relative to how they can be carried on airplanes. ZPower claims not only a safer battery but also one that is environmentally friendly. The company will recover and recycle the silver and zinc and use them in new batteries. Heading the company is Ross Dueber, a former Air Force veteran with a techno-entrepreneurial background. That is what ZPower needs at this stage of refining its battery technology and commercializing it. “That requires experience in both areas,” said Dueber, who joined the company as president and CEO in 2005. A privately-owned company founded in 1996 as Zinc Matrix Power Inc., ZPower has received investments from Intel Corp., PowerVentures, and OnPoint Technologies, a strategic private equity firm funded by the U.S. Army. Last spring the company consolidated its dispersed Camarillo operations under one roof and boosted its staffing by 20 percent. Research and pilot production takes place there. A contract manufacturer is ready for high-volume production in Asia. Dueber is mum when it comes to the company’s first client, a major manufacturer of laptop computers releasing a new model this summer using the ZPower silver zinc battery. ZPower targets mobile electronic products, primarily laptops and cell phones, for its batteries although Dueber said they could find their way into military equipment, medical devices, emergency service radios and possibly hybrid electric vehicles. “It really is a journey to bring in new battery technology,” Dueber said. “Lithium ion has been out there approximately 10, 15 years. It’s gotten to the point where it’s in over 95 percent of consumer electronics. We’d like to be in that same status.” Q: You were at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month with the batteries. What’s been the interest shown there? A: It’s very high. The desire for a better battery is one of those things that is always going to be there. There was a tremendous amount of interest in the battery when is it coming out, what are its capabilities, what are its benefits. We can look at a couple of recent events with lithium ion batteries from a performance standpoint and they don’t seem to last long enough for the next generation of electronics. There is the safety aspect of it. As of Jan. 1 the FAA and the [U.S.] Department of Transportation issued new guidelines on what you can do and what you can and cannot bring in terms of lithium ion batteries on airplanes. Our chemistry has been exempt by the DOT so we are not subject to those constraints. Q: Does the general public even know these batteries exist? A: Not yet. These have not made their way into any product. Our first product is going to be out in the summer in a new laptop. I can’t name the customer. That will be the first use of silver zinc batteries. Once they get out there in the public, they will be able to see the differences. Q: With the new FAA regulations did you think to yourself, “This is good for our company?” A: With those, we knew they were coming down for half a year now and are not surprised by it. In general, it raises the public’s awareness on the safety issue of the lithium ion battery technology. There are so many devices that have them. The downside is they do have this inherent capability to explode and burst into flames if there is any type of malfunction. Q: How does the ZPower battery differ? A: Our battery is safer because of the materials used. Silver and zinc are energetic in that they can supply the equivalent or better in energy performance versus lithium ion. But the materials in there are not flammable. The electrolyte we use is water as opposed to what is used in lithium ion which is a flammable organic liquid. The materials we use for the electrodes are more stable so the chances of the battery heating up to a high level and igniting the liquid are much lower in our battery technology. Q: What’s your relationship with electronic device manufacturers to get them to use your battery? A: A key to the acceptance of new battery technology is to work closely with the electronics manufacturers. When you introduce new battery technology into the marketplace it will generally go into new products. There is no backward compatibility with existing products. You really have to work with the manufacturer to get it designed into their new products. That’s the first step toward success. Once you have established what I call a beachhead with an existing customer, the other manufacturers will start the adoption process themselves now that the technology has received some validation in a commercial product. It makes it that much easier for the rest of them to accept and adopt the technology in the marketplace. Q: Will the manufacturer of the laptop using the ZPower battery play up it’s using a new type of battery? A: That will be one of the primary features of the finished product. There are others, of course that will go into this laptop, which in an ultra-thin advanced technology computer. Q: Are there any benefits to having ZPower in Camarillo and southern California? A: There is a readily available talent pool and expertise in the technical area. We are able to recruit from Southern California universities, which are all high caliber. That’s a plus for us. Recruiting to the area has been relatively easy. Camarillo in particular is a business-friendly municipality for what we need here; they’re very accommodating. Q: Any particular challenges you faced when you came on board? A: The challenge for this company was transitioning what was an R & D; focused facility into an engineering, manufacturing and commercialization of the technology type company. It had to be built up beyond the core science and technology that was here. We had to recruit staff. We put in place public relations and marketing capabilities. We built strategic alliances with manufacturing partners. And we’ve taken our story to our customers and we picked up our first design win. That is what really sets us apart from a number of other start-up battery companies; we have a customer on board ready to deploy the technology. We’ve accomplished tremendous amount to put us in this position. Q: Are there competing companies making a similar battery product? A: As far as battery technology for consumer devices, we are the closest by far to commercializing new technology that can compete and replace lithium ion batteries. We don’t see anybody else out there even remotely close to us in that respect. There are some other new battery technologies out there being considered for applications like hybrid electric vehicles and power tools. Those battery technologies are not suitable for use in consumer electronics. They are designed for high-power applications, where you are turning an electric motor, for example; where you need a strong burst of energy as opposed to a long slow, drink of energy. Q: Where do you see the company in the next three to five years? A: The company’s roadmap is to initiate the adoption of this technology in the marketplace and become leaders in the industry. What we will do is work with our contract manufacturer and customers to make it as easy to adopt as possible. We’d like to IPO the company in late 2009, probably 2010. We will be in a great position to do that. Dr. Ross Dueber Title: President and CEO of ZPower, Inc. He’s also a member of the Board of Directors for ZPower. Age: 47 Education: B.S. Chemistry, 1982, Air Force Academy; M.S. Chemical Engineering, 1988, Stanford; Ph.D. Chemistry, 1993, Oxford; MBA, 1994, University of Colorado. Career Turning Point: Becoming involved in venture capital investment and start-up companies while at Emerson Electric. Personal: Married, with two children. Most Admired People: Colin Powell.

Multiple hotel proposals for the downtown area have Glendale city officials contemplating a designated hospitality corridor that would in turn create a more vibrant commercial district. Concentrating new hotels near each other and adjacent to the new condominiums and apartments at the Americana at Brand would drive pedestrian traffic to the area along Brand Boulevard between Broadway and Milford Street. “That gives another boost to those merchants that are already there,” said Phil Lanzafame, director of the Development Services Department. The hotel projects are in the construction and planning stages. A 272-room Embassy Suites is scheduled to open this spring at Central Avenue and Burchett Street. The City Center II development at Wilson Avenue and Brand Boulevard will include a 172-room hotel as well as condominiums. The developer has not settled on an operator for the hotel although a decision is expected this spring. A hotel has been proposed for Colorado Street between Brand Boulevard and Central Avenue but that project remains in the early stages and city officials have not seen an application yet. And an Orange County developer seeks city approval for a 150- to 180-room hotel on a city-owned parcel at Wilson and Central avenues. Komar Investments has joined with the Intercontinental Hotel Group to open an Indigo Hotel, a branded boutique inn appealing to younger, professional travelers. The city and Komar are negotiating a long-term lease for the property now used as a parking lot. During the talks, the city will not market the land. In addition, the redevelopment agency owns property at Maryland and Wilson that has received proposals for a hotel; and the Exchange, also on Maryland and which recently changed owners could be another opportunity, Lanzafame said. While small independent motels do business along Colorado in downtown, until the Embassy Suites is completed the only business-class hotel in the city is the Hilton at Brand and Glenoaks boulevards. Market studies from developers and anecdotal evidence heard by the city does show a need for more hotel rooms in the tri-cities area of Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena, Lanzafame said. While families do use the Hilton and will at times extend their stays, people traveling on business make up about half the guests coming to the city. Bringing more hotels to downtown benefits the corporate traveler as it is centrally located for business to business, Lanzafame said. Large corporations do call Glendale home. Nestle USA and IHOP are headquartered in downtown. Public Storage Inc., a major film studio in DreamWorks Animation and several divisions of The Walt Disney Co. are nearby. That developers look to Glendale as a site for additional hotels is an outgrowth of the city’s economic revitalization, said Michael Pfeiffer, executive director of the Hotel Association of Los Angeles. “Hotels would be a natural next step,” Pfeiffer said. The high-end guesthouses add to a good business mix and round out what the city has to offer for both the leisure and business traveler, Lanzafame added. The impacts from a hotel tend to be different from what an office building or residential building would bring to the same area. Plus the 10 percent transient tax for guests generates money for the city’s general fund. The city, however, needs to be careful and not overbuild with hotels having too many empty rooms, Lanzafame cautioned.

When the Bank Heist building caught fire earlier this month, some may have feared that momentum for the NoHo Business Improvement District went up in smoke with the months’-old restaurant and nightspot. The centerpiece nature of the destination location is reinforced by specifics; such as, the restaurant hosted the reception last month for the grand opening of the BID office, a block south on Lankershim Boulevard. Both the owner of the former bank building and the Bank restaurant have said it will reopen, and no one familiar with the particulars thinks that there is any collateral damage to the BID from that morning fire. Rena Leddy, NoHo BID manager, said the venue was “definitely an addition to the area’s vibrant theater and restaurants,” but the fire and temporary closing doesn’t “change the vibrancy we have here.” “Sad thing, it just opened a few months ago,” Leddy said. “I hope they open again soon.” That was the stated plan from the property owner just following the fire, but before immediate insurance issues resolved. <!– –> Robert Akhavan, building owner and president of the NoHo BID Committee, said he first has “the cleaning process” to undergo, but it will “absolutely” re-open. “My goal as an owner is to get the building back to original condition, better,” he said, sure that the time it will take won’t be long and momentum of the neighborhood’s progress won’t be harmed. “The BID has been very positive. NoHo is constantly changing, improving,” Akhavan said. “The location and profile are very, very high,” and won’t unduly suffer from what he said would be a “few months downtime” of having the destination business closed. “The area is growing very quickly, and there’s always new projects coming in,” Akhavan said. Bank Heist’s owner Jason Feld could not be reached to respond to, or supply details about, the timeframe for the ostensible reopening. The fire damage to the NoHo destination venue isn’t the only hitch in the overall view of the neighborhood. It is literally darker since the NoHo Commons anchor store, the 32,000 square foot HOWS Market, has scaled back its hours no longer open through the night closing from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. for the winter. The third phase of the Commons project, originally estimated as having a January 2008 groundbreaking, has been pushed back to include the addition of a seven screen, approximately 1,100-seat Laemmle Theater. “Hopefully, in six months we’ll break ground,” said Cliff Goldstein, senior partner at L.A.-based J.H. Snyder Co., the project’s developer. New Hire Sam Monempour has joined Encino-based NAI Capital as vice president. Monempour was recipient of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal’s Real Estate Awards in 2001 and 2002, and brings over ten years of commercial real estate brokerage experience to the firm where he will focus on tenant and landlord representation throughout the greater Los Angeles area, particularly the Conejo Valley and West San Fernando Valley region. Previously, Monempour was associate vice president with Grubb & Ellis, where he was part of the exclusive listing team representing the 628,000 square foot Trillium in the Warner Center, the 327,000 square foot Westlake North Business Park, the 157,000 square foot Legacy Oaks Corporate Center, the 295,000 square foot Calabasas Tech Center, and the 180,000 square foot Westlake Landmark. New Digs Capital Network Leasing Corporation announced that it has moved its headquarters from Sherman Oaks to Burbank’s Media District. The relocation, arranged through CB Richard Ellis, puts the Business Journal’s 2007 No. 1 Fastest Growing Company into a 14,984 square foot lease. The firm’s fast growth is an issue for Blake Johnson, CapNet president. He said “This move will accommodate us for several years to come.” Theirs is the largest direct lease for a tenant moving into the Media District market this year, not including tenant renewals, CB Richard Ellis’ Nico Vilgiate said. The Media Building that CapNet will call home is at 2600 West Olive Avenue and is owned by Legacy Partners, represented by Madison Partners. The transaction is valued at approximately $3 million. CEO Steps Down Metrocities Mortgage, LLC, of Sherman Oaks, announced that CEO and founder Paul Wylie has decided to step down. Dick Loeffler, COO of Prospect Mortgage Company, will serve as interim CEO upon Wylie’s departure. Executives Lynette Hale-Lee, Virginia Martinez, Anna Ruotolo and Harry Tomlinson will collectively manage the sales organization. Wylie founded Metrocities in 1989 and it is ranked in the top 1 percent of residential mortgage lenders nationwide for closed loan volume. Deals Closed Lee Black, executive vice president with Encino-based NAI Capital, closed three notable transactions before the end of the year. He represented Verizon California, Inc. in its approximately $3 million sub-lease from Amgen, Inc., of 36,000 square feet of office space located in The Arbors complex at 2535 West Hillcrest Dr. in Thousand Oaks. Cushman & Wakefield represented Amgen. In another lease transaction, Black along with Lisa Cracknell of Cushman & Wakefield represented The California State Parks Foundation in its relocation from Kentfield to San Francisco. The Foundation signed a 10-year lease valued at approximately $3 million for an 8,363 square foot suite within Lincoln Property’s Francisco Bay Office Park at 50 Francisco St., San Francisco. Sales Completed Craig Weisman of TOLD Partners, Inc. of Woodland Hills, completed three office/industrial transactions located in the Valley for a combined consideration in excess of $5 million. Weisman negotiated the sale and purchase of a 4,890 square foot office building located at 7013 Owensmouth Ave. in Canoga Park. The two-story building was purchased by Owensmouth Partners, LLC for the relocation of American Landscape. The seller was INC Investment, LLC. In a separate transaction, Weisman again represented INC for their relocation from Canoga Park and to purchase a 13,380 square foot office/industrial building located at 9710 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Chatsworth, which was not on the market for sale. The seller, MAK Realty Associates, LLC was represented by Scott Caswell of Delphi. Weisman, along with Kevin Tamura of Daum represented the Ostrow Partnership in a 32,000 square foot industrial building lease to Ameri-Seal which is expanding within Chatsworth. The freestanding, high clearance industrial building is located in the Chatsworth Industrial Park at 21330 Superior St. Weisman and TOLD’s Terry Adams represented Ameri-Seal. Senior Reporter James Hames can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or at [email protected] .

They’re rioting in Africa There’s strife in Iran What nature doesn’t do to us Will be done by our fellow man. Accurate as those lines are, they don’t come from yesterday’s Daily News or Los Angeles Times. They’re from “The Merry Minuet,” a Kingston Trio song recorded on their album, “From the Hungry I” in 1959! Yes, they are definitely rioting in Africa and there is certainly strife in Iran. And our fellow man does seem to be doing to us what nature doesn’t. A few examples: – The NCAA, that paragon of rectitude, is investigating our own Encino resident, 97-year-old John Wooden for having dinner with a potential recruit (anyone not heard of UCLA’s Kevin Love yet?) and his parents. – Angelo Mozilo, that paragon of wreck, will walk away from Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial with a severance package in excess of $100 million, leaving strewn behind him the lives of 12,000 now out-of-work employees, including many from Our Valley. – The Governor, that paragon of politics, has changed his mind, now supporting Speaker of the State Assembly Fabian Nunez’ ballot measure that sounds like term limits reform, but in reality extends his own ability to stay in office. We’ve begun 2008 with the same head-shaking illogical society with which we ended 2007. Perhaps there’s a parallel universe, and in that universe John Wooden is praised by the NCAA, Angelo Mozilo gives some of his millions to the needier among his fired employees, and the Governor doesn’t offer a quid pro quo in return for support of his own agenda. In my parallel universe, no LAPD officers would have to reveal their personal finances; major studios and networks would recognize the absolute necessity of writers and compensate them accordingly; gasoline would sell for a buck a gallon; and the anti-poverty agency, M.E.N.D., would go out of business because there would be no hungry or poorly clothed people left in the Valley who needed help. Of course our transportation patterns would change in that parallel universe, as well. Reseda Boulevard would connect with Mulholland to alleviate street congestion through Reseda, Tarzana, Encino, and Sherman Oaks. Santa Clarita, Palmdale, Lancaster, and other cities whose growth forces traffic down the I-5 and 405 Freeways to jobs in our city would make amends by giving Los Angeles millions of dollars in reparations, to be used to improve traffic flow. And we’d finally figure out that you can have a city where jobs are close to residences, significantly reducing the time, cost and stress of commuting. Technology would play an important place in that parallel universe. Cell phones would be programmed to automatically self-destruct if utilized in an automobile with its engine running. Drivers of SUVs and Hummers who park in spaces clearly marked “Compact Cars Only” would return to their vehicles to find them shrunk to fit within the spaces. Star Trek’s food replicators would do away with the necessity for cooking. Instead of Captain Picard’s command, “Tea. Hot. Earl Gray,” I could see myself ordering from my den chair, “Pastrami. On rye. Brent’s Deli.” Government would change dramatically. Our elected officials would not be able to vote themselves and each other raises while we suffer from deficits, struggle to avoid recession, and see escalating unemployment figures. There would be 20 or so Los Angeles County Supervisors, not five, bringing government closer to the governed. Los Angeles City Council members and the Mayor would be mandated to provide a rolling strategic plan to address issues such as water, transportation, growth and other such matters that are now addressed in a patchwork fashion. And of course, ill-advised, illogical and ill-conceived business taxes would be eliminated. Not that we’re the first to hunger for the perfect society. The 16th century English lawyer, author, and statesman, Sir Thomas More coined the word “utopia” in his 1516 book. Utopia was the name he bestowed upon an idealized perfect society existing on an imaginary island. We don’t really need that utopia, but it would be nice to do away with the rioting in Africa and the strife in Iran and the pain of families whose sons and daughters die in wars over the centuries and around the globe. The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. Author and futurist Isaac Asimov Martin Cooper is President of Cooper Communications, Inc., President of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission, and a member of the city’s Business Retention and Attraction Task Force. He is Past Chairman of VICA, Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter, and Past President of the Encino Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at mcooper@cooper comm.net .