Santa Clarita officials are feverishly bidding for a new state designation that would make a portion of the city an Enterprise Zone. As many as 35 California cities are submitting applications for 23 available Enterprise Zone designations, which provide financial incentives and tax credits to businesses within a certain area. Santa Clarita Economic Development Director Carrie Rogers said that more than 30 staffers have spent the last six months preparing a comprehensive economic development plan to be sent to Sacramento before the Sept. 6 deadline. “We’re part of an extremely competitive process,” she said. “We’ve been working 16 hours days to get this thing done.” The Santa Clarita bid calls for the Enterprise Zone to cover most of the city’s existing industrial and commercial properties and addresses job development, underemployment, infrastructure, capital improvement and marketing. Businesses within the zone would receive income-tax credits from the state up to $31,544 per employee, accelerated business expense deductions, preference points on state contracts and use- and sales-tax credits for machinery. The Santa Clarita application targets biotech, entertainment and aerospace businesses. California has 42 Enterprise Zones, 23 of which will expire from September through March. Each one lasts 15 years. Locally, Enterprise Zones include portions of Lancaster and Palmdale as well as Pacoima, which was nearly disqualified earlier this month after it was discovered the area did not meet the minimum amount of industrial and commercial land in the zone. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eventually changed the regulation. Enterprise Zones have usually applied to economically-depressed areas, similar to the federal Empowerment Zones. Santa Clarita, however, has for years been one of the fastest growing cities for business in the region. It was recently named one of the most business-friendly cities in the area by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. because of its ample available land and lack of business license fee and utility user tax. More housing than jobs Still, Rogers said the city would benefit from even more businesses moving there. She cited a recent city-commissioned study that showed Santa Clarita has more housing units than jobs and that 70,000 residents leave the city for work each day. “As our population continues to grow, if we’re not able to attract the right types of businesses to get the workers off the freeway, it’s going to continue impacting not only traffic, but the jobs-to-housing imbalance will be even more significant,” Rogers said. She also pointed to recent local closures, including that of Delta Scientific and US Borax, and the possibility of the Magic Mountain theme park following suit. Other businesses have moved to other states. Dena Maloney, the dean of economic development at the College of the Canyons in Valencia, said the lost businesses have to be replaced. The Enterprise Zone designation will help draw new companies while ensuring existing ones don’t leave, she said. “This is a trend that we would like to address early on and provide the right type of economic climate,” said Maloney, who helped on the Santa Clarita application. “We need to make sure we’re creating jobs locally.” Rogers is optimistic that the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the program, will agree. “We wouldn’t be applying if we didn’t think we had a good chance,” she said. Zone Benefits The California Enterprise Zone Program uses financial incentives to jumpstart industrial and business growth in more than 40 designated areas, 23 of which expire through next year. Benefits include: Tax credits for sales- and use-taxes paid on qualified machinery and equipment. Tax credits of more than $30,000 for hiring qualified employees. Accelerated business expense deductions. Net operating loss carryover. Interest deductions for lenders on loans. Preference points on state contracts. Unused tax credits can be applied to future tax years. Source: California Department of Housing and Community Development

The push by California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi to have auto insurance premiums based less on where someone lives and more on how someone drives is putting some of the state’s auto insurance companies on edge. The mandatory change which Garamendi calls “Good Driver Reforms”, puts more of an emphasis on driving record, general driving experience and how much someone drives versus ZIP codes and marital status. So far, State Farm, Auto Club of Southern California and USAA Insurance have agreed to the new policies. Woodland Hills-based 21st Century Insurance Co. will submit its plan to the state before a Sept. 14 deadline, said Larry Krutchik, a spokesman for the company. “We’re a California company and we are complying with the regulations,” Krutchik said. “We’re committed to being fully complied,” he said. “We’re going to do what we need to do.” Krutchik would not elaborate about the difficulties the changes have presented. The insurance industry has been critical of the move and filed an unsuccessful suit to block it. In a note to investors, Meyer Shields, an analyst for Stifel Nicolaus, said insurance companies use ZIP codes to base premiums because history indicates certain factors impact whether a person is likely to submit claims. Taking that trend analysis away means premiums will not be as effective, he said. “Whenever the link between loss costs and rate levels is weakened, it becomes more difficult to manage underwriting profitability,” Shields wrote. “Territorial differences explain a lot of the variation in loss costs, meaning that restrictions on the use of territory will impede ratemaking precision.” Sales Up for Hemacare HemaCare Corp., a Woodland Hills developer of blood collection devices used in hospitals and clinics, reported its 11th straight profitable quarter for the second quarter ended June 30. Revenue for the company jumped $8.4 million from the same 2005 period and the boost drew net income to $360,000, or $0.04 per diluted share. Robert S. Chilton, executive vice president and CFO said the company’s 12 percent increase in revenues for the second quarter are a result of a restructuring of the business last year, which closed six underperforming divisions and refocused operations. The company also credited the jump in revenue to a 16 percent increase in sales of its blood products, which tallied $6.8 million in the quarter. Blood products revenue topped $1.7 million, or 15 percent, mainly due to sales growth in the California market. “We’ve been finding that our California customers have been receptive to our business model,” Chilton said. For the first six months of the year, HemaCare reported $16.6 million in revenue, up 14 percent from the same period in 2005. The first six months did see income drop 38 percent to $445,000 compared to last year, which the company credited to the recognition of $361,000 in non-cash share-base compensation expenses. The blood services sector also took a hit due to a 3 percent increase in the cost of albumin, used in certain therapeutic procedures. Overall, the division’s profit slipped $190,000, about 42 percent from last year, the company reported. The next phase is for HemaCare to enter the researching side of business, Chilton said. “We think research is a real good opportunity for us. The margins are good there,” he said. HemaCare also runs a blood donation center on Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. Help for CHAD? It was a rough first fiscal quarter for CHAD Therapeutics, the Chatsworth developer of oxygen and respiratory care devices. The company reported that revenue dropped to $5.5 million from $5.9 million a year ago. Losses continued with the quarterly loss posted at $116,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, from a net loss of $42,000, or $0.0 per diluted share during the same 2005 period. Revenue suffered from a 7 percent drop in sales of CHAD oxygen conservers and therapeutic devices. Domestic sales also suffered a 17 percent decline, with international sales faring worse, decreasing 42 percent. The bleak outlook, however, could turn around with an upcoming change in Medicare reimbursement procedures, which will give patients automatic ownership of equipment after 36 months. The change could mean healthcare companies will have to buy more equipment, said CHAD President and CEO Earl Yager. “By intensifying pressure on homecare providers to reduce operating and equipment costs, we continue to believe that this policy ultimately will stimulate demand for CHAD’s TOTAL O(2) home oxygen filling system ,” Yager said in a statement. CHAD also hopes to bring a new product to treat sleep disorders to market next spring. More Trouble for Cheesecake Nasdaq issued a letter last week to Calabasas Hills restaurateur Cheesecake Factory telling the company that it did not meet listing standards because of tardy second quarter financial reports. The company hasn’t submitted the reports because it is investigating how stock options have been issued. The problem meant that Cheesecake’s once high-flying ticker symbol was grounded as it appeals the ruling. Meantime the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into Cheesecake’s stock options practices. At the same time, a group of shareholders are suing the company for abuse of control, waste of corporate assets and gross mismanagement. Staff Reporter Chris Coates can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected] .

This regular feature focuses on philanthropic activities by Valley-area companies and businesspeople. The Blue Cross of California Foundation, the charitable giving arm of WellPoint Inc. announced it has granted the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) at the University of Southern California the resources to fund a one-year fellowship to study healthcare trends among the nation’s Latino community. Representing one of the fastest growing populations in the country, Latinos suffer disproportionately from many preventable health problems. Ongoing research to identify these issues is crucial to meeting this population’s needs in coming years. In a nationally competitive process, the WellPoint/TRPI Fellowship will be awarded in early September with the fellow’s research being published and distributed throughout the public health community. “We are confident the data gathered will help provide policymakers and healthcare providers with valuable information to better understand these critical health issues and work together with us to improve the overall health of this country’s burgeoning population,” said David Helwig, president and CEO for WellPoint’s western region. “We appreciate the foundation’s strong commitment to the Latino community”, said Harry Pachon, Ph.D., president of the TRPI and a public policy professor at USC. Blue Cross of California Foundation invests in social programs and partners with non-profit public charities focusing on making health care more accessible, affordable and helping to shape the development of health-related public policy. Gift for Foundation The charitable foundation of the Encino-Tarzana Hospital is the recipient of a $2,000 gift from the new Ventura Boulevard bistro, the Coral Tree Caf & #233;. The foundation was the guest of honor at the Encino restaurant’s recent grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony, where it was presented with the donation. The Encino-Tarzana Hospital Charitable Foundation is dedicated to promoting good health habits among San Fernando Valley residents by supporting programs, activities and charities that focus on wellness. The caf & #233; is dedicated to promoting nutrition by offering health-conscious menu items. 9/11 Anniversary Event Local non-profits and community leaders of Ventura County are preparing to honor the 5th anniversary of 9/11 with the inaugural 101 Leadership Summit for non-profit & charity leaders. Scheduled for September 8 at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, organizers from the 101 Leaders Alliance anticipate the event will assist groups with leadership challenges that 101 corridor groups face with today’s uncertain times. The full day event will concentrate on programs such as motivating volunteers, generating more revenue from projects and events and building a community of supporters. Among the presenters will be Bob Brooks, Ventura county sheriff and Jeff Cathcart, founder of the alliance.

The internet search engine Google will start selling online ads outside the U.S. for eBay. Read the story in the Chicago Tribune.

So far, the numbers aren’t bad, but anyone listening closely to some of the comments coming from CEOs can’t help but notice the hint of some economic bumps ahead. Phrases like “challenging retail environment” and “slowing pace of home sales,” are creeping into the vernacular of the heads of companies nationwide as they size up performance of recent months and look to the second half, and the San Fernando Valley is no exception. Other troubles that could take an economic toll locally have also been emerging in recent months. Ford Motor Co. has said it may reduce its dealership network, which now numbers about a dozen in the Valley. Several of the Valley’s tech companies, including Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., THQ Inc. and Semtech Corp. are all facing SEC investigations. And the threat of inflation continues to dog the economy. The Valley, with its diverse economy, is likely to fare better than most in the second half of the year and the next one, experts say, but some sectors are primed for a downturn and, overall, there are signs that the growth of recent quarters is slowing considerably. “Indications are the economy is slowing its pace of growth, and that will slow revenues,” said Dan Blake, director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University Northridge. “Secondly, we’ve seen a boost in the inflation rate, which means companies’ costs are going up, and we know that their energy costs are going up and that can be a big chunk for some companies.” As books closed on the first half of 2006, many of the Valley’s largest public companies reported enviable increases in earnings and revenues. Still, a review of the 10 largest public companies in the region showed an average 4 percent decline in earnings and a more modest 9.5 percent increase in revenues, a performance that seems all the more lackluster in light of several previous quarters when the group averaged double digit growth in earnings and revenues. The first half earnings slump was due mostly to Amgen, which saw a 47 percent decline in net income to $1 billion or $0.84 per share in the first half of 2006 compared to $1.9 billion or $1.49 per share in the first half of 2005, largely due to acquisition expenses, and Ixia, which was hit by problems at Cisco Systems Inc. that affected numerous telecom companies. Ixia reported its net income fell 95 percent to $785,000 or $0.01 per share on revenues of $78.8 million, off just a hair from revenues of $79.7 million in the second half of 2005. Entertainment, health care and insurance sectors registered some of the strongest numbers in the first half of the year. Earnings at Health Net Inc. more than doubled to $153.6 million or $1.30 per share from $74.9 million or $0.66 per share in the comparable period a year ago. Zenith National Insurance Corp. reported its earnings rose 30 percent to $11.6 million or $3.00 per share, compared with $85.7 million or $2.36 per share in the 2005 half year. And 21st Century Insurance Group logged a 24 percent increase in earnings to $49.6 million or $0.58 per share, versus net income of $39.9 million or $0.47 per share in the first half of 2005. Walt Disney Co., which last month reported its nine-month figures, logged a 20 percent earnings increase to $2.6 billion or $1.28 per share, compared with earnings of $2.2 billion or $1.03 per share in the first nine months of 2005. But even among some companies that saw earnings rise by 10 percent or more, there were indications that the momentum was flagging. Home builder The Ryland Group, which reported a 10.6 percent earnings increase for the first half, also noted that new order dollars in the second quarter of 2006 declined by 40 percent and new order units fell 39.4 percent. Although its first half earnings rose 12 percent to $1.4 billion or $2.25 per share, Countrywide Financial Corp., noted that pre-tax earnings on loan production in the first half declined 47 percent. Shortly thereafter, the company noted that mortgage loan fundings for the month of July were off 19 percent from levels a year ago. And at music retailer Guitar Center Inc., where earnings in the first half were relatively flat, at $29.1 million or $1.03 per share, officials said they anticipate that net income in the third quarter will fall closer to the low end of the guidance range provided in February. “The baton is being passed from the consumer to the business sector, and I think that’s real,” said Hessam Nadji, managing director of research services at Marcus & Millichap of the shift from the past several years when consumer purchasing fueled economic growth. The slowdown in consumer spending is likely to affect the local economy in many ways, these experts said. A general tightening of purse strings will likely affect restaurants, entertainment and big-ticket durable purchases such as automobiles and washing machines. Then too there are the jobs that were generated over several years of frenzied home buying activity employment levels in construction, the mortgage industry, real estate brokers and home improvement store workers all will decline, depriving the economy of that spending power as well. In 2004, the most recent year for which those figures are available, the Valley’s real estate industry generated an annual payroll of $500 million, according to San Fernando Valley Economic Center data. “With home sales down, you wouldn’t have a disappearance of 25 percent of that, but you would have some of that going away,” Blake said. The Economic Center data projects employment growth of 1.6 percent in 2006 with a slight rise over that in 2007. But Blake said current indicators suggest 2007 growth may be slower still. “We think it might be closer to 1.6,” said Blake, who is currently at work revising those earlier predictions. For several years now, as business retrenched, consumer industries have more than picked up the slack. Now, however, as consumers appear to be tightening their belts, business will not be able to pump enough into the economy to make up for the losses on the consumer side, experts say. “Two-thirds of the economy is driven by consumers,” said Nadji. “No matter how much business kicks in, there will be a shift and slowdown in growth, but I don’t see it as becoming a dramatic downturn, especially in the San Fernando Valley, for a number of reasons.” Nadji said that in the Valley entertainment, business services, health care and education will help to mitigate the consumer spending downturn.

A year after the two retail giants merged, neither have made headway forming a new identity.

A 2001 press release from Time Warner called John Maatta the “first employee” of The WB, the company’s broadcast television network that goes off the air next month. Maatta, however, won’t be without work as he continues as the chief operating officer of The CW, a new joint network between Warner Bros. and CBS launching on Sept. 18 that essentially incorporates the WB and UPN networks. In that regard, Maatta could be called one of the first employees of the new network whose offices will call Burbank home. A San Francisco native who worked as a trial lawyer for 10 years before making the jump into television management, Maatta is bullish on the new network and the television industry as a whole. “It contains all the elements intellectual satisfaction, meeting interesting people, and working on stimulating issues,” Maatta said. Since Warner Bros. and CBS announced The CW in January, Maatta and his counterpart on the entertainment side Dawn Ostroff who comes from CBS have been busy assembling the new network, a process that didn’t come without its challenges. On the eve of the network’s launch, the three legs of the stool, as Maatta calls programming, distribution and marketing are in place. The network will include shows with large followings from The WB and UPN. They will be broadcast on 199 affiliates reaching 93 percent of U.S. households. Maatta, by the way, names “Smallville” as his favorite show transferring from The WB to the new network. “Of the UPN shows that I haven’t seen that much of ‘Veronica Mars’ looks fascinating to me, as does “Everybody Hates Chris,” Maatta said. Q: Can you talk about your role in putting together the new network? A: Somebody said that time was invented to keep everything from happening at once. That rule doesn’t apply here as we have so much going on. Dawn Ostroff (entertainment president for The CW) was quoted several months ago as saying that what we are doing is like building a car while driving a car. We still have the ongoing businesses going on at UPN and the WB. At the same time we have been involved in a real fascinating experience of everything from prosaic things like getting insurance for the company, working on the MIS system, who’s going to provide the travel, getting new office space. All the bread and butter stuff. The overlay of that is all the network stuff; working on the programming deals, working on promotion, keeping UPN and The WB on the air during the interim period. It’s been jam packed. Every day has been full of stuff. Q: What have been some of the challenges in doing that? A: UPN and The WB were obviously two, separate and thriving companies on their own. In consolidating, people had to be let go. That was a difficult process we had to go through. Each position had to be evaluated and typically there were two very good people for every one position. So that was a very difficult aspect of it. Aside from that, the process has been much smoother than one would probably anticipate. Q: What are you hoping from during the first year of the network? A: I think to have the company fully integrated, to have the staff firing on all cylinders. To get us located in our new home here in Burbank. A lot of success at a network is borne from pure pick and shovel work. I think if we can be smart and be close to flawless in our execution, I think we’ll do pretty well. Q: Having been at The WB what lessons have you learned that can be brought over to The CW? A: The WB was a great environment. What I’ve seen of UPN under Dawn Ostroff, it had many of the same characteristics. The thing that struck me about the WB as we were going through the process of looking to the future and closing it down in September is that a network does not have a lot of physical assets. We license our programs and our most important asset is the people who come to work here every day. It’s a highly creative business and the trick is to hire the best possible people, then listen to them and give creative freedom. You have to foster a really enlightened environment for these businesses to work. Q: If The WB was such a positive environment then why the change? A: I don’t think there was anything internal that mandated the change. I’ve been here since 1993, and day to day the WB environment was incredibly seductive. I do think though the change was borne from the realization that there was a huge opportunities for both of these companies. The fact of the matter is is that as great as a company as Time Warner is The WB was its only broadcast network. The ability to align with CBS, which is like the flagship among broadcast networks, that’s the kind of game changing and transformative opportunity that was just an extraordinary for a company like The WB. The network landscape is a tough environment and I think forward and smart thinking people look for opportunities and this is a huge opportunity. Q: A lot has changed in television since The WB was launched. How is the new network going to be addressing those changes? A: It comes down to quality programming. We, at both UPN, with shows like “America’s Next Top Model” and “Everybody Hates Chris,” and The WB shows “Gilmore Girls,” “Smallville,” “Seventh Heaven” I think the collection of programming assets is very strong. When we started The WB we had no program assets to launch with. The predicate for a successful network is to have programming that viewers want to see. We’re starting The CW with a full pallet of programs that are tried and true. Q: Can you talk about the marketing to get the word out about the new network? A: A lot has been happening in that area. We were fortunate to hire a man named Rick Haskins who had been head of marketing at Lifetime. He’s created a marketing campaign that by all accounts has been fantastic from the color green to the ‘Free to Be’ imagery. We have a mall tour going on around the country. The marketing is part of what I said about firing on all cylinders. It’s one of the legs of the stool. Programming, distribution and marketing those are three things you need to get a network going. On the distribution side we have a really strong station line-up. We’re stronger than The WB was. We went out around the country in the spring working with Peter Schruth from CBS and we signed some of the strongest station groups. It was a pretty easy sell. We were in big demand by stations around the nation. Q: Why do you think that was? A: That wasn’t the case in 1993 when we started The WB and we were going head to head with UPN. It had all the charm of an alley fight to get to affiliates. I think this time station people recognized the programming really gets viewers into the tent. These stations looked at our programming lineup. The broadcasters were anxious to get their hands on “America’s Next Top Model” and “Smallville” at the same network. Q: Tell us how the CW Lounge and the CW Lab fit in with the new network’s plans? A: The lab and the lounge are part of our online initiative to approach younger viewers in particular. The array of ideas and possibilities we have in front of us is breathtaking. We have a lot of smart people at UPN and the WB, people we brought to The CW, people at CBS and Warner Bros. who are able to point us in directions such as new media and wireless, streaming, podcasting. Every kind of iteration of new media that can give us a lift we are looking at all those things. And they seem to dovetail well with our demographic. Q: Other than the technological issues, what are some other issues facing the overall television industry? A: I think the technological changes are first and foremost. There’s an awful lot going on. I think generally for many years, the television industry was a more a placid type of place, where basically if you had a broadcast license in a market you would tend to do well. I think now it is a much more intellectual industry. I think the market pressures made the executive ranks smarter, better. I think stations today are up to snuff in terms of technology, in terms of strategy, in terms of marketing. It’s a real dynamic type of industry. Every time I read that broadcasters are twilight people, caught between a brilliant past and cloudy future it sounds like they are talking about an industry I don’t know. I don’t think the broadcasting business has ever been more vibrant in terms of new opportunities, new approaches. John Maatta Title: Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, The CW Born: 1952; San Francisco Education: University of California, Hastings College of the Law; University of San Francisco Career Turning Point: 1986 joining Lorimar Telepictures Personal: Married. Three Children.

A young men’s and juniors urban wear concept from Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. called d.e.m.o., has opened its first San Fernando Valley store at General Growth’s Northridge Fashion Center. The store, selling a mix of fashion influences from skateboarding to hip-hop stars like Nelly and Jay-Z, is part of a major push for the concept that first launched eight years ago. Pacific Sunwear, a $1.4 billion chain based in Anaheim, is opening about 100 new stores during fiscal 2006, most of them the original PacSun concept and d.e.m.o. shops which now number close to 200. “We’re looking at malls where we think we have a really multicultural customer base,” said Lou Ann Bett, president of the d.e.m.o. division. “We’re a national chain and we’re always on the lookout for good malls.” Pacific Sunwear’s origins as a surfer-influenced apparel chain has established the company’s PacSun stores in the young adult market. With the addition of d.e.m.o., the company has expanded to reflect the growing diversity of youthful fashion trends. D.e.m.o. caters to 17 to 22 year olds in an arena that has been evolving since the first store opened, Bett explained. Originally a young men’s retailer, d.e.m.o.’s merchandise assortment is now nearly equally divided between young men’s and juniors. But while boys were the earliest adaptors of the apparel, girls now make up the lion’s share of customers. In fiscal 2005, d.e.m.o’s junior sales rose 15 percent on a comparable store basis while its menswear merchandise sales declined 10 percent. “In the market out there at large, typically juniors is around 75 percent of the total,” said Bett. “We’re not there yet. That’s why we see the major growth in juniors. On the young men’s side, we had some internal issues.” Bett said many of those issues have been resolved going forward. Similarly, the chain’s assortment has been changing too, now incorporating a mix of urban, streetwear, skatewear and hip hop with brands like Baby Phat, Rocawear, Sean John, Ecko and Apple Bottoms. In fiscal 2005, d.e.m.o. contributed about 13 percent to the company’s revenues, up from 11 percent in 2003. Westfield’s New Look Expanding a shopping mall these days is a little bit of a devil and the deep blue sea dilemma. More stores means more sales opportunities, but by adding stores, the mall risks the chance that shoppers, pressed for time, will not want to navigate such a large space to find what they are looking for. The folks at Westfield Group are addressing that problem in the renovation of Topanga mall in Canoga Park. At a press tour of the $330 million plus project due to open in October, Westfield officials explained a concept called “precincting,” which will place many of the stores in a particular category in close proximity so that, for instance, a shopper buying kids clothes, can go to one portion of the mall and find most of the shops that cater to kids side-by-side. The same goes for luxury brands, fashion brands, etc. “It’s all about the experience the customer has,” said Carl Schloessman, Westfield’s vice president for marketing in the Western region. “If you want to run in and you have your two kids with you, this affords the opportunity to do that as well.” Which is not to say that Westfield isn’t accounting for families that want to make a day of it at the center, which is adding 120 specialty stores, a new Target, an expanded Nordstrom and, in 2008, a Neiman Marcus. The remodeled center will also have a double-decker carousel, a Westfield Playtown and two family-oriented lounges with plasma screens and room for changing diapers, feeding or just taking a break. Westfield’s extensive remodel includes a new Nordstrom with 205,000 square feet of space, about 50,000 square feet more than the existing store, a two-level Target store with 160,000 square feet, a 120,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus, 140 new shops, a dining terrace modeled after the new Century City dining area with real china and cutlery; and restaurants ranging from The Farm of Beverly Hills to the popular Brentwood bistro Coral Tree Caf & #233;, right down to Panda Express. A number of stores in the lineup are prestigious brands that have never set foot over the hill until now, including A/X Armani, Furla, Burberry, Miss Sixty, Cole Haan, and Sony Style. In addition, Nordstrom will have a full complement of its boutique shop-within-a shop concepts like Dolce & Gabbana, which until now, were limited to the flagship Seattle store. Think Beverly Center on steroids. That, say Westfield officials, is the idea. Aware that Valley retail centers have pretty much left luxury shopping to their rivals over the hill, Westfield sees an opportunity to capture the market for these shoppers where they live. The grand opening of the mall will take place on Oct. 6, including Nordstrom and Target and many of the specialty retailers. Additional stores will open later.

An official with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority touted a planned mixed-use development near the Metro Red Line station in North Hollywood as “a model” of what can be built to encourage people to use public transportation. Request for proposals go out this month to solicit ideas from developers of what they want to do with the 17-acre site, Roger Moliere, executive officer of real property management and development with the MTA told the Livable Communities Council at its meeting Aug. 15. The proposed project mixing residential with commercial and retail uses could not have been done five years ago but since that time there has been an increase in the population base and employment bases in that area that makes it more attractive, Moliere said. “This should be a model where people will be able to live and go places and go shopping without the burden of long trips with their cars,” Moliere said. Moliere raised the North Hollywood project during a presentation to the council about development along transportation corridors, focusing on the Orange Line busway bisecting the San Fernando Valley. The Orange Line terminates in North Hollywood across Lankershim Boulevard from the Red Line station. While the MTA is not in the real estate development business, the agency owns property along transportation corridors and near bus and train stations through right-of-way acquisitions, Moliere said. In the Valley, the MTA has 4-acre parcels at the Balboa and Canoga Park Orange Line stops, and a 12-acre plot containing 1,200 parking spaces at the Sepulveda Orange Line station. The MTA is eyeing the Sepulveda property as a potential development site as there was a “miscalculation” of the number of riders actually using the parking lot, Moliere said. He has met with community residents about future plans for the property and designers from the agency will take input from nearby residents on what should be done with the land, Moliere added. The council used Moliere’s appearance to discuss the importance of creating housing and commercial areas ear transportation hubs to encourage use of mass transit. Some members raised changing the requirement of two parking spaces per multi-family housing unit as a way to reduce reliance on cars. “That could be an incentive for people to move into these things with just one car,” said Dan Blake, director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University Northridge. While the MTA supports such incentives, Moliere said, such a policy has market implications and could make multi-family housing too expensive to build. An option open to developers would be building a community parking garage that gets torn down once the mass transit system matures, fewer cars are used and the parking no longer needed, Moliere said. The need for parking spaces numbering into the thousands at developments close to transportation hubs was a sign that the Los Angeles mass transit system has a ways to go to reach maturity, Moliere said. The North Hollywood project requires 6,000 parking spaces for its 2 million square feet, of which only 300,000 square feet will be residential. Transit Coalition Executive Director Bart Reed cautioned, however, that plans for mixed use development actually be fulfilled rather than being predominantly residential.

Here in a nutshell is how business adds up at Academy123. Take frustrated math students from around the country, at wit’s end, pulling their hair out because a cosine makes no sense and a + b does not equal c. Add an online homework help program recorded by math teachers based in Southern California straight onto a laptop computer. Multiply by $9.95 per month. Academy123 was founded only two years ago and launched its flagship Nutshell Math program last October yet created a lucrative enough product to catch the eye of Discovery Education leading to its acquisition of the Westlake Village company last month. Discovery Education is a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, owner of the eponymous cable channel. The buyout brings with it the global credibility of the Discovery brand, distribution channels into both homes and schools and access to content in other subject areas that Academy123 can build homework help programs around. “Their ambition is much bigger than we ever could have pursued on our own,” Acaemy123 President and CEO Johannes Larcher said. “As a small start up you have to focus on the sweet spot and we did that.” That sweet spot as the Austrian-born Larcher calls it was middle school and high school level math and the anxiety it causes for students unable to easily grasp the concepts applied to solve algebra and geometry problems. Academy123 provides nearly 1,900 hours worth of online material created by contracted math teachers and vetted by its own employees with math degrees. While Larcher wouldn’t disclose the exact number of Nutshell Math subscribers, he placed it in the tens of thousands. That’s just a fraction of the total number of U.S. students turning to high tech methods for that nudge needed to understand complexities of the classroom. Supplemental educational services are a growing industry and the use of technology gives a student a different approach to understanding a subject other than classroom teaching, said Don Knezek, chief executive officer of the International Society for Technology in Education. “Having to dial in and work in a slightly different delivery system improves the chances for success,” Knezek said. If the buyout by Discovery Education is any indication, Academy123 has been a business concept success. Whether its math homework help product has been an educational success remains unknown to Larcher and the management team. The company lacks quantitative data on whether Nutshell Math results in better grades, only anecdotal evidence from parents and teachers. There are plans, however, for marketing research to answer that question. What helps make Academy123 a success is not knowledge of math but of how to market a subscription service on the Internet and getting its product in front of the right audience at the right time. If there is a common denominator of the Academy123 management team it’s the lack of educational backgrounds. They are marketing people and tech people who honed their skills at companies such as Overture, Countrywide Bank, Bertelsmann Ventures and Akamai Technologies. But Larcher doesn’t see his and the team’s backgrounds as a drawback because Academy123 is foremost a consumer-based business. “It might be different if we were selling to schools directly, which we’re not doing at this point,” Larcher said. Oddly, despite marketing backgrounds the company does not have a huge marketing budget. So Nutshell Math gets promoted through direct e-mail campaign, search engine marketing, and increasingly through word of mouth. The company also appears at conferences and trade shows, such as the ISTE’s National Educational Computing Conference, which took place last month in San Diego. “At each of these the teachers come by the booth and see the product and hopefully we turn them into zealots,” said marketing director Barry Levenson.