Last fall, Audrey Green, dean of program development and community extension at College of the Canyons in Valencia, heard about a growing problem among building contractors tackling the Santa Clarita Valley building boom: they were struggling to find capable help. “There was a severe shortage of land surveyors,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of schools that offer programs. They could not find trained people.” So Green came up with the idea to develop a land surveying course at College of the Canyons, a two-year community college that over the past decade has made a name for itself by quickly adding vocational programs that are in need. A year later, the college has two new programs for the construction trade: construction management and land surveying. “It’s designed for people in the industry who want to move up to management or those who are interested to work in the field,” Green said. The construction management major includes courses on technology, blueprint reading, scheduling and inspections. The land-surveying major, one of only two in Southern California, was introduced this fall and initially has three courses on the trade. In both cases, coursework can be credited towards a certificate of achievement or as part of a degree, Green said. So far, 25 students have taken part in the land-surveying course this fall, with 50 in the construction program. Well-paying Green said the land-surveying major has been in strong demand so far because many older workers are retiring without anyone to fill the space. “It’s not something that most students think about doing,” she said. “But it’s not just getting out there with a little tripod. It’s very math-oriented. And it pays very well. There’s a huge opportunity there.” Bill Kennedy, president of the Valley Industrial Association of Santa Clarita, said the increase in building projects in the area have made qualified land surveying and construction managers a challenge to find. “There’s a great need for it,” he said. “Santa Clarita is booming.” He said the programs are a good example of what College of the Canyons has done well for years: adding programs that the quickly expanding area need. “They’ve been very responsive in the past,” said Kennedy, who is also the vice president of sales for the Valencia building supply company Gruber Systems Inc. “They are very attuned to local community needs.” Similar construction and surveying vocational courses are offered at Los Angeles Valley College, California State University Northridge and Pierce College. +the white-hot Santa Clarita real estate market readjusts. The area for years has been one of the fastest growing in Los Angeles County, adding thousands of new tract homes and dozens of ground-up office parks and retail centers every year. But in recent years that boom has shifted. A study released last month by the California Economic Forecast found that new home sales were down 78 percent from the same 2005 period. As of third quarter 2006, new home sales were at their lowest level since 1990, although commercial construction remains strong. Despite mixed numbers, Green is optimistic that North L.A. County will weather the slowdown and construction jobs and surveyors will still be in demand. “Construction, at least in North L.A. County, is not going away,” she said, referencing the massive Newhall Ranch Community Development Project in Valencia and Tejon Ranch project in the Antelope Valley. And since the real estate market operates in cycles, Green said a wobbly market today could be a thriving market next year. In this respect, trained land surveyors and construction managers will also be in demand, she said. “They do land boundaries; they do legal descriptions,” she said. Green said College of the Canyons is already looking at additional vocational programs, possibly in building inspections, and expanding its automotive technology and electrician training programs. She said it makes sense to pay attention to what’s needed in the community. “That’s our job: to look at economic development and see where the economy is going,” she said. “That’s what we do.” College of the Canyons Programs Land Surveying Surveying 101: Introduction to Land Surveying Surveying 102: Advanced Land Surveying Construction Management Construction 101: Introduction to Construction and Construction Engineering Construction 103: Blueprint Reading for Construction Construction 104: The Construction Process-Planning and Scheduling Construction 108: Introduction to Construction Inspection and Codes For more information, call (661) 259-7800 or visit canyons.edu. Source: College of the Canyons

The Walt Disney Co. plans to cut as many as 160 positions from its Burbank-based animation studios. The cuts were triggered following a review by the management team of appropriate production schedules for future projects, according to a statement from the company released late Friday. While the statement did not include an exact number of employees to be laid off, published reports placed it at 160 out of 800 employees. Walt Disney Animation includes Disney Feature Animation, Disney Television Animation and Disney Toons. “We are committed to do every thing we can in order to assist everyone during this transition period,” the statement said. “Once notified, employees will have up to 60 days to find new employment.” The company will help in providing job placement opportunities, the statement said. Disney’s next animated feature is “Meet the Robinson’s,” scheduled for release in March, followed by the summer Disney-Pixar film, “Ratatouille.”

Beverly Hills Bancorp Inc., parent of First Bank of Beverly Hills in Calabasas, has created a new executive position and made several appointments. Craig W. Kolasinski was appointed executive vice president business development for First Bank, a post that will include the bank’s real estate clients as well as special lending opportunities including co-venturing with other lending institutions. The bank has also appointed Eric Rosa as executive vice president, chief lending officer. Rosa was formerly chief lending officer of ChinaTrust Bank (U.S.A.).

Hit by falling profits, factory closures and cuts in its workforce, Detroit automaker General Motors’ problems and potential solutions are a long way from the San Fernando Valley. But tucked away near a residential neighborhood in North Hollywood is one of the company’s design centers and within its red brick walls its staff of designers and engineers play their part to come up with designs and products that could be the key to any turnaround of the company. The broader role of the North Hollywood studio is to come up with designs that capture and enhance people’s lives, said its director Frank Saucedo. With a greater emphasis on interiors, the studio this year formed an advance interior group that works side by side with the exterior design group. The studio also works with a branding group based in Detroit to give input on how the eight GM brands are perceived on the West Coast, Saucedo said. The branding group in turn tells the studio how the corporation sees the brands going and vehicles can be developed around that information, Saucedo said. “We can offer a voice based around an environment that is constantly changing,” Saucedo added. “It is very competitive market. We see firsthand who our competitors are.” Like its fellow U.S. automakers, GM has hit hard times. As market share decreases, profits fall. The manufacturer posted a $91 million loss for the third quarter, announced plans to close a dozen factories in the next two years and cut its North American payroll by 34,000 jobs by early next year. Considering all that, Saucedo said any pressure put on his group due to the company’s problems is a “good pressure” because of the importance that design plays in the company’s turn around. “They are looking for product and are more open to leading, cutting edge design considering how competitive the market is,” Saucedo said. “That is why we have all these small satellite (studios) around the world.” GM also has studios in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Designers often rotate between the different locations to get broad training on the company’s products worldwide. As an advanced design studio, the staff in North Hollywood is involved with the beginning of the process of creating new vehicles or modifying existing ones. As the word “advanced” in the name of the design implies, the work is done for future model years. Currently, the staff is working on vehicle designs for 2010 and beyond, Saucedo said. This year alone, the center has come up with 11 full-size models for eight different GM products. In their own way, each model shows a new direction in a particular design scheme or helps to build a brand, Saucedo said. What Detroit looks for from the design center is to put a West Coast and a broader Pacific Rim spin on the vehicle market and to leverage the ideas coming from a primarily young staff. Saucedo stressed an importance for the center staff to understand and spot trends before they happen; to forecast what will be popular with car buyers. The Southern California market can be fickle but buyers also are very open minded and enlightened to new types of vehicles. “We saw the crossover vehicles take off here,” Saucedo said. “You see a lot of vehicles that break the mold a bit.” Having the design studio in the Los Angeles area puts it in the hottest car market in the nation, and arguably the world, said Peter Welch, president of the California Motor Car Dealers Association. “When you look at the manufacturers seeing a percentage increase in their sales Toyota, Honda, and Nissan many of their models are designed and conceived in California or at least with lots of California input,” Welch said. It also doesn’t hurt that Southern California is the center of the nation’s preoccupation with celebrity what they wear, where they live and what they drive. When a movie or television star gets behind the wheel of a certain car that becomes important product placement, Saucedo said. “People watch what celebrities drive and what the buzz is about them,” Welch said. Glamour may attract a buyer’s eye but it’s the functionality and convenience of a vehicle that keeps bringing them back. In recent years, GM has focused on more comfortable, long-lasting interiors as recognition that people spend more time in their vehicles these days. Nowhere is that more true than on the clogged, slow-moving freeways of Los Angeles. If, as a driver or passenger, you spend an hour, an hour and half in traffic then your car better be comfortable, better be pleasing and function to your needs. “You can sell them a pretty package but if it doesn’t fit your lifestyle and it isn’t functionally improving the way you do things, you won’t be back,” Saucedo said. Arguably, when it comes to Californians buying product from the Big 3, they haven’t come back. The CMCDA forecasts a 9.2 percent drop in registrations of new light vehicles made by the Big 3 automakers in 2006 when compared to the previous year. Japanese imports, however, are predicted to rise by 2.7 percent this year, while European imports are expected to go up 2 percent, the association said. Designing a new car involves more than three-dimensional modeling and knowing how passengers will fit inside. The staff also gets out of their red brick building and observes how people use their vehicles. Saucedo calls it a happy accident that the center is located where it is giving access to a mix of the affluent from ritzy areas of Los Angeles and the blue collar, middle class of the San Fernando Valley. “You get that diversity and understand there is that broad range of customers and we’re not just designing for the elite,” Saucedo said.

A Swiss leisure company is reportedly poised to launch a takeover bid of the operator of EuroDisney. Published reports said Frankfurth Center-Tainment AG said it plans to bid for the theme park, 40 percent of which is owned by Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. through a wholly owned subsidiary, EDL Holding. In a statement, Euro Disney S.C.A. said it is aware of the takeover, but has “been unable to secure material information on this company.” “The Management of Euro Disney remains focused on its daily operations as well as its long-term growth strategy and is committed to building on the progress achieved this past year,” it said. EuroDisney opened 14 years ago and includes Disneyland Resort Paris.

Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian has launched a new box office analysis and tracking firm in Encino. Dergarabedian starts Media By Numbers following 14 years at Exhibitor Relations Company, a top box office reporting firm. Media By Numbers will initially focus on reviewing, monitoring and providing in-depth analysis on the film industry and specifically box office trends. Plans call for the company to enter into other fields of media monitoring and analysis such as home video and the many distribution platforms rapidly developing in the digital space. “In today’s movie-going world, the need for not only accurate data but also meaningful analysis is key for the filmed entertainment industry to move forward and adapt to consumer needs and habits,” Dergarabedian said. “Throughout my years in the feature film community I have been very fortunate to create many lasting relationships that I hope to now be able to serve with this new company.” Dergarabedian is a widely quoted movie industry expert who has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC and Access Hollywood.

New start-ups in Los Angeles will not have to pay a business tax for 10 years under the terms of an extended tax exemption passed by the Los Angeles City Council today. The motion, introduced by Second District Councilwoman Wendy Greuel and City Council President Eric Garcetti, frees new businesses from paying any business tax for the first 10 years of operation if its taxable gross receipts are less than $500,000. It extends a two-year exemption passed seven years ago. The extension, which can be reconsidered by the council after five years, is part of a major push in recent years by public and private enterprise to make Los Angeles friendlier to business. The city has long been considered one of the costliest places to conduct business, in large part because of its myriad taxes. Last year L.A. ranked as the 16th most expensive city nationwide on the Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey. The current business tax exemption was passed in 1999 and included a sunset clause that expired this month, according to the city’s Department of Finance. In 2004, the city agreed to reduce the tax in phases by 15 percent for businesses generating less than $100,000 over five years and introduce additional cuts when revenues from the business tax exceeded certain thresholds. Some of those cuts were put into place last month, when the council voted to reduce the city’s business tax by 4 percent for 2007, a result of increased revenue and strong business tax numbers in fiscal year 2005-2006. So far, the reforms have had mixed results. The Kosmont study found that decreases to the city’s business tax license made little difference in its affordability. This fall, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo went so far as to call for an end of the business tax altogether. He argued the money generated from the tax about $420 million, or 10 percent of the city’s budget aren’t worth it because the fees discourage businesses from coming to the city in the first place. Nearly 27,000 new businesses opened in Los Angeles last year.

A morning breakfast meeting sponsored by the Chatsworth/Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce brought out about 100 people to hear a slate of city, county and regional officials talk about the state of the communities of the northwestern Valley and a brief discussion about the recent controversy surrounding the Los Angeles Fire Department. The two-hour event, at The Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills, also featured one of the first appearances of city Planning Director Gail Goldberg in front of a large Valley crowd. Goldberg took over the position nine months ago and said she is focusing on reforming the department, which last October was the subject of a stinging audit by City Controller Laura Chick. Goldberg said the department has focused on long-term planning and started eight new community plans, including in Sylmar and Granada Hills, with plans to add four more next year. The department is also working on streamlining the entitlement process, she said. “We have not done real planning in this city,” Goldberg said. “I think the missing piece in Los Angeles is urban design.” Richard Hunt, the general manager of San Fernando Valley region for the MTA, also spoke about transportation issues and the success of the Orange Line busway that opened last year. Hunt also said the transportation agency has purchased 35 new articulated buses, 17 of which will serve Van Nuys Boulevard starting Dec. 17. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca also talked about policing the Antelope Valley, where the population has exploded in recent years. “It is the last frontier that’s left,” he said, adding later that the sheriff’s epartment has focused on new training to keep its force educated. “There must be this idea that you develop people to do the best they can do,” he said. Other speakers were State Assembly members Lloyd Levine and Audra Strickland, County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Sean Kane and city Fire Department Capt. Tim Manning. The event was to include Los Angeles Fire Department Chief William Bamattre, who is embroiled in a cloud of controversy over how his department handled a reported hazing incident. The latest case came to light after a 2004 incident in which a black firefighter’s spaghetti sauce was laced with dog food in a firehouse prank. The firefighter, Tennie Pierce, sued the city alleging the hoax was racially motivated and amounted to harassment. The Los Angeles City Council agreed to settle the case out of court for $2.7 million, only to reverse course after photos surfaced showing Pierce participating in similar pranks, prompting Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to veto the settlement. The incident touched off a wave of protests about the alleged racial insensitivity of the department, which Bamattre has helmed since 1995. In light of the controversy, Bamattre canceled his appearance at the breakfast event yesterday. The mayor’s office this afternoon confirmed that Bamattre would be announcing his retirement at 3 p.m. today. This morning, though, the only reference to Bamattre during the breakfast came in a brief comment from Valley City Councilman Greig Smith, one of 11 council members who originally voted to settle with Pierce out of court. (He later changed sides after the photos came to light.) Upon taking the dais to address the crowd, Smith turned and said with a chuckle, “I don’t want to complain, but somebody put dog food in my eggs.” The comment, which initially drew small amounts of nervous laughter, visibly stunned some audience members. In a question-and-answer session, Smith told the crowd that he felt Bamattre had been unfairly blamed for the Fire Department problems. He also said the city had not given the captain enough support to address the issues. “He asked for the resources and didn’t get them,” Smith said. If Bamattre does step down, Smith said the city should look nationally for a replacement, “like we did with Bill Bratton,” the LAPD Chief hired in 2002 after a successful crime-fighting career in New York City and Boston. “We need a leader who’s going to say ‘enough is enough’,” Smith said. “Somebody that’s very strong.” Chamber Executive Director Nanette Phelan said Bamattre canceled early Wednesday. Despite the no-show, she said the event came off without a hitch. “It offers access like no where else to officials,” she said. “It’s just a broad spectrum that benefited from this.”

The California WellBeing Institute, a 270-room luxury hotel, health center and spa near Westlake Village, opened this week. The 769,080-square-foot, $250 million project at Ventura Freeway and Lindero Canyon Road includes a six-story hotel; health center and 40,000-square-foot spa; restaurants and shops; a conference center; and 41,000-square-foot television studio. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts runs the hotel element, which also features two restaurants, including a sushi bar with 2,000-gallon saltwater aquarium. The medical portion is managed by California Health and Longevity Institute, based in Santa Monica, and offers cosmetic procedures, body scanning and diagnostics, outpatient recuperative services, cosmetic dentistry, proprietary DNA-breakdown testing and imaging technology. The project is the brainchild of David Murdock, the billionaire CEO of Dole Foods Co., and sits near the company’s headquarters.

The Cheesecake Factory Inc. reported net income dipped 16 percent to $18.1 million or $0.23 per diluted share in the third quarter as sales at restaurants open at least a year fell. For the third quarter of 2005, Cheesecake Factory reported net income of $21.7 million or $0.28 per share. Before the impact of stock option expenses, Cheesecake’s net dropped by 3 percent. Calabasas Hills-Cheesecake Factory reported revenues grew 11 percent to $325.3 million for the third quarter of 2006, compared to $294 million in the comparable period a year ago. The restaurant chain had delayed its filings for the second and third quarters of 2006 as it reviewed its stock option practices. For the second quarter, Cheesecake Factory reported net income of $23.4 million or $0.30 per diluted share versus $23.1 million or $0.29 per share in the second quarter of 2005, on revenues of $322.6 million. Comparable restaurant sales in the second quarter dipped by 8 percent. Overall, the chain reported a 12 percent increase in revenues for the second quarter.