Growing up in Colorado, Morre Dean found his lifelong passion in an unlikely place: the hospital. He knew it well Dean was just 5 when his mother died of Hodgkin’s disease then watched as his brother grappled with cardiac problems. The experiences were challenging, but for Dean they also laid the groundwork for a career in health care administration, one that would eventually take him from Denver to Central Florida and on to the Pacific Northwest. There, and still in his 30s, he starting running the 72-bed Walla Walla General Hospital, an Adventist Health facility in Walla Walla, Wash. Dean is credited with spearheading the community hospital’s $4 million financial turnaround and building a $20 million retirement center The stunning about-face was enough to attract the attention of Adventist execs, who appointed the 38-year-old to a new and more prominent post: President and CEO of Glendale Adventist, the largest facility owned by the Rosemont, Calif., company. The 448-bed, nearly 2,200-employee hospital is also undergoing a massive expansion, including the construction of a multi-million-dollar- patient tower opening next month. Dean sat down with the Business Journal to discuss the hospital’s future, what brought him to California and the challenges of moving from tiny Walla Walla (pop. 29,686) to Glendale (pop. 200,065). “We think the people here are wonderful and the hospital is doing an incredible mission in this community,” he said. “Sure, it’s big. But it’s only as big as you make it. I love it.” Question: How did you get into the health care business? Answer: Pretty early on in life, I wanted to be a physician, (which was) partly formed by my family’s history of dealing with health care. But I met a hospital administrator when I was 16, about the time I started to realize I really didn’t enjoy science He was able to work each and every day with people to make a positive difference at the bedside. And he got to do it in the realm I enjoyed, which is the business side and the relationship side. I built my educational experience and my summer jobs around that. My first health care job out of college was at Florida Hospital for a few years. Then I came back to Denver, where I was president of two south Denver hospitals (Porter and Littleton Adventist hospitals). Then I went to Washington for the past seven, where I was CEO (of Walla Walla General Hospital). Q: And then you came here. Did Adventist Health come after you for this position? A: They asked me if I would be interested in coming down here and really felt that my skill set matched what Glendale Adventist needed at this time. The answer was absolutely yes after I met this team and saw what this organization was all about. It was easy for me to get excited. Q: Why do you think you were picked? A: I think because of how I interact with people. I believe what the people at Adventist thought Glendale needed was somebody to build relationships in a positive way. Q: How is this hospital different from the one in Walla Walla? A: Obviously, size. It’s a lot bigger. The range of specialties we offer is much bigger and is compared to those you would see in an academic center. In Washington, we were a small hospital, very community-based. So this organization has much more going for it because that’s what Glendale residents need and are asking for. But from my perspective, health care is health care. It’s delivered from a person to a person. So it doesn’t matter if you’re in a small hospital or a big hospital. Q: But isn’t the health care business itself different in California? A: California is a more difficult business environment for health care organizations than Washington is or Colorado is. I don’t see it as drastically different. I think there’s differences in any state you’ll go to. Q: Do you think it’s easier for you to come from the outside to address the challenges? A: I think it comes down to the fact this organization has a lot of people that understand the dynamics of running an organization in California and I don’t have to be one to get up to speed. It’s already happening. Q: Are there challenges unique to this hospital that you see? A: Just meeting the needs of the community. Growing into our vision. That’s the biggest challenge. I don’t see it as insurmountable. I’m a piece to make that happen. Q: Part of that is the new patient tower A: Yes, which should be finished in April. We’re going to start moving in and see patients May 14. Q: Is that a challenge that you’re coming on mid-stream versus seeing from the beginning? A: No. (Chief Operating Officer) Warren Tates has that very much under control. What I add to the expansion is not really the operational side, but the next steps to growth from that. Q: The bulk of your patients comes from Glendale or is that changing? A: As we’ve grown, our volume over the past few years has come from secondary service areas. And that’s mainly because of the hospital’s ability to grow into being more than just a community hospital. So as we grow our neurosciences program, as we grow our cardiac program, we’ve really branched out to people not only in Glendale, but those in other areas. We do things here that you wouldn’t get in most medical centers. Q: Where would you like to see this hospital in 10 years? A: I’d really like to keep capitalizing on our tertiary growth and moving this from a community-based hospital to a regional medical center. There’s a lot of opportunities for us. We can continue to help not only the residents of Glendale, but the surrounding communities. That’s really my vision, taking that next step. I think we’re on the brink. The team has really led us to that point. And I think I’m one more piece to make that happen. SNAPSHOT Morre L. Dean Title: President and CEO, Glendale Adventist Medical Center Age: 38 Education: BA, business administration, Union College in Lincoln, Neb., MA, University of Central Florida in Orlando. Source of Inspiration: “Every day, I work in a job that not only affects people but one that raises the bar in health care. That inspires me.” Personal: Married to Katrina; two children, Tyler and Jillian, 10 and 7.

Back in the early 1990s, Toyota of North Hollywood staked a claim in a new-fangled venture: the Internet. The dealership at Lankershim Boulevard and the Ventura (101) Freeway snapped up an address, hired a web developer and starting wheeling and dealing online. It was a novel concept and not everyone was convinced car-buyers would bite. But more than a decade later, that little website accounts for a considerable chunk of the company’s business, said Noel Graham, who runs the dealer’s Internet sales department, which has swollen to 10 employees in recent years. “The Internet’s been around long enough that it’s helped a lot of people get a better price on a car because they know where the market is,” Graham said. Toyota of North Hollywood is hardly alone. Across the Valley, dealerships have grabbed onto the web as a key advertising avenue and revenue generator. Dealers are developing ever-complex sites that provide far more than just technical information about cars, from online quotes and finance pre-approvals to extensive contact information and even biographies about dealership staff. (Volkswagen of Van Nuys, for example, has photos of company President Fritz Pflock right down to Shop Foreman Wolfgang Schutze.) Galpin Motors, which sells nine car brands in the Valley area, lets customers value their trade-in, order parts and schedule service. Galpin’s site also has a feature that allows would-be buyers to input features they want in a car and view it online. Dealers say the features are worth the considerable investments because so many car buyers are turning to the web to research cars. A study released last fall by Westlake Village-based J.D. Power and Associates found that 87 percent of consumers are visiting at least one website in the car-buying process. For dealers, getting their name out front is important, but Dave Baker, Internet marketing manager for the Van Nuys dealership DriveTime said the other benefit is that buyers are far more educated when they show up at the lot. That’s helped level the playing field between dealers and buyers, which have historically not always seen eye-to-eye. “Let’s face it: many people have an instinctive distrust of used car dealers,” Baker said. “If a customer comes to a dealership after doing a lot of research about makes and models and so on, that customer is going to feel better prepared to make an informed decision.” And it’s not just the economy brands indications are that luxury car buyers are more likely to thoroughly research what they’re buying, possibly because the vehicles represent a larger investment. Tim Smith, president and CEO of Bob Smith BMW in Calabasas, said the vast majority of customers buying cars at his lot have looked at the web. He said car dealers that don’t have an online presence are at a major disadvantage. “The dealers that have embraced the Internet as a marketing tool do really well,” Smith said. ‘They’re ahead.” Benefits dealers But as the web has taken off, so too has the authority of non-dealer sites, such as those run by Edmunds, the American Automobile Association, Kelley Blue Book and Auto Trader. Howard Polirer, director of industry relations for Auto Trader, which specializes in both auto research and classifieds, said third-party resources are accepted because they’re seen as objective and unbiased. “It’s very consumer-driven,” he said. “It’s because of the consumers.” But among dealers, some of the sites raise doubt. Graham said it’s sometimes a challenge for consumers to figure out what sites are legit and what information is important. “We’re starting to see it backfire,” Graham said. “There’s so much information out there that what some customers are doing is they’re coming in and trying to start at that lower price and negotiate from there.” That’s triggered an odd role reversal dealers find themselves being pressured into making a sale. “It puts (all dealers) in this weird position,” Graham said. “Every dealer out there says ‘no haggle,’ ‘no hassle,’ but we’re kind of forced into that position because we have to artificially put the Internet price at least a couple hundred dollars higher than we normally would just to give us that extra wiggle room.” “I wish they would do a better job educating (consumers) about a realistic price to pay for a vehicle,” Graham said later. That tension could increase as the tech-savvy younger generation of today starts to purchase vehicles and dealers start adding more and more web features. “They accept this technology and will expect interactive advertising,” Polirer said. With more and more online features, it begs the question: are physical dealerships on the way out? Baker doesn’t think so cars are just too nuanced, not to mention being a significant investment and car-buyers need to see what they’re buying up close. “Bricks-and-mortar dealerships will still continue to be a critical component, but much more of the shopping will begin online. It’s just too convenient not to begin at your own computer,” he reasoned. But it will certainly change, Pollier said. A generation from now, he expects the typical car-buying experience will start by consumers looking at some type of virtual showroom that offers consumers reams of information about various cars. The test drive and kicking the tires, however, will remain, he said. “The consumer will do all their researching as much as they can in the virtual world, but ultimately they’ll have to go in to touch and feel the car,” he said. “That won’t change.”

Cherokee Inc. has extended its contract with Target Corp. through January, 2009. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It covers clothing, shoes, furniture and recreational products.

The term “gerrymandering” is defined as dividing a state into districts for the choice of representatives, in an unnatural and unfair way, with a view to giving a political party an advantage over its opponent. The word “gerrymander” represents a blend of the name of a former Massachusetts Governor, Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) with the name “salamander” which was used to describe the appearance of an odd-shaped electoral district created by Gerry to disadvantage his electoral opponents. Today the best known example of such a district is California’s 23rd Congressional District known as the “Ribbon of Shame,” created in 2001 when California’s Democrats and Republicans banded together and, utilizing highly advanced computers and an extensive political and ethnic database, drew the most sophisticated gerrymander in the history of politics. The “Ribbon of Shame” is a contorted district covering nearly 200 miles from Monterey County to San Luis Obispo County to Santa Barbara County and ending in Ventura County. It is no more than five miles wide in most places and sometimes only 100 yards. It was designed to capture the Democratic households and avoid the Republican households. In order to create this “safe” Democratic district, Democrats removed the interior portions of both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties and extended the district south into Ventura County. California has been at the center of the gerrymandering controversy since 1962 pushing the concept to the extremes in 1981 and 2001. In 1971 and 1991, Republican governors blocked efforts to gerrymander the state and sent the redistricting to the Supreme Court, which appointed panels of three retired judges to serve as “Special Masters” in charge of drawing the districts. In 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger attempted to reinstate the use of “Special Masters” on a permanent basis through Special Election Proposition 77 which failed at the polls. Gerrymandering creates “safe seat” districts which cause the extremists from each party to be elected. With “safe seat” districts, since whichever party has the “safe seat” is assured election, the most important race is the “primary.” If the district is Democratic, to get the support of the party, a candidate must not be outflanked on the left by his or her opponent. If the District is Republican, to get the support of the party, a candidate must not be outflanked on the right by his or her opponent. The result is the election of the most extreme candidates. This creates roadblocks in the legislature because the extremists of each party find it difficult to agree or compromise on issues, therefore, unless one party is in control of at least two-thirds of the legislature, many potentially valuable bills will not pass. What two-party system? In addition to creating “safe seat” districts and assuring the election of extremists, gerrymandering compromises the effectiveness of the two-party system in the following ways: the minority party usually wins far fewer seats than its percentage of the total vote; promising local leaders are blocked from opportunities to run for higher office; incentives to recruit the best qualified candidates and establish strong ties to the grassroots voters are eliminated and potential voters’ motivation to be involved in the political process is stifled. Although California has been unsuccessful thus far, other states have succeeded with redistricting reform. The most successful models to date utilize Independent Redistricting Commissions composed of bipartisan citizens. No state currently uses a commission composed of retired judges or “Special Masters.” In December, 2006, a proposed constitutional amendment (ACA 1) was introduced into the California Assembly, by Assembly Member Dymally requiring the appointment of an Independent Redistricting Commission, composed of 5 members that would be charged with establishing, by February 28 of each year ending in the number one, congressional, Assembly, Senate, and State Board of Equalization districts of equal population in compliance with the United States Constitution, pursuant to a mapping process for each district in accordance with specified goals. The Commission would be required to approve a redistricting plan that includes the final maps for all districts. Any challenges to the Commission’s redistricting plan would fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the California Supreme Court. Once again trouble is brewing for redistricting reform. This time it is coming from Washington, as reported in the Sunday, February 25, 2007 edition of the Los Angeles Times. “Fresh from their victories in the November election, Democrats in Congress don’t want to risk their fragile majority. Many Republicans don’t want their relatively safe seats threatened either.” As a result, California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez who is also crafting redistricting reform legislation said he thinks he will have to exempt Congress from his legislation. It seems that as long as incumbents are fearful of losing their seats, redistricting reforms are in jeopardy. Whatever happened to the concept of performing well in order to keep one’s job? Gregory N. Lippe, CPA, is managing partner of the Woodland Hills-based CPA firm of Lippe, Hellie, Hoffer & Allison, LLP and Vice-chair of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assoc. (VICA).

Nearly a year ago, a crowd of almost 70 people came to the California State University Northridge campus to discuss how the Daily News could better cover Latinos in the San Fernando Valley and increase its number of Latino reporters. What has changed in those 12 months since the paper joined the Parity Project of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists? An advisory committee of educators, students, business people, media relations professionals and retirees has met twice to discuss coverage in the paper and ways to improve its reporting on Latino issues. Managing Editor Melissa Lalum likes the feedback she gets from the sessions and appreciated CSUN journalism instructor Jose Luis Benavides bringing a group of his students to report on a six-week study comparing Daily News coverage with that of Spanish-language publication La Opinion. <!– Spacious: The restaurant’s main dining area. –> Spacious: The restaurant’s main dining area. “We tend not to run as much Central and South America and Mexico news off the wires whereas La Opinion would run a lot more,” Lalum said. “They definitely saw that as an area where we could grow.” The advisory committee, however, could use more members. Lalum said she would like to see representatives from the education field and a religious leader or two. Lalum’s enthusiasm for taking part in the project is encouraging to Rosa Maria Santana, the associate director with the Parity Project on the West Coast. Visiting other western state newspapers taking part in the project, including the Ventura County Star, Santana said she recognizes that newspapers run on their own schedules of hiring and that some papers have cut staff. Successful participation in the project comes from recognition within newsrooms of its long-term goals, Santana said. “Ultimately it comes to the individual newspapers saying we are going to do this and see the importance of diverse voices in the newsroom,” Santana said. At the time of last year’s meeting, 10 percent of the newsroom staff was Latino. A year later it is 13 percent. Over the summer the paper hired an intern it had found through a program with the California Chicano News Media Association. The paper is also eyeing pairing up with San Fernando High School to get an intern through a program sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. “That’s a nice way to cultivate young journalists,” Lalum said. Santana does her part in getting potential candidates on the Daily News’ radar screen by getting names and resumes when visiting journalism schools and conferences and passing them along to Lalum. Map to the Star’s Home The Ventura County Star is in the midst of a move from its long-time facility in Ventura to a new 50,000 square foot building in Camarillo. The move started on Feb. 23 and was expected to be completed by mid-March. Save for bureaus in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, all operations will be consolidated in the new building on Camarillo Center Drive near the Premium Factory Outlet. “It’s almost like you find us by accident,” said Star Publisher Tim Gallagher. Relocating has been in the works for nearly 10 years, ever since the paper’s owner E.W. Scripps had need for bigger press facilities after consolidating into the Star the smaller newspapers covering Ventura County. Scripps bought a plot of land and opened up the printing press building in 1998. “We’ve always had a big, empty unused amount of space surrounding that production building because we were waiting to build our office headquarters there until the timing was right,” Gallagher said. It was decided two years ago that the timing was right to sell the Ventura building and relocate to Camarillo, Gallagher said. As near as he can tell the employees look forward to the move as the Ventura building is small and has poor lighting and plumbing, Gallagher said. The new building allows for the Star to change the way it does business in terms of its classified ad sales. While a front counter will be available for placing ads, the lobby will have three computers at which readers can place ads themselves. “Statistics show us that when they place the ads themselves they tend to spend more money,” Gallagher said. Making a Statement Calabasas is shrinking. Not the affluent city on the west edge of the Valley but the name of the high end lifestyle magazine published by Richard Bleiweiss. The name Calabasas will gradually shrink on the cover as the publication transitions to its new name Statement and expands its circulation to a nationwide readership. Bleiweiss chose to call the magazine Calabasas when launching it two years ago as a way to represent an upscale lifestyle in the Valley. But with the magazine going national, Bleiweiss didn’t want there to be any confusion about what the magazine was about. “We didn’t want to have the question arise anymore of if I don’t live here why I would want to read a magazine about Calabasas,” Bleiweiss said. What will make Statement a national publication is its advertising package and not the content inside, which is geared toward celebrity news and features. Advertisers will have the option of choosing which edition they want to be in for the Valley, the Pacific Palisades-Santa Monica region, or nationally. The magazine is sent out via direct mail to specific target demographics, and newsstands and bookstores. The international market will also be tested with a limited number of copies, Bleiweiss said. The new name was chosen because everything a person from the car they drive, the places they visit, to what charities they contribute to- makes a statement, Bleiweiss said. “Having this magazine on their coffee table will make a statement about who they are,” Bleiweiss said. There are plans to add to the magazine’s sales staff but not to the editorial staff. For the time being, the magazine’s office will remain in Calabasas although Bleiweiss foresees a move but with an eye toward staying in the west Valley. Staff Reporter Mark R. Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or at [email protected] .

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Monday that he plans to release $82 million from a city trust fund to help pay for 21 housing projects for low-income families and seniors. Citywide, the funds will help pay for 1,222 units, including five projects in the Valley: the 64-unit Columbus Square senior apartments and 32-unit Orion Garden large-family apartments both in North Hills and the 69-unit Asturias Senior Apartments, 81-unit Cantabria Senior Apartments and 69-unit Montecito Terraces Los Angeles senior apartments all in Panorama City. Those projects will receive a total of $24.4 million, according to the mayor’s office. The funding will come from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which the city pays into each year to finance housing projects. The plan awaits approval from the Committee on Housing, Community and Economic Development and City Council. The motion is scheduled for committee action Tuesday.

The local economy will largely hold steady this year and in 2008, although several key businesses mainly television and motion pictures are at risk of slowing, according to a forecast released by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Several contract issues coming to a head this year fuel the uncertainty, especially the Writer’s, Screen Actor’s and Director’s guild contracts that expire this summer and fall. It’s unclear how those negotiations will play out, and whether a strike will result, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the group, in a statement. “There are a variety of scenarios being spun out as to what might take place,” he said. “The risk of strike, real or de facto, is high, and this would not be good news for areas of Los Angeles County with exposure to the business.” That doubt led the LAEDC to predict that entertainment jobs will rise by 4,500 in 2007 only to drop by 2,000 in 2008. For the most part, the study finds that the six basic industries are all poised for modest growth over the next two years. The county’s job growth is also expected to tally 1.1 percent, or about 43,700 jobs. The study also predicted the housing market would stabilize by the end of the year, although real estate-related industries and construction will decline. , Chris Coates

Starting this month and continuing into the fall, the San Fernando Valley plays host to several film festivals to showcase the work of up-and-coming filmmakers as well as established veterans. The added bonus to this “festival season” is the attention they bring and more importantly a flow of money to the area. But Park City, Utah, home of the Sundance Film Festival, shouldn’t shake in its ski boots about losing any of its glamour and cache in the entertainment world from the Valley events. At least not yet. “We have great media exposure, great celebrities and it’s a wonderful event,” said Don Franken, executive director of Method Fest, which kicks off later this month in Calabasas. Method Fest, now in its ninth year, follows by a week the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival, taking place in North Hollywood. In September there is the Valley Film Festival and in November the Student International Film Festival, also both in North Hollywood. The inaugural version of the Universal City International Film Festival takes place at Universal Studios in October. Recognition and exposure for filmmakers is the primary goal for these festivals. Economic benefits to hotels, restaurants and shops, and injecting some culture become the secondary reasons, organizers say. Franken hopes to have an attendance of 16,000 at this year’s Method Fest. Tracy Adlai said last year’s Valley Film Festival had packed screenings at the 400-seat El Portal Theatre. But even that exposure gets broken down into sub-categories of the films that get screened. Method Fest, for instance, screens films focusing on acting, while the Valley Film Festival highlights filmmakers from the Valley region as well as elsewhere. Robin Saban, the organizer of the Student International Film Festival started his event five years ago because he found that other festivals shucked student films off to the side. His event, on the other hand, takes entries from filmmakers who are still in their teens. “We’re providing to the industry new and upcoming filmmakers,” Saban said. Will these festivals break out and become the celebrity-heavy, media-generating events that occur in other cities in the U.S. and the world? Franken doesn’t see why not and refers to Method Fest as a “mini-Sundance.” Films screening this year will include such actors as Jared Leto, John Travolta, Laura Linney, and Selma Hayek. Adlai once envisioned her festival, now in its seventh year, as reaching the lofty influence of a Sundance or South By Southwest but now aims her goals in a different direction. “My personal goal is to be able to have fun with it and provide an opportunity for the local filmmaker and other filmmakers,” Adlai said. The Valley Film Festival uses the El Portal Theatre for its home base, the same location formerly used by the International Student Film Festival before it moved to Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn. That North Hollywood hotel also hosts the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival, which kicks off its week long run of screenings March 16. Student Film Festival organizer Saban said he would like to use the El Portal but finds it difficult to book time because of other shows taking place there. Drawing films from an international pool of filmmakers does mean out-of-town visitors staying at Beverly Garland’s or the Colony Inn, patronizing local restaurants and going to CityWalk at Universal City, Saban said. “There is definite a benefit,” Saban said. The International Student Film Festival is one of two festivals supported by the Valley of the Stars, an off-shoot of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley that helps with publicizing the event. The Alliance gets involved for two reasons, explained its President and CEO Bruce Ackerman to call attention to the importance of the entertainment industry on the Valley’s economy; and to attract visitors. “I don’t know how much it draws people coming from outside but it certainly gets a lot of attention and a great response from the film community, particularly the student film community,” Ackerman said of Saban’s festival. Missing in all this are exact numbers of the monetary benefits a festival brings to its host area, even Calabasas. (“I’d love to see them do that I think there is a strong impact locally,” Ackerman said.) Adlai doesn’t venture to guess what Valley Film Festival attendees might spend in North Hollywood before or after a screening. She does, however, make it a point of keeping expenses associated with the event local in that the company providing the awards is in North Hollywood and companies in Studio City and Burbank meet the festival’s printing needs. Patronizing Valley businesses is important to Adlai because she sees so many events branding themselves as local but all their money goes out of the area. “If I am presenting a festival that highlights local filmmakers I want to highlight other things that are local as well,” Adlai said. As dedicated as Saban and Adlai are to their creations, Franken and Method Fest exist on another level. Franken, whose background is in marketing, doesn’t like having the event lumped in with other Valley festivals. Method Fest has become a brand of its own, the venue for U.S. premieres of films from foreign festivals, and the celluloid bazaar from which 80 films have been picked up by distributors in its nine years. “Method Fest of all the festivals we’ve dealt with has the potential to be a superstar event,” Ackerman said. “Not that the other ones don’t but this one has a huge draw.” Despite a lack of exact figures, Calabasas comes out ahead by hosting the festival. Franken tells of festival attendees who purchased cars from dealerships, and filmmakers who have returned to shoot their work there. Restaurants and hotels tend to be heavily used anyway, said Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Stephanie Warren, but festival attendees do give a boost to the economy. “It showed them a part of the city they didn’t know was there,” Warren said. As to whether the city will ever be the draw of Park City, Warren finds the comparison inaccurate in that Park City with its ski resorts was already a tourist destination unlike Calabasas. “We are not looking to bring in tourists but we like to have things that enrich the arts,” Warren said. Putting on the festival takes a budget of $250,000 and a full-time staff assisting Franken with choosing the films and organizing screenings and related events. Adlai is on her own to put on the Valley Film Festival save for the two assistants she takes on six months before the festival takes place. Franken lines up multiple corporate sponsors for Method Fest. Saban’s main backer is the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. He has tried to get corporate sponsors for the International Student Film Festival but without much luck, Saban said. “People who are running these other festivals they are well connected to the corporations,” Saban said. “There is politics involved.”

Children’s Museum of Los Angeles has appointed Cecilia Aguilera Glassman as its CEO. Glassman will focus on fundraising as the museum seeks to finance the exhibits. Construction on the building, a 57,000-square foot facility in Hansen Dam, is due to be completed this summer. “We have built a spectacular building, but now our challenge is to fill it with exhibits that will educate, empower and entertain the children of Los Angeles for years to come,” said Glassman. In January, 2005, with commitments for most of the funding of the building’s construction in hand, the Children’s Museum hired Mark Dierking, a former chief planning deputy, to lead fundraising efforts. Dierking, who was executive director, left the post last year. Fundraising for the project has been challenging, officials associated with the museum have said, and few Valley businesses have stepped up to support the effort. Glassman worked for over four years in the office of former Mayor Richard Riordan, where she served as assistant for community relations involved with the city’s department of cultural affairs, library, recreation and parks and the commission on children, youth and their families.

At least 93 people will be fired in coming months from the Woodland Hills insurer 21st Century Insurance Group. The company plans to cut 110 workers, 85 percent of which will be information technology employees and managers in the Woodland Hills headquarters, said company spokesman Larry Krutchik. The layoffs represent about 4 percent of the company’s total workforce. The company will also cut information technology contractors from 300 to 20 through the spring. The insurer blamed the cuts on lower fourth quarter profits, an aggressive growth plan and some compensation expenses. Fourth quarter earnings fell to $19.2 million or $0.22 per diluted share from $26.4 million, or $0.31 a share from the same 2005 period. Earnings had been expected to tally about $0.28 a share. The company, however, did report a slight upturn in direct premiums, which increased 1.9 percent to $323 million for the quarter. In a statement, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Steven P. Erwin said this year is a rebuilding period. “2005 and 2006 were periods of implementation of new systems and new markets. Now that we have achieved a national capability, we are committed to reducing our expense ratio through expense management, quality of operations and growth in premiums,” he said. President and CEO Bruce W. Marlow furthered the point in a call to investors, using a nautical theme. “The people you have and the way you spend your money when you’re building a ship are very different from when you’re sailing a ship,” he said. “We’re now sailing the ship.” The repositioning comes two months after New York City insurance giant American International Group Inc. offered to buy the company for $690 million. AIG already owns 62 percent of 21st and offered $19.75 per share for the rest. 21st formed a committee to look into an acquisition, although no deal has been announced, the company said. “We all must allow the special committee to do the job,” Marlow said. Dreamworks Returns ‘Flush’ Glendale-based DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. confirmed expectations that poor returns from its box office bomb “Flushed Away” would impinge on the studio’s bottom line. The film released last fall cost the studio a total of $190 million, according to financial returns. That loss sent DreamWorks’ net income dropping from $63.2 million, or $0.61 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2005 to a net loss of $21.3 million, or $0.20 per share, a year later. The one bright spot was revenue growth an increase from $173 million last year to $204.3 million fueled by Dreamworks’ successful “Over the Hedge” becoming available on DVD and video. Those sales alone contributed to half of the company’s fourth quarter revenue but was offset by the sheer cost of the sales coupled with the write-off, which totaled $219.9 million. In a conference call after the results were released, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg acknowledged the mixed returns but pointed to high hopes for the studio’s next film, “Shrek the Third,” due out in May. “While both of our overall home video performance and the theatrical success of ‘Over The Hedge’ were positive this year, our second release, ‘Flushed Away,’ did not live up to our expectations,” he said. U-Wink Concept Holding Well It appears uWink Inc., the entertainment-restaurant concept featuring touch-screen tabletop computers for ordering and playing games, has caught on. The Van Nuys-based company reported attendance at its pilot Westfield Promenade location in Woodland Hills is steadily increasing, averaging 3,500 a week and more than 60,000 games played. That has sent revenue steadily growing month-to-month, from $30,000 in October to $185,000 in January. “We expect to continue our revenue growth as we layer in additional capacity and software designed to creative activities that will add revenues streams and fill the restaurant during traditionally slow times,” said company founder and CEO Nolan Bushnell in a letter to shareholders. Earlier this year, the company installed 28 more seats at the restaurant in response to long weekend wait times. Bushnell is also the creator of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s. Briefly Glendale-based PS Business Parks Inc. has bought a Washington business park. The company paid $76 million for the 493,000-square-foot Overlake Business Center in Redmond, Wash. The 27-structure complex has 161 tenants. The company now owns 19 million square feet of office space in nine states. ValueClick Inc. reported stronger-than-expected fourth quarter profits, tallying a net income of $22.1 million or $0.22 per diluted share and 56 percent higher than the same 2005 period. The Westlake Village company pointed to new online advertising such as its much-touted video ads for the increased profit. Staff Reporter Chris Coates can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected] .